The Judge is at Hand

Series on Romans

XVI Spiritual Service

Text 13:1-14

Introduction

The Bible says in Ephesians 5 that husbands are to submit to Christ and wives are to submit to their own husbands. Our hatred of the subject of submission, as a culture, is well documented in the number of women who refuse to include the word obey in their marriage vows. In fact in the recent 2011 marriage of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, the press made a big deal of the fact that the word “obey” was omitted. The Bible also says children should submit to their parents, but the growing number of rebellious children tells us how well that is working. Traditionally the fifth commandment, “Honor your Father and Mother,” has been understood to mean submission, not only to parents but to civil and church authorities, to teachers, to employers to officers and to anyone who is legitimately placed over us in society. Our text is about submission, and I boldly place it before you as the teaching of Scripture regardless of how unpopular the practice may be. Life is about submission and the reason is that we are all required to submit to God and if we do not, we perish. We are going to see submission in this chapter under three headings, submission to the crown, to the covenant, and to the circumstances.

I The Crown

Submission to the crown is covered in verses 1-7, Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. We are talking here about civil government whether a monarchy, an oligarchy, a republic, a democracy, or a communistic dictatorship. Some of these forms of government are significantly better than others and all of them can be better or worse at various times and places and all tend to become totalitarian. We live in a fallen world. There are benevolent and malevolent monarchs and Paul wrote these words when Nero was the emperor of Rome. We do not submit to the civil authorities because they are always good, or because they are always right. We submit because they are acting in the place of God in the civil realm. We honor them not because of what they are, but because of what they represent which is God’s authority. In general civil government is a blessing from God, and it is an instance of His common grace. Our ability to worship and preach the gospel depends in large measure upon the stability provided by a fixed government. The closing verse of the book of Judges reminds us, In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit. There was no government and the result was chaos. To Paul it was a matter of little importance whether the Roman emperor was appointed by the senate, the army, or the people, whether the assumption of the imperial authority by Caesar was just or unjust, or whether his successors had a legitimate claim to the throne or not. Paul wanted to establish the simple principle that magistrates are to be obeyed. This places a heavy burden on the rulers and in a republic such as the USA on the people who elect the rulers. That is the effect of Paul saying that the magistrate is God’s minister. He must answer to God for his performance. There are three important failures that occur in sinful human societies.

A Conscience

Paul says we ought to obey those in authority not only because they have the power of the sword to punish, but for conscience sake. Conscience is nothing more than the mind of a man instructed with certain moral standards. When those standards are deduced from majority opinion rather than from the Word of God, as they are in our society, then conscience becomes ineffective as a tool for enforcing proper conduct. What is proper to a society is not necessarily what is proper in the sight of God, and so we find ourselves in a situation where conscience is virtually useless.

B Corruption

The second failure is corruption. This is the abuse of authority by those in power. Paul is speaking of the legitimate purpose of government, not of the abuse of power by wicked men. It happens often. Though such people are denominated “ministers of God” in this passage, they themselves are often unaware of the solemn trust that has been placed in them. They become perpetrators of injustice, and such are condemned throughout the Bible. We must bear in mind that the Apostle is commanding us to obey the legitimate governmental authority. It is not always easy to decide when the governor or government becomes unlawful. Obviously at the time of the American Revolution there were Christians on both sides of the issue; some honoring the king and others rebelling against his authority. We can only be guided by Scripture and sincere intentions in such circumstances, but we should remember that Paul writes these words when the infamous Nero was emperor.

C Cowardice

Perhaps the most deceptive failure in human societies is cowardice. This would be the lack of courage to enforce the proper penalties for wrongdoing. I am not talking here about favoritism, though that exists, but about the humanistic deception that this life is all that we have and therefore we must preserve it. This leads to ever increasing programs and prisons. There was a time when there were no prisons in the early days of our nation and in ancient Israel those guilty of property crimes were required to make restitution and those guilty of bodily crimes were physically punished. The use of institutions for extended confinement of offenders is a relatively recent innovation. It is chiefly a product of American influences. Until the later years of the eighteenth century, the usual method of dealing with convicted offenders was to impose fines and some form of corporal punishment. This ranged from public humiliation in the stocks or pillory; to whipping, branding, other forms of mutilation, and to execution. Now we are afraid to execute people even though the Bible commands it in Genesis 9:6 and here again in Romans 13. We claim to respect life and yet at the same time as we refuse to execute murderers we kill unborn children by the millions. Such is our cowardice. Robert Culver reminds us, “Government, with its coercive powers, is a social necessity, but one determined by the Creator, not by the statistical tables of some university social research staff! No society can successfully vote fines, imprisonment, corporal and capital punishment away permanently. The society which tries has lost touch with realities of man (his fallen sinful state), realities of the world, and the truth of divine revelation in nature, man’s conscience, and the Bible.”

II The Covenant

We discover submission to the covenant in verses 8-10, Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Love God with your whole heart and your neighbor as yourself is the sum of the law according to Jesus and Paul repeats that here. The law was given to a redeemed people after the Exodus from Egypt as a set of stipulations for the gracious covenant by which God had redeemed them from bondage. As Paul writes he knows that God has fulfilled this covenant with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now he urges the believers to fulfill that covenant by obedience and submission to the stipulations of the covenant. This is our duty because as Paul states elsewhere in Ephesians 5:1 and 2, Be ye therefore imitators of God, as beloved children, and walk in love, even as the Christ loved us, and delivered himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour. (Darby Translation)

III The Circumstances

The course of events in God’s plan is vital to our motivation to submit. In short, the circumstances influence our willingness to submit. Paul deals with this in verses 11-14, And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature. Paul taught that with the coming of Jesus Christ and the fulfillment of the Old Testament we had now entered the last days. This is the basis of his appeal. Since the day of judgment and the day of the great deliverance is coming, what sort of persons should we be? We live in a world darkened by sin and judgment. The apostle John in his gospel, chapter 1, reminds us that Jesus is the true light and he says, The light shines in darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. If you are a Christian and a true believer you will not be guided by the course of this age. This age is characterized by societies that reject capital punishment for even the most serious crimes, including murder, and come under blood guiltiness from God. Do not follow them. Do not walk in darkness. Behave decently, as in the daytime, as the Apostle counsels. Submit to the Lord and those who are over you in the Lord and when those who are over you do not follow the Lord, then you follow Him to the end.