Page 89 - Romans Student Textbook.doc

14.4 Chapter 13: Specific Applications of the Foundational Command: Relating properly to
Government authorities and to Evil.

Introduction:

In chapter 12 Paul proclaimed the foundational command for taking what we know about the
great salvation that God provides for us through His Son that was expounded in the first eleven
chapters of this letter and began showing how that foundational command is to be lived out in
real life situations that confront believers as they attempt to be obedient to that command while living in
this world. In chapter 13 he continued to do more of the same. In it he delved into three more common
arenas of life where followers of Christ have the opportunity to display Him alive in them.

Since God is the one who appoints the civil authorities as servants who are to do good, they and their laws
must be obeyed. (13:1-7)

Paul turned the attention of the Roman believers to a subject that was at the heart of some of the
tensions that existed within their churches — how to relate properly to government authorities. To
understand this properly we need to see the backstory that God gives to us in the book of Acts. Luke
records Paul’s first introduction to believers from Rome in Acts 18.

After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus,
recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave
Rome. And he went to see them, and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and
worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. 108

It is what took place with Aquila and Priscilla as believers who were Jews that informs us of the climate
that existed in Rome. It was rife with prejudice of all stripes — ethnic, economic, political, etc. When Paul
first met Aquila and Priscilla the Jews had been forcibly expelled from Rome. This likely means that in the
process any property they had acquired in Rome beyond the clothes on their backs and the tools of their
trade that they could carry with them were confiscated. When he wrote this letter, the situation had
changed, and they were once again back in Rome. 109

In Rome the Jews were not allowed into political office, they were not allowed to be merchants or
bankers, they were only allowed to carry on menial trades that the Romans were unwilling to do. Their
position in society was always tenuous. It is to a congregation of people that included a high percentage
of such people that Paul, an ethnic Jew, gave instructions about how to relate properly to those who were
in political power over them. To them he issued a difficult command, “Pay to all what is owed to them:
taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed,
honor to whom honor is owed.”

Paying what they owe is presented as an aspect of doing the first commandment in the chapter. It is an
expression of submission. They are directed to place themselves under the governing authorities as an act
of obedience to the fundamental command of giving themselves to serving God. They, no doubt were
tempted to react in the same way we might react and ask the question, “Why?” “Why should we submit
to these unbelieving worldly authorities?” Paul anticipated such a question and thus provided reasons for
this command in verses 1-4. Paul reminded them that: (1) These authorities were put in place by God. (2)
To resist them is to resist God. (3) God will punish disobedience to them. (4) God will hold the authorities
he has appointed accountable to do their assignments properly. (5) God defines their work.

108 Acts 18:1-3, ESV.
109 Romans 16:3-5.
88