Romans 13:1-7 Unpacked, Part 2

Power Corrupts, Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely

When the Israelites first entered the Promised land, they had no king. God was their king. Priests administered justice, judges were raised when the people were besieged by outsiders. But the people were not satisfied. In fact, they were afraid. They wanted security from invasion. They wanted a king, like the other nations.

They got their king, but not without this warning: “Samuel reported all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots, and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his courtiers. He will take one-tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and his courtiers. He will take your male and female slaves and the best of your cattle and donkeys and put them to his work. He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. (1 Samuel 8:10-17).”

Contrast that to a king that rules by God’s law: he defends the poor and needy, protects from oppression and violence, rules with justice and equity, strengthens the nation for the benefit of the people, has integrity, and is not ruled by greed and self-interest. (see Psalm 72:, Psalm 99:4, Jeremiah 23:5, Isaiah 32:1-3, Proverbs 29:4, Proverbs 31:4-8, and Deuteronomy 17:17-19 among other passages).

Which brings us to the part of Romans 13 that says, “those authorities that exist have been instituted by God.” Governing authorities have the obligation to rule according to God’s law, so that God’s will is done in earth as in heaven. In practice, those in power have ruled in their own self-interest. Think of all the abuses that occurred in the name of the “divine right of kings.” Somehow, “God’s will” turns out to be what those in power say it is. Which is why there were always prophets to call the powers that be to account. As you might expect, this was typically not well received. Yeah, Herod, I’m thinking of you and the beheading of John the Baptist (Matthew 14:1-11)!

It is telling that Russel Moore, Editor-At-Large for Christianity Today states: “That Romans 13 is most often invoked not when the state is acting justly but when Christians feel the urge to quiet their consciences ought to trouble us—not because this habit puts too much weight on biblical authority but because it attacks it.” Paul states that only those who do wrong need to fear the authorities. Only those governing authorities who are oppressive and unjust need to fear civil disobedience of the people. By the way, Rome had zero tolerance for civil disobedience and crushed it ruthlessly. In the United States, the right to speak out against the government (including peaceful protests and civil disobedience) is enshrined in the Bill of Rights.

I’m going go out on a limb and offer my own opinion about the whole “all authorities instituted by God” thing. This is my personal reflection and opinion and may or may not be scriptural (but I think it is!). I don’t think all who have or have had positions of power were actually instituted by God. I find it hard to believe that God put Genghis Khan, Vlad the Impaler, Attila the Hun, Herrod the Great, or Hitler, to name just a few of the worst, in power. I think in a world where we have free will, and the forces of evil still prowl, sometimes people come to power that shouldn’t have been there in the first place. I believe God always redeems the crooked timeline of history when it veers from God’s perfect plan. Still, I think we can all agree there have been times in history when the governing authorities should not have been obeyed.