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is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to
be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 1Timothy 2:3-4
Romans by the
Book Lesson
108
Charles Caleb
Colton said “Imitation is the sincerest
form of flattery;”circa 1820.
However, the
Emperor Marcus Antonius, a.k.a. Mark Anthony, Julius Caesar’s friend and
right-hand man, is credited with the original thought, “You should consider that imitation is the most acceptable part of worship
and that the gods had much rather mankind should resemble, than flatter them.”
There was a time in
America when boys admired and preferred to imitate
their fathers. Psychologists and other
experts studied the subject from WWII through the 1960’s, when the trend seemed
to dissipate. They learned a father’s relationship
with his son was significantly important.
They also learned that when a father established a loving relationship
with his son the son’s response was to grow up emulating his dad. It didn’t matter if the son’s father was
masculine or wealthy; love for his
son was the key factor. Fathers and sons
in this study who had an underdeveloped relationship whether due to physical or
mental abuse, absenteeism or divorce, produced the opposite effect.
Where am I going
with this?
You can choose to
expend hours each week studying God’s Word; you can read the Bible in a year
with one of the many reading programs designed for that purpose. By doing these things you’d be well on your
way to obtaining the “full knowledge of
Jesus Christ,” and that’s certainly commendable. But unless you understand and obey God’s
greatest commandment you’ve missed the overall theme of the entire Bible which
is: love
God and love your neighbor as yourself.
God is love and He’s demonstrated that love in
all he has done and is doing presently.
Our Apostle Paul compares faith,
hope, and love and concludes that the “greatest
of these is love” (Matthew 22:36-40; John 14:15; 1 Corinthians 13:13; 1
John 4:8).
Whether our earthly
fathers are Believers or not, they’re at best shadowy images of the One whom we
have been called to imitate. We were created
by God, in His image, and we have been called to emulate Him in our behavior
and our speech: Therefore be imitators of God, as (His) beloved children; (Ephesians 5:1; Romans 8:14-17).
Our Apostle Paul at
Romans 12:9 wrote: Let love be without
hypocrisy and then begins to specify the duties of Believers in the church
so that there may be continuity and harmony within the Body of Christ. The first of these is love. Love for
our Father in heaven is what motivates us to imitate Him and live out the
remainder of our lives expressing that same (Agape) love toward others.
We show love when we forgive those who have
wronged us, when we choose not to seek private
justice (revenge), when we do
not repay evil for evil, when we respect what is right in the sight of all
men, and when we seek to be at peace
with everyone, if possible so far as it
depends on us, as Paul mentioned in the previous chapter.
He who has God for his Father, will have Him for a
pattern,
Thomas
Watson
It’s
been some time since I’ve offered any Bible study suggestions or shown this
group how to study their Bible. Since
we’re about to start a new chapter and since a lot of new people have been
visiting Home Bible Study© recently, now would be a good time for
this worthwhile activity.
Bible
reading has found a niche in every Believer’s walk with the Lord but it can’t
replace Bible study. As we mature as
Believers, it’s important that we learn to “dig
deeper” into the Word of God for ourselves and not depend solely on
the instruction of others (2 Timothy 2:15; Hebrews 5:13-14).
Before
you begin to study your Bible you need to know a few things such as who wrote
the book or letter you’re about to study, and who was it written to (who makes
up the audience). For instance the book
of Malachi was written to the nation of Israel. This information is found in verse one: The
oracle of the word of the LORD to (who) Israel through Malachi.
It
would be helpful for you to know something about the historical background,
dates, key people, and the economic, political, and social pressures the people
were subject to at that particular time.
I’m not saying you need to spend hours poring over reference books. What I mean to say is you just need to come
away from your research with some idea of what life was like at the time the Bible
book or letter was written – walk in the
people’s sandals for a bit… that’s what I’m saying.
This
is how we’re going to approach our study of Romans 13. In this way, you’ll get some idea of how this
works. Initially, I used the following
reference tabs found under “Study” tools located at BibleStudyTools.com: Bible
Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, Concordances, and History to get a “feel” for
this time period and to help me understand how these Believers “felt” when
they received Paul’s command to “submit to governing authorities.”
Please
open your Bible at Romans 13.
In
chapter 13 our Apostle Paul discusses the responsibility Believers owe to civil
authorities and government; a subject that is extremely important to God the
Father and at the same time a quandary for these folks Paul’s writing to; by
the way Paul only writes to Believers.
Here
are a few of my research notes. I
included these so that you could see what my research produced, so that you
could “walk in their sandals for a bit, and see why Paul’s audience was puzzled
by his opening statements.
a) The kingdoms of the
world were pagan kingdoms. The laws were made by pagans, and adapted to
the popularity of paganism. Furthermore, these kingdoms came about out of
conquest, bloodshed, and oppression. Adding
to that, many of the monarchs were unprincipled men both in their private and
public lives. For example Nero was a
depraved 1st century Roman Emperor who married at least two
men. He wed Pythagoras in a formal
same-sex wedding by first putting on a bridal veil that made Nero the bride and
Pythagoras the groom. The Roman
historian Tacitus recorded this
event. Nero then engaged in “coitus”
with the man in front of all his guests, stating “Everything was public which even in a natural union is veiled by
night.” Whether Believers were to
acknowledge and respect men such as Nero and their laws was a serious question indeed.
b) God’s Gospel was
designed to go out to the world to Gentiles and kings
and the sons of Israel (Acts 9) and this was being done. Believers confessed their faith and
allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ who ruled from heaven; it became,
therefore, a question of great importance (and difficulty) for each Believer as
to how much allegiance should they give to those in authority here on earth,
since Jesus Christ was expected to return to earth to subdue His enemies at any
time.
c) The majority of
Believers at this time were Jews and they had lived under Roman oppression since
27 BC. They regarded the entire Roman system
of religion and rule as a form of idolatry and therefore an abomination to God. For example Caesar Augustus fought his way to
power; he used religion as a tool to protect his position and to promote his
political agenda. The Emperor of Rome
was already the most powerful man on the planet, but this wasn’t enough for
Augustus. He was determined that the
people would view him as their supreme spiritual leader. The Roman religion already had a number of
gods and spirits. Augustus was
determined to add his name to the list. This
wasn’t unusual for the Mediterranean region at that time. Turning political leaders into gods was a
tradition. There already was a precedent
in Roman history with Aeneas, a Trojan hero who escaped after the fall of Troy,
and Romulus, the son of Mars, the twin brother of Remus, whom he is said to
have killed, and the founder of Rome; both of these were worshiped as gods. Should the Messianic Jews submit to Roman
authority and their laws knowing all this and if the answer is “yes,” “How much
submission is enough?”
That’s
it for the notes. My Bible lesson
follows.
Be Subject to Government
Romans 13
1: Every
person (Believer)
is to be in subjection to the governing
authorities. For there is no authority
except from God, and those which exist are established by God.
This
isn’t the only place in the Bible where you see this command. Paul gave the same instruction to Titus: Remind
them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for
every good deed, to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every
consideration for all men. (Titus
3:1-6)
The
Apostle Peter also commands his audience to submit to every human
institution: Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution,
whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for
the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. For such is the will of God that by doing
right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. (1 Peter 2:13-17)
Now
one of the rules of Bible study states when a word or a theme is mentioned
repeatedly in the same chapter, book, or the Bible it’s being emphasized by the
author of this book (the Holy Spirit), which means: we need
to pay out of the ordinary attention to what’s being said and remember it.
Again,
when Paul says “Every person” he’s
addressing Believers specifically and he’s informing them that there is no
mayor, city councilman or woman; no king, prime minister, or president that is
in a position of authority except from
God. “The governing authorities,” are
the civil authorities established by God
to which the Creator God has committed control of human government.
Who wants to be controlled?
Based
on my observations over the years I have found that Christians aren’t much
different than non-Christians in their attitudes and responses toward governing authorities. Compliance is (reluctantly) given but (full)
cooperation is not.
Permit
me to insert an illustration. You and I
are just as likely to find a radar detector in the car of a Christian, as you
would in the car of an unbeliever. As a
matter of fact, I served with a man in BSF International for years, who also
served as a deacon in his church, who always kept the most up-to-date radar
detection device in his car. Christians
on the highway slow down as they approach a police car. They drive carefully and lawfully when a
patrol car is following, but as soon as law enforcement is out of sight
Christians and unbelievers predominantly drive normally, which is to say
illegally.
Was
this deacon aware of Paul’s command that “Every
person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities?” Yes, he was. Did he ignore it? Yes, he did; just as many individuals do every
day based on my observations and not my judgment.
This
is an ideal time to emphasize this command of the Apostle Paul to every
Believer for lawlessness - the
contempt for the law is sweeping this nation like a disease.
Lawlessness
(Anormia in the Greek language) is
the essence of sin. Not sin is the
transgression (parabasis) of the Law
or offense (paraptoma); but a much
stronger word “Anormia,” literally,
lawlessness: the spirit of the individual to refuse to be controlled, God
defines this as sin! Many people
mistakenly believe we’re sinners because we break God’s laws. This isn’t the Truth; we break God’s laws or the
governing authorities’ laws because
we’re sinners!
Looking
back, sin was in the world 2500
years before the Law was given on Mt. Sinai.
It was because sin already existed that the LORD God brought about His
system of “Do this but Thou shall not do this and that” (Deuteronomy 11:13-32;
John 14:15). The nation of Israel had to
be taught the difference between right and wrong (Judges 21:25). All laws, regardless of their content or
their intent, arise from a system of values, from a belief that some things are
right and others wrong; some things good, some things are bad.
The
fact that the lawlessness of the last
days is rapidly approaching can be seen in the fact that social norms have
deemed that it’s “wrong to be right.” “Old
Fogy” morals are as out of date as the Bible today; and you can add the United
States Constitution to the list according our president and New York Time’s
writer Adam Liptak along with two law professors, David S. Law at Washington
University in St. Louis and Mila Versteeg at the University of Virginia. This is Moral Relativism at its worse, which asserts
that morality is not based on any
absolute standard. Rather, ethical “truths”
depend on variables such as: the situation at hand, culture, one’s
feelings, etc.
When
dealing with the theory of moral relativism, in all its forms, one must be
aware that it is morally, spiritually, and socially bereft of the minutest
fraction of good. Therefore, it goes
without saying it is diametrically opposed to the existence of God, which in
turn undermines any secure foundation for morality, resulting in the widespread
moral degeneration that is so common in these last days (2 Timothy 3).
Romans 13
2: Therefore
whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who
have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.
The
Apostle Paul wrote this letter to the Romans while Nero was the Roman Emperor
(54-68 AD). Suffice to say, Nero was not
a godly man. He engaged in several
illicit acts. He used to tie Christians
to poles in his courtyard and set them ablaze in the evening to light up the
area for instance. One might expect the
human side of Paul to encourage Believers to “rise up” against this oppression
and savagery. But instead Paul
wrote: Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities… et al.
As
my earlier notes suggest, both the Jews and the Gentiles needed to know from
Paul, “Where to draw the line between submission and resistance to governing authorities.”
Whoever
asked this question goes to the head of the class. When Paul says, “whoever resists authority” he means rises up against the government
or governing authorities; Paul’s talking about revolution.
What’s
implied here, but not said by Paul is the laws instituted by all those in
authority shall not violate the rights of conscience or be in opposition to the
laws or moral standards set down by God in His Word. The Creator God has clearly “drawn the line” between
good and evil; what is to be done and what is not to be done. Therefore, human government has a limited
realm of authority, but within that realm they are legitimate God-ministering
agents.
So,
in regard to civil authorities, if
they are rewarding evildoers and punishing those who do well, they are acting
outside their legitimate realm of authority.
But this does not nullify their God-given authority to reward
good and punish evil.
Scripture
records times when certain men had to choose to “obey God” rather than men (Genesis 39:7-12; Exodus 1:15-17; Daniel
3:8-18, 6:4-10; Matthew 15:1-9; Acts 4:18-20, 5:27-29).
Let
me try to illustrate by using one of these biblical examples. In Daniel chapter 3, Daniel’s three friends
were commanded to worship an image of gold.
They refused, and rightly so, for they could not serve God and bow down
to an idol. But the way in which they
declined to worship the idol demonstrated a “submissive” spirit. They didn’t refuse to obey all or some of the
king’s commands, just this one. They
knew that disobedience could cost them their lives, and they were willing to
pay this price. The thing they didn’t do
was “rise up” promoting the overthrow of the kingdom (government) because of
this command.
Subordinates,
no matter your station in life, often are rebellious and contemptuous of those
who are in legitimate authority over them in reaction to discipline and any
restriction to their perceived freedoms.
However, God has ordained the civil authorities to limit the
destructive influence of humanity’s sinful nature upon oneself and others. Thus, such authority is necessary for the
benefit of society.
(To
be continued)
©
Copyright 2011
GJ
Heitzman’s Ministry
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Rights Reserved
