Our Attitudes Toward Authority

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Our Attitudes Toward Authority

Romans 13:1-7, 1 Peter 2:11-17

Mari Ikeda

Dear God, this world suffers many pains and sorrows because of our sin. Help each of us understand your love and work on your justice. Give your guidance to our political leaders in order for them to realize your love in our society. Dear our Lord Jesus, we pray this in your name. Amen.

1 Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2 Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.6 This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. 7 Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

A. Paul’s intention (Romans 13:1-7)

1. Those in authority have been given the power to judge what is good and evil (3-5)

If we focus on v.3-5 first, it is said that authorities are the ones who judge good and bad, and give rewards to those who do good while punish those who do wrong. This is so different from the reality. How many people in power in the world in human history can be called as a righteous ruler who judged justice and evil always correctly? Rather, there are predominantly more of those who did evil things for the sake of his or her own profit. It is obvious that the Holocaust of the Jews led by Hitler was an evil, and that the invasion of Ukraine led by Putin is also an evil. Those acts should never be justified just because they were done by people in power or people in a high position.
Then, does it mean that Paul, the writer of this letter, knew only those in authority who were relatively good, so that he had such an idealized and optimistic view of authorities? I don’t think so. Given that he was deeply familiar with the Old Testament, he should have known very well about various wrongdoing of the kings that are recorded in the OT. Also, he himself was ostracized and imprisoned by both the Jewish and gentile authorities. Moreover, the Jewish Christians in Rome, who were a part of the recipients of this letter, were exiled from Rome and forced to leave their businesses and homes by the Roman emperor, just a few years before this letter reached them, which of course Paul was aware of. Therefore, it is safe to say that Paul knew very well as both his knowledge and experience that those in authority do wrong and that their tyranny causes many people to suffer.
Then, what Paul wanted to say in v.3-5 is, in my opinion, the definition of how those in authority should act. Namely, they should make a right judgment of good and bad. Meanwhile, he is saying that we also need to continue our efforts to avoid evil and do good, as we submit to the authorities.

However, then, it still remains a question why he did not say so more directly, if that was his intention. Moreover, we have not solved the problem of v.1-2. Let’s read v.1-2 again.

2. God establishes human authority (1-2, 6-7)

We can find a key to understand this passage in the episode in the OT when the Israelites desired for their own king for the first time, which is written in the book of the First Samuel chapter 8. They have forgotten that their true king was God Himself alone. The same thing happens to us. Both the Israelites and we are inclined to place our hope in visible people rather than invisible God. The warning given by the prophet Samuel to them that a human king would cause them suffering is the warning to us, too. He warns,

“…You yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the LORD will not answer you in that day.” (1 Samuel 8:17-18)

What we can learn from this story is that God gave power to some particular persons as a result of humankind forgetting about God. As it is only God who should rule us in the first place, it is simply against His will that some particular individuals exercise their power to rule over other people. God knew from the beginning that it would cause troubles if human beings take the role of God to judge good and evil, because it is God alone who can always make a right judgment of good and evil. Yet God allowed it, perhaps because a society run by human beings who had forgotten God would not function unless they had a leader however imperfect the person may be. However, it was only a temporary compromise of God until the end of time when He physically comes to the world to rule us.
This is what Paul meant, when he said, “There is no authority except that which God has established.” God gives those in authority a certain amount of role to judge good and evil in order to make a human society function, even though they are imperfect leaders who are far from an ideal and often make mistakes.
That’s why v.6-7 talks about taxes. The passage is saying that we cannot excuse ourselves for not fulfilling tax responsibilities by accusing that human rulers are imperfect and their rule is unfair, because their imperfection and unfairness are no surprise.

3. Conclusion

However, after all I think what Paul wanted to say through this section is inclined toward the idea that we should obey any authorities. It seems to me that he wanted to say that we should not be surprised at a certain amount of evil done by those in authority, and that we should not rebel against any authorities as a basic rule.

This is actually the inclination we see not only in Paul, but also in Peter’s words which we will read shortly. Therefore, we can assume that this was a basic attitude of the early church toward the Roman Empire. I think there were mainly two reasons. One is that Christians in those days needed to make an active appeal of their submissiveness to the Roman Empire in order not to be misunderstood as an antisocial group that would bring a threat to the society, because they were largely seen as a new cultic religion emerged from Judaism. Another is, although this is just my guess, the evil of the Empire had not yet transgressed a permissible range in their eyes. In either case, we can say that their attitudes were calculating and strategic, if we put it negatively, while we can also say that they were flexible and tolerant, if we put it positively.

At any rate, this section today is meant to be a teaching based on and limited for the relationship between a newborn church in the mid-1st century and the Roman Empire, the authority in those days in those areas. Even if it might be good for the church in those days to submit to the Roman Empire as the authority of the time, this is not at all a universal principle for the relationship between the church and the state. Rather, what we should learn from today’s text is the attitude to examine those in power rationally without putting too much hope in them, or the attitude to value the practice of judging good and evil more than whether or not the person has a Christian faith.

Now, I’d like to read a section of Peter’s words, which is very similar to the today’s text, in order to get some more clues. 1 Peter 2:11-17.

B. Living as residents of this world (1 Peter 2:11-17)

(1Peter 2) 11 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. 13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15 For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. 16 Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. 17 Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.

Here we can find a secret to examine those in power rationally, which is to remember that we are merely temporary residents of this world.
After we got our faith in Jesus, we got to know we are God’s children. We also came to understand that each of us belongs to God, our homeland is the kingdom of God, and that each of us is being sent out by God to this world only temporarily. God’s purpose to send us out is to reveal His kingdom to this world through us, namely to realize His love and justice in this world through us. This is a role only we can take, because it is only us who know God’s love endures forever while all other things will pass in this world, the times change and our physical bodies perish.
That’s why we are responsible of examining whether those in authority rule our society in accordance with God’s love. It doesn’t mean whether they expand spheres of influence of the so-called Christian countries by using political and armed forces. Neither it means to increase the number of Christian politicians. What is important is to see whether those in power are walking besides those in weak positions, just like Christ did. It is to examine whether they are trying to understand people’s pains, fighting against various discriminations, or hearing the voices of the minorities. There is no perfect person, but at least we can examine their basic attitudes. It is needless to say that it is impossible to be in harmony with God’s love if someone in power leads a war or genocide.

　We will have an Upper House election shortly. I have been voting for the Constitutional Democratic Party, but I don’t think they will gain the government anytime soon, and even if they do, I have an impression of them being not reliable in their current state. Still I think I will vote for them again, because their policies are overall along with the values of God’s kingdom at least more than the present ruling parties, and also more realistic than other opposition parties. How do you think?

(Prayer) Dear God, this world suffers many pains and sorrows because of our sin. Help each of us understand your love and work on your justice. Give your guidance to our political leaders in order for them to realize your love in our society. Dear our Lord Jesus, we pray this in your name. Amen.

Summary

Human authority figures have been established by God to judge what is good and evil in our world. This is, of course, an imperfect solution for our imperfect world as only God can truly judge what is good or evil and lead society where it needs to go. We must not forget that our true home is the kingdom of God and that he has placed us in this world to manifest his love and justice. In order to fulfill the role that God has for us, we must not put too much hope in those in authority nor should we become apathetic or indifferent.

For Discussion

What are the standards for good and evil when it comes to politics?
How should we respond to those who use their political power for evil?