Day 13 Freedom From Fear of State Authorities
Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you Romans 13:2,3
Having called for submission, Paul now warns against rebellion. Rebels are not only rebelling ‘against what God has instituted’ (13:2) but ‘will bring judgment on themselves’ (13:2). Consequently it is both right and wise to submit. Paul explains a little of the wisdom behind this. ‘For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you’ (13:3). This is more the divine ideal than the human reality, as Paul well knew. Although he had himself experienced the benefits of Roman justice, he knew full well about the miscarriage of justice in Jesus’ condemnation.
Is Paul’s call for submission absolute? Granted that the authority of rulers is derived from God, what happens if they abuse it, if they reverse their God-given duty, commending those who do evil and condemning those who do right? We are always to be submissive, to keep a soft, open heart to authorities. But this does not mean we must always obey them. There are times when obeying earthly authorities means disobeying God. If the state commands what God forbids and forbids what God commands, then our duty is to disobey the state. Peter and the other apostles were unequivocal: ‘We must obey God rather than men’ (Acts 5:29). Civil disobedience is disobeying a particular human law because it is contrary to God’s law. Examples in the Old Testament include the refusal of the Hebrew midwives to put to death Jewish new-born males (Exodus 1:17), Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego’s refusal to bow down and worship Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image (Daniel 3) and Daniel’s refusal to follow Darius’ decree that no one should pray to any god but himself for thirty days (Daniel 6). So while we are to submit to the state’s God-given authority, we are to recognise that this authority is given for particular and not totalitarian purposes.
The state not only has authority from God; it also has a ministry from Him. In 13:4a, 13:4c and 13:6, Paul calls the state ‘God’s servants’ (the first two times using diakonoi, the word he has used elsewhere of ministers within the church, and the third time leitourgoi, a term normally meaning priests but here meaning public servants).
The ministry God has entrusted to the state has to do with good and evil, which is a recurring theme through Romans 12 and 13. Paul has already said to detest what is evil and cling to what is good (12:9), to repay no-one evil for evil but instead to do them good (12:17) and not to be overcome with evil but to overcome evil with good (12:21). But what role does the state have relating to good and evil? On the one hand, ‘do what is right and he will commend you’ (3b) that is, you will have his approval. ‘For he is God’s servant to do you good.’ On the other hand, ‘if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer’ (13:4b).