Letter to the Romans -- Chapter 13

Having given a thorough but basic list of the ways in which we are called to serve the Lord and our neighbor in this life, Paul continues on by touching on one of the more confusing areas we face by addressing it with a little more depth and discussion. The area he addresses is in regards to the secular authorities of this life and what our duty is before them: “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God” (Romans 13:1). Without any sidetracking Paul dives in and tells us very plainly that we must submit to the governing authorities of this life. These authorities are established by God and Paul even goes as far to say that there is no authority that exists that has not been established by God. This immediately begs the human question of, “But what about the ‘bad’ and ‘corrupt’ governments?” Yes, even the “bad” and “corrupt” governments of this world have been established by God. Does this mean that the Nazi government was established by God? Yes, it means that God allowed for that evil and corrupt government to be established and ultimately He used it for His greater and unfathomable plans of which we may never understand. We see this illustrated in the Scriptures when God gave evil King Nebuchadnezzar the power to rule and subjugate his people in the time of Jeremiah: “I will hand all your countries over to my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; I will make even the wild animals subject to him. All nations will serve him and his son and his grandson until the time for his land comes” (Jeremiah 27:6-7). We see here that God called Nebuchadnezzar His servant because God was using him to fulfill His ultimate will in this world. God using corrupt and bad governments for His good is most clearly seen in Christ’s trial at the hands of the Romans government. While questioning Jesus, Pontius Pilate said, “‘Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?’ Jesus answered, ‘You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above’” (John 19:10-11). We see illustrated here the fact that God uses even the most “evil” seeming actions of secular authorities for His ultimate purposes; God gave Pilate the authority and power to execute His own Son for our ultimate good, forgiveness, and salvation. Not one of us would say that the Roman government did the “right” thing in executing Christ, but nonetheless God used that authority to carry out His good will for His people.

Paul continues on: “Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves” (Romans 13:2). Here Paul tells us that any rebellion against the government is a rebellion against God’s institution and therefore a rebellion against God Himself. Martin Luther rightly saw that obedience to the civil government (and all figures of authority) is commanded implicitly when God says, “Honor your father and your mother.” Luther wrote: “In this commandment belongs a further statement regarding all kinds of obedience to persons in authority who have to command and to govern. For all authority flows and is propagated from the authority of parents.” Ultimately Luther argues that the authority of the government is simply an extension of parenthood, as God has placed governments over us in order to help discipline us, protect us, and provide for us. Because God has established parents, governments, and all masters as His presence of authority in this life it is therefore necessary for us to look upon our honoring and obeying of them as nothing more than carrying out God’s immutable command to honor our father and mother.

Paul expands further upon the purposes of the governing authorities: “For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer” (Romans 13:3-4). The purpose of the government is to help keep some semblance of order in this chaotic life. Therefore the government wields the sword in order to bring punishment to those who rebel and do wrong, holding them accountable for their immediate actions in this life. In eternity we are all accountable for our entire lives here on earth, every decision, thought, word, and action (Thank God for Jesus Christ!), but in this life we are really only accountable to the authorities who are in place above us. If we do wrong we have every reason to fear the swift arm of the authorities who are here to keep us in check. However, if we do right then we have no reason to fear the authorities, even if they are corrupt. Because we serve God first and above all men we have no reason to fear even if a corrupt government attempts to punish us for doing what is right and good in the eyes of God. Submitting to the authorities in the case of a corrupt government means that we must continue to follow God’s will while willingly bearing any punishment the government gives us for this. “They called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, ‘Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God’” (Acts 4:18-19). “Having brought the apostles, they made them appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. ‘We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,’ he said. ‘Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood.’ Peter and the other apostles replied: ‘We must obey God rather than men!’” (Acts 5:27-29). If the government commands us to stop preaching the Gospel or to break God’s commands then we must obey God first while still submitting to the punishment of the authorities.

Let us look at what Peter says in regards to this submitting ourselves even to those who are wrong and harsh: “Submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps” (1 Peter 2:18-21). Therefore it is our duty before God to submit even to the harsh and unjust treatment of masters who have gone wrong. Thru this unjust suffering we will bear witness to the love of Christ in our bodies, and we must not underestimate the shear power of this testimony. It is when men see someone willing to suffer and die for a cause that they will truly take notice, and therefore we must be willing to bear the burden of unjust suffering in order to point men to Christ. “Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. ‘Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.’ But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. It is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil” (1 Peter 3:13-17).

In the light of this Paul continues and begins to wrap things up: “Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience” (Romans 13:5). Because we have been commanded by God to submit to the authorities we must do so in order to keep a clear conscience. If we suffer by the hands of a corrupt government for doing God’s will then we can stand firm knowing that we followed God first and yet still submitted to the authorities that He put above us. But if we rebel against the authorities God has placed above us then our consciences will testify against us as we know deep down that our rebellion is truly against God and His establishments. “This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor” (Romans 13:6-7). We are called in Christ Jesus to give to everyone what we owe them, submitting graciously to the authorities above us. Even if it seems wrong or unjust we must bear with our fellow man in patience and love so that thru our bearing and obedience we might testify and point to the cross of Jesus Christ that is our way, truth, and life. “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body” (2 Corinthians 4:8-11).

Having taught us to honor the governing authorities that God has established, Paul continues on in his letter to the Romans to reiterate the great second commandment that Christ stressed so much: “Love one another.” “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law” (Romans 13:8). Paul begins by connecting his previous discourse on the secular authorities by means of the analogy of debt. In the previous verse he commanded us to give to everyone what we owe them, letting no debt remain outstanding; he cleverly ties this into his transition by acknowledging that the one debt that we can never fulfill in this life is our debt of love that we owe to all men. No matter how much we love our fellow man the debt is never “paid off.” Peter asked about this “debt” of love and forgiveness that we owe to our fellow man: “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” (Matthew 18:21). Christ, seeing where Peter was going with this, responds by telling Peter that his debt to love and forgive his neighbor is never complete: “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven times” (Matthew 18:22). Jesus then goes on to tell Peter the parable of the unmerciful servant, who after having his own debts forgiven refused to forgive the debts of his fellow man. At the end of the parable the master who had forgiven this unmerciful servant asked: “I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?” (Matthew 18:32-33). In this we see the important truth that it is our duty in the light of having been forgiven to turn around and forgive. In addition we also see that it is only when we ourselves have been forgiven that we are truly empowered to turn around and forgive those around us. “He who has been forgiven little loves little” (Luke 7:47). When we ourselves have been forgiven little, we will only love a little; but when we have been forgiven much we will in turn love a great deal because of the generosity that has been shown to us. “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). It is for this reason that it is so necessary for us to see our sin for what it is. It is only when we see the infinite forgiveness we have been given in the cross that we will truly begin to love in the way Christ desires of us. If we do not see ourselves as the worst sinners in the world, then we will not appreciate the forgiveness that Christ bought for us and our subsequent love towards the world will be lacking. “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience” (1 Timothy 1:15-16). In this phrase Paul is insisting that this saying of his deserves full and complete acceptance. If we recognize the truth of our sin then it is absolutely necessary that we see ourselves as the worst sinner in the world. It is only in the light of our complete wretchedness that we will see how much we have truly been forgiven; and because we have been forgiven so extravagantly we will in turn begin to love greatly. A lack of love in our life is therefore a sign that we do not properly understand our sin or fully appreciate the subsequent grace of the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Paul continues on: “The commandments, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not covet,’ and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:9-10). The entire Ten Commandments can be summed up in one word: love. The first table of the commandments addresses our love for God, while the second table of the commandments addresses our love for our fellow man. The Ten Commandments serve as a teaching tool of the love that God demands of us. Without the law to teach us how love is manifested in this life we would be completely ignorant in our sinfulness and would continue to think that love was simply a funny feeling in the pit of our stomach. Love is not some feeling but as Paul clearly states, love is the fulfillment of the law. However, this is not all. Because we were incapable of fulfilling the law in our sin God sent His Son to do it on our behalf. Therefore, the law itself is not love, nor is it a feeling, nor is it some arbitrary ideal or abstraction; but as the Apostle John says in groundbreaking clarity: “God is love” (1 John 4:8). In this statement we just begin to see the tip of the iceberg and how it is far different than we ever thought. John elaborates: “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10). Love is the fulfillment of the law because love is Jesus Christ Himself. Love is not at its core something we “do”; it is instead some One who loved us, infects us, and transforms us. Love becomes manifested in something we do only when love Himself (God as revealed in the manger, cross, and empty tomb!) enters into our lives and moves us into action. Therefore the commands of God are transformed in Christ Jesus and become simply this: “This is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us” (1 John 3:23). No longer are we called to uphold the law perfectly but instead we are simply called to trust that Jesus Christ has already done this on our behalf, as we let His love move us to love our fellow man.

Paul continues on: “And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy” (Romans 13:11-13). In response to the forgiveness and love we have been shown in the Cross, Paul implores us to wake up from our slumber of complacence and to step out in love. We need to leave all the sinful behaviors and habits of our past behind and begin to reflect the forgiveness we have received in Christ. “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:16-18). Because Christ gave up His life for us so vicariously, so we also need to do the same. We need to stop our empty lip-service of “claiming” that we love our neighbor and we need to begin to step out in action. What good does it do for us to talk up love, while we sit on our behinds and refuse to act upon it? God didn’t give us our fellow man so we can talk about him, but He gave each one of them to us so that we may love them. This love needs to be genuine and truthful love that does not “spoil” or give-in to the desires of the flesh; it needs to be a love that stands up for the truth and willingly bears our fellow man even when things get “tough.” “Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature” (Romans 13:14). We need to clothe ourselves in Jesus Christ (love Himself!) so that we are covered in His fulfillment of the law as we boldly step out in our discipleship of love. We need to daily exude our clothing of Jesus Christ to the world so that they may see His love manifested in our lives as we point them relentlessly to the manger, the cross, and the empty tomb. “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35).