December 28, 2008

Submit To Authorities

“Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to [execute] wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore [you] must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing.” (Romans 13:1-6 NKJV)

Unless an authority orders you to commit some sin, you need to obey them. The Scriptures clearly state the reason this is true, God appointed them as His ministers and avengers. If you resist them, you resist God.

Therefore, Paul calls us to a higher level of obedience. He wants us to obey our authorities for conscience sake and not fear of retribution. A man may fear judgment and correct his behavior to avoid punishment. Theologians call this legal repentance.

Legal repentance is not true repentance because the heart is not in agreement with the law. Remove the punishment and the behavior will return. True repentance not only turns from the sin, but also turns to God. To turn to God means at least to agree with God that the sin is wrong.

Some will argue the authorities are corrupt. This is true many authorities are corrupt; however, God doesn’t tell us to obey only the righteous authorities. As I stated in the beginning, we do not have to obey authorities that order us to commit sin, but we must obey our authorities otherwise.

If you have a tendency to resist your authorities, take some time to examine your relationship with God. Remember to resist human authorities is to resist God. Amen.