“Romans 13:1-14”

Thursday, March 08, 2018

“Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience’ sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.

“Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET,’ and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

“Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.”

---End of Scripture verses---

Part of living the transformed, sanctified life (12:1-2) is honoring and obeying the established governmental authorities and their various rules and laws. We may not like the way that some officials govern or the laws that they enact, but Christians must comply with the laws of the land as long as they do not contradict God’s laws.

One effective motivational tool for obeying the law is the fear of reprisal (verse 4). Government “does not bear the sword for nothing.” There is a reason why police officers are armed and why punishment is inflicted, even capital punishment in extreme criminal cases. These measures have been put in place to protect the lives and rights and property of law-abiding citizens. When we cross the line and break the law, authorities are there to act as “a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.”

For the born-again, transformed Christian, just the fact that the government is “a minister of God” and “servants of God” should be enough motivation for us to always practice lawful behavior. Paul is going to delve more deeply into matters of “conscience” in the next chapter, but a properly functioning conscience will prompt us to always seek to avoid doing wrong and pursue doing the right things because that’s always what our righteous, heavenly Father wants us to do (verse 5). And yes, that means God wants us to be completely honest when paying our taxes (verse 6)!

Paul said in verse 8 that we are to “owe nothing to anyone.” This is not to say that it is wrong to take out a reasonable, responsible loan in order to buy something. The NIV better captures the apostle’s meaning when it renders it “let no debt remain outstanding.” In other words, promptly pay what you owe. But really, this phrase is just a literary tool used as a link between what is said in the prior verse about rendering “to all what is due them,” and what is said in this verse about, owing “love to one another.”

Love is the greatest and most important debt that we owe each and every human being on earth. Because of God’s incredible gift of love in the giving of His Son as a sacrifice to save us from our sins, we are morally and spiritually obligated to love and care about the well-being of our fellow human beings. This is called a debt because it is something we can never fully pay. We will perpetually be indebted to God to love all the people that He created in His own image and to try to help them get to heaven whenever that is possible. Understanding this indebtedness will keep us from ever intentionally hurting other people because “love does no wrong to a neighbor” (verse 10).

Paul tells us to “put on the armor of light” (verse 12), and to “put on Christ” (verse 14). We are to “clothe” ourselves, inside and out, with the holy and righteous character and behavior of the One who left us the greatest example by living a perfectly sinless life. We will fall short of the goal of perfection, but we should aim for it just the same. To not have this mindset would be making “provision for the flesh in regard to its lust” (verse 14), or preparing an opportunity for sin beforehand.

Let’s be careful to not mentally or physically prepare a favorable environment for sin before it occurs, and to not make excuses for our sins after the fact.

Please read Romans 14:1-13 for tomorrow.

Hope you all have a blessed day!

- Louie Taylor

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