God’s Servants for Our Good
Authority is a prickly word nowadays. Partly because of bad actors who have abused it, and partly because of the immense power of opinion in our time and the unprecedented bandwidth in which to express it.
But Romans 13 says that God places people in authority over us for our good. Romans 13:1-2 instructs believers to “be subject to the governing authorities,” for if we don’t we are “resisting what God has appointed.”
God says we must be in subjection to authorities not only to avoid his wrath, but also as a matter of conscience (Romans 13:5). This can be challenging at times when those who have been placed in leadership over us don’t share our worldview, or ask us to do things that go against our conscience.
For the Sake of Love
The Jewish authorities of Paul’s day were the keepers of God’s law. They strove to follow it to the letter, and even imposed extra laws for good measure. The people were judged and oppressed because of their inability to keep up with the countless regulations their leaders levied.
The Hebrew authorities kept the people from seeing that the law was to be followed for the sake of love and God’s holiness, not for the sake of the thing itself. In Romans 13, we see that the whole point of the law is love. All of the commandments, Paul says, are summed up in that one word.
God’s law is fulfilled when we love in the way that he commands. In order to offer that kind of love, we are told to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 13:14). The covering of Christ over our lives allows us to walk in obedience to him by loving God and neighbor.
The Hebrew authorities missed this point altogether.
Disputable Matters
In Chapter 14, Paul exhorts those of us who may be down the road a bit in our Christian walk not to put stumbling blocks in the way of new sojourners in the faith by insisting our particular road is the best or only one. I am not talking about the Road, Christ. I’m talking about our particular mode of transportation on that road. Do we baptize infants or adults? Do we sprinkle or immerse? Do we drink wine, eat meat during Lent, follow a liturgical calendar, say we’re raptured before or after the thousand-year reign, take communion every week or monthly, allow women to be elders?
Christians are not to be legalistic about matters that do not affect salvation. Especially when we are trying to love and encourage “those whose faith is weak” (Romans 14:1). Why? Because we are all under God’s authority, no matter where we are in our walk. We will all be made to stand before Christ in the end. We want to buoy the faith of our green and tender brothers and sisters, not impose our preferences or harp on rules and regulations that may keep them from growing in it.
God is pleased when we “pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding” (Romans 14:19). One way to do that is to keep what we believe about disputable matters between ourselves and God, unless we are respectfully discussing them with other seasoned Christians.
Take care, however, to have a good understanding of what are not disputable matters: the holiness of God, the infallibility and absolute authority of Scripture, and the Lordship of Jesus Christ and his power alone to save lost people. Those matters will never cause a believer to stumble.
Reflect
Part of putting on Christ is to obey his authority, and he has commanded us to obey, respect, and honor the earthly authorities under which we have been placed.
But what about a leader like Adolph Hitler, or a pastor who preaches something contrary to the indisputable matters in scripture, or a boss who asks you to do something that goes against your conscience?
Read the following scriptures. What does God’s word have to say about submission to any and all authority?
To whom are we ultimately accountable?
Romans 13:10 says that loving others fulfills the law.
Read the following the Scriptures. How do you apply God’s standards for loving others in your own life?
Pray
Dear Father, thank you that you have given us guidance in how to love and how to walk in obedience to authority. Help us to be people who are clothed in Jesus Christ, and who have the humility and confidence to love as you command us to. Amen.