Seth Buller Essay November 22, 2022 Romans 13 discusses the role of Christians and how to respond to local earthly governments a complicated and heated topic reduced to just seven verses. It is a difficult chapter to wrestle with even in today’s government, let alone when Paul was alive in the time of the oppressive Roman regime. In this chapter, Paul calls upon Christians to “be subject to local governments.” He states that whoever resists the government's rules is subject to judgment, though adds the qualifier that he refers to governments appointed by God. This point was discussed in class and though it makes sense, it almost seems to raise more questions for me, as aren’t all governments appointed by God? The second part of this passage quotes previous parts of the bible and sums up how loving your neighbor is indeed the fulfillment of the law. Paul’s true meaning in this text has long been difficult for me to understand, though this class helped me organize my thoughts on the matter. It is helpful to take why Paul starts talking about the government in context. “Enduring Word’s” commentary on the chapter mentions that being subject to the government’s authority is in stark contrast to the end of chapter 12 where Christians are instructed not to return evil for evil. People reading this would not have liked to hear that people who do them wrong would not be subject to repercussions. To me, this helped put set the stage for Romans 13 as Paul begins to talk about the government who does have a role as authority over wrongdoers. I did find “Romans 13:1-7: Christian Obedience to Synagogue Authority” take on the passage interesting as well. In his research, Mark Nanos believes that we have taken the passage completely out of context and it is intended to refer to the God ordained synagogue rulers in Rome. Whether this is true or not, I don’t know, but a plausible theory. I believe Paul’s message is that as Christians we are called to be subject to the authorities set in place by God. This is not a one-off concept, as Peter also says this in 1 Peter 2:13 - “submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake.” As we talked about in class, this is likely the case for a couple reasons. First of all, Christians ought to be loving, and how is it loving to disobey the authorities set in place by God? (unless it is sin) Second of all, as we discussed in class, Christians were under heavy persecution from the Romans. Disobeying the government for non-sin issues would have drawn too much attention to themselves. Members of “the way” were a small group at that time and any extra persecution from the Roman authorities of the time may have extinguished them. Though it is not directly said, I believe it to be obvious that this submission to authorities is provisional, based upon whether the laws go against God’s commands. This is clear not because it “sounds right” to me, but because it is seen so often throughout the bible. Daniel and company refuse to bow to Nebuchadnezzar’s statue and are thrown in jail. Paul himself is writing this book from prison after failing to submit to the Roman government. Specific scriptures support this notion as well, Acts 5:29 states “we ought to obey God, rather than men.” I think Paul is saying in Romans, and also in Titus 3:1 (Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed), that we ought to be submissive to the government unless it goes against God’s commands. His message is Christians should not be the ones not paying taxes just because they do not agree with the government. Another thought-provoking part of this passage is why Paul mentions a couple of times that God has placed all of authority into their respective powers. If you believe in the perfect plan theodicy, then God placing evil authority in place would make sense, for some purpose unknown to humans. However, with most other theodicies that involve elements of free-will, this notion that God placed people who would persecute christians into power, is very difficult to grasp. Since I believe God is all-powerful, I am still wrestling with why he would place such governments and command us to obey them. I appreciated your point made in the lecture that it is, perhaps, more about respecting the position of power than the individual holding that position at a given moment. As it is, all I can do now is try to follow the example of Jesus, who despite how he was killed by the Romans, did not slander the Roman government. Christians ought to be the best citizens of all, not in the sense of civic duty, but in being loving to your neighbors (Romans 13:10).
