Verses often taken out of context or misused: Romans 13:1
Romans 13:1 [1] Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. (ESV)
With so much unrest going on in America. The rapidly rising persecution of Christians in the world. I’ve been hearing many opinions of how Christians should be responding. I wanted to turn to scripture to let me know how to respond.
The immediate context shows this to be told to everyone, with no exceptions listed. The historical context lets us know that Paul wrote this as Nero was ruling at the time. Infamously known for his torturing and killing of Christians. His words apply to the Christians then as much as they are to us now. The teaching of Romans 13 is that all governments in all places are to be honored and obeyed.
Romans 13:1–7 [1] Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. [2] Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. [3] For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, [4] for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. [5] Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. [6] For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. [7] Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. (ESV)
Does this lead us to just blindly follow any political leader? Is there a time when we should intentionally disobey the laws of the land?
Using scripture to interpret scripture is the best approach. And scripture gives us multiple examples of how to approach this. Daniel ignored the Persian law to not pray (Daniel 6:10) and his friends refused to worship the king’s image in (Daniel 3:14-18). In Exodus 1 two Hebrew midwives disobeyed Pharaoh’s command to kill the male babies, scripture tells us they feared God. Peter and John defied the Sanhedrin in (Acts 4:19; 5:27-29). They disobeyed the leaders regarding not to speak and teach in the name of Jesus. In all these examples reading the context we see that they disobeyed the ruling authority specifically when a command/law was in opposition to God’s Law. We also see that they then submitted to the authority even after not following that law/command.
To sum this all up I think Acts 5:29 says it best:
Acts 5:29 [29] But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. (ESV)
