Chapter # 13 Paragraph # 1 Study # 3
October 4, 2020
Humble, Texas
(070)
1769 Translation:
1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:
4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to [
execute] wrath upon him that doeth evil.
5 Wherefore [
ye] must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.
6 For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.
7 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute [
is due]; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.
1901 ASV Translation:
1 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.
2 Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.
3 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;
4 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.
5 Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience' sake.
6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for [
rulers] are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing.
7 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.
- I. The Rationale For The Soul's "Subjection" To "Higher Authorities".
- A. The "issue" of "authority".
- 1. In our last study we made the claim that " On the face of it, 'authority', as Paul addresses it in this paragraph, is the ability to make both the "agenda" decisions, the "methodology" decisions, and the "enforcement" decisions for others.
- 2. But for our current study, I want to use Paul's use of "authority" in Romans as a highly instructive, deliberate, concept. There are only four such uses, and three of them are in our current text. The one which is not in Romans 13:1-3 is a kind of foundation for our understanding.
- a. In that one (9:21), Paul asks whether the potter has "authority" ("a right") over the clay.
- 1) The backdrop for this question is Isaiah 45:9 where Isaiah pronounces a "Woe" upon the one who quarrels with his Maker as one who is mere clay and the Maker is the potter.
- a) The main difficulty with this analogy for most of us is that God reduces us to "clay" as a reduction to our origins in the dust of the ground while not addressing the added characteristics of sentient beings who "feel"/"experience with extraordinary capacities of pain/pleasure, fear/peace, and humiliation/exaltation". In what way are we mere clay?
- b) There is no "loss" to "clay" to be put into a furnace of fire: it "feels" nothing. There is an overwhelming "loss" to "clay to which 'experiences as felt realities' have been added if it be subjected to the furnace of fire".
- c) Thus, "authority" to determine these realities is an enormous threat to any "person of clay" who takes the added privileges from the Potter and then abuses them and dishonors Him.
- 2) The question arises because Paul has asserted the legitimacy of God's prerogative over the extensions of "mercy" as well as "compassion" (9:15) as his answer to the querulous objection to God's restriction of blessings by "promise" (9:5) rather than "meritorious actions of obedience" (9:8) based upon whether, or not, God is "righteous".
- a) The question of "righteousness" deeply involves the question of the legitimacy of God's claim to have the sole Status of the One Who has "compassion" and "mercy" to give, and does not give it equally to all.
- b) However, these querulous objectors, by objecting, reveal that they have no sense of how "righteousness" works against them in their own deep depravity: Who, with any sense of his/her own depravity, "objects" to anything that God has set in motion?
- i. The very idea that a fallen creature, whose very existence rests upon the tolerant mercy of God, would have the temerity to challenge anything that God is, or does, is beyond stupid.
- ii. How does a creature who, by definition, is extremely limited in both knowledge and understanding, set him/her self up to be a judge of the omniscient God?
- c) Under the standard of "righteousness", everything rooted in human performance is subject to criticism so that none shall ever, by his/her own righteousness, deserve to be treated with patient goodness by the God whom these mere mortals deign to question.
- i. There is the plain fact, declared by God Himself, that His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways, so that we cannot pretend to be able to instruct Him; a fact that would be plain as day even if God had not come right out and said it Himself.
- ii. "Creature", by definition, is so far less than "Creator" that it has no rational basis for "objections" (of any kind).
- 2) The revealed base/root of all of God's dealings of blessing is "Promise"; ruling out any and all considerations of behavior (activities of body, soul, and spirit) because every blessing must be rooted in "faith" in "promises" and not in actions of obedience in order to be "guaranteed" (4:16). The rationale is simple: since all men "stumble in many ways" (James 3:2) and "stumbling" in any way is equivalent to "stumbling in every way" (James 2:10), no "outcome" can be secured by human behavior, even though it may be produced by the instrumentality of human behavior in the hands of God. Infinite retribution for any "sin" (because all sin is, ultimately, against God as Infinite) erases all of the foundation of "blessing based upon merit". Thus, there can be no "guarantee" of a good outcome by creature-behavior issues.
- 3) Thus, "authority" is the exercise of deciding how outcomes" will occur. In regard to the potter/clay issue, "authority" is the actual determination of "outcomes". Paul even goes so far as to declare that any/all of our "good works" are rooted in their reality as being "prepared beforehand" into our behavior (Ephesians 2:10).
- b. The next three uses of "authority" is our current context (13:1-3), and beyond it there are no further uses in Romans.
- 1) In this text/context, "authority" is the particular concern of "souls" which will be subjected to it unto "earthly outcomes". All relationships rest heavily upon the proper exercise of "authority" and the proper response to it. No relationship survives apart from "dictate" plus "submission" with "integrity" by both parts of the relationship.
- 2) In this text/context, Paul declares that there is a necessity involved in "submission" by the "soul" to the determinations of other "authorities": there is no "authority" except "that which exists under God" so that any "resistance" is resistance directed at God. This is no small fact.
- a) There is not any "authority" that exists except "under God".
- b) All existing "authority" is "set in place" "under God".
- 2. Paul's interesting omission: the abuse of "authority" by those who, under God, have been set in the places of "authority".
- a. When it comes to "authority", as a grant by God to others to exercise, there is a tacit awareness that the giving of "authority" is a giving that will cause difficulties for those set under it.
- 1) Even the best of those who pursue God's agenda upon the earth fail, and their failures do damage to those affected by them.
- 2) Rulers and authorities are mere men without understanding, and they are guided by the elemental principles of this world -- lusts of flesh and eyes, and boastful arrogance concerning their achievements -- so that those under their foolishness must expect to be abused.
- b. But Paul calls for "submission".
- 1) God has "set" those who are in authoritative positions in their place in His arrangement with His clear understanding of the abuses to come.
- 2) There is to be no attempt to draw up in battle formation against those "set" by God.
- 3) There is a good reason: those who resist God's arrangement are only attempting the oldest form of rebellion in this creation: rearrangement by me. Lucifer's attempt to take the throne away from The Most High was the original insertion of "disorder" into God's set arrangement. Learning to be "submissive", in our post-Fall realities, is beyond necessary for the establishment of a "Servant Kingdom". That "Kingdom" assumes the complete dedication of everyone in it to everyone else in it and "submission" is the root of "complete" dedication.
- 4) David's refusal to act against Saul when the time was extremely "opportune" is as clear an illustration of this truth as can be found (1 Samuel 24:3-7 with Psalm 57:1).
- c. There are times when "submission" is not the correct response to "authorities" (Acts 5:29), but they are not the norm.