Romans 13
Romans 13
[00:00:00] Hey everyone, welcome to God's plan, your part year two, where this year we're reading through and studying the entire New Testament one chapter at a time. Thanks again for joining us in discovering God's plan and your part in it. Today, we are talking about the government. Yay. I'm not sure that is like what people want to hear.
No, it's not what people want to hear. But uh, that's one of the blessings of going chapter by chapter through the entire Bible. Today we're looking at Romans 13 and I think Romans 13 is an excellent chapter if you want a pointed directive on how we handle government, uh, what the role of government is, and just God bless.
What we're supposed to do about it. Um, we talked yesterday about how this is a pivot. Romans 12 is a pivot into like this part of the book that is focused on right living. So we've talked about right believing, right doctrine. Now we're talking about right practice. So it's very, I think, [00:01:00] appropriate that Paul spend some time talking to the Jews and Gentiles in Rome, how to deal with the authorities, with the government in Rome.
Uh, obviously part of our lived out Christian experience continues to be how we handle government, how we handle civil responsibility, and this chapter is very important to those topics. Yeah, and I think this chapter, although very short, I feel like it has a lot just packed into it, verse by verse. There are many different, um, commands of essentially how to live.
And I will not claim to be an expert on any of these things. However, I do have questions that I, I don't know that we'll necessarily find the answers to either. But, um, a lot of these things are, um, I don't know, definitely, definitely things that still cross our paths today, especially with authorities. Um, and even just with how we live our lives day to day, interacting with other people.
I don't know if anybody wants to revisit this period in time, but I think I [00:02:00] read and heard other people read Romans 13 the most in 2020, uh, because it was all about like, do we have to follow these mandates and do we have to? Follow these new rules and laws. And how do we handle expectations from the government?
And how do we handle expectations from God? Uh, so we're going to dig into that. I am curious, like, what are the questions you said? You have a lot of questions. What are some of the questions you have? I guess maybe not necessarily like questions, but just like, Hmm. That, that's an interesting thought. So, uh, I guess like the whole idea of being subject to government or governing authorities, um, I oftentimes, I feel like you can take like a really hard stance on this if you're trying to like make a point about governing officials or yada, yada.
I, I don't know. Oftentimes, and please, like if you are a governing official. Don't like hear me as I don't appreciate you, but, um, I would often get like, kind of like weird vibes when I was in church and was like, we're going to pray for all of our leaders. And we're going to pray that for the [00:03:00] office of whatever.
And we're going to pray that they are, you know, following God's leading and all those things are true, but it's always just like, I just don't feel like I trust these people at all. And so for me, it's just, it's kind of like, it's kind of goofy, but at the same time in here, it is talking about like. You know, we should be at least thankful that, what was it, what was the verse that I told you?
Uh, it's the first verse, actually. Uh, our study Bible says that God gives authorities as a blessing and sometimes He allows evil rulers to bring trial and judgment. So like my, I guess, annoyance, maybe not annoyance, but just like uneasy feelings about it is like, I, am I going to just take that up with God's sovereignty?
I don't know. That seems a little off. So a couple of statements and then some real world observations I've made. Um, Romans 13 one is very clear. Let every person be subject to the governing authorities for there is [00:04:00] no authority except from God and those that exist have been instituted by God. By God.
We've talked about God's sovereignty. We've talked about how God has chosen, how things will play out, who will be an authority. Uh, really there's, there's really no question of that. If you look at like different rulers, even throughout the old Testament, where it says that God raised them up, uh, sometimes God raised up godly leaders to lead Israel.
He raised up judges to, to care for Israel. Other times he raised up evil, wicked Kings to judge Israel. So there's a case to be made from scripture that God puts. Wise, um, godly kings in place and other times he actually puts in ungodly kings in place and Paul saying, hey, all authority comes from God. If there is a ruler over you, he has been put over you by God.
Um, there, there was not, I don't think, um, actually, you know what? Well, somebody can correct me live in the comments. I would say we live in a unique age where every [00:05:00] single person, at least in the United States, I know not all of you are in the United States, but many other countries around the world where we feel like we have a say in who are governing authorities are.
That is a relatively modern development. So it was much easier to just believe that God had instituted authorities in the past because Nobody had a say in it. Um, now we at least feel like we have a say in it. I think there's obviously many layers to that, depending on what nation, what country, what rule you have, but even so, even feeling like we have a say in it, God would still ordain those things.
Like God didn't just all of a sudden be like, well, there's now representative Republic, so I don't need to lead people anymore. Yeah. Um, with that, people would have understood like, Hey, there's good rulers and there's bad rulers. And a lot of the Roman rulers were actually very bad rulers. Um, but Paul here is still saying, Hey, be subject to your governing authorities because God has put them in place.
And there are like, there's some pretty prominent ones like, uh, well, I mean, God raised up every single judge. Uh, God raised up [00:06:00] Nebuchadnezzar. God raised up Cyrus. God raised up like good Kings, bad Kings, whatever. I've made that point enough now. I think it kind of coincides with yesterday as well when we were talking about just like honoring others, even if they are different.
I guess, what did we say yesterday? Like, honoring people regardless of how you feel. But I think that even It's more prominent in this chapter where it's talking about, like, governing authorities or people with authority over you, and that can be a very, very hard thing to do. Well, and you were talking about how sometimes you get nervous about churches praying for leadership.
One, that's, that's not good. Like, we should pray for our leaders. We should pray for good kings, and we should pray for our wicked kings. I think it definitely stems, though, from, like, Like even just like foundational things that I'm like, I don't, I don't line up with you there, so I am not about to be like, yes, we're even supposed to pray for our enemies and those that persecute us.
So we are supposed to pray for people that don't line up with us. [00:07:00] The thing that gets weird in churches, I think, and it's not this way in every church, but we have noticed at times in churches, we don't pray for leaders at all until it's like October before an election. Or November before an election.
And that's when it's a little bit strange, like, huh? Like as a church family, we've never been passionate about praying for our leaders, except for right now, that seems strange. So I do think we should be concerned for and praying for our leaders at all times, not just during elections. Uh, and also please hear me.
I know that not everybody lives in the United States. We understand there are different governments and different ways that they work out there. Uh, but Romans 13 is clear. Uh, listen to your leaders and be subject to your authorities. The unique thing to consider about this topic is that Paul ends up in prison.
And so obviously he doesn't mean obey them no matter what they say, no matter when they say it, because Paul himself ended up being disobedient to them. to his [00:08:00] governing authorities and ultimately was executed by the governing authorities. So there must be obviously some kind of division here where Christians aren't called to just do everything the government says always.
So the, the hitch or the trick or the discernment and wisdom comes, how do we figure that out? Well, I mean, I'm not gonna even try to answer that, but I mean, do you want to speak more to this authorities? I think there's a clear way that authority works. We are citizens first and foremost of God's kingdom.
And so we are loyal to, and we are obedient to first and foremost God's kingdom. Then God has all of us living in different communities, in different nations, in different cultures. We are called to represent God uniquely in those communities and cultures. So yes, we should obey our ruling authorities because God has put them in place [00:09:00] to watch out for us and take care of us.
The hitch is whenever our ruling authorities are calling us to do things that are directly disobedient to God. Right. So you think about Shadrach, They're like, no, we're not going to bow down and worship the idols. We refuse to do that. You think about Daniel? He's like, no, I'm not going to pray to the King.
I'm going to pray to God. So there are times where we don't just do what the government says, because what the government says is against God's will. And there is a ton of wisdom and discernment that is required there. Um, one thing that is worth noting is that the Romans were not godly people. They were, they were not godly Kings.
And Jesus. encourages people to pay their taxes, and Paul encourages people to obey their authorities. So there is some level of, Hey, this is the culture I live in. These are the people I'm going to honor, even when they're not godly. Should we desire that they are godly? 100%. Why would we not want godly leaders?
Um, it's, it's not a good [00:10:00] thing for a nation to live under ungodly leaders. And it's not a scandalous thing for Christians to desire Christian leaders. Um, because we have a loyalty to God's kingdom. First and a loyalty to our own culture and community. Second. So the next part of this very short chapter, it feels like we like dumped a ton of time into the beginning.
That government thing is a big deal. Yeah. So the next part is literally just, it reminds me a lot of the 10 commandments and then the wrapped in little part that Jesus adds, um, in the new Testament, we've heard this before. So I think what really sticks out to me is just inverse. Let's see, verse 9, uh, Towards the end, this, any other commandment is summed up in this word.
You shall love your neighbor as yourself. And there's this whole list of things before that, of how to essentially like have right living with one another, um, in a Christian godly way, probably just to avoid. Some of these things that will hold us [00:11:00] back. Um, so for me, it's really encouraging because it's like, all right, like if I am, if I owe someone something, like there's always tension in that.
If you've ever owed anybody, anything, um, like there's tension for the person that you owe something to. There's tension for you as an individual. I mean, college debt has been like a big deal for us. And that is just like, Oh, you can feel the tension of it. It exists. And it's like, Oh, I hate it. Actually for us it was an unwise decision that we are now, like, trying to deal with.
Yeah, so, uh, and then, like I said, it goes through all of the other commandments that we would have. known from the past. No murdering, don't steal, don't covet. And essentially just like if you are loving your neighbor the same way that you would like hope someone would love you, those things don't have any place.
I don't want anyone to steal from me. I don't want anyone to owe me anything. You know what I mean? Like I don't want to live in the tension of that sin. Um, so it just kind of [00:12:00] like lays out those very, I would say like foundational things, but then it also goes into like this little Three verse, four verse, chunk of information about.
Just how again, I guess taking it even a step further of how to live without any of those other tensions I don't know you want to add to that at all. Well, I'm he is making an argument that Jesus has made Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount like highlights these commandments that people are familiar with but then talks about how like Like, there's a deeper level to these things, like when you love your neighbor, you care for them.
So it's one thing to the fall, follow the law. It's another thing to actually be on the inside, obedient to Christ and not just outwardly obedient. I hope that makes sense. I feel like that's not. I'm not making as much sense as I would like to. Um, but Paul saying the same thing, like, Hey, like love covers a multitude of sins, [00:13:00] like love one another.
And when you love one another, you are fulfilling the law. So it's like, Hey, let's actually look out for each other with let's care for each other. Don't let this get hijacked and become just love people no matter what they do and accept whatever they do. And. You know, everything's fine. That's not what this is talking about either.
This is, I mean, it definitely clears that up in like several verses after exactly. It talks about don't walk in darkness and that's a real challenge in our world today that a lot of times darkness is held up as though it is love. And that's, that's just not true. Like it's, it's not accurate. The Bible teaches that that's not accurate.
Uh, this is Christian love where we are caring for each other. Honoring each other, supporting each other, and, and you have to understand Romans 13 in light of, I would say at least Romans 12, but also like the whole book, like Paul has already laid out what love is. And so he's saying love one another in the context of what he's already established in the book.
So I would say a good verse for today for your part is verse 12. So chapter 13, verse 12 [00:14:00] says the night is far gone. The day is at hand. So then let us cast off the work of darkness. and put on the armor of light. And I think that sums up this chapter really well because like there's this this period now where like Jesus has set the tone for us and like we we're out of the darkness.
The day is here. Like make use of this time until Jesus returns to live in this like community of faith. Without those tensions we were talking about and like, respect the authorities that God has put in place all necessarily just like for God's glory, but also understanding that God's plan and promises are much bigger than ours.
Um, so I think that this is, this is like a good prompting to us live a life that is reflective of these things as well as like respecting the authorities that are over you. Although that might not always be the most fun thing to do, but, uh, hopefully this verse is encouraging to you today. As we wrap up chapter 13, we'll be back again [00:15:00] next week on Monday for Romans chapter 14.
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You can support us with as little as 3 a month. Every little bit of this helps so much. And we're so thankful for your support with that in mind, here's today's reading. Romans, Chapter 13 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will [00:16:00] receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good.
But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath, but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes. For the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing.
Pay to all what is owed to them, taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves one another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet, and any other commandment are summed up in this word.
You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling [00:17:00] of the law. Besides this, you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is far gone, the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.
Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness. Not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of God's Plan, Your Part.
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