Sunday School Notes: Romans 13:1

Let every soul be subject to the ruling authorities. For there is no authority except by God, and those existing are ordained by God.

After a short excursion into Covenant Theology, we returned this week to our study of Romans. I expected Romans 13 to generate a lot of discussion, and I wasn’t disappointed! In fact, our discussion around verse one really foreshadows a lot of what’s to come, so I expect the themes we touched on will be ones we’ll come back to as we make our way through Paul’s discussion.

Romans 13 can be divided into three sections: 1-7 deals with the church’s relationship to secular authority; 8-10 deals with relationships within the church; 11-14 is an exhortation to godly living. Some have suggested that this chapter is stand-alone, with no real connection to what’s gone before–possibly not even written by Paul. However, I think the themes clearly come from the preceding chapters, especially the latter part of chapter 12 where Paul reminds the church that it is God’s place to exact revenge, and that they should do good to those who persecute them, striving to live in peace with all men. It’s possible there were zealots in the Roman church, who might want to take a stand against the Roman authorities–perhaps by refusing to pay taxes, or other means. Some of the Jewish Christians may be harboring a grudge against Rome in light of Claudius’s expulsion edict only a few years before. Maybe Paul feared some of his previous exhortations might be misunderstood (“don’t conform” in 12:2 means “don’t obey”, since sin is all-pervasive and we’ve been set free from sin we shouldn’t be under a secular government, etc.).

Whatever the situation, I think it’s clear Paul wrote this chapter, and it is a natural progression from his thought in chapter 12. This chapter is particularly significant because Paul felt he needed to discuss this topic apart from the general exhortation to “live in peace.” Certainly, it might be assumed that living in peace with all men would mean being a good, law-abiding citizen. But he doesn’t want to leave it to assumption; he feels the need to spell it out.

Verse one begins with Paul exhorting “every soul” to be subject, or in submission, to the ruling authorities. The phrase “every soul” (Greek: pasa psuchê) struck me as odd–it’s not a phrase Paul has used in Romans before. Why didn’t he just say “everyone” or “all men” (using anthrôpos)? It appears this phrase occurs in the LXX (the Septuagint–the Greek translation of the Old Testament) as a translation of the Hebrew kôl nephesh. If we trace the use of this phrase in the Old Testament, we find it in a variety of places. To name a few:

• Genesis 1:21 in reference to all the creatures God created.
• Genesis 9:10-16, referring to all the creatures that were in the Ark.
• Genesis 46:15-26, speaking of all the offspring of Jacob and Leah, Jacob and Rachel, etc. (both male and female).
• Leviticus 7:27, where anyone eating blood is declared to be cut off from the people.
• Leviticus 24:17, which rules against a man who kills anyone.

So Paul’s point is that this exhortation applies to everyone: male, female, slave, free, Gentile, Jew, Christian, non-Christian, adult, child–every soul. Every single person under the ruler’s jurisdiction is to be subject to that ruler. The reason he gives for this exhortation is because there is no authority except by God. No authority is higher than God, and every authority owes its existence to God. But Paul doesn’t stop there. He isn’t simply saying that the mere existence of these authorities binds us to them. Nor is he saying that the fact God created them obliges us to obey them. Paul takes this one step further: the authorities that exist are ordained by God. They rule because He established them. Just as we saw with Pharaoh in Romans 9, God raised up the governing authorities. As Paul will go on to say, these authorities are ordained by Him, and are His servants in the world. That’s why they deserve our submission.

Nero was emperor at the time Paul wrote Romans, but this was the earlier part of Nero’s reign, before he began his personal vendetta against the church (which he probably justified by blaming the Great Fire of Rome in 66 AD on Christians). But he was a pagan emperor, and no friend to the church. Also, while there may not have been a government-sanctioned persecution of the church at this time, there were localized incidents of persecution. Even if the persecution wasn’t physical, we know Christians were often looked down on, considered strange–especially in light of the rumors going around about orgies and baby-eating at Christian fellowship meals (a common misunderstanding of the “love feast” and the sacraments).

Our discussion moved to consider how Christians should, therefore, respond to our current ruling authorities, and whether it was wrong for believers in the past to disobey government for the sake of spreading the gospel, or to save lives (e.g., Corrie Ten Boom hiding Jews during World War II). Didn’t the Hebrew midwives lie to the Egyptian authorities to stop firstborn Hebrew males from being killed at birth (Exodus 1–note the text says that God was good to the midwives and blessed them)? What about Rahab in Jericho who hid the spies and lied about knowing where they were (Joshua 2–note that Rahab is listed among the heroes of the faith in Hebrews 11)? Two questions came from this that took up the rest of our time:

• If we are to be subject to the governing authorities, is it ever right to disobey?
• Is it ever right for a Christian to lie?

I think the first question is a lot easier to answer than the second. On the first question, we need to distinguish between submission and obedience. We should always submit to the authorities, but that’s not the same as always being obedient. There is plenty of Scriptural support for disobeying the ruling authorities when their commands contradict what God has commanded (and we’ll come to a discussion of that as we get further into Romans 13). However, if we are truly submissive to the authorities, when we disobey, we accept their God-ordained right to punish us–even if they are unjust in so doing. Remember, God is the one who will repay; vengeance is His.

I don’t think we fully exhausted the topic of whether it is right for Christians to lie. There is certainly question over whether the Bible says categorically, “Thou shalt not lie.” The command not to bear false witness is not the same as “lying” (just as “Thou shalt not murder” is not saying you shouldn’t kill). But we are exhorted in Scripture to be plain-spoken, and let our “yes” be “yes,” and our “no” be “no.” One could argue this doesn’t mean one shouldn’t lie, but given that we serve Christ who is “the way, the truth, and the life,” and who himself was honest and plain-spoken in his ministry, I think we can say that the Christian is one whose word is trustworthy, and whose life is characterized by a commitment to truth.

However, there may well be special circumstances in which lying seems justified. The examples already cited, in which the lie was told to save lives from unjust rulers, or to promote God’s revealed will, seem to be worthy situations. One might argue that if God is sovereign, these people could have just told the truth and entrusted the outcome to God. But one could say that with any situation. What matters to the Christian is not whether the outcome of his or her actions will result in something good, but whether what they do truly honors God first and foremost. And that, I think, is the key to the dilemma. If telling a lie is truly promoting the greater glory of God–the advance of the gospel, the saving of lives, the advance of the kingdom–and hence doesn’t violate any absolute commands (e.g., the Ten Commandments), then I don’t think that should weigh upon our conscience. But this is not something that should be done lightly. If we truly want to honor God with our lives, then we shouldn’t rush to such decisions, but carefully, and prayerfully consider the appropriate response.

Again, I’m sure this is not the last time we’ll talk about these things. Next time, we’ll start at Romans 13:2.