Torch, Spring/Summer 2008

T he Apostle Paul in Romans 13 provides clear teaching for how we, as citizens, should interact with our government. While libraries could be filled with the implications of these seven verses, three important principles force us to wrestle with the question, “Why bother with politics?” Honor The least-discussed aspect of Romans 13 is the onus it puts on believers to honor and respect those God has placed in authority. Contemporary evangelicals struggle with this edict, and our willingness to belittle, demean, and provoke our leaders brings shame upon us and reveals our collective hypocrisy as we seek to bend our culture toward Christ-likeness. Even if we perceive our leaders to be our enemies, and surely many of the Roman Christians Paul is directly writing to would have done so, Paul reminds his readers just a few verses earlier that we should not repay evil with evil and that we should feed our enemies and give them drink, for this allows us to “overcome evil with good.” Sadly, in modern American evangelical politics, we often treat our leaders worse than we are commanded to treat our enemies. Submission Paul exhorts believers to submit to the authority put over them. Submission occurs both out of fear of reprisals for disobedience and also out of conscience. Martin Luther argues that this submission is a matter of the heart — a total submission not based on fear alone, but out of conviction that it is the proper thing to do. Our submission appears to be universal in Paul’s language, so our submission is not conditional upon the government or its quality. This runs contrary to how many of us feel as we consider the government over us. We desperately want to withhold our submission if we think we have been wronged by the government or if it is embarking on a path we would prefer not to tread. Paul, however, does not seem to give us any “wiggle room” in his language. Scripture does provide us, however, with some exceptions to this submission. We know the apostles did not obey when commanded to cease preaching the Gospel (Acts 5), and neither did Daniel when prevented from praying (Daniel 6), nor Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego when they were commanded to kneel before an idol (Daniel 3). Also, the Hebrew midwives did not comply with the Egyptian authorities when they were commanded to kill newborn boys (Exodus 1). The biblical teaching, when taken as a whole then, is that we, as believers, are to submit as long as government is not commanding us to sin. Participation Due to Submission As American Christians living in a representative, constitutional republic, to whom do we submit? There is no Caesar in America, for the theory of our government places no one above the law. Do we submit to Congress? The president? The Supreme Court? Our governors, mayors, or dogcatchers? The answer, naturally, is “yes.” However, that answer is not exhaustive. Ultimately, the Constitution functions as the “supreme law of the land,” and acts that run counter to it are repugnant, even when committed by the president Spring–Summer 2008 5 Though we cannot pretend to have the ability to control policy in a pluralistic, fractured system like ours, we do have the opportunity, based on our freedoms and rights, to attempt to influence the system. This is the blessing and curse of being a Christian in a representative republic.