May 13, 2017
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Reading along with us in Romans? Here’s today’s reading:
Romans 13 (ESV)
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… Continue Reading
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God is the author of authority
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
I have some old “ghosts” that rattle around in my head whenever I read Romans 13:1-7, because there are very evil government authorities. (See “Why US Christians Risk Their Lives to Teach in North Korea.“)
“[Authority] is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience’ sake.” Romans 13:4b-5
Hm.
But moving along (gladly!) to the rest of Romans 13, I love Paul’s expression of how we are to live in these dark times, when so many in authority are persecuting Christians!
“Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.” Romans 13:10-14
I have been reading and listening to the last few chapters of Romans and finally getting a chance to post. This chapter is pretty straight forward and powerful. In what ways am I slumbering? In what ways is the church asleep? Well as verse 11 says, it’s time for us to wake up and clothe ourselves with Jesus and stop thinking about how to gratify the desires of the flesh. As we have probably heard before, the best defense is a good offense. That’s what 13:14 is all about!