Sermon 15: Romans 13:1-8

  It will be necessary to skip from the eighth to the thirteenth chapter; not but that there are some of the most important truths in the Bible contained in the intervening chapters, but the time allotted for this series of Bible study is too limited to admit of their perusal.  So tonight we will take up the study of the 13th chapter, as it treats upon questions which are of vital importance to all believers in the third angel's message.  This chapter is frequently used and quoted to prove that civil government has something to do with religion and the reason why this mistake is made is that the chapter is regarded as a treatise setting forth the duties of civil rulers and showing the limits to which their power may extend.  But this is a mistake.

  In this chapter the apostle Paul is speaking to professed Christians.  As we have already stated, this is proved in the early part of the epistle where in the second chapter the apostle addresses those who rest in the law and make their boast of God.  From that point forward the epistle is addressed to those that profess to know God.  In the seventh chapter the apostle says, "For I speak to them that know the law."  So instead of the thirteenth chapter being simply a treatise on civil government, showing its duties and limits, it is addressed to the church, showing how they should relate themselves to God, so as not to be in conflict with the powers that be.  If this is borne in mind, it will be a great help in the solution of the many important questions, which are considered in the chapter.

  "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.  For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.  Whosoever, therefore, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive unto themselves damnation."  Romans 13:1, 2.  These verses are not to be construed as teaching that Christians must obey every command that civil governments may impose upon them.  We may recall the time in which this was written and the people to whom it was addressed.  It was written at a time when the Roman Empire held sway over all the known world, and it was especially addressed to the church at Rome, the capital of this universal Empire.  The emperor reigning at that time was Nero, and he was doubtless the most wicked, the most bloodthirsty, and abominable licentious monarch that ever sat upon the throne of any kingdom.  I suppose there never was another man in the world that combined so much evil in himself as Nero the emperor of the Romans.  He was a heathen and a heathen of the heathens.

  The laws, which were enacted in Rome, recognized the heathen religion and were opposed to Christianity.  In the reign of Nero occurred the cruelest persecution to the Christians that ever has been since the world began, and it was during this persecution that the apostle Paul lost his head.  Therefore it is manifest that the apostle, when he says that we are to be subject to the powers that be, does not mean to convey the idea that we should do everything that the powers that be tell us to do.  If the apostle Paul had done that, he never would have lost his head, but he suffered because the truth which he preached was opposed to the principles of the Roman government, and we cannot suppose that the apostle Paul would preach one thing and do another.  Then the question arises, What does he mean by exhorting us to be "subject unto the higher powers"?