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If you have been paying close attention these last few weeks, you could be forgiven for being a bit…confused right now.
Two weeks ago, I started talking about Romans 13:1-7 and the context around it, beginning with Romans 12:1-8 in the first week, then finishing chapter 12 with verses nine through twenty-one last week. You would be justified to expect to have heard our worship leader continue through the text with Chapter 13, verses one through seven this week, but instead our reading started at verse eight.
The lectionary skips over verses 1-7, I suspect because, on their own, they might not preach well. On their own, they tend to be abused by governments hoping that they can hide misdeeds behind a veil of misappropriated scripture.
Those seven verses read:
“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgement. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you wish to have no fear of the authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive its approval; for it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do what is wrong, you should be afraid, for the authority does not bear the sword in vain! It is the servant of God to execute wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be subject, not only because of wrath but also because of conscience. For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, busy with this very thing. Pay to all what is due to them—taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.”
And, as I have said before, if you start at 13:1 and stop at 13:7, the message seems clear: Sit down. Shut up. Do what you are told. Don’t ask questions. Whatever the government does is ordained by God.
I have enjoyed, these past few weeks, the pairing of texts from the twelfth and thirteenth chapter of Romans with the Exodus story.
Two weeks ago, we read the story of the beginning of Moses life: the edict from Pharaoh to kill Hebrew boys, the two midwives, Shiphrah and Puah’s refusal to obey, telling Pharaoh that the Hebrew women gave birth before the midwives could arrive, followed by Moses birth, three months in hiding before, finally, being hidden in a basket, sealed to form a small boat, in the river, where Pharaoh’s daughter found him and then hired Moses’ mother to nurse him.
But Paul says: “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God”
Last week, we jumped ahead in the Exodus story. Moses is now the shepherd for his father-in-law, the priest at Midian. He encounters God in the burning bush, and God tells him to go back to Egypt, to confront Pharaoh and to free the Hebrews. We skipped, however, Moses’ path from Pharaoh’s daughter to tending the sheep—a path that included Moses murdering an Egyptian who was beating another Hebrew, and Moses then also being rejected by the Hebrews, who paid the cost for that murdered overseer. So Moses flees the Pharaoh’s justice and ends up a shepherd in Midian.
But Paul says: “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God”
This week’s text from Exodus skips forward again, to the final plague, when God punishes not just Pharaoh, not just the Egyptian government, but all the Egyptian people and even their herds, by killing the firstborn males.
But Paul says: “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God”
We need the full picture. We need to look at the larger context. I do not think many of you would come back next week if I read the whole of Romans, but I will read these two chapters, chapters 12 and 13. Sorry, not sorry.
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness. Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” No, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you wish to have no fear of the authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive its approval; for it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do what is wrong, you should be afraid, for the authority does not bear the sword in vain! It is the servant of God to execute wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be subject, not only because of wrath but also because of conscience. For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, busy with this very thing.
“Pay to all what is due them—taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due. Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 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, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
“Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”
That was a lot. Thank you for sticking with me. I wanted you all to hear those two chapters all together. The practicalities of worship and of our culture make it difficult to try to approach scripture as a body, even just this one letter as a single entity. And there is value in breaking things up: the whole of scripture is too large for us, or at least, for me, to take in all at once.
These past few weeks, we have seen Paul talking about how the members of the church should act, how they should treat each other, those around them who are not part of the church, and, in chapter 13:1-7, the government. Paul emphasizes supporting the people around you, offering help and aid where it is needed and you are able. Paul says live in peace with others, do not boast or seek vengeance. And yes, Paul says be subject the government. The Roman church in the time of Paul knew all too well what the government could do to them. Paul himself would, eventually, be executed by that government, as would many, many other members and leaders of the early church.
I do not, however, believe that Paul was saying people should submit unquestioningly. Look to the beginning of today’s text:
“Pay to all what is due them—taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due. Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.”
Now, I know, when Paul is talking about fulfilling the law, he is doing so in a Jewish sense. When Paul talks about the law, he is referring to the Torah, the Pentateuch, the first five books of our Bible, and not to Roman law. If Paul meant that we should submit to law and order, he would not have followed Jesus, who was tried, convicted, and executed by the government even to Paul’s own trial, conviction, and execution.
Like Christ before him, Paul is articulating an ethic of love of God and love of neighbor. That comes both before and after Paul’s discussion on obedience to government.
It is likely I will say something else about the election before it is over. I’m going to continue to try to keep both candidate’s names out of my mouth when I am speaking as your pastor. I know this congregation is not of one mind regarding politics.
I ask that we remember, not only, but especially these next 8 weeks or so, to act first in love for the people around us, for the people who vote our way, for the people who do not, and for all the world’s people.