WWUTT 318 Be Subject to Emperors and Governors?

Be Subject to Every Human Institution

Be subject, for the Lord's sake, to every human institution, whether it be to the Emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil, and to praise those who do good. When we understand the text.

Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text, as an online ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty, visit our website at www .utt .com.

Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes.

Thank you, Becky. A difficult section of 1 Peter we'll be looking at today. Chapter 2, verses 13 through 25. I'm particularly thinking about verses 13 through 17. That's what we're going to be looking at today.

But we'll read all the way through verse 25 just to keep these things in context. So here we begin with Peter saying, be subject, for the Lord's sake, to every human institution, whether it be to the Emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil, and to praise those who do good.

For this is the will of God, that by doing good, you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.

Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the Emperor. Servants be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.

For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if, when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.

He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.

Nero, Pilate, and the Meaning of Subjection

Let's go back to verse 13 here, where Peter says, Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him, to punish those who do evil, and to praise those who do good.

Now in this section, verses 13 through 17, this is largely misunderstood. A lot of times it's very misconstrued. People will twist things about this section to say something that it doesn't actually say.

So we want to go through this very carefully and understand exactly where Peter is coming from when he says to be subject to every human institution. Who was emperor at the time that Peter wrote this?

It was Nero, and Nero was a tyrant. He was very vicious toward Christians. It was in 64 AD when we have the famous burning of Rome. This is where we get that tale of Nero playing his fiddle while Rome was burning, which didn't actually happen.

But the fire in Rome, that really did happen, and Nero blamed the Christians for that. Well, this massive persecution ensued with Christians being put on posts lining the streets in Rome and set on fire.

And that's how the streets in Rome were lit at night with burning Christians. Now at the time that Peter's writing this letter, it could have been about 62 or 63 AD. So it was before that major persecution started.

Nonetheless, there still was persecution of Christians going on, even though it had not reached that level. A Christian could be put to death for proclaiming Christ as Lord instead of Caesar as Lord. So it was still a dangerous thing to be a Christian there in the first century, even though that massive persecution of Christians had not yet occurred.

It was Claudius who was emperor before Nero, and Claudius also persecuted the Christians. In fact, he removed all of the Jews from Rome when he thought that the proselytizing that was going on was the fault of the Jews.

In reality, it was the Christians who were proselytizing, and Claudius targeted the wrong group of people. After Claudius died, the Jews were then able to come back into Rome. But even there, to be a Christian and to proclaim Christ would result in death.

If a person said that Christ was Lord instead of Caesar as Lord, and they refused to pay homage to Caesar or bow down to him, then they could be put to death. And so that was still going on, even at the time that Peter was writing this.

It was not during some time of peace and religious freedom. It was a dangerous thing to be a Christian. So when Peter writes, be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, he is saying that Christians need to be respectful even of those who would put other Christians to death.

Now keep that in mind, because we're going to elaborate on this more as we go. First of all, I want to address in verse 14, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.

So we have, be it to the emperor as supreme or to governors. Do you remember who it was that was a governor in Jerusalem at the time of Christ's crucifixion? Of course, it was Pilate. And Pilate was a persecutor of Christians.

We read about it in the book of Luke when Pilate was just bored one day, or he just wanted to show the power that he had over the Jewish people. And so he went into the temple, he had his soldiers go into the temple and kill some of the Jews, some of the Galileans that were sacrificing there and mix their blood in with their sacrifice.

It was Pilate showing, I have no regard for you as Jews, even your religious practices. This is the kind of power and authority that I have over you. And so even this governor, even a governor such as this, a tyrant and a persecutor like Pilate, Peter is saying governors also, we need to be subject to whether to the emperor as supreme Nero or to governors like Pilate as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.

Now, this is where this section starts to get a little twisted. This is where you will have people that will start to reinterpret what's actually being said here. What I hear most often is, is somebody will take this passage to say that what this really means is it only applies to those emperors and governors who actually exercise the law in a proper way.

So in other words, punishing those who do evil and praising those who do good, because ultimately that is the function of government on earth. It's to punish evil and praise or promote the good. And when a government is not doing that, then we don't have to be subject to them.

That's how some people would interpret that. But that's not what's being said here. Because understand when you go on into verse 18, Peter says, servants be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and the gentle, but also to the unjust.

Why would we think his statement there would apply to masters of servants and not also to the government? Same story. We're not just to be subject to the emperors who are good and gentle, but also the emperors who are unjust.

We're not just supposed to be subject to the governors who are good and gentle, but we're also supposed to be subject to governors who are unjust. Because overall, a government still, even when you're talking about a tyrannical government, a government that is as tyrannical as Nero's or Pilate's, you're still talking about a government that maintains civility among the population, even though they would do something as wicked as putting the son of God to death, even though he did nothing wrong.

Even Pilate said, I see no wrong in this man or Nero putting Christians to death, even though they would do something as heinous as that. They still need to, we still need to be subject to the authority that they have because the authority they have has been given to them by God.

Jesus said to Pilate, you would not have any authority if it was not given to you from above. And we know from what is written in Acts chapters two and four, that God had foreordained the crucifixion of Jesus Christ for his glory.

He put even wicked men like Pilate and Herod in the positions that they had so that Jesus Christ would be crucified for the sins of those who have been called by his goodness out of darkness and into his marvelous light.

It is God who foreordained this, even foreordaining something evil that would bring about the greatest good in human history, the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And so we do need to be subject to every human institution.

Jesus was subject to those institutions. And so should we, even the tyrants, emperor, governor, whoever it is that is in high position. Let us be subject to those institutions. In 1st Timothy chapter two, we read the following, I urge that all supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

This is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God, our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. So we need to be praying for our elected officials and even be thankful for them.

Not just the good ones, but also the bad ones and the tyrants. Paul says it plainly. I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions.

Because even though we would see in those elected officials something evil that they would exercise during the time of their rule, it is still the authority that has been established by God that keeps civility in the population.

And so even a government that does bad things still is also doing good things. And that is what we need to praise God for. For He is still in control. All leaders have been elected and appointed to the positions that they have because they have been foreordained by God.

We read in Romans 13, 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. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

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

In other words, we would violate our conscience by going against authority and therefore stand guilty before God because we would disobey what God has appointed. Verse 6, for because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God attending to this very thing.

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. Why is there civility in the governments in which we live?

Because the taxes that we pay maintain the order that has been set and established, and those who keep that order are being paid by the taxes that we have paid by the command of God. We must pay our taxes.

There's simply no way around that. If you don't pay your taxes, you are not only going to incur punishment from the government, but you will be answerable to God, disobeying his word which commands us to pay our taxes.

So we are to be subject for the Lord's sake by the testimony of God to every human institution. Every apostle was, Jesus was, so we must as well. No matter what happens, what we endure for the sake of Christ goes to proclaim the name of Christ to those who would observe us being treated unjustly, and yet we respond in goodness.

This goes back to something that Peter said in verses 11 through 12, beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable or among the pagans honorable so that when they speak against you as evil doers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

Those false accusations that people make of us simply will not stick because our reputation goes before us, giving glory to God, not drawing attention to ourselves. So by that same token, we do good enduring sorrows while suffering unjustly.

And Peter says this is a gracious thing. It's a gracious thing when mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if when you sin, you are beaten for it and you endure?

But if when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. It's gracious to be beaten for doing good. And what would that good be? Proclaiming the gospel of Christ.

Jesus himself was beaten, was persecuted, was crucified because he proclaimed the truth of God. And so when we do this very thing and the government would persecute us, it's gracious because we share in suffering in something that Christ went through.

And Jesus also says in the Sermon on the Mount, blessed are you when others revile you or persecute you or speak evil against you falsely on my account for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

So we endure something that the prophets endured, something the apostles went through, something that Christ himself went through when we also suffer for doing good, for proclaiming the gospel and would be persecuted by the government.

Being subject even to the punishment that we would be given because we were counted worthy for the cause of Christ. What am I talking about there? Well, in the book of Acts, when the apostles were being persecuted for preaching the gospel, they were brought before the council and they were told to stop talking about these things.

But Peter and John, this is in Acts chapter four, Peter and John answered them, 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 what we have seen and heard.

And we see this come up again in the in the fifth chapter, when once again they were found preaching the gospel. And so they were brought before the council. And once again, they said, we've seen these things.

We saw it with our own eyes. We cannot help but speak of them. So you must judge what should happen to us. And so what ended up happening was the apostles were beaten and charged not to speak in the name of Jesus and were let go.

And in Acts 541, it says, then they left the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. So the apostles here were subject to the authorities to the point of being beaten because they proclaim the truth about God.

They didn't resist. They didn't resist arrest or even stand up and go, no, no, no, you misunderstood us. What we really meant was this. They just stood before the council and said, look, we're going to preach the truth.

You must decide what's going to happen to us. So when they were beaten, they ended up rejoicing because they knew that in this suffering, they were sharing in something that Christ went through and they were counted worthy to suffer for the name of Christ, counted worthy by God to endure this suffering as they had seen their Savior and Messiah go through when he was being persecuted as well.

This is another way that we are supposed to be subject to every institution for the Lord's sake. We are subject even to the punishment that we would incur for preaching the gospel of Christ. There's a website called Christian today dot com, not to be confused with Christianity today dot com.

Totally different site. Christian today dot com has a lot more pop ups on it and it's pretty obnoxious. But anyway, one of the contributing editors, Mark Woods, wrote an article the day after Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, and he says this is the headline to the article.

Yes, God is sovereign. That doesn't mean he chooses who runs America. All right. This is another one of those, yes, God is sovereign, but arguments that Mark Woods is making here. I got to I got to scroll down and find the got to get through the fluff that he adds at the start of this to set this up.

First of all, no scripture is quoted in this article whatsoever, not one single verse. And yet Mark Woods says that the trouble is that the view of God's sovereignty that claims he controls everything relies on a reading of scripture that is fundamentally mistaken.

See, he says that. And yet he never quotes it. He never shows why that's the case. It takes verses out of context. It misunderstands the use of language in different types of biblical literature. It generalizes from particular verses.

It assumes that because the Bible is clear about God's purposes regarding Israel, God must have plans for everyone and everything. It leaps from the belief that because God can intervene and shape the destiny of nations and individuals, he invariably does.

Believing in God's sovereignty doesn't mean he controls everything. That leaves believers with moral problems that are impossible to resolve with any degree of credibility, no matter what subtle wordplay is used to avoid the charge.

It makes God the author of evil. The truth is both more and less comforting than that. As Woods goes on to say, it's more comforting because it means our wills are genuinely free. God has not overridden our choices at the ballot box.

And that is just patently false. To think that our choice at the ballot box was somehow beyond what God had already decided for this nation. Once again, Romans 13, 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.

And Jesus saying to Pilate that you would have no authority if it wasn't given to you from above. As we've been reading through 1 Samuel, we read about how God had chosen Saul to be the king of Israel before Israel cast lots to find out who was going to be the king of Israel.

So already Saul had been appointed and Samuel told Saul that he was going to be the king of Israel. And then when gathered before Israel and they're casting lots and it falls on Saul to be king, it's only affirming something that God had already ordained and also giving affirmation to a proverb that we have that says that the lot falls in the lap, but it's every decision is from the Lord.

So the American cast the ballot, but it's every decision is from God. It is God who has instituted the governing authorities. And even Donald Trump becoming president of the United States was ordained by God.

That doesn't mean that Donald Trump is a godly man. On the contrary, he's a very godless man and he needs to repent and come to know the Lord. And I pray that these people that he is raising up around him, choosing for his cabinet that he is going to raise up individuals who are going to direct him toward the scriptures and the authority of God.

I'm not very hopeful considering Donald Trump's past and even his present, but I still hope and pray for this man as we are instructed in first Timothy chapter two to do and also to be thankful for the governing authorities.

For every authority has been instituted by God and we are to be subject to the governing authorities for his sake. Let us pray our God. We thank you. We thank you for Donald Trump being elected the next president of the United States and God let us have a heart and an attitude that even if Hillary Clinton had been voted for president of the United States, we still would have been thankful to you for every one of these decisions has already been made by God so that your glory would be seen, would be seen, would be lifted up high and praised so that so that your sovereign plan would be in effect, not by our will, but by your will and that we would be submissive to you in knowing that everything is still in your control.

There's nothing for us to fear. There's no need for us to worry because you are working all things for good for those who love you and are called according to your purpose. What can man do to me? So let us be thankful to you for all things and help us to be properly submissive to the governing authorities for the sake of Christ preaching the gospel and enduring suffering because we did something like that because we were considered worthy to suffer for the name of Christ and Lord I pray that we would be considered as such.

We pray and ask these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Closing Announcements

You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study. Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book.

On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers. Tomorrow, we'll pick up on an Old Testament study, When We Understand the Text.