Faith and powers
Text: Romans 13:1-7
Structure:
a. 13:1, authorities are from God
b. 13:2,
resistance
c. 13:3a,
rules are a cause of fear for evil
d. 13:3b, do
you wish to have no fear?
e. 13:3c, do
what is good
e’, 13:4a,
servants of God for your good
d’. 13:4b, if
you do evil, be afraid
c’. 13:4c,
wrath on evildoers
b’. 13:5, to be
subject
a’. 13:6-7, authorities are from God
Commentaries:
This is a very uneasy subject. There are two extremes: (1) to
see the authorities as the projections of God. (2) to submit to authorities as
long as they are “godly,” while the level of godliness is identified by us.
St. Paul presents a middle/balanced view, as usual. To begin
with, we need to note that he writes to a congregation in Rome. So, what
authorities ruled the capital of the Empire at that time? Ceasar, and he
considered himself a “half-deity.” Julius Caesar was deified postmortem in 42
BC by the Senate. This gave a strong precedent for all the subsequent emperors
to be recognized as gods. And yet, the apostle takes the authority of the
Caesar as instituted by God – he appeals to the authority of Caesar in his
defense trial.
Reflecting on this passage in discussing the question of
church and civil authorities, the Augsburg Confession says: For civil
government deals with other things than the Gospel does. Civil rulers do not
defend minds, but bodies and bodily things against obvious injuries. They
restrain people with the sword and physical punishment in order to preserve
civil justice and peace (AC XXVIII:11).
Even though, apparently (see 2 Timothy 4:6-8), he was not
satisfied 5)with the imperial court ruling of his case, he never encourages
“peaceful” protests – he directs our attention to the things that are above
(Colossians 3:1-2).
While we walk our earthly lives, we are to be subjects of
earthly powers that God placed above us – be it an emperor, monarch, president,
etc. We are to obey not only fearing the wrath of God but for our own
consciousness (Romans 13:5).
He even goes into a question of taxation – we ARE to pay
them, taxes to whom taxes are owed (Romans 13:6-7). In this way St. Paul resembles
what our LORD Jesus taught, see an attempt to entangle Jesus in His own
words concerning taxes (Matthew 22:15-22).
The rule of authorities also goes to the point of capital
punishment. It is not a popular idea in our world, but the apostle reflecting
on possible disobedience of the citizens says that the civil servant does
not bear the sword in vain (Romans 13:4). Swords in the Ancient World were
not used for spanking… Sword was and is a lethal weapon that should not be
treated lightly. This gives a great responsibility to the government – for
sure, it can be abused. That’s why the civil justice went a long way from Ancient
forms to the currant ones, being based on Biblical principles.
