“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.” (Romans 13:1, NASB95)
I said that I was going to back up to the beginning of
Romans 12, after writing about the second half, before going on to Romans 13.
Now having done that I am ready to tackle Romans 13, or am I….
One doesn’t have to spend much time on the social media or
watching any national news during election seasons or times of particular
political struggle to know that writing about politics can be a touchy subject.
Many families have holiday rules for this very reason—you know, the ‘no talking
about religion or politics’ rules. I’ve seen some families where these
discussions can get quite intense and I’ve followed some threads on Facebook
which have had similar emotion to them.
So, before jumping in with both feet and risking alienating
everyone I know because of what I might write, let’s first consider the issue
of the sovereignty of God. This takes us to the middle portion of Romans 13:1
without regard to what comes before or even what follows. We read there, “For
there is no authority except from God.”
In thinking of this, I was reminded of a phrase that had
become quite popular over the years since it was first used in a political
debate in 1988 when Senator Lloyd Bentsen (Democrat) responded to Senator Dan
Quayle (Republican) in a Vice-Presidential debate. Senator Quayle had been
asked a couple of times about his qualifications and readiness to be President
should he have to succeed to the office. And it was Senator Bentsen’s response
to Senator Quayle’s answer that caught national attention and which probably
limited his highest role in government to that of Vice President. Here is what was
said.
Senator Quayle: Three times that I've had this question —
and I will try to answer it again for you, as clearly as I can, because the
question you're asking is, "What kind of qualifications does Dan Quayle
have to be president," "What kind of qualifications do I have,"
and "What would I do in this kind of a situation?" And what would I
do in this situation? [...] I have far more experience than many others that
sought the office of vice president of this country. I have as much experience
in the Congress as Jack Kennedy did when he sought the presidency. I will be
prepared to deal with the people in the Bush administration, if that
unfortunate event would ever occur.”
To this Senator Bentsen was given an opportunity to reply,
and this is what followed: “Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack
Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy.”
The audience in debate arenas is supposed to be quite
subdued, but their response to this was loud and prolonged. Senator Quayle chose
another well-known human as his point of comparison or readiness, but as it had
been shown even President Kennedy was not sovereign or fully in control of the
events of his own life or this country.
We are reminded in Romans 13:1 that regardless of whom the current
authority might be that there is ultimately only one sovereign ruler, and that
is God Himself. Everything that is exists because of God. Our world exists
because God spoke it into being, and we ourselves are His handiwork whether we
acknowledge it or not. This world continues to hold together because God is restraining
it, and even evil is limited because God is the one limiting it until such time
that He takes further and more drastic action ultimately leading to the
creation of a new heaven and a new earth.
Man was created to worship God and have a relationship with
Him forever and it was because of man’s sin and rebellion that all of the evil
that we now see was introduced, whether that evil is in the form of a rogue
individual in a mall or a government pursuing radical ends. Some might look to
our current times and point to how bad it is getting, yet we read in Scripture
that even during the time of the apostles that Christians were being pulled out
to their death. Need we also be reminded that our sinless Savior and Lord was
put to death, chosen to be crucified over a proven criminal. God is sovereign
over all of these, and He at all times has the power to bring them up or put
them down. Satan, even now, is limited by the power and authority of God. There
is absolutely no authority except from God.
When Job was tempted to consider just how bad his plight
was, it was God who repeatedly brought to Job’s attention His own sovereign
hand (and not Job’s) in all of creation and all that existed. During the time of the Jews finally entering the
land which had been promised to them, it was God who made them victorious. And
during their years of rebellion it was God who both worked through foreign
powers for their discipline and even through the weakness of their nation
during times of turning for their restoration. God has baffled man throughout
history with how He works, and yet there remains one unshakable truth. God is
God, and we are not and neither is any leader or government institution.
So, as we move through these first verses in Romans 13, we
need to be constantly mindful that it is God who establishes the foundation on
which we stand and who gives us the breath that we daily take. He is the One
who directs our steps and even how we are to walk when those steps become
complicated.
“Seek the Lord
while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake
his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. For My thoughts are not your
thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are
My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah
55:6–9, NASB95)
“I charge you in the presence of God, who gives
life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession
before Pontius Pilate, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach
until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He will bring about at the
proper time—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and
Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable
light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion!
Amen.” (1 Timothy 6:13–16, NASB95)
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