Last time in Romans, we saw how we as believers are to yield ourselves as a living sacrifice unto God, and how this translates into obedience. We are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds through the word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. Continuing on what this should look like, Paul writes to them regarding their relationship with human government.

There are four institutions God has ordained, and their purpose is to restrain evil and to promote righteousness in this world. The first of which is man’s freewill. God has given each person the ability to choose or reject Him. Freewill is the prerequisite to love. The second is marriage, which is a union of one man and one woman for life (Genesis 2:21-25). One reason for marriage is procreation, to provide a safe place to birth and raise children to further the human race. In addition to procreation, marriage is a model of intimacy that reflects the intimacy the Church has with Jesus Christ Ephesians 5:22-33) Third, is the nuclear family which, in a perfect world, consists of a mom and dad and their children. Parents are to be those solely responsible for raising children to serve and fear God (Ephesians 6:1-4). Lastly, the fourth institution is human government which Paul will discuss in this chapter of Romans. If these are the four institutions God has ordained, it’s no wonder then the radical Left, which are really Socialists and Marxists, have sought to corrupt and gain control of all four. At its heart, it is really a devilish attack on what God says is good. If God has ordained them for our good, then we should agree with Him, and seek to promote them in society.

So, what does the Bible have to say about human government? To understand this, we have to go all the way back to Genesis. If we recall, Cain became envious of his brother, and out of hatred, murdered him. This unleashed a string of violence that grew exponentially worse until the Lord destroyed the whole world with a flood. After the flood, the Lord spoke to Noah, and said, “Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man. ‘Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man.” (Gen 9:5-6) Here, the Lord was giving Noah and his family the basis for human government, and that basis was capital punishment for murder. The Lord did not want violence to erupt in the way it had before the flood, so His deterrent was capital punishment for murderers and even for animals who killed a person. God’s reasoning for this is that man is created in His image. The Lord loves us so much He created us in His image, so hatred carried to its natural end is a direct attack on Him. This was given before the law, so it is still in effect today. Every society (including our own) that has turned its back on God has gotten away from capital punishment, and this has only served to lower the standard of justice and emboldened criminals to do more.

It is important to note that human government from a biblical perspective does not mean a one-world government. We see the first example of this in Genesis 11:1-10 where all the people were united with one language under the leadership of Nimrod, and sought to build a tower to heaven, probably an astrological temple. The Lord came down, confused their languages, and spread them out over the earth. As we can see then, it was never the Lord’s intention for the whole world to be united under an earthly leader, but several nations with their respective leaders Acts 17:26-27). A one-world government or the world under the control of one leader as we can see from the beginning is, at its core, anti-God, and will ultimately culminate with the antichrist during the tribulation. The only time God intended the whole world to be under the control of one man is when His Son, Jesus Christ, the God-man, rules for one thousand years, and one day soon, this will be the reality. With this back-drop, let’s jump into Romans 13.

Paul begins by saying, “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.” Here he is affirming again that human government is one of God’s institutions for mankind. Not only this, but God is the one who appoints governments and their leaders. Because of this, believers are to be subject to these authorities, and those who fail to do so will bring judgment on themselves. This is God’s judgment administered through earthly rulers.

Rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil ones. If we want to be unafraid of the authorities, we should do good, and we will be praised for doing so. Rulers are God’s ministers (servants) for good. However, if we do evil, we should be afraid, because they do not bear the sword in vain, a reference to capital punishment. They are actually God’s servants to administer vengeance on those who practice evil. Believers submit to authority, not only to avoid wrath, but also for conscience’ sake. By submitting to authority, we can have a clean conscience before God because we are really doing it unto Him.

Not only are we right before God, but we are a good example to those very leaders and may open them to receiving the Gospel. Paul wrote to Timothy, “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Tim 2:1-4) Paul was not alone in his teaching of submitting to authority, for Peter also writes, “Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men— as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.” (1 Peter 2:13-17)

For this reason, we also pay taxes, because this is how the government is funded to do its job. Most of us understandably do not like paying taxes, especially when they are exorbitant and/or used to fund immoral behaviors and lifestyles. However, even Jesus, when speaking to the Pharisees, told them to render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s (Matthew 22:15-22). If the government is collecting exorbitantly or funding immoral behaviors, the Lord will sort it out. We just need to render to all their due whether it be taxes, customs (tariffs), fear to whom fear, and honor to whom honor.

The question that often arises is, what do we do when government and its rulers are corrupt? It seems clear from verses 3-5 that Paul is operating under the assumption of godly rulers (e.g. they are not a terror to good works, they are God’s ministers for good, they do not bear the sword in vain, etc. What do we do when they are a terror to good works, they are ministers of evil, and they are putting people to death unjustly? In the same passage of 1 Peter, he tells servants to submit to their masters even though they are harsh, so it is pleasing to the Lord to submit to authority even when they are corrupt as much as possible. However, I believe there are times when we should not.

First, we should absolutely not submit to authority that is asking us to do something contrary to the word of God. When the apostles were told by the religious leaders to stop preaching in the name of Jesus, Peter and the other apostles answered, “We ought to obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29) Second, I believe there are situations when we should not submit to authority when they are blatantly violating God’s moral law, attempting to force others to do the same, or if we or those we love are under threats of serious bodily injury or worse. If we look at the whole counsel of God’s word, we will see instances where the Lord did tell His people to overthrow a corrupt leader, and there were times when, due to the disobedience of His own people, He told them to submit to another leader as a means of discipline. I believe then, it comes down to seeking the Lord’s will through prayer and asking Him to search our hearts to make sure we are not simply doing it out of a rebellious spirit.

Some criticize our forefathers for fighting the American Revolution, stating they were in rebellion to God for doing so. If you have not done so in a while, I would encourage you to read the Declaration of Independence. It was not for trivial or petty offenses that they declared their independence from Great Britain. Among some of these offenses were keeping standing armies among the colonists in times of peace without the consent of the legislatures, declaring the military independent of and superior to the civil power, forcing them to house British soldiers, and protecting those same soldiers with mock trials from punishment for murdering colonists. They were deprived of trial by jury, shipped overseas and tried for pretended offenses, and even kidnapped at sea and forced to bear arms against their own countrymen or be killed. As we can see, the American colonists were both being asked to partake in evil, as well as being subjected to serious bodily injury and death by King George III. And the British parliament. Those who signed the Declaration appealed to the ‘Supreme Judge of the world,’ and relied on His protection. This does not seem to be a declaration done out of a rebellious spirit; in fact, they did everything they could to resolve their grievances peacefully. They did what they did out of their love for God and for their neighbor. Our nation has been a beacon of freedom and one of the largest promoters of the Gospel in the whole world, so when you examine the fruit, it is hard to think this was the wrong thing to do when God has blessed us so much. Again, I believe this should be done through much prayer and not taken lightly.

I don’t normally cover these things in a Bible study, but there is a bill in our state legislature, SB 5974, in which if enacted, will create an unelected state board to remove a duly elected sheriff from office. No doubt, this goes back to the COVID years, and our state politicians know one of the weapons in our arsenal against government tyranny is our county sheriffs. We had sheriffs in rural counties that were not enforcing the governor’s illegal mandates, and they don’t want this to happen again. The county sheriff is an elected officer, and therefore, is accountable to the people and the constitution only. SB 5974 would shift the balance of power away from voters into the hands of unelected bureaucrats. Not only that, the Senate Bill is illegal since the power of voters to elect their sheriff is derived from the state constitution. They would have to amend the state constitution in order for this to be legal. This means they would be the law breakers, not us. So then, counties have every legal right to not comply with this bill if it passes, and should not do so. They need to band together with the Washington State Sheriffs’ Association (WSSA) and the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC) to figure out what their options are, because success will be in the numbers.

Make no mistake, if this bill passes and is not overturned by the courts, we will absolutely have tyranny state-wide. This means that all the crazy legislation coming out of Olympia whether it be gun control, transgender lunacy, health mandates, etc. would be enforced regardless of what county it is. If the sheriff does not comply, then he is removed. I say all this to point out that this is a good example of when we should not comply with governing authorities.

What is our attitude toward authority, in particular as it relates to government? Do we find ourselves having a rebellious spirit and try to find ways to disobey them? If so, we will only hurt ourselves in the long-run. God has set up earthly rulers for our good and for the good of society. Or maybe we find ourselves on the other end of the spectrum: maybe we just want to comply with everything, even if it means disobeying God. We should obey the Lord first, and seek to have a government that values the things He values. In this country, that means voting for leaders and legislation that support biblical morality, and speaking out for what is right. Above all, we need to pray for our leaders and be good citizens in hopes that more will be reached for the Gospel.