Tim Maas Supporter Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

Christians are specifically commanded (in the passage cited in the question) to be subject to civil governing authorities, and should strive to do so whenever possible. And, in a society such as ours, where freedom of speech and peaceful protest are rights, and laws can be changed within the framework of government, the possibility that disobedience to the laws would be justified or required in the name of religion might seem very remote, if not impossible.

However, governments have been known throughout history to take actions that directly contradicted a Christian's higher duty to God, starting with the Sanhedrin ordering the apostles to stop preaching in the name of Jesus, to which they replied (Acts 5:29), "We must obey God rather than men," since Jesus had specifically commanded them to proclaim the gospel. So it would appear that there are cases where such disobedience would be warranted.

When the Pharisees and Herodians tried to trick Jesus into either alienating the people by approving the payment of taxes to Rome, or committing treason by advocating non-payment of those taxes (Mark 12:13-17), Jesus told them to give to Caesar what belonged to Caesar (that is, the coin with Caesar's image and inscription), and to God what belonged to God. He did not say that Caesar could rightfully claim authority over what was due to God.

This says to me that our duty to the government is not unlimited, and that the government does not have the right to require us to do anything it says we must, regardless of how much it may conflict with our faith or our duty to God. (Of course, Christians must then also be prepared to endure the earthly consequences of their action, just as Christians throughout history have risked and suffered death, rather than renounce or violate their faith at the command of the state.)

May 04 2016 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Olusegun Engr. AFOLABI Supporter

Sincerely for a believer there should be no tolarance for conflicts between God's law and that of the world. Since God's law are guidance and moderation to human living, which has no tolerance for human weakness, therefore, by yielding to human law over that of God means the assurance of God guidance has been defeated, and man want to toil by self. Thus in John14:6, i am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the father except through me. The passage clearly emphasis that, there cant be any compromise to God's law, no matter the circumstance. Also Psalm 19:8 says, the precepts of the Lord are right rejoicing the heart, the commandment of the lord is pure enlightening the eyes.
Jesus is Lord.

May 04 2016 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

kel gens Supporter

There should be no question that the word exousia in the original text means power in the sense of “the right to choose” or “liberty of choice.” And if so, then Romans 13 should be read and understood as saying:
“Let every soul be subject unto the higher liberty. For there is no liberty but of God: the liberties that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resist the liberty, resist the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the liberty? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same.” Romans 13: 1,3
Can this really be true? Was Paul talking about liberty and not the subjugation of the people under rulers? From the beginning to the end, the Bible is talking about the liberty of men under God rather than the subjection of the people under other men like Cain, Lemech, Nimrod, Pharaoh, and even Herod or Caesar. If God endowed us with our right to choose why would he want us to give that right to choose to other men? Understanding that the word exousia can and does mean liberty seems to turn the world upside down, examine what they have been led to believe the authors of God for some ministers.

Pastors need to repel what they are actually saying. If not, then the people need to reexamine the scriptures and maybe their pastors. We all need to rightly divide the word of truth, because many have been cunningly deceived by some who have “crept in unawares... denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.”

“Such clergy response teams would walk a tight-rope during martial law between the demands of the government on the one side, versus the wishes of the public on the other.”

First of all, the lawful demands of a “government of the people, for the people, and by the people” would be the same as the “wishes of the people.” If they are not the same, then something is not as it should be. Secondly, the “wishes of the people” who believe in God can never usurp the rights of their neighbors without doing violence to the command of God, Moses, and Christ to love our neighbor as ourselves.

God desires that every man should have the unimpaired and divine right of choice as long as that choice does not violate the right of our neighbor to make his own choices. There is a distinction between the privileges of governments granted by the people and the rights of the people granted by God, but the ministers of Christ should not be trying to walk that line as a tightrope. They should be squarely on the side of the people and their God given rights.

The Church was instituted by Christ to serve the purposes of God. The governments of the world usually have their own administers. One of God's purposes is to return every man to his family and to his possessions through the exercise of faith, hope, and charity in the ways of Christ under the perfect law of liberty. While we should give to Caesar what is Caesar's we are also told to give to God what is God's. Often governments may think they have a right to that which should belong to God. That would be an intolerable usurpation and it is the job of the clergy to be on the side of the people on God's behalf.

Abraham, Moses, and Christ came to set men free in spirit and in truth. The “Clergy Response Teams” of Christ must act in the service to His purposes, even if that means that they may appear to disobey the demands of men or their governments. 

"Then Peter and the [other] apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men." Acts 5:29

If lies and deception are the bars and bricks that form our own mental prison, then vanity and pride are the mortar that binds them together. From the beginning, our Creator has allowed that men have the power to choose to be free souls under God or go under the authority of other men and their gods. That choice is never without consequences.

May 04 2016 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report