Lesson Title Who Is The Civil Authority Here? Romans 13

We are suspending the series “You Can Run But You Can’t Hide” for a week so we can look at perhaps a passage that can be misunderstood as it truly is one that we need to understand in the context of when it was written, and yet as important how it applies to we Christians in Democratic Republic Democracies.

We are going to walk through the Christian and our responsibility in the Electoral process as it applies in the United States.

 

Lesson Title

Who Is The Civil Authority Here?

First let’s be clear here, the LORD our GOD has been and always will be the ONLY Authority.

That said HE has indeed established, and ordained Governments to reign on Earth.

So today we will walk through these 3 points as the General Election Approaches;

 

1 What have you heard was the Christian response to Civil Authority?

2 Can We Be Disengaged In Politics?

3 Can We Sit Out An Election?

1 What have you heard was the Christian response to Civil Authority?

A: Understanding the background of exegetical Mistakes

If like me you have heard over the years that the Christian is to be subject to the Civil authority as the LORD has placed them over us.

For the record this teaching while true is also short sighted as to the Political System the LORD has given us here in the United States and we will get back to that in full in point 3.

Let’s first look at why the traditional teaching actually is misrepresenting what is in effect here in the United States.

The struggle comes from the training methods employed by so many Institutions that forget the most important tool in Bible Understanding is the Full Context of the Bible, and not drilling down on the Greek or Hebrew word of the week, I once heard a message where we were told of the meaning of the 3 different Greek words the person was speaking on and just like our Greek 4 Professor warned the congregations eyes did indeed glaze over and pens were put down and notes ceased to be taken.

But I don’t blame the Speaker, as much as I blame the methods of teaching as a person must read and Understand the Bible, and not really on Theologians Commentaries Past and Present.

My one example I use a lot is the Commentaries on Romans.

Romans is 22 pages long in 12p print, and yet one Commentary I read was over 1000 pages, and Martin Luther’s is over 220 pages, and if you actually read Luther’s Commentary word for word He disagrees with his own conclusions page to page.

I have spoken bluntly on the hinge of Romans and will tell the whole point is found in two verses.

Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;

The first 1/3 of the Letter points to our total depravity, the next 1/3 tells us that we are saved the Grace and Mercy of GOD in Christ Jesus alone, and the last 1/3 as Dr. Francis Schafer would say it, “How then shall we live” or as I like to call it “how the Fruits of regeneration will cause us to live”.

For the Record I attended Knox Seminary, and had perhaps the Best Biblical Seminary training a person could ask for. That coupled with 20 years of teaching of both the Junior and Senior High Sunday School lessons, that I was allowed to write on my own did help me as I attended Knox, as I already had an understanding of the principle of Understanding why it was written Understanding the text and its effect on the original Audience, Understanding the text as we would see it today and its application today.

I want to be very charitable here as again I do not blame these men, but indeed blame the methods of exegeting a passage for the confused teaching.

I have actually sat and watched the pains many who use this method go through to put a Sermon together and sadly they get so obsessed on the meaning of a certain word that they forget that the full context of the passage will define the word, and it has to be understood in connection to the word they are drilling down on.

One Quick example is when a Speaker started a series on Galatians and claimed it is all about Grace, and not of Works  Ga 1:6 ? I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel;

 7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!

 9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!

But by reading the whole letter it explains to us that By Grace alone are we saved, and then blessed by the LORD to do the Works that show such a regeneration and it is all of the HOLY SPIRIT’S doing see the pivot point here Ga 5:19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality,

 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions,

 21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

 24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

 26 Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.

Ga 6:1 ? Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.

 2 Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.

So when we teach through a book of the Bible it is very important that we have a grasp of the whole Book let alone the whole Bible.

 

Again this meant only to help us understand why perhaps the teaching of Romans Chapter 13 has been misapplied and why even in our own Bible Study we need to be vigilant to read the entire Book or Letter, to understand each point as we walk through it.

That background should help in our understanding of being subject to the Civil Authority as it applies to us in the United States today.

As with all Biblical lessons and Romans 13 is no different we need to step back to when it was written.

Paul who himself will be viciously persecuted by the Civil Authority is commanding an eye opening thing to the original Audience, as he is telling us to be subject even when it seems totally unfair.

 

We must also remember that Paul used the laws to his advantage, so by NO means is he even telling this audience to lie down and be door mats, but instead know and apply the Laws as needed.

Example:

Acts 22:24 the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, stating that he should be examined by scourging so that he might find out the reason why they were shouting against him that way.

 25 But when they stretched him out with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, "Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman and uncondemned?"

 26 When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and told him, saying, "What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman."

 27 The commander came and said to him, "Tell me, are you a Roman?" And he said, "Yes."

(please remember that Paul had a darker complexion then many and perhaps his skin color made the Commander think he could not be a Roman, remember Paul was mistaken as an Egyptian who lead the insurrection)

Acts 21:37 As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the commander, "May I say something to you?" And he *said, "Do you know Greek?

 38 "Then you are not the Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out into the wilderness?"

 39 But Paul said, "I am a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city; and I beg you, allow me to speak to the people."

 40 When he had given him permission, Paul, standing on the stairs, motioned to the people with his hand; and when there was a great hush, he spoke to them in the Hebrew dialect, saying,

Example 2 

Ac 25:9 But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, answered Paul and said, "Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and stand trial before me on these charges?"

 10 But Paul said, "I am standing before Caesar's tribunal, where I ought to be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as you also very well know.

 11 "If, then, I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die; but if none of those things is true of which these men accuse me, no one can hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar."

 12 Then when Festus had conferred with his council, he answered, "You have appealed to Caesar, to Caesar you shall go."

So we can plainly see Paul is not telling us that being subject to the Civil Authorities is being a door mat at any time, and we are to use the laws to the best of our ability.

But we would only know this had we read deeper into Scripture and applied in in full context to Romans 13.

 

B: The problems with this passage

Understand the full context is I fear where teaching goes off the narrow path.

To understand how Romans 13 needs to be understood today one must have an understanding of Government in first Century Mediterranean area of the World, and not just a pedestrian understanding as we saw in Paul’s use of the law, and then we need to walk it to our individual Countries Governmental set up today.

I of course will be speaking of the application as it applies to the United States.

We should notice two major differences simply from our Civics training in School;

First Roman had become an Emperorship with a Caesar as Head of the Government, with appointees ruling portions of the conquest areas of the World.

The Roman Citizen as we should have noticed through our reading of the Gospels, and the Book of Acts had major legal advantages over the non-Citizens; this would include protection from arrest and beatings without trial, and appellate system, and that they could not be Crucified.

But to apply Romans 13 to us in the United States and staying only in the first Century is exactly where this passage gets misrepresented.

We have to apply the same test, and must understand who the Civil Authority is according to the United States Constitution.

So hopefully it is becoming clear, that though the text never changes, the LORD who truly is the Ordainer of Civil Authorities, has indeed given us a system that those in the first century would be stunned at.

The very first line of the United States Constitution tells us whose hands the LORD has entrusted the Governments of the United States too.

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

This is exactly why a reading of Romans 13 today is applied very differently than when it was given to the original audience.

And why it has to be!

Yes we are still to be subject to the Civil Authority, but Here we have the GOD Given duty to select the Civil Authority that we ask to rule over us.

This why the world watches every 4 years us go through the painful process of selecting the President of the United States who serves by the grace of GOD at our asking, by our ballots.

It is why is stuns us that only 62.3% of the eligible voters in our country bothered to vote in 2012, and only 57.5 in 2008, 60.4% in 2004, and 54.2% in 2000.

Just imagine the uproar it we who do vote had a law passed that said only those who voted in the last Presidential election can now vote from here on, and yet by not being engaged in the Process the LORD has given us this is exactly what we are doing.

This background takes us to point 2

 

2 Can The Christian Be Disengaged In Politics?

I would hope this question has answered itself, and yet I fear it needs to be addressed.

I have known people in Church leadership positions who refused to put a candidate’s sign on their lawn as “they may need to council someone of a differing opinion”, or “I need to remain neutral in elections as it may offend those in the Congregation of a differing opinion”.

Oh yes these are the answers given to me as I ran for office, a Pro-life, Small Government, Pay as you go, get the debt down, openly Christian Candidate, and yet these Christians had an excuse to not put our sign up.

Though they had a right to not put my sign on their lawn, they were indeed also saying through absentia, that they did not support the openly Christian Candidate running for office, and had a person driving by the leaders home known the relationship I had with the leader, it could be reasonably construed as support for my opponent.

 

My friends the percentage of United States Citizens who claim to be Christians according the PEW research Center is down, from 78% in 2007, to 71% in 2014.

For the record the Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan American "fact tank" which is based in Washington, D.C. and has nothing to do with the Church Pew.

 

I hope that number screams at you!

71% of United States Citizens still claim to be Christians again let me say that one more time;

71% still claim to be Christian.

Math does not lie, and this poor teaching by Church leaders who somehow can read Romans 13 and be neutral is a very good reason why Christians ARE NOT Engaged in Politics and NOT Voting!!!

Math again does not lie, had we voted in mass;

Would we have a pro-abortion?

Pro-alternative family?

Pro-anti-constitutional Supreme Court?

That for the record took shape over years!

If we had voted in mass would those who fight “traditional” Values even had a chance?

 

If you think I am exaggerating on this, I was actually challenged by a fellow student in Seminary who called out loud knowing my feelings on the Christians responsibility in Politics, when he said “Dr. So and So, Paul feels we Christians need to be fully engaged in the political process” the Professor stopped the class and said “He is right, we are obligated to be and must be involved” and yet somehow this disease of neutrality exist and has been growing and has spread and the math does NOT lie.

 

So let me ask you, can the Christian stay neutral in the political Process in the United States?

 

Of Course the answer as Romans 13 is applied absolutely NOT!

In fact we must be firmly engaged, as We The People are the Civil Authority.

Elders and members of Congregations you have an obligation to help your Pastor out of Neutrality and do it in Love and kindness.

 

3 Can We Sit Out An Election?

This will be our shortest point for time sake, and because the overwhelming evidence presented gives us only one answer, NO!

No this is not a Christian Liberty thing another excuse used by so many as an excuse not to get involved, but a fruit of regeneration, as we would be compelled to have a say in the formation of our Government, after all the LORD gave us this process.

But let us again look at the effect the sit out or neutral Christian has had since 1972 when 90% of US Citizens claimed to be Christians.

I am including just a few points here; you can fill in the list.

Roe v Wade and the resulting killing of 58,000,000 Babies since then the Country claimed to be 90% Christian

“Don’t Ask Don’t Tell in the Military”, The Country claimed to be 85% Christian

“Same Sex Marriage” the Country claims to be 71% Christian.

We Christians like to claim the Socialist Left is to blame and has blood on their hands, but the Math does NOT Lie, we are to blame for sitting out, and not using the GOD given Civil Authority HE gave us and commanded us to use in Romans 13.

The Socialist Left did NOT do this to the United States, WE DID!!!

71% leave just 29% as our opposition, if we were to start a business we would be fools not to do it with 71% of the market in our pocket.

For those of our Friends in Christ who have been taught to be neutral, awake and become involved in the electoral process as;

“You are all my witnesses, that this is the first time of my introducing any political subject into the pulpit. At this season, however, it is not only lawful but necessary, and I willingly embrace the opportunity of declaring my opinion without any hesitation, that the cause in which America is now in arms, is the cause of justice, of liberty, and of human nature.”

The Reverend John Witherspoon

President of the College of New Jersey (Princeton)

New Jersey Delegate to the Continental Congress

One of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence

I hope you noticed that the Message is not a stump for any candidate, that is between you and the LORD, and NO pulpit should ever be used to stump for anyone candidate, but only a call to use the Ballot, and Service as We The People are the Civil Authority.

If all 71% or we who claim Christ and are eligible to vote do so, our country can be saved, but if we continue to sit back we only have ourselves to blame.

May GOD awaken us to be involved both voting and running for political office.

Next week we will go back to our Series the “You Can Run But You Can’t Hide” The Call of Matthew.