Governing Authorities
“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” (Romans 13:1, ESV)
Pastor Abel’s sermon on this passage is titled, “Separation of Church and State?”
The prophet Daniel said,
“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings” (Daniel 2:20-21, ESV).
This makes it clear that two of the most powerful natural rhythms of life, the cycle of the seasons that govern the natural resources of the world and the cycle of political power which governs how we live in relation to each other, are in God’s hands. Did you know that both cycles were set in place by God around the same time?
When Adam and Eve fell in the Garden, there was a problem. There was no human government in place to enforce righteous living. That is why when Cain killed his brother Abel in Genesis 4, he faced no human consequences. It is also why, later in the same chapter, a man named Lamech proudly boasts “I killed a man for wounding me.” Justice was a simple matter of personal vengeance.
It was chaos. Genesis 6:6-7 says:
“And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.’” (ESV)
God sent a flood, wiping out everyone except Noah and his family. Then, after the waters subsided, this is what God said in Genesis 8:21-22, establishing the permanent order of the seasons:
“…the Lord said in his heart, ‘I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.‘” (ESV)
And a few verses later, God says:
“And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. ‘Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image….’” (Genesis 9:5-6, ESV)
In saying this, God instituted the basic principle of human government, allowing evildoers to be justly punished.
The two things that might be the greatest sources of stress and consternation in our lives, the weather and politics, are good gifts from God to a fallen world. Without the regularity of the seasons, life would be impossible to sustain, and without the power of government to punish evil, sin would run rampant just as it did before Noah’s flood.
Questions
- Have you found it difficult to submit to the governing authorities God has put over you? How so?
- What are the four reasons that Paul gives in Romans 13 to explain why we need to submit to the government?
- Which of these reasons stands out most to you and why?
- What does it look like to submit to the government, while still standing up for what is true according to God’s word?
- How can we practice being thankful for God’s good gift of human government this week?