For he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not carry the sword in vain. He is God’s servant, an agent of retribution to the wrongdoer.for he is a servant of God to you for good. But if you do that which is evil, be afraid, for he doesn’t bear the sword in vain; for he is a servant of God, an avenger for wrath to him who does evil.For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.for he is a minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is a minister of God, an avenger for wrath to him that doeth evil.
7 sermons cite this verse
… Emperors and governors, Peter says, are sent by God to punish those who do evil. Romans 13, verse 4 says the government is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoers. So government is given by God to restrain evil, to punish evil. And government is given by God for the promotion of good. 1 Peter 2, verse 14 talks about governors being sent to praise those who do good. Romans 13 talks about how government is given by God for our good. So this is what governments are set up by God to do. to restrain evil and promote good among their people. And as such, people are to submit to government. Followers of Christ are to submit to government as a rightful authority set up by God. Again, realize Peter and Paul are saying this in an openly decadent Roman empire. It's filled with idolatry and immorality and the abuse of women and child infanticide and homosexual activity and on and on and on. …
… Then do what is good and you will receive his approval. For he's 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. Now, there's so much there to unpack, but when it comes down to it, this much is simple and clear, yet missed in political discussion, even among Christians in the church, on issues like this. The Bible teaches that government, so very simply, government is given by God for the good of people. So government is given by God. It exists under the authority of God. It's instituted by God to be a terror to bad conduct. So those who do what is good are approved by the government, and those who do what is bad are not. That's God's design. Under God, the primary purpose of government is to protect and promote the good of its people. And the government does this by making and enforcing laws, which leads to the second part there in your notes. …
… has spoken even when it comes to civil authorities leaders and our relationship to them so i don't have time to turn there but you might write down romans chapter 13 verse 1 through 4 where paul in the New Testament addresses our relationship to civil authorities and God's purpose for civil authorities. Let me, let me read it to you. Romans chapter 13, verse 1. Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there's no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. God has instituted governing authorities. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities, resists what God has appointed. And those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers, now this is the key verse, verse 3, for rulers, the leaders, are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad conduct. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval. For he is God's servant for our good. This is where we say, oh, there's so much to unpack here in Romans chapter 13. But this is, this is so simple and clear, yet so missed in much political discussion, even among Christians in the church. The Bible teaches that government is given by God for the good of people. That's what Romans 13 is saying. …
or examples to come later in the book of Romans. We can think about Romans 13 verse 4, which is about the power of the governing authorities and they don't bear the sword for nothing. And that when the civil magistrate wields the sword and truly rewards what is good and punishes what is evil, says you ought to be afraid, he bears the sword and acts with God's authority. He does so. So when a police officer arrests someone who has violated the laws and committed a crime, when a judge sentences someone who is guilty to jail, when the state administers that justice, Romans 13 says that is an authority derived from God and that is part of God's execution of his wrath even now in the world. It's not his final wrath. And there's opportunities to repent, but it is one way that the wrath of God is revealed to show in a temporal way what God thinks about sin and lawlessness. There's another example, even more obvious, and that's Romans 6.23, for the wages of sin is what? …
… the duty to restrain evil and to protect the sheep from the wolves. See Romans chapter 13, verses 1 through 4. At the same time, God's law also makes it clear that while we should support those commissioned to temporarily restrain evil, we should also keep an ever-cautious and watchful eye on governmental lethal force because governments can and have in the past become a monster much worse than what they were trying to protect us from. But even more, for those who trust in the gospel, our hearts can never become comfortable with capital punishment because the gospel tells us that while God has made such temporary provisions to protect the sheep, he has also made eternal provision to save us all because he loves us all, sheep and wolves included. That's Tim's story. But what does his story mean for yours? This isn't a message about the pros and cons of capital punishment. Rather, it's about how God is dealing with you wherever you are. God is dealing with you in love by talking to you in these two ways, law and gospel. …
… For he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Now this verse, Romans chapter 13 verse 4b, is one of the most important verses in all of Scripture in terms of the development of historic classic Christian ethics with respect to two monumentally important issues of ethics. Number one being the issue of capital punishment, and number two being the controversial issue of warfare and whether Christians can in good conscience ever be engaged in war. And what is so important about this text is that it is God who has given to the civil magistrate the power of the sword. And that concept in the language, that is the phrase the power of the sword, is an idiomatic expression for the power of capital punishment. For the power of using a weapon that can bring death to enforce the law of God. Now, the idea of the swords being used to enforce the law of God is established exceedingly early in the biblical record. …
… For he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience's sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God's ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, and honor to whom honor. The word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Please be seated. Let us pray. Now, our Father, as we embark upon this segment of the epistle to the Romans, we ask that you would help us, that you would stoop to our weakness and dullness of understanding and our slowness of heart to believe all of those things that you have set forth in your word. …