Obey governing authorities?

Romans 13:1-7

The lectionary has been walking through much of Romans this summer, but it skips Romans 13:1-7. I think this skip makes sense - not everything can or should be read in worship - but I also think these verses deserve our attention as they are often used - misunderstood and misused - in wider public discourse.

In this passage Saint Paul writes, “let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God” (Romans 13:1).

In a world where many governments are marred by corruption or led by cruel authoritarians with little regard either for the rule of law or for the welfare of the people (a key concern of the Bible), hearing that “there is no authority except from God” can be jarring. Does this mean that corrupt and authoritarian governments deserve our honor, respect, and obedience?

Governments can be corrupt, cruel, and authoritarian. We know this. This summer I visited "slave castles" in Ghana where for hundreds of years "Christian" colonial governments forcibly captured, sold, and shipped human beings - stripped of any rights or dignity - to be used as slave labor in the Americas. There was nothing good or holy about such governing authorities.

I've visited sites in El Salvador and Chile where authoritarian governments in the late 20th century tortured and killed people - political opponents, religious leaders, innocent civilians, and more. I've heard the stories of Cuban and Venezuelan exiles who were oppressed and harrassed by their governments, forced to flee their homes. There is nothing good or holy about such governing authorities.

We've all learned about the horrors of Apartheid South Africa or of the Third Reich in Germany, or of any other number of dictatorships, autocracies, and cruel government policies that any decent person would recognize as unjust, cruel, and inhumane.

Yet, Paul writes, “Rulers are not a terror to good conduct but to bad.” Paul describes government as “the agent of God to execute wrath on the wrongdoer.” Certainly, we know that many governments of the past and present execute wrath on the innocent, journalists, political opposition, religious and ethnic minorities, the poor, and more. Of course, Paul knew this also.

Paul's words, I believe, aren’t entirely what they seem.

Paul himself was arrested (under false and questionable pretenses) twice in the book of Acts, and likely on other occasions. In other letters Paul recounts enduring beatings and imprisonments at the hands of governing authorities. He followed a Lord who was killed by the governing authorities. Paul knew, just as we know today, that governing authorities could be corrupt, violent, and unjust.

The Bible offers many different perspectives on how we related to governance and human authorities. :

• The Old Testament is filled with stories of priests anointing kings who later become so unfaithful and corrupt that the Lord raises up a prophet to speak out against them. Not all governing authorities carry out their God-given authority faithfully - not even in Israel, God’s chosen people! Most, in fact, do not.
• The Gospels describe Roman governing authorities as recklessly violent - from Herod the Great’s violent effort to kill the infant Jesus, to Herod Antipas’ execution of John the Baptist, to Pilate’s execution of Jesus on the cross.
• Yet in 1 Peter 2 we read calls to “be subject to every human authority” and to “honor the emperor.” 1 Timothy 2 urges readers to pray for the emperor.
• Jesus famously tells his listeners to “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s,” implicitly supporting the empire’s taxing authority.
• In Acts Peter says, "we must obey God rather than any human authority" (Acts 5:29).
• Revelation itself is written as a vision of the end times conquest over Babylon - widely understood as an allegory for God’s victory over the Roman Empire.

So, what is it? Why does Paul write so uncritically that we should be subject to governing authorities?

First, Paul is writing to a small group of Christians in Rome. He is not imagining a world in which, centuries later, Christians would be the governing authorities (and use his words to force compliance with their evil intentions!). Paul is writing to a tiny religious minority community, itself made up of Gentiles and of Jews (who had recently been expelled from Rome before being allowed to return). Knowing the ruthless power of the governing authorities, Paul doesn't want the vulnerable Christian in Rome to create any trouble and risk suffering the Empire's wrath. Just keep your head down. Obey. And move on.

During this time there were tax riots in Rome and in different parts of the empire. People banded together to resist paying taxes. Rome would send in the troops, violence would erupt, and lots of blood would be shed. So Paul tells the Christians in Rome to pay their taxes (Romans 13:6). Don't get caught up in the movements against the empire. Don't put a target on your back. Just keep your head down. Obey. And move on.

Secondly, this guidance is essentially short-term. At the end of Romans 13 (see verses 11-14) Paul is looking ahead to the promised Day of the Lord, to the end of time when Christ will return in to set things right. He's convinced that Jesus is returning soon. "Salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers ... the day is near" (Romans 13:11-12). For now, just obey the governing authorities. Our ultimate authority, Christ, is coming soon. 

Thirdly, Paul teaches that all governing authority is appointed by God. While our modern ears might hear this as "God placed President so-and-so or King so-and-so in power," Paul's first readers would have heard something quite different. Rome's emperors fancied themselves to be gods. They never would have accepted the idea that some other god - let alone the God of the Israelites - was more powerful or ruled over or appoinoted the Caesars of Rome. In the ears of his first hearers, Paul's teaching knocks the emperor down a peg or two, and reminds the Roman Christians that God is the ultimate divine authority, not any self-appointed man-god.

Finally, Paul urges his readers to "pay to all what is due them: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due" (Romans 13:7). He immediately follows that teaching with one like it: "Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law" (Romans 13:8).

I love this contrast between "pay to all what is due to them" and to "owe no one anything." The Christian doesn't get a pass on their civil obligations - they are to pay taxes, revenue, respect, and honor to whom these are due. I think the message here is to not give the rulers - who Paul knew can be unjust - any additional reason to oppress you. They may oppress you anyway, because that's what unjust rulers do, but Paul doesn't think you should give them further reasons. Thus, obey. Pay your taxes. Keep your head down.

So what do we do, today? Romans 13:1-7 is not a blanket, black-and-white call for strict obedience to every government's agenda or whims or decrees. It is a call to Roman Christians living under an oppressive empire to live peaceably with their neighbors, including their government. It's also a particular teaching that is shaped by Paul's firm belief that Christ was returning soon to recreate the whole world. Nearly 2000 years later, we see the duties of government differently and timeline of Christ's promised return differently. 

Paul was writing to a group that he couldn't entirely control, or whose relationship with the Empire he couldn't entirely manage. From a distance he encouraged a kind of obedience for the sake of their safety. Yet over the centuries Christians have chosen to defy rather than obey, to resist unjust governing authorities on expressly religious grounds. We give thanks for thier faithfulness.

As Americans we have the ability to petition our government, vote, and exercise freedoms of speech and of assembly - all rights which Saint Paul couldn't have imagined. We can and should use these rights and privileges in the spirit of Paul's teaching about love. To whatever extent we can influence our government, we should do so with love for our neighbor and a desire for the common good.

For, as Paul writes, "love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law" (Romans 13:10).