Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2 Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3 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 you will be commended. 4 For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.
-Romans 13:1-5
I’ve been seeing Romans 13 used a lot on social media these past few weeks. I’d like to pause and look at a biblical understanding of the passage, and how to apply it during our current cultural moment, using responsible hermeneutics.
The first thing to know is Paul is writing to the church in Rome (to the “Romans”). This was not today’s Roman Catholic Church, but a small, rag-tag group of fledgling Jesus-followers, meeting in small house churches under the massive shadow of the dominant Roman Empire. The first generation of Jesus-followers were Jews, then these Jews shared the good news of Jesus with non-Jews (Gentiles). The church in Rome would have been a mixture of the two, with most of the early Christian leaders being Jewish. The reason this is significant is because the expectation of first-century Jewish people was that the coming Messiah would come as a military and political warrior who would free the Jewish people from the Roman Empire and give them back their land, government, and national freedom. This was their understanding of the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises that Israel would be restored after the exile. It is the primary reason Jesus was rejected as Messiah by most first-century Jews. There was a sect of Jews called the Zealots (Simon Peter was a Zealot). This sect wasn’t waiting around for the Messiah to free them from Rome, they saw it as their personal mission to do so themselves–as Judas Maccabaeus had done with the Seleucid Empire a couple of centuries earlier (see “Maccabean Revolt“). Do you remember Peter cutting off the ear of the Roman guard who arrested Jesus? (Reader note: He wasn’t aiming for the ear) This was because he was a Zealot and the Messiah was here, and they were going to win their freedom. The Messiah dying on a cross was not a part of the equation. Sicarii Zealots got their name from the long daggers called sicae or sica that they carried in their cloaks and assassinated Roman officials and Jewish collaborators with. They would shuffle through large crowds where they would covertly slash their target, then blend back into the crowd to avoid detection.
These views would have still been influential amongst the Christians in Rome at the time of Paul’s writing who would have wanted to violently overthrow their government, or to rebel against it by not paying taxes. The primary application of Romans 13 is that Christians are not to overthrow our government, but submit to its authority. We see in Romans 13:6-7 that the Roman Christians were withholding their taxes from the Roman Empire and Paul tells them not to do that.
The closest parallel to this direct application of Romans 13 would be the January 6th, 2021 attack on the US Capitol Building, when US citizens, some who claimed to be Christians, violently attacked our government and police, with targeted politicians in their sites. The goal of this attack was, on some level, an overthrow of the government. This would be similar to what the first-century Jews and Christians had on their minds to do to the Roman government, and Paul clearly steps in and says “No, you are to submit to your government.” This is the cultural context of Romans 13, which is the foundational starting point for any application of the text for today.
When we look more closely at this block of 5 verses, we also see that this was about doing right and wrong, as these words are used multiple times. The specific wrongs here were to violently overthrow a government or to not pay taxes to it. We can extrapolate other meanings to “right” and “wrong,” but it would be a stretch to say that Paul was making the Roman Empire’s idea of right and wrong equivalent to God’s, so Christians should fall in line with Roman values and injustice carte blanche, throwing away the Scriptures and all the commands of Jesus while they were at it. It’s important to note that the commands are to “be subject to” and “submit” to the authorities, not to endorse everything they do or to imply that it would be unChristian to break Roman laws if they were in conflict with God’s laws. Jesus broke Roman laws by claiming to be a king, as only Caesar was king. Paul’s use of “right” and “wrong” here come after higher moral commands that he just gave one verse prior in Romans 12:9-21 (Reader note: the chapter and verse numbers are not in the original Scripture text. There should be no interruption of thought between Romans 12:21 and Romans 13:1)
9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.[c] Do not be conceited.
17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
-Romans 12:9-21
When you attach Romans 12:21 to Romans 13:1, the way they were intended, you can see Roman Christians were trying to overcome evil (of the Roman Empire) with evil (Zealot tactics, withholding taxes, etc.):
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.
Paul is telling them that the Roman authorities have been established by God, as a way of saying: When you attack your government, you are attacking God. Don’t do that. That isn’t his way. With the rest of chapter 12 clearly showing that attack, violence, revenge, etc. are not the way of the Jesus-follower. The Jesus-follower is to “attack” with love, a hatred for evil things like violence and oppression, honoring others above themselves, patience in affliction, sharing with the Lord’s people who are in need, practicing hospitality, blessing those who persecute you (like the Roman guards and officials), living in harmony with others, being willing to associate with people of low position like the poor and marginalized, not being conceited, living at peace with everyone, not taking revenge, and overcoming evil with good. It even adds that God will bring his wrath and vengeance on evil-doers, while our job is to feed our hungry enemy. This is very different than killing them with a sicae and disappearing into the crowd!
If we read beyond Romans 13:6-7’s command to pay taxes, we see God’s law in stark contrast to the Roman government’s law (Romans 13:8-10). God’s law is to love others, and specifically to love our neighbor. Jesus-followers in the first-century would have known one of Jesus’ core teachings was to love your neighbor, as he explained in the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). Here, Jesus goes out of his way to show that this means loving someone from another country / ethnic group (Samaritan vs. Jew) who your own country or people group look down upon. Jesus made sure future Christians knew this meant loving the Romans as their neighbor, not just loving their own Christian or Jewish brethren. We see Romans 13:1-5 sandwiched between the transcendent laws of God to love our neighbor and to overcome evil with good.
Paul’s main purpose in Romans 13:1-5 was about submitting to a government versus overthrowing it. In this directive, the government is doing right by collecting taxes and being a government (this doesn’t mean they were doing good or following God’s way). And it would be wrong and unChristian to rebel against them, repaying their evil with more evil.
What happens when a government is doing evil? Is it okay for God’s people to do something to change things? Or should we pluck Romans 13:1-5 out from the rest of the Bible, with the application that what God really wants is for us to do everything our government tells us to do, without question?
Scripture has a lot to say about this:
Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless. -Isaiah 10:1-2
God clearly isn’t okay with everything governments do. He cares about unjust laws and oppressive decrees that deprive the poor of their rights and deprive justice from the oppressed. This specific context for “my people” in Isaiah would have been the Old Testament people of Israel. Who are “God’s people” today? Jews & Gentiles from all over the world.
We consistently see Old Testament heroes like Moses, Esther, Mordecai, and Nehemiah standing before evil government officials, making commands that would have been against the law. Legally, the very notion of entering the king’s presence could have gotten them executed. Demanding that Pharaoh free the Hebrew slaves would have been illegal. Resisting the legality of slavery would have been illegal (Moses). Demanding that the King of Persia free the Jewish people was illegal (Esther and Mordecai), going against the legal decree that all Jews were to be killed. It was illegal for Moses’ mother to put him in a reed basket in the Nile rather than obeying the law and having him killed. It was illegal for Mary, Joseph, and Jesus to escape as refugees to Egypt, disobeying the legal command that all Jewish boys were to be killed. It was illegal for Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to not worship the gods of Babylon, including the king himself. Paul, the author of Romans 13:1-5, broke the government’s law on multiple occasions to expand the Way of Jesus, getting jailed numerous times and eventually beheaded in a government execution by Roman Emperor Nero’s regime. Church tradition tells us that 11 of the 12 disciples were brutally martyred (killed for their faith), because they were breaking their government’s laws by spreading the Way of Jesus. Twice in the book of Acts, the disciples are illegally sharing the good news of Jesus and are confronted by the legal authorities. This is their response:
18 Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! 20 As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” -Acts 4:18-20 (emphasis added)
25 Then someone came and said, “Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people.” 26 At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared that the people would stone them.
27 The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. 28 “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.”
29 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings! -Acts 5:25-29 (emphasis added)
If Romans 13 meant that governments should be obeyed at all times and that their commands were the same or higher than God’s commands, then all underground churches (where Christianity is illegal) around the world today need to turn themselves in. They need to be subject to the governing authorities which God has established, submit to their authority, close their churches down, turn in everyone who attended those churches for imprisonment, torture, and death. We need to be consistent with how we apply Scripture.
Modern-day Christians have inherited a rich history of Jesus-followers who obeyed the Bible above obeying evil government laws, many of whom’s life work was to change the evil laws of their government. Martin Luther was branded an outlaw and heretic by the emperor for not recanting his ideas about Scripture and the gospel. Devout Christian William Wilberforce led the ending of the transatlantic slave trade by opposing unjust, unbiblical laws–changing the laws to align with what God wants and commands in Scripture. Devout and Bible-believing (and Bible-obeying) Christians like Rev. Martin Luther King, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Park, Sojourner Truth, John Lewis, and so many more opposed the unjust laws of slavery, segregation, and Jim Crow in the United States, until they finally changed the unjust, oppressive, inhumane laws to laws that aligned more with what God wants and commands in Scripture. Their opposition was illegal. It was illegal to sit at the front of the bus. It was illegal to sit at the lunch counter. It was illegal to protest and march. And they were beaten savagely for it (and told to follow Romans 13:1-5 by a “Christian” nation). Christian Nelson Mandela opposed the unjust laws of South African apartheid and the Dutch Reformed Church. Pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer opposed Nazi Germany (despite being told to follow Romans 13:1-5 by a “Christian” nation). These faith heroes did these things not because they were good people or woke or social justice warriors, but because they were followers of Jesus committed to obeying the Bible’s commands at any cost. These were people who didn’t simply say they believed the Bible is God’s Word or put it in a church belief statement, they lived it.
The next you hear someone say it’s okay for ICE to randomly round up undocumented immigrants, separate children from families, throw some into Guantanamo prison, or brand them all rapists and violent criminals because they are here illegally, stop and ask yourself if the United States’ laws for Latin American immigrants are just and humane laws? Ask yourself if you even know what the laws are as far as what processes exist for a Latin American immigrant to become documented. Do you know the laws for asylum seekers? If you don’t, like me a few years ago, I highly recommend listening to this interview I did with Matthew Soerens of World Relief. If you think the only two options to illegal immigration are open borders or mass deportation, please listen to the interview.
If you think it’s wrong for Bible-believing, Bible-obeying Christians to use our voices (in a democracy where it is our responsibility to shape the laws of this nation) to protest unjust, inhumane, unloving, unChrist-like laws (like harming legal, documented refugee families fleeing war, genocide, and persecution) because we should be following Romans 13:1-5 instead, you are living inconsistent with the biblical meaning of Romans 12-13, with the biblical record of countless narratives, and with the long-line Christ-followers who have been fueled by Scripture and the way of Jesus to oppose and resist unjust, evil laws and change them into laws of justice, mercy, and love.
I’m not saying we are all going to agree on what the just and Christ-like laws should be, but don’t plug your ears to cries for just laws because of an unbiblical interpretation of Romans 13. Don’t dismiss the notion that it’s our responsibility to use our voices to shape the laws of this nation. Sincerely listen to what your Jesus-loving, Bible-believing brothers and sisters in Christ are saying, and pray and ask the Holy Spirit to lead you, and all of us, into his will as reflected in the whole of Scripture.
From Nazi Germany to African-American slavery to South African Apartheid to (ironically) loyalists to the British Crown during the American Revolution, here are some ways throughout history that Romans 13:1-5 has been preached by governments and religious leaders to get their country to do what they say: (credit: Rev. Ben Cremer @brcremer )
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God. -Micah 6:8
Related posts:
Episode 6: Limited Atonement & Cultural Appropriation
Ep. 103: Dr. Sandy Richter on Old Testament Violence and how to read Judges & Deborah
How to Live a Purposeful, Not-Boring Life
Ep. 105: Katara Washington Patton on Depression, Anxiety, & Worry
Justice Conference Presenter Racially Profiled, Arrest Threatened at Chicago Hotel
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Thanks for the clarification, Noah.
Love,
Dennis
It was great seeing you last Sunday.