{"id":23343,"date":"2022-09-29T22:00:35","date_gmt":"2022-09-30T05:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/romans-12_9-21-copy\/"},"modified":"2022-09-13T20:26:59","modified_gmt":"2022-09-14T03:26:59","slug":"romans-13_1-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/romans-13_1-7\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Relate to Governing Authorities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Romans 13:1-7 \u00a0 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Romans 13:1-7. \u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Romans 13:1-7 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1 \u00a0Everyone 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.
\n2 \u00a0Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.
\n3 \u00a0For 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.
\n4 \u00a0For 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.
\n5 \u00a0Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.
\n6 \u00a0This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing.
\n7 \u00a0Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-7: \u00a0Perhaps you read these verses from Paul telling the Christians in Rome to submit to their governing authorities and a part of you thinks, \u201cIsn\u2019t this being a bit idealistic?\u201d \u00a0After all, don\u2019t we all know people, perhaps including ourselves, who have had bad experiences dealing with people in authority, especially in government? \u00a0If you\u2019ve ever been disappointed or disillusioned by the way a government authority handles a certain issue that you care about, or the way certain government representatives go about their duties and dealings with people, you may find it especially hard to make sense of Paul\u2019s words, \u201cEveryone must submit himself to the governing authorities\u201d (v1) and \u201cthe authorities are God\u2019s servants\u201d (v6).<\/p>\n

Keep in mind that the political climate that Paul lived in was no better \u2013 in fact you could argue was far worse \u2013 than the political climate we live in today. \u00a0In the years just prior to Paul writing Romans, Emperor Claudius had expelled all Jews from Rome (Acts 18:2), such that if you had a Jewish faith or heritage you weren\u2019t even allowed in the city. In the years just after Paul writing Romans, Emperor Nero would launch one of the most brutal persecutions of Christians in history, blaming Christians for the fire that took place in Rome, feeding them to lions in the Coliseum and burning them alive for use as human torches at his parties. \u00a0Jesus and Paul had seen their share of tyrannical rulers, and yet they model and teach general obedience to the government.<\/p>\n

Here are some truths we should remember from this passage:<\/p>\n

1. \u00a0Any authority that anyone has, including those in government, would not be given to them unless God had allowed it. \u00a0As Paul says in verse 1, \u201cthere is no authority except that which God has established\u201d. \u00a0As Jesus says to Pilate, \u201cJesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.\u201d (John 19:11) \u00a0In other words, both Jesus and Paul recognized that God is the ultimate giver of authority and God knows what He is doing. \u00a0 So generally speaking, as a way to honour God and the choices God has made to delegate His authority, we ought to submit to and respect the authorities that are established to govern us. \u00a0That includes paying the taxes that we owe (v6). That also includes treating with respect the office of a government official (i.e. their position), even if you don\u2019t respect the person holding it.<\/p>\n

2. \u00a0If you work in government, be humble and remember that the reason you have the authority that you do is because God in His grace allowed you to have that authority. \u00a0The reason He allowed you to have authority is so that you would govern justly: commending those who do right (v3b), punishing those who do wrong (v3-4), seeing yourself as God\u2019s servant (v5, 6).<\/p>\n

3. \u00a0Does this mean that we must always, unconditionally obey what the governing authorities tell us to do? \u00a0No. \u00a0In the Bible we see various examples of civil disobedience, where the government orders Christians to do something that is in direct conflict with what God commands Christians to do. \u00a0For example, in Acts 4:19 when the Sanhedrin, the governing body over the Jews in Jerusalem, orders Peter and John not to preach about Jesus, Peter and John reply, \u201cJudge for yourselves whether it is right in God\u2019s sight to obey you rather than God\u201d. \u00a0When the Sanhedrin once again effectively orders the apostles to stop preaching about Jesus, the apostles reply, \u201cWe must obey God rather than men\u201d (Acts 5:29). Daniel kept praying even when King Darius forbade it (Daniel 6). \u00a0So where there is a direct conflict between what the governing authorities tell you to do and what God tells you to do, choose to obey God over people.<\/p>\n

Lord Jesus, thank You for being our greatest example when it comes to how to relate to governing authorities. \u00a0I pray that I would give my governing authorities the honour and respect that they are due, and that generally speaking I would submit to them out of obedience to You. \u00a0Since all authority in heaven and on earth belongs to You, please give me discernment to know when obeying the government would mean disobeying You and give me courage to do the right thing. \u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Romans 13:1-7. \u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Romans 13:1-7 (NIV)
\n1 \u00a0Everyone 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.
\n2 \u00a0Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.
\n3 \u00a0For 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.
\n4 \u00a0For 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.
\n5 \u00a0Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.
\n6 \u00a0This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing.
\n7 \u00a0Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.<\/p>\n

On verses 1-7: \u00a0Perhaps you read these verses from Paul telling the Christians in Rome to submit to their governing authorities and a part of you thinks, \u201cIsn\u2019t this being a bit idealistic?\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23345,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23343"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23346,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23343\/revisions\/23346"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}