- "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers." Paul's flow of thought is amazing; at the close of chapter 12 he has appealed to Christians not to take the law into their own hands, and there states that God Himself will deal with all matters of wrongdoing. Now in chapter 13 verses 1-7 he expounds how He does this This world has been organized by divine authority into stratas of human government by God Himself.
- "Let every soul" There are to be no exceptions to this. There is no limitation to this command, neither is there any limitation to the powers that be. All powers exists by divine ordination and all Christians are to submit to them.
- "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers." The tension that exists here is that Christians are citizens of two different kingdoms. We are citizens of heaven's kingdom (Matthew 22v15-22 ; Philippians 3v20; Colossians 1v13). The God who has brought us into His heavenly kingdom is also the God who rules in the kingdoms of men . We are to see the civil authorities as the authority of God. The context of these verses is clearly that of good government for the purpose of punishing evil and establishing civil order and it is in this context alone that we are asked to submit to human authorities. However, our first loyalty is to God and when those authorities flout the laws of God we have no mandate to follow them. There are cases in the Bible of civil disobedience on the part of God's people. In Exodus chapter 1 the Hebrew midwives refused to kill babies at the mandate of Pharaoh. In Daniel 3v16-18 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to bow down to the golden image at the behest of Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel himself in chapter 6 placed his loyalty to God before his loyalty to the king. In Acts 4v19 the apostles rejected the mandate of the Sanhedrin to cease preaching the gospel. In essence, when the authorities countermand the clear mandate of God there is no requirement to obey them. The context here clearly is to honour them in the execution of good government.
- "Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordnance of God." The word "resist" means to stand against them, to oppose them in any way. We do not take up arms against them; we do not seek to bring them down; we do not withhold payments; we do not speak evil against them. We may not agree with everything they do but bad government is better than no government and the challenge here is against anarchy. The only alternative to government is anarchy which will lead to chaos.
- "They that resist shall receive to themselves damnation (judgement)." God has given the ordained authorities on earth the ability to judge those who oppose them. being subject to them does not necessarily mean agreeing with them, it is just accepting the fact that they have the right to impose tariffs when we fail to be meet their demands. This authority comes from God Himself and it is necessary for the good order of any society.
In the verses that follow Paul will develop two ideas which are to govern our attitude to the powers that be. Firstly, we are to fear them because they have the power to harm us in the context of evil; secondly we are to honour them because of the position that God has given them. In so doing we show a reverential fear to God himself and we accept God's appointment of them to their position of authority. Every believer must decide, for themselves, matters of conscience, but the disposition must be one of humble submission as to the Lord. It is not for us to change governments; God, Himself is much more able to do that(Daniel 4v17); ours to submit to the authority ordained by God.
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