A Spirit of Submission to Governing Authority (Part 1) – Romans 13:1–7

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Intro: ***

Romans 13:1–7 ESV

¹ 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. ² Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. ³ For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, ⁴ for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. ⁵ Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. ⁶ For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. ⁷ 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 honor is owed.

Submit to governing authorities as God’s instruments for promoting good.

Some suggest that this text seems out of place in the flow of Paul’s letter at this point, but that ignores the obvious connections to the previous context in Romans 12. There are at least four touch points that should help us understand why Paul places this instruction here.

Why does Paul instruct this here?

• Submission to governing authorities is a means to conquer evil with good (v. 21). - The last thing Paul said was, “Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.” The overall argument of the passage in 13:1-7 is that we submit to governing authorities in order to partner in their role of curbing evil and promoting good. A spirit of submission to obey imperfect earthly authority whenever possible is to not be overcome by evil but to conquer evil with good.
• Submission to governing authorities is a help to entrust vengeance into God’s hands when we are wronged (v. 19). - The most clear connections in 13:1-7 with the end of chapter 12 are the words good and evil, wrath and vengeance. After all, Paul’s explanation for the purpose of governing authorities is that they are servants of God’s justice even in the here and now, curbing evil and promoting good. So this is meant to be an encouragement to not retaliate, taking vengeance into our own hands, because God can be trusted with retribution, possibly even meting out justice in the present through the earthly authorities he has put in power.
• Submission to governing authorities is a testimony of distinctly Christian behavior, especially of being winsome and peaceable (vv. 17&18). - As you are reading this section of Scripture, pay attention to the fact that chapters 13, 14, and the beginning of 15 flow from the list in chapter 12, which highlights the marks of distinctly Christian behavior toward one another in the family of God and toward outsiders, even those who oppose us. It is therefore my firm belief that the context for submission to authorities is Christian testimony, to be as peaceable as we can, and not to repay evil for evil but to behave winsomely with all opportunities (vv. 17-18). - So, we submit to governing authorities promote good over evil, and to be winsome and peaceable, to trust God and not taking vengeance into our own hands, and finally and most fundamentally for the way Paul began the section…
• Submission to governing authorities is a way to discern and do the will of God as we are being transformed by renovated patterns of thinking (v. 2). - From a renewed mind we are able to test and approve what God’s will is, what is good and acceptable and perfect. We are submitting to governing authority in order to submit to God’s will for how we should live.

Maintain a submissive posture towards governing authorities for pleasing God, for Christian testimony, for not taking retaliation into our own hands, and for promoting good over evil.

Moving forward, then, a summary of Paul’s instruction in these seven verses is that we must… Submit to governing authorities as God’s instruments for promoting good.

Before developing this further, the straightforward principle Paul gives is…

“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.”

To whom does this apply?

Let every person be submissive: Paul applies this to “every soul,” likely indicating the believers he’s writing to as primary, but also deliberately indicating that this applies to everyone. So this command to believers for their Christian testimony is also a comforting reminder to them that everyone else in God’s sight is also subject to authority. It is even the case that nearly every authority figure is under another authority figure to whom they should submit. Even the emperor, who seems to have no one above him, is plainly accountable to the infinite God who gave him his post.

Paul says point blank that this spirit of submission applies to everyone, and of course especially to believers. And Christians in particular may need to hear this, lest they abuse the concept that Jesus is Lord as an excuse to defy their earthly leaders, lest they abuse citizenship in Christ’s kingdom as reason to excuse behavior that undermines their present earthly kingdom.

Recent in Paul’s memory would have been a decade earlier when many Jews were kicked out of Rome under emperor Claudius for what the authorities deemed disruptive to society. Now if this happened simply due to faithful evangelism, then such would be suffering for doing good, which is both praised and rewarded by our Lord. But if this was not due to persecution, then the young church in Rome was not being peaceable enough and winsome enough and submissive enough to Rome’s expectation for orderly behavior.

So the implication of this submission is that we apply it for Christian testimony, and it is a comforting reminder that those who mistreat us are also subject to laws and governing authorities.

To whom are we called to submit?

Authorities or powers are those who are over, who are ruling, who are in control. Based on all that is expressed in the context, our translations rightly indicate that these are earthly governing people. The institutions are likely implied as well, such as the rule of law, but the emphasis seems to be on the authorities themselves. There is no indication in this context that we are talking about angelic beings, nor is there suggestion that it is only the office we are submitting to, but to the actual people who hold leadership positions.

These earthly rulers, at all levels, would not only have been imperfect people, but nearly all were unbelievers. Most would have been pagans, and very few would have even feared God. What’s more,  according to Craig Keener in the IVP Bible Background Commentary, “The Roman state did many evil things; even its court system was based on social class. But the Romans generally advocated justice and toleration, and at this point the Christians have nothing to fear from them.” At the time that Paul writes this from Greece, Nero is now the emperor. You may remember Nero as the tyrant who particularly persecuted Christians, but this was earlier than that in his tenure as emperor. “[Nero] had not yet begun persecuting Christians or repressing other groups.” (Keener, Ibid)

Regardless of no organized state persecution at this point, we are talking about imperfect and godless people to whom we submit. And yet Paul tells us to submit to them, explaining that we do so not because they are intrinsically such good people and justice is always sure to be served, but because God assigned them to the role. “For there is no authority except under God, and those that exist have been ordained by God.” So we submit to governing leaders because our desire is to do the will of God.

Now this raises a third important question from the straightforward command to submit to governing authorities.

What is submission?

To submit, or to be subject, is literally “to order oneself under” another’s leadership. It is to willingly subordinate yourself under someone else.

Submission is to willingly place yourself under someone else’s authority in a spirit to follow their lead with an intent to obey and to pursue what is right and good.

In Titus 3:1 Paul says this:

Titus 3:1 ESV

¹ Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work.

Notice that the second and third infinitive verbs are meant to further develop the spirit of submission. Submission is to willingly place yourself under someone else’s authority in a spirit to follow their lead with an intent to obey and to pursue what is right and good. But this also means that submission will not always lead to blanket, unquestioned obedience… because the spirit of submission is to obey in order to promote what is good.

It is also helpful then to differentiate between obedience and submission, where submission is actually the more comprehensive of the two. Submission and obedience are related but should not be equated.

To obey is to do what someone in authority has commanded. Obedience is an act that responds to a demand. There are some relationships where the Bible gives this as the primary descriptor of proper response: “Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right” (Eph 6:1). Such obedience includes a spirit of submission, which is even more broad than only obeying directives.

Bondservants are told to obey their earthly masters with a sincere heart, as well as to submit to them (Col 3:22, Eph 6:5, 1 Peter 2:18, Titus 2:9). In these relationships, including with governing authority, we obey unless we are certain that such obedience would dishonor God or prevent us from obeying God.

In Acts chapter 4, when Peter and John were commanded by the Sanhedrin to stop speaking or teaching at all in the name of Jesus (Acts 4:18), Peter and John replied, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19-20). They had received a higher command from Jesus in the Great Commission, which they must obey (Mt 28:19-20). So when they are re-arrested and confronted for this, they will be even more explicit in the next response. They were brought before the Sanhedrin a second time and the high priest interrogated them…

Acts 5:28–29 ESV

²⁸ saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” ²⁹ But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.

What this example shows is that there will be times in our submissive posture where strict obedience to the command of earthly authority will not be an option in order to obey God. But that can happen even in a context where our overall intent is a spirit of submission.

Another clear example of disobeying an earthly authority to obey God is when Joseph disobeyed Potiphar’s wife by refusing her, but in order to obey God and remain pure in his sight. What’s interesting about that illustration, however, is that it also demonstrates that one can actually be submissive but still not strictly obey in rare cases. Joseph’s intent in refusing Potiphar’s wife was not only to obey God but also to honor Potiphar and the elevated responsibility he had been given in Potiphar’s household (Gen 39:8-9).

From examples like these, we should recognize that submission is broader than obedience and speaks to one’s heart posture.

A submissive spirit recognizes the authoritative role of another and yields to that order without seeking to resist, undermine, or usurp that authority. But since submission (like obedience) does not go along with evil and instead promotes what is good in God’s sight, one can be submissive and yet not obey when called upon to do something that dishonors God or restricts us from obeying him.

See if this picture illustration helps with grasping the concept.

1. What is most broad and all-encompassing is submission and obedience to God from the heart. With trust in God’s perfect goodness, we can submissively obey without ever needing to question if it is right. We can rightly question our own hearts and motives in such obedience, but that it is right to obey is never in question.

2. When it comes to human authority, it is God’s will for us to willingly place ourselves under their leadership with the intent to obey them in what is right and good. It needs to be said that a lot of the time, we are in fact obeying God by obeying them.
3. But then there will be rare occasion where our submission to God and even to them will lead us to serve them by pursuing good… which is ultimately even for the good of the one to whom we submit.

Consider again the example of the Sanhedrin opposing the Apostles spreading the good news of Jesus. If the Apostles do not refuse this intimidation, not only will they disobey the Lord, but they are complicit in the Sanhedrin setting themselves in direct opposition to God’s will. If an authority should willfully oppose God, let it not be with our complicity.

Now I don’t want it to feel like I am killing submission by a thousand cuts of exceptions. What I am instead seeking to do is to correct a lazy view of submission that equates it directly with unquestioned obedience. And such a lazy view causes harm. What’s more, it misses the spirit and truth of submission. I know that I have been guilty of knowing there is a difference without considering very carefully what that difference is from its meaning and examples in Scripture.

So if you are called to obey, then you are certainly called to have a submissive spirit toward their leadership… like your parents. If you are called to submit, then that will sometimes or often require obedience, depending on the relationship. Again, with relationship to God, a submissive heart will always require obedience. With relationship to your spouse, marriage should be such a partnership that the need for a wife to “obey” her husband when they cannot agree should be rare indeed. In fact, I would be hesitant to even use the word obey in a healthy marriage, but the concept is certainly to yield to another’s leadership without seeking to resist, undermine, or usurp that authority.

With relationship to governing authority, a spirit of submission should lead in most cases to obeying laws and directives from these leaders. Submission is to willingly place yourself under someone else’s authority in a spirit to follow their lead with an intent to obey and to pursue what is right and good.

There is one more thing I think should be said about this submissive relationship to other authorities that are not God. Because they are not God, one can be submissive while still helpfully providing or seeking accountability for earthly authority. In fact, I would argue that since submission seeks what is right and good, we should provide and seek accountability.

And the very nature of God instituting human authorities at all may be the very provision for this accountability to promote what is good. As a Roman citizen, didn’t Paul appeal to Caesar when there was little hope for a fair trial and also a plot against his life under loose protection? I would argue that Paul is submissive and respectful of leaders while also holding them accountable to higher authority and law.

I have elaborated on this because it is important that we understand submission accurately for our own application and to help others.

Another reason I say all this is because we naturally ask ourselves in this text why Paul doesn’t qualify this submission. 

Why doesn’t this require more qualification?

The Apostle Paul respects his listeners, that we are thinking people who will understand the principle as an attitude, an overall posture. Paul is describing what is normative and not claiming that there are never any situations in which submission will not lead to unquestioned obedience. The very meaning of submission allows for the possibility of necessary disobedience in order to pursue God’s will and the good of others.

Because submission willingly places oneself under someone else’s authority without trying to resist or undermine or usurp that authority, and because submission still promotes accountability for authority and even allows for disobedience if necessary to promote good over evil, Paul can instruct us without really any qualification: “let every person be subject to governing authority.”

The overall principle is…

Submit to governing authorities as God’s instruments for promoting good.

Submission to earthly authority demonstrates our allegiance to God’s supreme authority.

Next week we will finish the rest of this to see that Paul will give us two reasons (1b-2 and 3-4). Then he summarizes the point again at verse 5, followed by a specific example of this submission in the form of paying taxes.

Conclusion: Take stock of your submissive spirit.

Submission in human relationships has the double problem of being something our sin nature wants to fight against, and it suffers from being a sinful tool in the hands of abusive authoritarianism. However, instead of using these as an excuse to be unsubmissive, we need a right understanding and practice of submission to curb these evils.

Submission is a willing posture not a prison sentence. Think about how your attitude and posture impacts your words and actions, even your assumptions (about people and situations). And you can consider your words and actions and assumptions as a way to measure your submissive spirit, because these things flow from our hearts, from our attitude and posture.

Remember that you submit to lesser authorities as God’s servants for promoting good. We testify to God’s authority by a submissive spirit to governing authorities. We testify to Jesus’ Lordship in our hearts by willing submission to other authorities he has placed in our lives.

PRAY

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