Submit to Government (Romans 13:1–3) — A Sermon by R.C. Sproul

0:00 This evening we're going to continue with our study of Paul's letter to the church at Rome. Chapter 13 is important in the letter to the Romans because Paul sets forth in this chapter the biblical understanding of the role of government and of the civil magistrate and of our responsibilities as Christians to those whom God has put over us in terms of earthly authority. So let's look together now at the beginning of chapter 13 of Romans, and I'll ask the congregation please to stand, if you're able. Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.

0:57 Therefore, whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment upon themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. 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.

2:14 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. Give us hearts, O God, that are pleased to be instructed by you. For we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Again, we see this problem of sequence and chapter divisions that I've complained about on a regular basis, assuming that these chapter divisions that were obviously not part of the original text were inserted by some itinerant horseback rider. And while he was asleep from time to time, he would just, whenever the Spirit moved him, although I doubt if it was the Holy Spirit, would make these transitions from one chapter to the next. Because when Paul introduces this most important theme of civil government, as he does here in chapter 13. This theme follows immediately on what was just articulated at the end of chapter 12 with respect to questions of vengeance. Now, if I can recapitulate to bring your memories freshened from before, that I distinguished among three concepts that are very important because they are often confused in our thinking. One is the concept of justification, which has been the central theme of this epistle to the Roman Christians, that when the Bible speaks about justification, it speaks of that

4:20 merciful act of God by which, on the basis of the merit of Christ and on the merit of Christ alone, he deems those who put their faith in Christ and depend upon his righteousness, God deems or counts those people as being just in his sight. And even though in and of themselves and in and of ourselves we are not just, we are not righteous, nevertheless in this wonderful theme of justification. God counts people righteous who in and of themselves are not righteous because the righteousness of Christ has been imputed to them. Now, we've labored that throughout the gospel of Romans. That's the concept of justification. There's also the concept of vindication that I mentioned before. And again, Jesus' parable of the unjust judge, sometimes called the parable of the importunate widow who wanted to have her case tried in the civil courts, but the just was one who had no fear of men or of God and was not the least bit concerned about executing justice and didn't want to be bothered with this poor woman's plea. But as you know, she persisted and pestered this judge until just simply to get rid of her, he heard her case, And Jesus gave this strong contrast between the unjust judge and the just judge of all of the earth, who is willing to hear the cries of his people.

5:59 And the point of that parable, Jesus said, is, Will not then God vindicate his elect who cry unto him day and night? And so this concept of vindication is very important in biblical categories because vindication means to be shown to be innocent of false and slanderous charges that have been leveled against us either in the courts of law or in the court of public opinion where most slanderous charges are brought. and every Christian must bear the burden of being slandered from time to time, and we patiently await our vindication in the court of heaven where God promises to show that these charges against us were indeed false and that we are innocent of the accused crimes.

7:03 That's what vindication is. Vengeance is still something else. Vengeance is where payback occurs, where the scales of justice are set right, where an injury has been committed, then punishment for that crime is exacted at the court of justice. And we saw that what God says is that when we are injured. We are never to become vigilantes in searching out our own revenge. Revenge does not belong to us. And as I mentioned, it is because God knows our hearts and knows that we're never satisfied to get even. We always want to get one up. And so when we want justice, we end up committing injustice by exacting a greater penalty than the crime has actually merited. And nevertheless, we have to remember that God does not see vengeance as an inherent evil. Revenge is a legitimate enterprise when it was carried out or when it is carried out justly. And so God said, you are not to be agents of your own vengeance, but vengeance is mine. And then what does he say?

8:27 I will repay. Now, if vengeance were inherently evil, then it would be evil for God to exact it. But since God promises to be his people's avenger, then we see that in God's perfectly holy actions of judgment, that whatever revenge he executes in the last judgment will be altogether just, with no wickedness in it. Now, all of these things then set us up for Paul's treatment of civil government, because not only does God keep for himself the prerogative of vengeance, but he also establishes an order in this world for justice to be carried out in his name and under his authority. And what we see throughout the text, I've already read, that civil magistrate is not an afterthought that comes into being through the machinations of human invention, but civil government is an institution that is established by God and by God alone. And we'll explore that in a moment. But again, I remind you that God establishes the church and gives to the church a redemptive mission to fulfill, and he also establishes government as a ministry to the well-being of human beings in this world. We might call this a common grace ministry. The church is involved with the dispensing of those elements of special grace, that grace that has to do with our salvation, whereas the ministry of civil government

10:35 ministers to the common well-being of the human race, not only to Christians or only for the church, but for all people. But both the church and the state are established by God and are governed by God. And this is the first thing we need to understand in light of the ongoing discussions in our culture that cry daily for a separation of church and state, which originally meant in Christian thinking a division of labor between the institution of the church and the institution of human government. But what has come to mean in our culture the separation of the state from God, in which the state declares its independence from God and its ultimate autonomy to rule apart from any considerations of the things of God. When the government does that, whether in the United States, in the Soviet Union, or in any nation in the world, that government is then demonized and exists as an agent of opposition to God himself, and the nation then becomes truly godless in the sight of the king of the universe. And that is the danger that we face as a clear and present danger every moment in our own nation. And we need to be alert to this extremely great danger that we face. Well, let's go back now to the specifics of what the apostle enjoins to the Romans about earthly government.

12:20 he says, let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. A couple things about that. When Paul says, let every soul, he doesn't mean that we can distinguish now and divorce our souls from our bodies, and that the only kind of submission that we owe to the state is one that comes from within our heart. No, no, no. When he says, let every soul, the right translation for that would be, let every person. And he's addressing now the Christians, and he's saying, it is the duty of every Christian, indeed of every person, to be subject to the authorities. Now, we struggle with this because one of the things that we kick against in our sinful corruption is to be accountable to authorities that are placed over us.

13:27 Just think about all the different authorities that you've had to deal with in your life. You have the authority of your parents when you're growing up. When you went to school, you had the authority of your teachers and the principal. You have the authority of the police department as they patrol the highways. You have the authority of the dog catcher as you are regulated by how you treat your pets. You have the authority of state government. You have the authority of homeowners associations. You have the authority of the federal government, and so on and on it goes with one tier after another of authorities to which we are called to be in subjection. Now, this call, the universal call to subjection to authority, touches the root of our corruption, as I said, because every one of us is a sinner, and every sin is an act of revolt against authority.

14:40 If we respected the authority of God perfectly, dear ones, we would never sin. But when we sin, we refuse to be in subjection to the governing authority of God himself, and God knows that about us. And if we're not willing to be subjected to God, how much more difficult is it for us to be subject to the police department and to the government of the state and of the nation and other authorities that rule over us? And so he begins this segment with this universal command. It is the duty of every Christian to be in subjection to the authorities. When we look at this from a theological perspective, we see that what we're talking about here is the principle of civil obedience.

15:39 And the point that I would like to make throughout this chapter is this, that Christians are called to be extraordinary models of civil obedience. We are called to be people who bend over backwards to be submissive to authorities that are over us. Throughout redemptive history, we see the testimony of the great men and women of God who have shown us what it is to be models of civil obedience. I ask this question, for example, why was Jesus born in Bethlehem? Well, the quick and easy answer may be, well, because Micah prophesied in the Old Testament that he would be born in Bethlehem, and so obviously in the providence of God and in redemptive history, God so moved things to work out that Jesus would arrive in Bethlehem prior to his birth to make sure that that would be the place of the birth to fulfill the Scriptures, and certainly God's providence was in view in that regard. But why else, from a human perspective, was Jesus born in Bethlehem? Well, we know the answer to that because we read it every year in the Christmas story, don't we? That in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And so everyone went to their own city to enroll themselves for what end?

17:29 So that they could be taxed by a conquering emperor who now, without any regard for what it would cost the people to make an arduous journey back to the birthplaces to enroll for taxation, nevertheless gave the imperial decree that they do it. Now you can imagine a conversation like this going on in Nazareth. Joseph says, Mary, did you see the latest edict that came out of Rome? That crackpot emperor wants us all to go to our place of birth and enroll so that we can be taxed.

18:17 How do you feel about making a trip to Bethlehem? Mary said well I suppose Joseph that if that's what the authorities require then that was we was do oh come on Mary don't give me that Joseph says you remember what the angel said you're pregnant now and you're carrying in your womb the Messiah do you think we're going to jeopardize the whole salvation of our people by going on this arduous journey just to fulfill the whimsical decree of this crazy emperor over my dead body. We're staying here. Let him find us if he wants our tax. they made the journey.

19:07 And Joseph risked the life of his wife. And she risked the life of the babe in her womb. That they may be obedient to the civil magistrate. that's the example of godliness the first century of second century apologist justin martyr who gave his apologia to the emperor antoninus bias and giving his defense of christianity argued that the emperor should examine the lives of the christians to see that they above all of the citizens of the empire were the most scrupulous in the paying of their taxes and in their obedience to the civil magistrate. And so we have this strong motif throughout the New Testament to be obedient to the civil magistrate. You say, well, wait a minute.

20:09 Are we always supposed to obey the civil magistrate? No, no, no. Remember when the Sanhedrin said to the disciples in the book of Acts that they were to preach no more in the name of Jesus. And Peter said, shall we obey you or obey God? There are times when such a conflict arises where the civil magistrate commands or forbids something that is in direct conflict with the commandments of God, that not only may you disobey the civil magistrate, you must disobey the civil magistrate. In our ethics courses in the seminary, I used to point out to the students that this principle is so easy that a six-year-old child can learn it, but to apply it is exceedingly complex. The principle is this. We are always and everywhere to obey the authorities over us, our boss, our police, our governor, whatever that authority may be unless that authority commands us to do something that God forbids or forbids us from doing something that God commands. I don't know how many times I have women say to me, you know, I'm trying to be submissive to my husband, but my husband won't allow me to go to church. What should I do? I said, you go to church on Sunday morning. You disobey your husband.

21:43 because God commands you not to forsake the assembling together of the saints. And here's one case where not only may you disobey, but you must disobey, and then try to win him with your love and subjection the rest of the week. But in any case, there are times where we must disobey. If the civil magistrate calls us to sin, we have to say no. And the history of the world is replete with examples where exactly that is done by government. where they command their citizens to do that which is evil. It can happen in any country, even our own. So, again, the principle is easy. The application of it is difficult. The law is not this, that I may disobey the civil magistrate when I disagree with the civil magistrate, Or I may disobey the authorities over me when the authorities over me are making me suffer or making my life inconvenient.

22:47 No, no. One of the ironies of this master text of civil obedience is that it was written to the Romans, to Christians who were under the heavy hand of imperial Rome. And it was to that government that Paul called his people to be subject. And here he says something absolutely astonishing, but for which the theology of this ethic is grounded, for there is no authority except from God. There is no authority except from God. Ultimately, dear friends, the only one in all of reality who possesses intrinsic or inherent authority is God himself.

23:48 And what is that authority? The authority that God possesses is the eternal right to impose obligations upon his creatures. God has the inherent authority to command our obedience and our submission to him. It is he who has made us and not we ourselves. his authority rests in his authorship and ownership of the entire world. And any other authority that we experience in this world is not intrinsic but extrinsic. It is delegated from God. Again, Paul says, there is no authority except that which is established by God.

24:51 Flip over to Peter's epistle, in which he, in many ways, sounds the same message as the Apostle Paul does when he says, submit yourselves to the authorities that Christ might be honored. Well, how is my submission to the police department, to the state government, the housing development people? It drives me nuts that we have to jump through all the hoops we have to jump through in the zoning restrictions for the building of a church, and I want to scream to the world, whatever happened to the First Amendment, will you people get off our backs and let us have the free exercise of religion? But no, we patiently, painstakingly jump through those hoops. I have to grin and bear it while we're doing it. I want to march before the civil magistrate and say, you don't want us to interfere in the matters of the state? Well, get off our back when it comes to the church. But apart from making a comment about it now and then from the pulpit, I suffer in silence.

26:09 that Christ may be honored. Well, how is Jesus honored by our submission even to corrupt authorities? How does that reflect upon the honor of Jesus? Well, beloved, you may not know it, but the universe is not structured as a democracy. It's a monarchy. Indeed, a theocracy. The government of the universe is God, and he has appointed his only begotten Son as the King of the Kings and the Lord of the Lord. All authority on heaven and earth the Father has given to the Son.

26:56 The President of the United States, at the end of his life, will have to stand before Jesus Christ and be held accountable for how he held his office. the Senate, the House of Representatives, all of those authorities will be answerable to the King of Kings as to how they executed justice in their labors. The King of England, the Chairman of China, every earthly government will be held accountable to the King of the Kings because all authority on heaven and earth has been given to Jesus. and you often overlook the fact that at the heart of the biblical message is a political message, a kingdom, where the supreme political authority is now vested in Jesus Christ, who owns every square inch of real estate on this planet.

27:54 Now, when we disobey lesser authorities, we are disobeying authorities whose authority rests on Christ and is delegated from Him and through Him. The President of the United States cannot exercise his office for five minutes apart from the will of the King of Kings. It is the God of providence who raises kingdoms up and who brings kingdoms down. And every king in the history of the world rules only by the providential will of God himself. It's God who casts the final ballot in every election. You look at some of the results of elections and you say, how in the world could God have voted this way?

28:49 Maybe it was to judge us because he does that. As I say, he brings kingdoms down as well as bringing them up. There is no authority except from God. And the authorities that exist, again another way of translating this, is the powers that be. Not the ones that ought to be.

29:16 But here's the radical statement that the apostle gives. The powers that be are appointed by God. Every authority in this world is established in the final analysis not by referendum, not by democratic vote, but by the single appointment by the supreme ruler of heaven and earth. Every authority is appointed by God. And what Paul is saying is, it's God who appointed the Roman authorities.

29:56 I wonder if Paul ever ruled the day he wrote these words, when his life was ended by the sword, the vicious and unjust execution of Nero. I think that when Paul put his head on the block, probably the last thought that went through his mind was, the powers that be are appointed by God. Here's my head, Nero. Do with it what you will. that's radical stuff, folks. But can we look past those authorities and see the authority that stands behind it, see the authority that governs over it? That's why Jesus can say, will not God vindicate His elect who cry unto Him day and night?

30:52 Will not God set the scales of justice right when we are victimized by unjust, demonic governments that in themselves do everything but work for the glory and honor of Christ. You don't think God notices that? You don't think that Christ notices that? Our Lord will vindicate His people who seek to be faithful to Him despite the injustice that comes our way from earthly authorities. Therefore, whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God.

31:34 Therefore, whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance. Do you have any idea why Christians struggled and shook in their boots in the 18th century over whether they should pick up arms against the British government and declare their independence from them? One of the most heated discussions in our history was among Christians as to how they would understand Romans 13 in light of the war of independence. The view that won out was that what the colonists were fighting for was for the maintenance of the governmental system in which they were currently engaged against the arbitrary changes of that from the Parliament of England and that British common law gave them the right to resist in those circumstances.

32:31 That's a very complicated question that Christian scholars still debate to this moment. And the reason is this text here in Romans 13. For whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God. And those who resist will bring judgment upon themselves. That's a sober warning, isn't it? That if we resist those authorities whom God has appointed, we may be regarded as heroes by the people around us, but we can only expect the visitation of God's judgment on us.

33:14 For rulers are not a terror to good works but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same. Now this is a proverbial point of wisdom. it's true in the main. It's not true absolutely. Nobody ever did more good in the Roman Empire than the Apostle Paul. He did not, in the final analysis, receive praise from the civil magistrate. Instead, he received his death sentence from them. But in the main, even in corrupt governments around the world, in the worst of governments, that those who receive the most harsh treatment are those who we would call criminals, people who are involved in the worst forms of corruption, that the whole point of civil government is to restrain evil, to use force to restrain evil.

34:15 A couple of words about this. I had dinner or lunch several years ago with a United States senator whose name you would immediately recognize if I mention it to you. And I won't. But in the course of that luncheon discussion, we were talking about ethical issues that were in front of our nation. and he said to me, I'll never forget it, he said, R.C., I don't believe that the federal government ever has the right to force its people to do anything. I said, excuse me? I said, did I hear you right? Did I hear you just say that you don't believe that the federal government has the right to force its people to do anything? He said, yes, that's what I said. I said, Senator, do you realize that you've just said to me that you don't believe that the federal government of the United States has the right to govern?

35:11 Because what government is, is legalized force. What government is, is the right to enact legislation and to enforce the legislation that is enacted. A government that has no right to exercise force to cause its constituents to conform to the laws of the land is a government that can only make suggestions, not laws. Because again, that's the essence of government, is the power and authority to force conformity. You don't get a letter from the IRS every year requesting that you pay your taxes. If you don't, you don't pay them on the penalty of law. And every weapon in the United States arsenal can be used to bring you into conformity when you refuse to obey the magistrate.

36:12 but along with that statement from the senator, is the comment you hear all the time. You can't legislate morality. Every time there's an ethical issue that comes up for political discussion, whether it be abortion, euthanasia, or whatever, we hear this cry from every corner, you can't legislate morality. Two things I want to say about that. On the one hand, if what is meant by the comment you can't legislate morality is simply that you can't change people's behavior just by changing the law, there's some truth to that. But that's not normally the way in which it is articulated. It is usually meant to mean that the government has no place passing laws that have to do with moral matters. And I say, okay, if we can't legislate morality, what can we legislate?

37:09 The state bird. And even that has ecological and ethical ramifications, which birds are protected especially by state law. Think about the laws of the land and how many of them are moral. Is it a moral issue whether or not you rob banks? Is it a moral issue whether or not you commit first-degree murder? Of course. That's exactly what legislation is about, is about restraining evil. And what Paul is saying in simple terms is that maybe the government that we're dealing with is corrupt to the point that it drives us crazy, but the worst government is better than anarchy when evil goes without any restraint whatsoever. For he is God's minister to you for good.

38:12 But if you do evil, be afraid. For he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is God's minister and avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Again, the civil magistrate is referred to as God's minister several years ago. I mentioned on one occasion. I was invited to give the message at the prayer breakfast for the governor of the state of Florida for the inaugural prayer breakfast. It was the breakfast on the inauguration day where just a couple of hours after the breakfast, the governor-elect would be installed, take his oath, and become the governor of the state of Florida. And in that address, while the governor was sitting there in the front row, I said, you know, in the church, we go through ordination ceremonies.

39:13 When we are consecrated and set apart to the ministry of the church, we are ordained. And it's a sacred occasion because we take vows to be faithful to God in the execution of our office of the ministry. And I said, sir, today is your ordination day because you are being ordained as God's minister of civil righteousness. And I talked about Romans 13 to the governor. And people came up to the Baptist. They never thought about that. But of course that's what it was, his ordination day, because civil magistrates are ordained of God. They are God's ministers, and they are called upon to serve God's good pleasure. Now, the apostle says,

40:11 But if you do evil, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. Now, that statement in Romans 13 is one of the most controversial statements that Paul ever wrote. when he talks about the power of the sword that God gives to the civil magistrate. That subject is so laden with important content that I've elected to wait until our next session to explore that, not only in light of what the Apostle says here in Romans, but where the power of the sword was instituted by God in the first place, and for what purpose that power of the sword was visited on this planet. And God willing, we'll look at that in our next session.

41:09 Let's pray. Again, our Father, we thank you that you have not caused us to live in chaos with no structure of authority. that we pray that by Your Spirit You would continue to work within us and to quiet the rebellious impulses that we have as part of our fallen nature. Give us that kind of humility that seeks to honor You by honoring all of those whom You have appointed and placed in authority over us. for we ask it in Jesus' name.