The American Government
"Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgement on themselves." Romans 13:1-2
"This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time governing. Give everyone what you owe his: if you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor." Romans 13:6-7
Submission (dictionary definition) n. 1) the act of submitting, yielding, or surrendering 2) the quality or condition of being submissive; resignation; obedience; meekness
Submit (dictionary definition) 1) to present or refer to others for decision, consideration, etc. 2) to uield to the power, control, etc. of another or others; give in.
Because, as it says in Romans 13:1-2, all authorities are established and instituted by God, we are to submit. Submission requires yielding and surrendering. My belief is that this type of submission requires humility and respect toward these authorities. In practical application, I think this means:
- praying for them (see a later point)
- not ranting/complaining about them or their actions
- respecting them
- not making jokes/fun of them/mocking them
"Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk for from your lips." Proverbs 4:24
Corrupt (dictionary definition) 2) a) morally unsound or debased; perverted; evil; depraved
What if our governing authorities are not governing Biblically? What if Obama is not a Christian?
Pray for them
"I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made for everyone - for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good and pleases God our Savior." 1 Timothy 2:1-3
- requests be made for all those in authority
- ask God to give them wisdom/guidance
- prayers/intercession be made for all those in authority
- Intercession (dictionary definition) the act of interceding; meditation, pleading, or prayer in behalf of another or others
- thanksgiving be made for all those in authority
Their Christian Walk is not ours to judge. It is between them and God.
- Proverbs 5:21 - God knows and examines their ways
- Romans 14:12 - we will give our account to God
- 1 Corin. 4:5 - God will judge
- 2 Corin 5:10 - We will all appear before God
We all fall short. Nobody's perfect.
- Romans 3:23
What is corruption in the Government is leading the world astray, quickening the downfall of human civilization?
"But mark this: there will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God." 2 Timothy 3:1-4
"Jesus answered 'watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, "I am the Christ," and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places." Matthew 24:4-7
- The world will go astray before the end of the age, be it because of or in spite of the government
- The time is already known
- "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but nly the Father." Matthew 24:36
Conclusion: the government may govern and lead unbiblically, but the timeline of the world and the victory at the end is already seen and known by God. Our command is to pray for, thank God for, and submit to governing authorities.
*the end of the world verses lead to another Bible point that's been working around in my brain... maybe that will be a future post :)
Hey! Here are my thoughts... :)
ReplyDeleteI appreciated your Bible references along with each of your points, and I feel that, on the whole, you presented a very sound, Biblical perspective on the subject.
However, there was one question on my mind after reading this. I already know what I think of it, but perhaps you'll consider more study and another blog post to answer it. This is a rather complex subject. (Also, I like it when you make blog posts.) :)
If the rulers that God has placed in our government make a law with which we have moral objections, do we protest it? (I'm thinking of the issue of abortion, but it could be applied to other things as well.) Or do we say, "Well, these people are who God chose to be in power at this time, so, even though I don't like it, I'm just going to have to live with their decisions?" Is protesting rebellious? I think it could be considered so. I'm interested to see what you say about it. :)
Also, I'm glad that you made the distinction that you're talking about the American government... After reading the post, I'd kind of forgotten that. You were about to get a request that you remember that sometimes being a Christian is in total rebellion to the governing authorities. :) lol Glad I glanced at the title.
Thanks for posting and sending me a link. :)