Christians and the Government (Rom. 13:1–7)

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Sam Allberry
If I don’t like the politics who whoever’s elected, that doesn’t give me the right to demean them, to be disrespectful to them. In my heart, there is no authority except from God, and that those that exist have been instituted by God. Whoever ends up being elected, I have to recognize the providential Hand of God behind that.

Welcome back to you’re not crazy. We’re so glad to have you with us. I’m joined as always, by Ray. Ray. Good to see you. To be with you, Sam, thanks for joining me for this. We’re looking through Romans 12 to 15. And again, we’re just seeing how rich, how much we need these, these texts. Today we’re looking at Romans 13. Verses one to seven. We’re glad for you to be with us as we as we look at these verses Ray, one of the things I’m so struck by is, is that this paragraph is even here, if we went from the end of Romans 12, where it says, Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good, and went straight from that to Romans 13, verse eight, Owe no one anything except love to love each other. We wouldn’t have felt like we’d missed anything. But Paul gives us this, this little section on the authorities of government, nasty words like taxes. These things are all relevant to how we respond to the mercy of God by offering our lives and bodies to him. Paul is

Ray Ortlund
talking about this because he’s a good and wise pastor, and we’re talking to good and wise pastors and others, but those who are leading people through the wilderness of this world and to God’s eternal kingdom. Paul saw the necessity. We all feel the urgency, especially in these times of providing pastoral guidance for Christian people who are going through political pressures and temptations right now, speaking

Sam Allberry
of political temptations, right I’ve got a final question for you. If you could be governor of Tennessee just for like, a year or something, what laws would you pass?

Ray Ortlund
It’s an embarrassing question. Okay, honest answer, I would change the laws regarding deer season. I

Sam Allberry
have a feeling it might involve deer constituency who don’t get to vote. Deer

Ray Ortlund
do damage to vehicles in our I’ve read that vehicles suffer about $1 billion worth of damage every year from from deer. So I’m just trying to help. I’m and so I would change the law, and I would extend deer season to 365, days a year.

Sam Allberry
Well, all those auto repair shops that will go out of business because of this will will not vote for you again. Okay,

Ray Ortlund
but I’m coming back at you. What law in Britain, would you change if you could?

Sam Allberry
Yes, if I was Prime Minister for a day, which I think the wonder I would like to change is that we don’t alter the clocks anymore. I’m sure. If I was a farmer and had to get up at 5am to milk sheep or, you know, sheer horses, or whatever

Ray Ortlund
farmers do milk or sheer horses. Did he say that?

Sam Allberry
I would probably feel differently. But you know that whole having to switch the clocks an hour forwards and all of that stuff, I would love to be done with that

Ray Ortlund
so with the governmental realities that we live with now, yes, not our little fantasy ones, yes, the actual realities we’re stuck with the Roman Christians were stuck with political realities that they didn’t always appreciate. Yes, and so are we. And that’s why this passage is here,

Sam Allberry
and the very existence of this passage, if one mistake we can make when it comes to politics is thinking about politics in the wrong way, and Paul will help us to think about it in the right way. Another mistake is not thinking about it at all and just thinking that that part of life is just not relevant to my Christianity, or it’s it’s so beyond the pale that I don’t even need to think Christianly about it. But the fact that Paul gives us teaching, not only on how we are to to what our attitude should be to ruling authorities, but what God’s design and purpose is in having ruling authorities. Means, actually we do need to think about these things. He

Ray Ortlund
says very boldly and candidly, bluntly in verse one, let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. So he continues to riff on that theme through these seven verses. What? What is the message, the vision, the insight that we gain from these versus Sam? Yeah,

Sam Allberry
it’s an insight we probably don’t like. I used to work for a wonderful church where I was helping with the college university student ministry, and we would go through the whole of Roman. Decisions in one school year in Bible study groups. So I’ve led a Bible study on this text several times to different year groups of students, and we would get to this verse, And the first question almost always would be the Yes, but what about if the government tells you to do something you shouldn’t do? What about? And I think that’s, that’s very, it’s a very honest response. We we’re already looking for the exception. So when Paul says, be subject to governing authorities, be going, Yes, but and Paul then says, in verse two, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed. If we’re if we’re looking to resist more than we’re looking to be subject we’re going against the grain of something that matters to God. God has designed us as human beings to live in in societies and to need governing. Any given government will be, will be very fallen. But we mustn’t resent the presence of government. If the actualities are always leaving a lot to be desired, we shouldn’t be resentful at the fact that we need governing. And governing is a good thing. We’re designed to be subject. It is good for us to be subject to authorities.

Ray Ortlund
So government as a concept is of God, any particular government at any particular time might run counter to God. And

Sam Allberry
Paul is not writing this in the middle of a, you know, a 1950s Disney movie. He’s writing this in first century Roman Empire. They were not, they did not have, you know, benevolent, benevolent leadership. And things were trending in a in a worse and worse direction. It was. It was already a brutal place to be a Christian. The persecution was, was actually getting worse throughout Paul’s lifetime. You know, let us be subject to to governing authorities. Let us not resist what God has appointed. God is sovereign over even even a wicked governing authority. Let me

Ray Ortlund
try to say it this way and tell me what you think. It’s a both end and the first part of the both end is the primary message that we respect and go along with, respectfully, the governing authorities under which we find ourselves at any particular time, realizing that God is the one God, the king, is the one who created the very reality of human governance. That’s the first part of the both end. The second part is in those exceptional moments which are exceptional but also probably inevitable. When the government demands that we disobey God in order to obey the government, we are not left with any choice. For example, the Apostles in Acts. Chapter Four, the text says, But Peter and John answered them whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge. But we know what we’re going to do. So it’s both end. Government is of God government that makes itself out to be God demanding what only God deserves. That’s when the ground rules shift, and in that situation, we move over to resistance, both with regret and even then, with respect, and move back into compliance as soon as possible. How does that strike you? I think

Sam Allberry
that’s that’s that’s right. And I think that again, Paul is this is where this, this passage, messes with us, because he’s talking so much about our attitude, and I think our attitude is to revel in where we get to disobey more than having a heart posture of wanting to be subject to governing authorities. Several months ago, I was doing a panel at grave City College with Carl Truman. Carl Truman was on the panel with me. I was very struck by something that Carl said, because he was talking about times when Christians might have to disobey and he was giving his personal opinions about during covid, where the government had the legal rights, the moral right, to prevent churches from meeting, and he felt very strongly that the government didn’t have the right to do that. And Christians will have a variety of views on that. But the thing that really struck me was he said, but even if at that point we need to disobey, we should do so with lament, because our heart should should be that we want to obey. And he was saying he had been troubled by how many churches disobeyed the government, but in a kind of cocky way, rather than in a spirit of of lament and grief that they had to disobey. We shouldn’t. We shouldn’t go. A kick out of it. You

Ray Ortlund
know, I think he’s putting his finger on a significant problem, a blemish on the face of the Body of Christ in my nation today, in the United States of America, it’s not that we not the opinions that we have that are relevant to politics, but the attitude and the word cocky is a good word, the in your face, assertive, snarky posture that sometimes we adopt toward anyone in politics who disagrees with us, even Christian disagreement, even Christian descent should have a beauty upon it eight times in these seven verses, Paul refers to government as of God. The word God appears eight times here because and we Sam, we’ve parachuted into a universe where, wherever we are in history right now we’re in 2024 wherever we are in history. We’re in a God shaped reality, and we have never entered into one moment in history that has been forsaken by God, abandoned by God, where he has departed and left us entirely to ourselves. We’re always in the presence of God, the providence of God. Therefore there is always a way to respond to God, rather than merely react to the situation. That’s what I think Paul is getting at here. God is present. Look for what God has done, look for what God has established, and adapt respectfully to the god reality that’s there.

Sam Allberry
And again, Paul is recognizing, you know, Paul knows that the authorities he’s writing of are not benevolent. This is not a Christian government he’s speaking about, but they still have a good purpose, even if they are very fallen in their exercise of that purpose. So we shouldn’t resent them. We shouldn’t be anti government.

Ray Ortlund
I’m struck correspondingly that though God is mentioned consistently conspicuously through this passage, Christ Himself is not mentioned even once in this passage, it leads me back to the both and that we spoke about before. On the one hand, government is a God ordained human reality, different kinds of government, but government, as a matter of principle, is a God ordained reality. At the same time, it’s also true we should not identify any particular government with Christ. In other words, government is of God, but not any particular government can be named as Christian or the government of Christ. We respect governments generally as of God, but we have no right to baptize any particular government as of Christ. How does that strike you?

Sam Allberry
That’s exactly right, isn’t it. You know, my favorite verse probably in the whole Bible, is the increase of His government. There will be no end. And the government of Christ is exercised in an entirely different way, isn’t it?

Ray Ortlund
I think it was Tim Keller who was in conversation with a Presbyterian friend, an American who was as an American, committed to capitalism and free market economy and so forth. And this American Presbyterian friend visited friends, Presbyterian friends in Scotland, they were socialist in their economic theory. That surprised the American and he realized I had intertwined my Reformed theology and my Christian worldview with American free market capitalism. Now American free market capitalism is an arguable, defensible economic theory, but it’s not the only arguable defense, and certainly not the only Christian view. And here are these, theologically faithful, devout, sincere Christians in Scotland who take, who just assume, as normal, a more socialist view of economics. And our American friend was humbled and moderated, and he disentangled his Christianity from his economics and gave a little more space for Christians not to baptize a particular economy or governance as the only Christian view.

Sam Allberry
Right. Moving moving on. Paul goes on to talk about the purpose of government. In these verses, he’s already told us to be subject to them. He starts to talk about God’s design for them. In verse three, they are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Verse four, He is God’s servant for your good. Again, he is a servant of God. God an Avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. So there is a, again, a positive purpose to government, which is to exercise a form of temporal justice. Yes, that seems to be what Paul most focuses on. Here. He talks about carrying out God’s wrath. Back in in chapter two, verse five, Paul had already talked about the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed after the end of time. But God’s justice is not entirely absent from this world until that day. As well as the day of God’s wrath, you have the servants of God that the governing authorities who who do carry out God’s wrath in a very incomplete, imperfect way, but in the temporal, this temporal age as well, and

Ray Ortlund
in an essential way. Yeah, we need forms of human justice in a world like this. Yes, protecting the innocent is a basic governmental function, and if my heart as I walk through human society is to protect the innocent. If anyone is in trouble, and I happen to be there within my range of influence, I am duty bound before God to step in and help if I can. If that is my mentality protecting the innocent, then I am already aligned with the basic function of human government. I was

Sam Allberry
struck as well. In verse four, he’s again talking of the of the governing authorities. He is the servant of God, an Avenger. Now, Paul has just told us, and we saw this in our previous episode, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God. So another reason not to avenge myself is a there will be full justice on the day of wrath, when God will right all wrongs perfectly. But even before then, there’s a form of vengeance that God has appointed someone else to execute. That again, means I don’t have to be the one doing it myself, and no government will do this perfectly. No, no human system of justice is without its failings, and the one Paul is writing about here in Rome was was, you know, far from perfect. But again, it means that when it helps us not to be people who are constantly trying to get our own back and to seek our own vengeance, when God has as part of his common grace to humanity, appointed governing authorities whose job is to execute justice, to punish those who are doing wrong.

Ray Ortlund
And in verse five, Paul says, Therefore, one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath through the sword of human government, but also for the sake of conscience. So that’s fascinating to me. I mean the whole wraparound concept in these chapters in Romans, as I understand it, is the human beauty that true doctrine creates. That human beauty includes the closest alignment I’m capable of with the culture and society and governance in which I find myself, but also within my own conscience, peace, rest harmony with my own inner voice, someone called conscience, a prophetic voice inside every one of us, warning us of the ultimate judgment that we’re going to face when we stand before God, and warning us away from sin. So here is the gospel creating harmony in the world I live in, and settled peace inside myself. So I’m seeing beauty appear around me and within me by following the gospel. That’s interesting, I thought, but you right? So it’s not just avoiding trouble with the police department, no, it’s also living with a clear conscience as I stand before God.

Sam Allberry
So that the thrust of the seems to be that we we want to be as a as obedient as we can be, and only disobedient when we must be, rather than thinking, I’ll only obey when I have to.

Ray Ortlund
So we’re looking at a presidential election in this country in the autumn of 2000 November of 2024 every Christian in this country, in America, can prepare now to accept and adapt to whatever the outcome of that election is, to whatever degree we can conscientiously as We stand before God, accept that adaptation Yeah, and we can, for the sake of conscience before God, not just a matter of social or political expediency, but as a matter of sacred conscience, be as compliant as it is possible to be, and as you. Amenable to change as it is possible to be,

Sam Allberry
I think we can decide, and on the basis of this passage, we can decide now what our attitude will be to the person who gets elected before they’re elected, whoever that person is, whether it’s the person we liked or didn’t like or however we feel about any of them, we can determine that my heart attitude is going to be respectful to governing authorities if I don’t like the politics who whoever’s elected, that doesn’t give me the right to demean them, to be disrespectful to them in my heart, because there is no authority except from God, and that those that exist have been instituted by God. So whoever ends up being elected, I have to recognize the providential Hand of God behind that, even if it’s a government that may be destructive in so many ways to you know, to human flourishing, I still must be respectful to them. So if

Ray Ortlund
we’re looking out ahead into the unknown future at this point, but the Not, not the distant future, the immediate future, but still unknown, every single one of us, American Christians, can humbly trust God so much that we adapt in advance to whatever God ordains. Not a single one of us is going to say, I’m going to get this all my own way. Yeah, we’re all going to humble ourselves and adapt, trusting God. Paul

Sam Allberry
closes out verses six and seven, talking about giving it gets very practical. And as we as we’re recording this right now, it’s, it’s the season where taxes are due, and this is my first time round at paying taxes in this country, so I’m realizing it’s much more of a of an ordeal than it was back in England. I’m needing to set aside a whole couple of days just to find all the right pieces of paper and rest USA. But this is good. I shouldn’t resent doing that. I don’t have to enjoy it. I don’t have to pretend I love doing that, but 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 honored is owed. So I can do that. I should do that with a clear conscience, as as part of my offering of my body to God. If the government requires certain bits of information for me to pay my taxes, then collating that, getting that all together, however many hours that takes, that’s a good thing for me to do. I shouldn’t. I shouldn’t be doing that with, you know, resentment in my heart at every single step the

Ray Ortlund
beauty that Christ creates in this world includes our posture toward politics.

Sam Allberry
That’s very striking. I mean, again, Paul, in one sense, Paul didn’t have to write this paragraph, but he did, and so we need to. We need to hear this word. It’s not the only part of scripture that talks about governing authorities. There are other things that the Bible says in other places, but we need these verses.

Ray Ortlund
So Sam in first, Timothy, chapter two, the apostle Paul also instructs us to pray for kings, all who are in high position, that we might lead a peaceable and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way, and that is true beauty. So the ministry of prayer is part of Christian politics. So I wonder if you would lead us in prayer, because the pastors who are listening right now, some of them might be right in the thick of it with sort of some church members might be overheated politically, and maybe they would benefit. Those members would benefit from being guided gently into prayer for political outcomes and for all those who are in positions of authority. Let’s pray for that. Let’s pray for the pastors right now,

Sam Allberry
okay, yeah, and I’m always struck by it’s hard to nurture an unhealthy attitude to someone if you’re actually consistently praying for them. So yeah, let me pray, Father. We do pray for those in high positions. We think of in this country, we think of the mayor of this city, the governor of this state, the president of this country. We think of our friends in in other countries, under differing governments and Prime Ministers and kings and presidents. Father, we pray for those who are in these high positions, because you call us to pray for all people, and they are flesh and blood, as everybody else is and needing of prayer. Father, we pray as well. In the light of Romans 13, recognizing that you have you’re the one who has put these people in these positions, that is a scary place to be, if they if they really knew the one to whom they are ultimately accountable. Lord, I’m sure they would tremble to be in those positions. Yes. So we pray for our leaders. Lord, please give them humility. Please give them an awareness of you. Would they look to you for wisdom? Would they be humbled before you? Would they know that they are not the ultimate authority, but that you are, that they are there by your institution, father? Would you give them wisdom to rule in a way that is just and fair and for the common good. And would you help us, Lord, to lead quiet and godly lives that we would be submissive and subject subject to those you’ve put an authority over us, that we would be wise if there are moments, Lord, where we do need to honor you by disobeying that you would give us gentle, gracious courage and help us to have a godly attitude to those rulers that you’ve placed over us. Father, help us to be prayerful. Help us to be godly. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.