"For this cause pay ye tribute also; for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour". Romans 13v6-7.
Thus we are to contribute also to the system of government under which we live; not only are we not to resist them, we are to positively help them in a material way. It takes money to run a government, a judicial service, and education service, and in some cases a health service. This is Paul's point; he says "they are attending continually on this very thing." The business of government is non-stop and has to be paid for and as Christians we are encouraged to pay our dues. There is no other possible interpretation of this passage, than that Christians are to co-operate fully with the authorities under which they live as far as they possibly can. This will involve payment of individual taxes (suggested in the word "tribute" ); payment of business taxes (suggested in the word "custom"). Alongside the payment of dues there is also to be an attitude of respect (suggested in the word "fear")as well as an attitude of acknowledgement of those who do good work (suggested in the word "honour"). This summary by Paul is contrary to the ungodly position of some Christian groups today. We are to pay our dues, we are to pay the business levy, we are to fear them because they have the power to hurt us, we are to esteem them without belittling them, because they are the public ministers of God. Christians have an opportunity here to act differently in a corrupt world and hold a good testimony to what they believe.
There are however many problems in this, not least of which is how we are to react to corrupt governments. This matter is dealt with expertly by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 22v17-21. he was asked a loaded question "Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not?" His answer to this should enlighten us today as to how we should view corrupt authorities.
Was Rome a godly authority? The answer is no. Did Rome has a right to invade Israel? The answer is no. So we have a corrupt government acting in a corrupt way and demanding that their captors pay tribute to them. Yet, above and beyond all this, God had allowed corrupt Rome to unlawfully invade Israel and had permitted their occupation of Israel for almost 60 years by this time. Jesus answer to this question is very revealing: He takes a denarius coin, Roman coin which was in circulation, and asks "who's superscription is this?" They replied "Caesar's". Then said Jesus in the now world famous saying "Therefore render to Caesar, the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's." What an amazing saying of wisdom this is! In effect what He is saying is this; it is not for you to question the authority that God has allowed in your land for reasons He does not care to reveal. The fact is the Roman authority has been in power here for many years. Only God can establish and remove world authorities. Therefore render to Caesar the currency of the day and ask no questions. Alongside of this He places in a wonderful contrast to "the things which are Caesar's." "The things which are God's." In all the time that Rome had occupied Israel they had never impinged on their religious liberties, indeed in some cases they had built synagogues and had included their judicial system alongside their own. Had Rome opposed "the things which are God's" then the people would have a right to oppose the occupying power and call God's judgement upon them. A similar situation is found in the early days of the church. In Acts 4v18 the Sanhedrin in Israel commanded the apostles not to teach in the name of Jesus Christ. This was contrary to the commission commandment of Jesus to His apostles and this is a case where an authority is countermanding the authority of God. The apostle Peter's reply was this "we ought to obey God rather than men." Thus the lesson is clear; while God allows an authority to rule on earth (even when that authority is corrupt) we are to co-operate with them; but when authority crosses the line of opposition to the things of God, God's people have a right to oppose them. We are therefore being asked to distinguish between "the things of Caesar" which are for good order of government, and "the things of God" which take priority to Caesar (Caesar in this case being any human authority).
This ought to be enough to instruct us as to our behavior towards the state, or any part of it under the good control of the God of heaven. Unfortunately for some of us, it is not. The behavior of some Christian groups in their extreme attitude towards what they consider to be corrupt government, betrays an arrogance unbecoming to any Christian. We must leave God to do His work. Only He will do it right. Our task is to preach the gospel, and to live the gospel in the world in which we live.
The Lord Jesus Christ when He returns to this earth will strip down every corrupt government and establish His own supreme monarchy in the world. This should be enough to satisfy every believing heart, that we must wait God's time to change the present order of things for His glory. Meanwhile it is our duty to "submit" and to "render".
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