WWUTT 1356 Submit to the Governing Authorities (Romans 13:1-4)

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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.

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So we must be in submission, in obedience to God, when we understand the text.

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Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is an online ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty.

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Visit our website at www .utt .com. Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes.

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Thank you, Becky. We've been studying the book of Romans, and boy, is it timely that we would now come to this chapter,

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Romans chapter 13. If you want to open up your Bible and join with me there. Over the course of the past year, we've really seen

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Romans 13 and 14 very abused, and we'll talk about that as we go through these things together.

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Let's go ahead and read all of the chapter, and then I'll share with you how I plan on piecing this out over the week.

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Romans 13, starting in verse one, let every person be subject to the governing authorities.

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For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

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Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

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For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority?

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Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval. For he is

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God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain.

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For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.

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Therefore, one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath, but also for the sake of conscience.

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For because of this, you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God attending to this very thing.

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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.

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Owe no one anything except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

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For the commandments, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet, and any other commandment are summed up in this word, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

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Love does no wrong to a neighbor, therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

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Besides this, you know the time that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep, for salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.

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The night is far gone, the day is at hand. So then, let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.

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Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy, but put on the

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Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires.

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So how shall we go through Romans 13 here? Well, I mostly just want to do exposition today and tomorrow.

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So we'll go through this word by word, line by line, verse by verse, and then we'll give a little more application on Wednesday.

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There will be some application as we go through this anyway, and there will even be some exposition on Wednesday. But today and tomorrow will mostly be the exposition heavy stuff as we look at especially these first eight verses here of Romans 13.

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So let's start at the very beginning. 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.

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There's really a lot there in just this one verse. But notice that Paul begins by saying, let every person be subject to the governing authorities.

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So we're not just talking about Christians here, although that would certainly be the direct context because that's who

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Paul is addressing. But as he says, every person, it means everyone needs to be subject to the governing authorities.

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And anyone who is not subject to the government is disobeying God, regardless of whether they acknowledge

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God, they are followers of God through Jesus Christ. Whoever does not obey governing authorities also does not obey

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God. That's what Paul establishes there. So let every person be subject, be in submission to the governing authorities.

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And we're talking about worldly governments here, governments on earth. We're not talking about the principalities or the kingdom of God in this particular sense.

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In the direct application of this, we are talking about in our present context, in which we live, whatever land you are part of, whatever government that is over you, you must be subject to that governing authority for there is no authority except from God and those that exist have been instituted by God.

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How do we know that we're talking about earthly authority here and not a heavenly or spiritual or angelic or demonic authority?

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Because as Paul will go on to talk about the paying of taxes, we don't pay angels and demons taxes.

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Sometimes the reference to the spiritual realm is talked about as a kind of a governing authority.

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In Ephesians 3 10, it says that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

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And later on in Ephesians in chapter six, Paul says, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness.

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And you can tell looking at the context there that he's talking about spiritual authorities.

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But here in Romans 13, we're not talking about something that that exists in an angelic realm.

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We're clearly talking about the governments that exist here on Earth that we are to be in subject to those that exist.

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Even our earthly authorities exist by God. God has given them their authority.

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So we're talking about an appointed authority here. This is not an authority that exists in and of itself that a person just inherently receives or has or possesses authority.

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It has been granted them authority. They have authority because God has given it to them. They have been placed in the positions that they're in because God has appointed them to that place.

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Now, whenever a a president gets elected, we're going to talk about this in our

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United States context here. Whenever a president gets elected, evangelical

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America will look at that guy in one of two ways. He is either the man of God or the

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Antichrist. And that's that's pretty much the two categories that he gets stuck in.

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And generally, at least over the last 40 years, it goes like this. If he's a Republican, he's a man of God.

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If he is a Democrat, then he's the Antichrist. The reality of the situation is that he can be both.

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He can be both the man that God has appointed and he can be an

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Antichrist. I'm not saying that all of the last presidents for however many years have been Antichrist, nor am

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I saying that they've been men of men of God, but they are nevertheless appointed by God. It doesn't matter whether they are a righteous king or an evil king.

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They have been appointed by the Lord. As it says in Proverbs 21, 1, the king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the

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Lord. He turns it wherever he wills. Earlier in Proverbs 16, 4, the

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Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble. In Daniel 2, in a prayer that Daniel lifts up to the

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Lord, he says that God changes times and seasons. He removes kings and sets up kings.

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He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals deep and hidden things.

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He knows what is in the darkness and the light dwells with him. In Psalm 82, it says

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God has taken his place in the divine council. In the midst of the gods, he holds judgment.

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How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked?

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God is saying to those judges, these are earthly kings that he is referring to here in Psalm 82.

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Going on to verse 3, give justice to the weak and the fatherless. Maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.

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Rescue the weak and the needy. Deliver them from the hand of the wicked. They have neither knowledge nor understanding.

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They walk about in darkness. All the foundations of the earth are shaken. I said you are gods, sons of the

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Most High, all of you. Nevertheless, like men, you shall die and fall like any prince.

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These kings position themselves as rulers over the people. Now they have been appointed there by God, but they they see in themselves this inherent power that they possess or that they did something mighty and great in order to deserve this position.

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And they would even think of themselves as gods to hold those particular positions. That's what we know of pagan kings, especially that they thought of themselves as being deities.

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And there was a time when when maybe an empirical government would would gain a little bit more common sense about itself.

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And they did not look at those kings or rulers or emperors as gods, but give it enough time.

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And eventually that's where it ends up going. That's what happened in Rome. At one point, the Roman Empire hated the idea of thinking of their ruler as a god.

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But then their own Caesars started exalting themselves as gods. It's that old saying, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

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And and so when you give a nation that much power for that period of time, if they do not keep their focus on God, if they do not fear

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God, then man is going to think of himself as a god. But as the Lord says to these wicked rulers in Psalm 82, seven, you are like men, like men, you shall die and fall like any prince.

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No prince lasts forever. No kingdom that is set up on Earth lasts forever.

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Only the kingdom of God is eternal. That is where we should place our hope. And our worship is of the true king,

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Christ, the king, not any ruler that is here on Earth. No government can save.

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No government can grant us forgiveness of sins. That comes only from Jesus Christ.

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The government has a different function and God has set up the government for this purpose. And that's what we're going to read about as we continue on here.

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So we understand, first of all, according to Romans 13, one, that every earthly authority has been established by God.

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Those that exist have been instituted by God. There is not one authority on Earth that is positioned itself apart from God's will.

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It is always the will of God, even wicked governments, because he will accomplish something even through a wicked government.

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As it says in first Peter two, eight, Christ has become a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.

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And those that stumble, stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do.

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So there are those that even God has appointed. He has predestined for the purpose of coming to destruction.

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We read earlier in Romans chapter nine about how Pharaoh, who was a despot, was raised up so that God would show his mighty power through him.

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God appointed even wicked Pharaoh that his ultimate purpose of election might continue.

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So we go on in in Romans 13 to. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities, resists what

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God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

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Now, this is where it starts to get a little more complicated. If you are a sovereign test, you believe in God's sovereign authority, his sovereign election, that even those who have been who come to salvation have been predestined by God from before the foundation of the world.

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You believe that everything that happens happens according to God's sovereign decree.

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As we read in Lamentations three, I think I read this to you on Friday, who has spoken and it came to pass unless the

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Lord has commanded it. Is it not from the mouth of the most high that good and bad come?

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If you believe that and that's part of your theology, then you can read

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Romans 13 and you've got no problem with that. There is there is nothing in that passage that offends your doctrine because you believe that God is sovereign.

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So, of course, he has appointed every authority that exists on earth. Of course, he has. But then we get to verse two, and that's where your conscience starts to get a little more into conflict.

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Therefore, whoever resists the authorities, resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

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So then the question becomes, resist as in how? Like, does this mean we're supposed to be in in full submission to the government?

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There's nothing that we're supposed to disobey the government on in everything the government says we're supposed to do it or we're disobeying

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God. So if the government says, I have to wear a red T -shirt every Tuesday, I have to wear a red

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T -shirt. If they say wear a mask, then wear a mask. If they say, don't go to church, then I can't go to church.

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And now you're starting to get the application questions that are coming in here, right? That's what follows the reading of verse two.

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But as I said, we're not going to get to some of those application things until we get to Wednesday. Let's just continue here with our exposition.

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First of all, we know that this is not a total anything and everything sort of submission, because we've already had the witness from the apostles in the book of Acts on occasions when the government told them to do something and they could not listen to the government because to do so would therefore be to disobey

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God. Governments are still run by wicked men, even though the governing authorities have been appointed by God.

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It is it is wicked men that are operating in those government positions. Therefore, the government, as I already said, does not have absolute authority.

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And some of the things that they're going to institute will go against God rather than for him, because the government's made up of men that do not fear

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God. So let's just consider what it is that that the apostles went through in Acts four and five in particular.

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Now, this was in Jerusalem. This was not Roman soldiers, nor what is nor was it even

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Herod's men that arrested the apostles the first time. It was those that served the chief priests and the scribes.

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And so the apostles were arrested. They were brought before the priests and they were told not to speak any more in the name of Christ.

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And Peter replied, this is Acts four, 19, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.

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And when they further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them because they were afraid of the people.

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So in that particular circumstance, God protected the apostles that the chief priests and the scribes couldn't do anything to them.

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Then you get to Acts chapter five, and that's where you have them beaten for sharing the gospel. So at first they were just threatened for it.

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In Acts five, they were actually beaten for it. And on this occasion, when they're brought before the chief priests and the

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Pharisees, the high priest questioned them and said, we strictly charged you not to teach in this name.

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Yet here you are. You filled Jerusalem with this teaching and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us, referring to Christ, whom

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Peter said that the priests and the Pharisees had put to death. And Peter replies again to them, sharing the gospel with them and says, we must obey

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God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree, putting it back on again, back on the

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Pharisees again. God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.

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And we are witnesses to these things. And so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.

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So in that particular circumstance, you have the apostles going, we have to obey God rather than men.

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So if the government's going to tell you not to share the gospel, your obligation then is to God, not to the government that is telling you not to share the gospel.

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As you go through the book of Acts, the governing authority escalates. Have you ever noticed that about Acts?

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So the first governing authorities that came against the apostles were the chief priests and the scribes.

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Then it became Herod and his men. Then it started working up into the Roman provinces that actually started coming against the

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Christians, even to the point of arresting Paul and having him appear before Caesar.

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And eventually it would be Caesar who would behead Paul and he would be martyred for sharing the gospel.

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But all of that to say that this instruction to obey the governing authorities is not total and absolute in the sense that there are going to be occasions where we would have to therefore go against what the government says to be in obedience unto the

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Lord. But overall, as Christians, we are to have a a demeanor, an attitude, a reputation for being law abiding citizens.

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We're not to act and behave in such ways that characterize us as lawbreakers.

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And we've seen some of that in the news recently. People who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, who have been lawbreakers.

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And that's not supposed to be our approach. In fact, the instruction that Paul gives to Timothy in first Timothy chapter two is a desire to live a peaceful and quiet life.

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So it would even be our desire to be at peace with one another. And we've already read here in Romans before getting to chapter 13 that our objective as Christians should be to keep the peace with everyone.

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Back to Romans 12, 18, if possible, so far as it depends on you live peaceably with all.

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We're not to be rabble rousers. We're not to join the zealots and uprise against Roman authority and and things of that nature.

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Now, here in the United States of America, we have a constitutional republic and this government has been set up by the people for the people.

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So it's arranged in such a way that the people have a voice and can change the direction of their government.

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So I believe that we as Christians should speak into those areas that we can speak into in an effort to bring our government, even out the laws of this land into subjection to God's law.

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That would be right and good for us to do because God is the supreme authority and his law is the supreme law.

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But we must do this peaceably through the system that God has established and not going about our own way, not engaging in lawless acts and lawless deeds, which cannot change anyone anyway.

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Your lawless behavior is not going to reform anyone. First Peter 3 9 says, and this is going to sound familiar, it sounds like what we've read in Romans 12.

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Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless for to this you were called that you may obtain a blessing.

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And then later on in verse 17, for it is better to suffer for doing good if that should be

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God's will than for doing evil. So you acting like a lawbreaker are not going to change anyone's heart.

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And by the way, neither can the government. The government has no authority over the human soul.

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They think they have control over your body, they'll tell you to social distance, stay home, wear a mask, but they have no authority over your soul.

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Jesus said in Matthew 10 28, do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.

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Rather, fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Knowing that that the government has no authority over the soul, they also have no power to reform the human being.

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They cannot make people better. The government cannot do that. They can reward good.

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They can punish evil. That's as far as their authority goes. They have no ability to change or transform the human soul.

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That only happens by faith, working through love. Galatians five, six, and Paul goes on to talk about that here in Romans 13.

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That's the context in which Romans 13 sits between Romans 12 and Romans 14, where Paul is talking about being subject to governing authorities.

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It's not like he's writing this letter going, OK, what else should I talk about? I've got 12 chapters here. I need to add another one.

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I know I'm going to tell him to submit to the governing authorities. There's a context here and context is king, as my pastor

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Tom likes to say. And so here we have after the instructions that are being given to live peaceably with everyone, to love even your enemy and feed him if he is hungry, give him drink if he wants something to drink, do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

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And then you have be subject to the governing authorities. What is the extent of the authority of the government to reward good and punish evil, to keep the peace by punishing evildoers?

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That doesn't transform the person, though. What changes the person? Paul goes on in Romans 13 to say every commandment is summed up in this word.

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You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

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In Romans 12, he says love in Romans 13. He says love. And in between the two is the instruction to submit to governing authority, which cannot change people.

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Only the gospel changes people. Only Christ changes the heart. And Paul has mentioned the government here so that you would know that the governing authorities do not change the human condition.

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Only Christ can make us new. I hope that gives a little more context in Romans 13.

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We're going to continue to exposit these verses again tomorrow. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for continuing to show us your kindness daily.

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All of us are sinners deserving of judgment. But you have shown us mercy and grace through Jesus Christ.

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This gospel came to us and reformed us, changed us into new people. And so I pray we would understand it is not by governing authorities that people are going to change.

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But the government keeps the peace that we might have this opportunity to go out and share the gospel with others, which changes the heart.

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Keep us focused on that mission and in submission to the King of Kings, who is

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Christ, who does not deal harshly with us, though that's what we deserve, but has shown us mercy and grace through the gospel.

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May we do the same. In Jesus Christ's name we pray. Amen. You can find a complete list of videos, books, devotionals, and other resources online at www .tt