“Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it 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. For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.” Romans 13:1-7 (NAS)
For Christian citizens of the United States of America today, the above passage of scripture might prompt a question: Were the founding fathers in violation of Romans 13 by rebelling against Britain? A quick search on the internet will reveal a variety of opinions. The Founding Fathers believed that Romans 13 was a condemnation of anarchy, rather than an edict of absolute subservience to any specific human authority. Whether they were right or wrong, did the Founders rebel against British rule because babies in the millions were being aborted with the sanction of the government? Or did they rebel because the British government was forcing their children to learn that homosexuality is acceptable against their parent’s wishes? Such are some of the anti-Christian, anti-Biblical realities of today in America. Do we not have even higher taxes now than those the Founders despised so much? It is safe to say that those men would rebel against our government today.
Were Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights leaders wrong to oppose the authorities during the civil rights movement in the 1960’s? Or what about the Protestant Reformation? Martin Luther rebelled against a very real and powerful authority. William Tyndale, who did so much to bring a translation of the Bible to the masses, also defied authority, and at face value, the admonition in Romans 13. Even Paul and Peter, who encouraged submission to government authorities, defied it when that authority interfered with their eternal mission.
If we accept that all authority is established by God, then doesn’t the fact that the American Revolution was successful indicate that it was God-ordained? And by similar logic, isn’t the same true of the Protestant Revolution? And on the dark side, doesn’t the logic hold for the tyrannical regimes of Adolf Hitler, Mao Tse-tung, Pol Pot, Joseph Stalin and Kim Jong-il? Clearly, God’s perfect will doesn’t bring blessing and favor to every nation. Does our nation serve God? Are we poised to receive God’s blessing and favor?
Letting an evil government negate your Christian influence on the world and your own family does NOT further the cause of Christ. Consider the history of Christians (and other religions) that became subservient to Muslims long ago. As Dhimmis, second-class citizens in an Islamic state, the Christians submitted to the government regulations that prohibited sharing their faith, even impeding the raising of their own children as Christians. The final, sad result of this policy of submission was that once predominantly Christian regions of the world fell into centuries of darkness with little or no Christian witness.
And it’s not just Muslim conquerors who have sought to nullify the influence of Christians. Consider the Nazi German government from the 20th Century. If German Christians had opposed, en masse, the evil policies of their government, would 6 million Jews have perished in concentration camps? Would there have been a second world war? The Nazis quoted Romans 13 to German Christians to stifle any opposition to their evil government policies. Some brave German pastors resisted, like Dietrich Bonhoeffer who called for Christians to oppose Hitler’s treatment of the Jews. But Christians in Germany for the most part just stood by while things got progressively worse. So they submitted to authority. But were they salt and light?
Things are not so different in America today. Our freedoms are steadily eroding. All around us are those who are trying to reduce, restrict and even remove our Christian influence. They want no Ten Commandments displays, no Christianity at Christmastime, no prayer in public, no morality in entertainment, no thanks to God at Thanksgiving, nothing but the Easter bunny at Easter, no stigma for whatever depravity they can dream up and definitely no verses from the Bible quoted to them. In a very real sense, they want us to be good little Dhimmis — even though that term isn’t used. And the government and even some preachers in our churches may very well seek to nullify us via the misapplication of Romans 13, just like in Germany in the last century. Christians do indeed need to submit to authority by paying their taxes, obeying traffic laws, respecting police officers and the like. But we must not submit to the point that we become un-salty salt or bushel-covered lights. Where is the line, O Christian, that you will not cross? Are you going to be salty?
