0103 - What does it mean Romans 13:1-7?

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.