By Robert Olsen, Ph.D.
Professor of Historical Theology and Director of Intercultural Studies, University of Mobile
REPRESENT
Romans 13:1–14
Honor authorities (1–7)
Continuing in his theme of how Christians are to live, Paul addresses the role of Christians and the state. Christians have always understood that we live in the world while not being of the world, and this frequently causes tension between governing officials and Christians. Paul tells his audience that we are to live in society and obey the laws of governing officials. However, this obedience does not carry over into the areas of worship and practice. In early Church history, there were several times when all citizens — including Christians — were required to offer sacrifices to the Roman gods. This was seen by the Church as idolatry, and the believers refused to participate. This follows the example of the apostles in Acts when they refused to obey the state rather than God. (See Acts 4:19–20 and 5:29.)
There are countries today such as Afghanistan, North Korea and China where Christians are forced to decide if they will obey the state’s mandate and forsake Christ or face consequences of prison or death. But even in places where Christianity has had a major impact like in Europe or the U.S., there are laws that have been put in place to prevent Christian expression. A woman in England was arrested for praying silently outside of an abortion clinic, a pastor in Canada was imprisoned for preaching to a congregation during COVID-19 and California has just passed an anti-hate speech law that could prevent churches from speaking the truth of the Bible. Christians need to decide before persecution occurs how we will act if and when what we are told by the government to do violates the teaching of Scripture. The example of Daniel, the apostles and Church history show us that it is better to obey God rather than man, even if it means persecution, imprisonment and death.
Honor each other (8–10)
Paul goes on to tell Christians how we are to live in society. We are to love our neighbors. Many Christians believe love means supporting their neighbors’ choices no matter what. However, Jesus never affirmed what other people did unless it was supported by the Bible. People often bring up the woman caught in adultery in John 8 as an example of Jesus loving a sinner. This is true. However, Jesus tells the woman to go and sin no more. He does not affirm her bad behavior but encourages her to give up the lifestyle of sin. Likewise, loving our neighbors means telling them the truth. So while we love our LGBT neighbors, helping them to see the truth of their destructive lifestyle is actually a true form of love because it helps them see the truth of the gospel and the beauty of God’s plan for flourishing.
Honor Christ (11–14)
Believers are to behave in a way in which we call out sin and love the truth. As Paul repeats throughout his writings, being saved does not provide a license to sin. Unfortunately, there are many examples in history of so-called Christians living in open sin, which exhibits hypocrisy and mars the Church. Non-Christians may point to such figures and suggest that Christians do not live what they say they believe. If we are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, then that is worthwhile. Along with sharing the gospel, our lifestyle serves as an example that our beliefs have transformed us, which often stands in stark contrast with the world.
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