Romans 13:1

THE CHRISTIAN CITIZEN

‘Let every soul be subject unto the higher power. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.’

Romans 13:1

St. Paul is enforcing obedience to authority as a duty owed to God, and doubtless he realised the deep importance of the advice he was giving.

He lays stress upon it for many reasons.

I. Because the Jews in Rome were, as a race, antagonistic to the authority under which they were living. Obedience to it seemed to them to be directly opposed to all the teaching they had inherited. Already once they had been expelled from the city on account of their turbulence and disaffection. And St. Paul would have the Jewish Christians show no sympathy with such a rebellious attitude, but be above suspicion, standing aloof in this respect from their kinsfolk after the flesh.

II. Because Christians belong to another Kingdom, the Divine Kingdom, and there was a danger lest they should suppose that they were thereby released from earthly obligations. Hence it was all-important that they should bear in mind that inheritors though they were of the Kingdom of Heaven, their duty to earthly rulers remained unchanged. Nay, they must place it on a higher level, for they must accept their authority as ordained of God. It was for them to conduct themselves as good and loyal citizens under whatever rule they might find themselves.

III. How wise and far-reaching is this advice as we look into it!

(a) It has to do with rulers. We lose much of the force of the words if we do not perceive in them a protest against the tyranny of rulers. ‘There is no power but of God.’ He is speaking of the powers, not of the men who wield them.

(b) It has to do with the ruled. Obedience always brings its own reward. The man who obeys for conscience sake is doing a work which can never be thrown on one side or overthrown.

Bishop C. J. Ridgeway.

Illustration

‘Nero is Emperor at the time when this letter is written, a monster of cruelty, the incarnation of wickedness, even in days when cruelty, profligacy, abuse of power are rampant in high places. And yet it is Christians dwelling there the Apostle enjoins to be in subjection to “the powers that be.” It is important to bear in mind that this duty of obedience to authority is no new thing, demanded for the first time by the religion of Christ. What Christianity does is to place this, like other duties that have been in the past, upon a higher ground than before.’