Introduction
The emperor of Rome from AD 54 to 68 was Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, also known simply as Nero. The emperor was not known for being a godly person and engaged in a variety of illicit acts, homosexual marriage being among them. In AD 64 the great Roman fire occurred, with Nero himself being suspected of arson. In his writings, the Roman senator and historian Tacitus recorded, “To get rid of the report [that he had started the fire], Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace” (Annals, XV).
It was during the reign of Nero that the apostle Paul wrote his epistle to the Romans. While one might expect him to encourage the Christians in Rome to rise up against their oppressive ruler, in the chapter 13, we find instead:
Romans 13:1-7 [NLTse]
Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. 2 So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished. 3 For the authorities do not strike fear in people who are doing right, but in those who are doing wrong. Would you like to live without fear of the authorities? Do what is right, and they will honor you. 4 The authorities are God’s servants, sent for your good. But if you are doing wrong, of course you should be afraid, for they have the power to punish you. They are God’s servants, sent for the very purpose of punishing those who do what is wrong. 5 So you must submit to them, not only to avoid punishment, but also to keep a clear conscience.
6 Pay your taxes, too, for these same reasons. For government workers need to be paid. They are serving God in what they do. 7 Give to everyone what you owe them: Pay your taxes and government fees to those who collect them, and give respect and honor to those who are in authority.
Sermon
Even under the reign of a ruthless and godless emperor, Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, tells his readers to be in subjection to the government. Moreover, he states that no authority exists other than that established by God, and that rulers are serving God in their political office.
Peter writes nearly the same thing in his first New Testament letter: “For the Lord’s sake, submit to all human authority—whether the king as head of state, or the officials he has appointed. For the king has sent them to punish those who do wrong and to honor those who do right.
“It is God’s will that your honorable lives should silence those ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you. For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil. Respect everyone, and love the family of believers. Fear God, and respect the king. (2:13–17).
Both Paul’s and Peter’s teachings have led to quite a few questions from Christians: Do Paul and Peter mean that Christians are always to submit to whatever the government commands, no matter what is asked of them?
A brief look at the various views of civil disobedience might help. Civil disobedience is the active, public, refusal to obey certain laws, demands, or commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. There are at least three general positions on the matter of civil disobedience. The anarchist view says that a person can choose to disobey the government whenever he or she likes and whenever he or she feels they are personally justified in doing so. Such a stance has no biblical support whatsoever, as evidenced in the writings of Paul in Romans 13, as we just read.
The extremist patriot says that a person should always follow and obey their country, no matter what the command. As will be shown in a moment, this view also does not have biblical support. Moreover, it is not even supported in the history of nations. For example, during the Nuremberg trials, the attorneys for the Nazi war criminals attempted to use the defense that their clients were only following the direct orders of the government and therefore could not be held responsible for their actions. However, one of the judges dismissed their argument with the simple question: “But gentlemen, is there not a law above our laws?”
The position the Scriptures uphold is one of biblical submission, with a Christian being allowed to act in civil disobedience to the government if it commands evil, that is, that the government requires the Christian to act in a manner that is contrary to the clear teachings and requirements of God’s Word.
Let’s look at some examples of civil disobedience in Scripture.
In Exodus 1, the Egyptian Pharaoh gave the clear command to two Hebrew midwives that they were to kill all male Jewish babies upon their births. An extreme patriot would have carried out the government’s order, yet the Bible says the midwives disobeyed Pharaoh and – I quote – “because the midwives feared God, they refused to obey the king’s orders. They allowed the boys to live” (Exodus 1:17). The Bible goes on to say the midwives lied to Pharaoh about why they were letting the children live; yet even though they lied and disobeyed their government, “God was good to the midwives, and the Israelites continued to multiply, growing more and more powerful. And because the midwives feared God, He gave them families of their own” (Exodus 1:20–21).
In Joshua 2, a prostitute names Rahab directly disobeyed a command from the king of Jericho to produce the Israelite spies who had entered the city to gain intelligence for battle. Instead, she let them down by rope out of her city-wall window so they could escape. Even though Rahab had received a clear order from the top government official, she resisted the command and was saved from the city’s destruction when Joshua and the Israelite army destroyed it.
The book of 1 Samuel records a command given by King Saul during a military campaign that no one could eat until Saul had won his battle with the Philistines. However, Saul’s son Jonathan, who had not heard the order, ate honey to refresh himself from the hard battle the army had waged. When Saul found out about it, he ordered his son to die. However, the people resisted Saul and his command and saved Jonathan from being put to death (1 Samuel 14:45).
Another example of civil disobedience in keeping with biblical submission is found in 1 Kings 18. That chapter briefly introduces a man named Obadiah who “was a devoted follower of the LORD.” When the queen Jezebel was killing God’s prophets, Obadiah took a hundred of them and hid them from her so they could live. Such an act was in clear defiance of the ruling authority’s wishes.
In 2 Kings, the only apparently God-approved revolt against a reigning government official is recorded. Queen-Mother Athaliah, upon the death of her son, King Ahaziah, began a purge of all the potential heirs and her competitors to the throne of Judah. However, Prince Joash, one of King Ahaziah’s many sons, was taken and hidden from the Queen-Mother so that the bloodline would be preserved. Six years later, the priest Jehoiada gathered an army around him, declared Joash to be king, and put Athaliah to death.
Daniel records a number of examples of civil disobedience. In chapter 3 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refuse to bow down to King Nebuchadnezzar’s golden idol in disobedience to the king’s direct command. In chapter 6 Daniel defies the decree forbidding prayer to anyone other than the king. In both cases, God rescued His people from the death penalty that was imposed, seemingly showing His approval of their actions.
In the New Testament, the book of Acts records the civil disobedience of Peter and John towards the Jewish authorities that were in power at the time. After Peter healed a man born lame, Peter and John were arrested for preaching about Jesus and put in jail. The religious authorities were determined to stop them from teaching about Jesus; however, Peter said, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19–20). Later, those same rulers confronted the apostles again and reminded them of their command to not teach about Jesus, but Peter responded, “We must obey God rather than any human authority” (Acts 5:29).
One last example of civil disobedience is found in the book of Revelation where Antichrist commands all those across the end times to worship an image of himself. But by the Holy Spirit the apostle John, who wrote Revelation, states that Christians should disobey Antichrist and the world government and refuse to worship the image (Revelation 13:15) just as Daniel’s companions violated Nebuchadnezzar’s decree to worship his idol.
What can be drawn from these examples? The guidelines for a Christian’s rebellion against their government can be summed up as follows:
Christians should openly and publicly resist a government that commands or compels what is in direct violation of God’s laws and commands, and should work in-line with God’s ways to bring about change in that nation and government.
If a Christian disobeys an evil government, unless he or she can flee from the government, they should accept that government’s punishment for their actions. (Peter, John, and the apostles’ accepting their beatings and imprisonment would be the rationale for this.)
Of course, Christians are certainly permitted to work to install new government leaders within the laws that have been established. (Such as getting involved in campaigning and voting.)
Lastly and most importantly, Christians are commanded to pray for their leaders and for God to intervene according to His timing to change any ungodly paths that they are pursuing. As Paul writes to young Pastor Timothy, “I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity.” (1 Timothy 2:1–2).
You see, this nation – this world – is not our home. We are bound to a King Who has greater hold on our allegiance than any president, king, or prime minister this world might put in power. And we are subject to His laws, to His commandments, to His ways when the laws and commandments and ways of this world’s governments conflict with them.
So when this world’s leaders and governments pass laws that tell us it’s okay to kill our unwanted, unborn children, we will not because we know it goes against the laws of our Father and His Kingdom in Heaven.
When this world’s leaders and governments tell us that it’s okay to get divorced on the one hand or to live together as husband and wife without being married on the other, we will not because we know that – even if no one else seems to be getting hurt, that – it hurts our Father in Heaven. When human powers and authorities tell us that it’s okay to marry two men or two women in holy matrimony, we will not because human authorities did not define marriage to begin with and they don’t have the authority to re-define it.
Even if someone claims to be representing God and has wonder-working powers and the might of the nations’ military’s to back them up: If they tell us it is okay to treat those of other faiths and other skin colors and other nationalities and other economic states differently – as though “they” were of lesser worth in God’s eyes than “us” – we will not. If they tell us to treat those of other genders and other sexual orientations and those of other intellectual and physical capacities and other emotional and mental states than us differently, because they can’t know a real quality of life or be productive members of society, we will not. If our friends or family members tell us it is okay to have an affair, or to lie or to cheat or to steal (as long as we don’t get caught) we will not. We won’t call people degrading names. We won’t talk about them behind their backs.
We will love the One Who laid down His life for us, the One Who has loved us first and given us new lives, the One Who has called us and made a way for us to be His friends, with every thought and emotion, with every word and deed, with all our influence and with all our stuff. We will study and trust the Word of God – the Word of God that has been passed down to us and preserved for us at the cost of countless saints and martyrs lives – and we will love all those made in the image of God, believing and trusting that “God loved the world!” And that “He gave His one and only Son so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”
We recognize that this will likely be hard for us. But our Abba has given us the Holy Spirit to empower us for each and every work He has called us to. And we believe He has called us to this work: To tell the world His good news; to show the world His great love.
Yes, that includes loving gays and lesbians and transgendered persons and queers: We followers of Jesus Christ will love them as 1 Corinthians 13 defines love and calls us to love one another and others. That includes the unborn and the terminally ill and those of every handicap and walk of life. That includes government officials, and those of opposing political parties. That includes our president and the members of the Supreme Court and our representatives and senators in Congress. We will never treat others as property or as numbers or as objects or as test cases. We will not in any way ignore or demean the image of God in others and the love of God for others, but in all things we will let our faith in Jesus Christ show itself through acts of love: Loving each other and others – even those who are God-haters and those who have declared themselves our enemies – every other. We will love one and all as God in Christ has loved us. Because the Lord Jesus has shown us that how we treat those around us – especially those hurting and in need – is how we are treating Him.
?And we would see You, Lord Jesus!
Notes
The first part of this sermon borrowed heavily from GotQuestions.org’s article, “When is civil disobedience allowed for a Christian?” (http://www.gotquestions.org/civil-disobedience.html)