What does it mean Romans 13:1-7?
Introduction
This is a subject of great
discussion. After all, if every potentate comes from the Creator and is to be
obeyed, how should we do if the potentate is evil and his orders are unfair?
How should the believers do?
In order to answer this, let’s
analyze several passages of the Holy Scripture that has something to do with
this.
Potentate x Authority
First of all
it’s important to clarify that, unfortunately, the word which was translated
for “authority” was bad translated. The more precise term is “potentates”. The
difference is that, “potentate” is a more generic term.
“Potentate” is only one of the
types of “potentate”, which doesn’t enforce people to obey laws, let alone
brings punishment. “Authority” limits oneself to serve of example:
·
1Pe
5:1-3 ->
“So I exhort the elders among
you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker
in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that
is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God
would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over
those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.”.
The other types of “potentates”
are, indeed, “authoritarian” (tyrant). Understood this, it comes the question:
Do all the potentates come
from the Creator?
·
Rom
13:1 -> “Let
every person be subject to the governing potentates. For there is no potentate
except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.”.
Reading this, our conclusion is:
for sure. Even more if we look on the following excerpts:
·
John 19:10,11
-> “So Pilate said to
him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have potentate to
release you and potentate to crucify you?”.
Jesus answered him, “You would have no potentate over me at all unless it had
been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the
greater sin.”.”.
Note that Pontius Pilate had potentate
on Jesus because he received it from the Father.
· Êxodus 9:14-16
-> “Porque esta vez enviarei todas as minhas pragas sobre o teu coração, e
sobre os teus servos, e sobre o teu povo, para que saibas que não há outro como
eu em toda a terra. Porque agora tenho estendido minha mão, para te ferir a ti
e ao teu povo com pestilência, e para que sejas destruído da terra; mas,
deveras, para isto te mantive, para mostrar meu poder em ti, e para que o meu
nome seja anunciado em toda a terra.”.
·
Rom 9:17,18 -> “For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised
you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed
in all the earth.” So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he
hardens whomever he wills.”.
Even though Pharaoh was a pagan,
cruel, unrighteous and exploiter, it was the Creator that constituted him
Pharaoh and lead him to acted wickedly such as he did (Exodus 7:1-4).
·
2Th 2:11,12 -> “Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe
what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the
truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
Although the rising of the
antichrist is in according to the efficacy of Ha-Satan (2Th 2:11,12),
everything is orchestrated by the Creator.
·
Rev 13:2,4 -> “And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a
bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. And to it the dragon gave his
power and his throne and great potentate. And they worshiped the dragon,
for he had given his potentate to the beast, and they worshiped the beast,
saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?””.
·
Rev 17:16,17 -> “And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the
prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and
burn her up with fire, *for God has put it into their hearts* to
carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power
to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.”.
Although the beast will carry out
his plans by the power, potentate and dominion of Ha-Satan (Rev 13:3,4), they
only will accomplish their intents because the Creator will help them.
Nevertheless, there is a verse
that seems to contradict this:
·
Hos 8:4 -> “They made kings, but not through me. They set up princes,
but I knew it not. With their silver and gold they made idols for their own
destruction.”.
What this means is that the
Israelites constituted kings without consulting the Creator about who He wished
that was anointed king over them. However, the Creator is the Lord of lords,
King of kings and has control on everything and everyone (all was designed by
Him):
·
Job
42:2 -> “I
know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from
thee.”.
·
Psa 139:16 ->
“Thine eyes did see my substance,
yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which
in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.”.
·
Pro
21:1 -> “The
king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water:
he turneth it whithersoever he will.”.
·
Isa 43:13 ->
“Yea, before the day was I
am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will
work, and who shall let it?”.
·
Isa 46:10 ->
“Declaring the end from the
beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet
done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:”.
And if the potentate is
evil and enjoined wicked thing, should I obey?
·
Rom 13:2 ->
“Therefore whoever resists the potentates
resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.”.
First of all, it is important to
highlight that Paul wrote this letter for the Romans, the most pagan empire of
all times. But, other passages of the New Testament asserted the same idea:
·
Titus 3:1 -> “Remind them to be submissive to rulers
and potentates, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work,”.
·
1Pe 2:13,14 -> “Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human
institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as
sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.”.
Paul, in particular, adds:
·
1Ti
2:1-3 -> “First of all, then, I urge that supplications,
prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for
kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet
life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing
in the sight of God our Savior,”.
Based on all these verses, all
points out that we have to obey unconditionally.
No
entanto, vamos analisar algumas passagens que mostram resistência às
autoridades.
1 – Hananiah, Mishael
and Azariah (Daniel 3). Considering that it was the Creator that constituted
the potentates and leaded them in the way that they should walk (see Jer 10:23; Isa 54:16,17), the order to worship the statue came
from the Creator through Nebuchadnezzar.
But, why would the Creator
establish this craziness? In order to prove to principalities and potentates how
faithful those three men were and to manifest to all Babylon (especially to the
king) that only He is God, He touched the heart of Nebuchadnezzar to decree
this heinous law.
When Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah disobeyed this law, they became guilty
(resisting to what the Creator ordained through Nebuchadnezzar) and, thereby,
became subjected to judgment. But, in what they became a “curse” for the love
of the Creator’s name, for fearing Him, they gave space for His supernatural
deliverance (Nahum 1:3; 1Cor 10:13) which would be a testimony to
Nebuchadnezzar that only the Creator is God (Dan 3:26-29) and occasion for
physical and spiritual growth (Dan 3:30).
And this recalls what Paul said
in virtue of his love for Israel:
·
Rom 9:3 -> “For I could wish that myself were accursed from
Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:”.
Even Jesus became a malediction
for us:
·
Gal 3:13 ->
“Christ hath redeemed us from the
curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is
every one that hangeth on a tree:”.
Other example is…
2 – Daniel:
Likewise, the Creator allowed the
adversaries of Daniel to increase in envy and enticed the king Darius to issue
a decree prohibiting to pray for thirty days (Daniel 6). Daniel was rebelling against
that decree what came from the Creator and, for this, suffered judgment going
to the den of lions.
However, wherein Daniel questioned
the decree of the Creator through Daniel and became malediction for the love
and fear of His name, the Creator closed the mouth of the lions, what was a
testimony of His greatness and majesty to all Media-Persia.
And this resulted in reward and
deliverance to Daniel from his enemies (Dan 6:24,28).
We can see more examples:
3 – The apostles:
·
Act 4:19,20 -> “But Peter and John answered them, “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.”
The Sanhedrin enjoined John and
Peter (and, by them, all the other apostles), to not preach in Jesus’ name.
They disobeyed the order that the Creator established by them, became a curse
before them, suffered the punishment (Acts 5:40,41).
Nonetheless, this only served to
everyone see the true elation that the Creator promotes in the heart of those
who are faithful to Him (above all the sufferings which comes from the
disobedience). And, for this, the Church increased more and more (Acts 6:1).
4 – Jesus:
For many times He defied the
potentates of Israel exposing their crimes before the Creator, calling them
hypocrites, whited sepulchres (Mat 23:27), serpents and generation of
vipers (Mat 23:33), beyond
facing them down in regard to the keeping of the Sabbath and purifying the
temple two times (John 2:14-21; Mat 21:12,13).
Este
comportamento fez de Jesus uma maldição para o Sinédrio e, por que o submeter
às potestades que o Criador ou estabeleceu em Israel, o julgamento da cruz caiu
sobre Ele.
Nonetheless, this was necessary
so that we could be saved and the real will of the Creator could be known to
everyone at every time.
5 – Rahab:
·
Jos 2:2-5 -> “And it was told to the king of Jericho, “Behold, men of Israel have
come here tonight to search out the land.” Then the king of Jericho sent
to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your
house, for they have come to search out all the land.” But the woman had
taken the two men and hidden them. And she said, “True, the men came to me, but
I did not know where they were from. And when the gate was about to be
closed at dark, the men went out. I do not know where the men went. Pursue them
quickly, for you will overtake them.””.
Rahab disobeyed the order of the
Creator through the king of Jericho. Only she escaped of the judgment because
she lied and her treason wasn’t found out. Although her faith in the Creator
and His word was very big (see Joshua 2:9-11) to the point of being considered
an example of faith (Heb 11:31), she didn’t reach the fullness of the blessing
in virtue of her lie.
If she had simply resisted to the
orders of the potentate, for the love of Israel and their guys, the Creator
would work something supernatural to free her, her family and the spies. After
all, the Creator was in favor of Israel.
It is doable that she didn’t hope
that she could be saved in virtue of her past and nationality. The Creator
forgave her sin, but she lost part of her blessings.
6 – The midwives of Egypt:
·
Exodus 1:18-20
-> “So the king of Egypt
called the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and let the male
children live?” The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women
are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before
the midwife comes to them.” So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people
multiplied and grew very strong.”.
As Rahab, in virtue of not
knowing the true God well (nor His power, inasmuch as His people continued
slave in Egypt), they lied and got free of the judgment in virtue of disobeying
the Creator through Pharaoh. The Creator blessed them for fearing Him (Exodus
1:21), but they could see more marvelous things if they had sufficient faith to
say the truth and face the judgment.
In the end, I know that this idea
that the Creator can make something evil is antic. Nonetheless, see the verses
below:
·
Isa 45:7 ->
“I form the light, and create
darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.”.
·
Isa 54:16 ->
“Behold, I have created the smith
that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for
his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.”.
·
Amo 3:6 -> “Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people
not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?”.
However, together with the trial,
the Creator provide His escape and, after becoming approved, comes the reward:
·
Nah 1:3 -> “The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power,
and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the
whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.”.
·
1Co 10:13 ->
“There hath no temptation taken
you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not
suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation
also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”.
Furthermore, see these examples:
1 – The Creator acted in a way
that He knew that pharaoh’s heart would be hardened and, thus, He could have occasion
to manifest all His wonderers throughout the world:
·
Exo 7:2-4
-> “You shall speak all that I command you, and your
brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his
land. But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I multiply my signs
and wonders in the land of Egypt, pharaoh
will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my
people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of
judgment.”.
2 – He allowed demons misguide
prophets who desired to consult prophets thinking only in their benefit:
·
Eze 14:7-10 -> “For any one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn in
Israel, who separates himself from me, taking his idols into his heart and putting
the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to a prophet
to consult me through him, I the LORD will answer him myself. And I will
set my face against that man; I will make him a sign and a byword and cut him
off from the midst of my people, and you shall know that I am the
LORD. And if the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, the LORD, have
deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and will
destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. And they shall bear their
punishment—the punishment of the prophet and the punishment of the inquirer
shall be alike—".
3 – The Creator allowed demons to
delude prophets in order to wrong Ahab and, thus, finish with His bad
leadership:
·
1Ki 22:19-23 -> “And Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD
sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his
right hand and on his left; and the LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab, that
he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another
said another. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD, saying, ‘I
will entice him.’ And the LORD said to him, ‘By what means?’ And he said,
‘I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’
And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’
Now therefore behold, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these
your prophets; the LORD has declared disaster for you.”.
4 – When the the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and
He allow
Ha-Satan to incite David against
them, saying, “Go, number Israel and Judah.”:
·
1Ch
21:1 -> “Then
Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel.”.
5 – Sometimes the Creator allow a
false prophet to be successful in order to prove believer’s heart:
·
Deu
13:1-4 ->
“If a prophet or a dreamer of
dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or
wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other
gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not
listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the LORD
your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all
your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the LORD your God
and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve
him and hold fast to him.”.
So, there are times that we need
to disobey the order that the Creator instituted through the potentates that He
constituted and suffer the consequences of it so that His eternal and perfect
principles (established by Jesus) can be reinforced and His name glorified.
In other words, the Creator has
two laws: His eternal and perfect law (love the neighbor as Jesus loved us –
John 13:34-35), which has to be observed always, and the law which comes from
the potentates, which we have to disobey when they conflicts with the Holy
Scripture and suffer the upshot so that His name can be glorified and His Word,
confirmed.
So, don’t mind who is the potentate
or their orders: we need always to stay in Jesus and His truth, even if this
imply in disobeying the order of the Creator through them and, thereby, receive
the condemnation for this. Certainly, the Creator will do a miracle, His name
will be glorified and we will receive a testimony of His work and rewards.
If it is doable to obey the order
of the Creator through the potentate with wisdom, let’s do as Jochebed did (Exodus
2:3).
Moreover, if the order of the potentate
doesn’t conflict with Jesus’ word, let’s obey.
What is the finality of
the potentates?
To understand this, let see the
excerpts that comes before and after Romans 3:1-7:
·
Rom 12:19-21 -> “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it
to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says
the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is
thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by
evil, but overcome evil with good.”.
·
Rom 13:8-10 -> “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves
another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit
adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and
any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your
neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is
the fulfilling of the law.”.
Note that it is talking about to
love our neighbor. As Jesus’ followers (mercy vessels), the believer in Christ
can’t judge nor fight physically against the evil, but only wait in Jesus’
mercy, having delight in His salvation (Ps 9:14; 13:5; 21:1; 119:166).
But, how to sort out the problem
of the evil? After all:
·
Ecc 8:11 ->
“Because sentence against an evil
work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully
set in them to do evil.”.
Evidently, Paul
discerns two outright distinct areas of the “Creator’s work”:
·
Vessels of destruction: “What
if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured
with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,” (Rom
9:22).
·
Vessels of glory: “in
order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has
prepared beforehand for glory—“ (Rom 9:23).
The Church, as vessel of glory, should:
·
*give place unto the wrath of the
Creator* ;
·
be like
lambs (Mat 10:16), wise to the good and simple to the evil (Rom 16:19);
·
not
resist to the evil (Mat 5:39-43; Rom 12:16);
·
carry
out forgiveness, mercy, grace;
·
pray
for those who pursue them;
·
bless
the enemies, love them (Mat 5:44,45).
Those who don’t belong to the
Church, are the vessels of wrath (including the potentates). At this way, the
State receives the incumbency of punishing the turpitude (expressly prohibited
to the vessels of glory – James 3:10-12), that is to say, *accomplish the wrath*.
Therefore, as Jesus’ followers
(mercy vessels), we need to be subjected to the potentates so that Jesus can
use them as His vessels of wrath. Hence Paul said:
·
Rom 13:6,7 -> “For because of this you also pay taxes, for the potentates are
ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 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.”.
It is necessary to exist the
vessels of wrath so that those who intend against Jesus’ plan for us can be
destroyed without the need to gush bitter water (which isn’t fit for us – James
3:12). We need to stay loving and looking for Jesus’ mercy.
May it be clear: it’s impossible
to be glory vessel and wrath vessel at the same time:
·
while
the law instigates the wrath (Rom 4:15), the faith acts through love (Gal 5:6);
·
the
law uses the weapons of this world; the grace uses spiritual weapons (2Cor
10:2-6; Eph 6:10-18).
During all the Old Testament, the
crafts of priest and king couldn’t find harmony, inasmuch as:
-
The
king should carry out the wrath;
-
The
priest should give room to the Creator’s wrath.
Only in Christ the it’s doable to
have harmony between king and priest. In the case, the Church:
·
as
kings, the Church denounce the sin through the testimony of Christ (Prov 28:4;
see 1Peter 3:1);
·
as
priests, the Church intercedes for the sinners before the Creator so that they
can repent, convert and be saved.
Conclusion
At first, the rule is:
·
Rom 13:3-5 -> “For rulers are not a terror to good conduct,
but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in potentate? Then do what
is good, and you will receive his approval, 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. Therefore, one must be in subjection, not only to avoid
God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience.”.
If the potentate is good and the
law is fair, praise be the Lord Jesus for this. If not, that is to say, if they
put bitter for sweet, and sweet
for bitter (Isaiah 5:20), if the potentates are like in the time
of Micah (“Their hands are made
ready to do evil; the ruler makes requests for money, and the judge is looking
for a reward; and the great man gives decisions at his pleasure, and the right
is twisted. The best of them is like a waste plant, and their upright ones
are like a wall of thorns.” –
Micah 7:3,4), even being considered as a betrayer, a criminal, we need to keep
what is good and righteous before the Creator (as column and fortress of the
Truth – 1Tim 3:15).
In the end, Jesus will manifest
His power, purity, perfection and we will be reward and justified for our faith
in Him.
