Romans chapter thirteen is a very controversial chapter in the scriptures.  The first seven verses are commonly taught that believers are to submit to earthly governments.  Though practicing a law of any particular nation is not necessarily wrong, saying that we must obey these governments as if it were a commandment of God to do so can be dangerous.  What should we do when the law of an earthly nation contradicts the laws of God?  Are we supposed to practice the law of an earthly nation because Romans 13 says so, or do we follow God's law?  The Apostle Peter answers this question in Acts 5:29 when he said, "We ought to obey God rather than men."  The traditional understanding of Romans 13 is that God placed earthly governments for our benefit.  Their leadership and laws provide order for our society to live in.  We should obey these governments so that order will prevail, but is this what the scriptures teach?  I contend that a proper understanding of Romans 13 teaches no such thing.  In fact, without a proper understanding of the law of God you cannot even begin to understand Romans 13.  Please read this article with an open mind for I do not believe that the traditional view of Romans 13 is correct.

Did God Endorse Secular Governments?

          The simple answer is, no, He does not endorse secular governments, but there is more to the story.  First, God does set up earthly kings (Dan. 2:20-22, Dan. 4:17), but this is by allowance and not endorsement (1 Sam. 8:7-9).  In order to understand this, we must first understand what kind of earthly government God set up.  When the law was given to Moses God also gave instructions for rulers.  God commanded Moses, "Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens:  And let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge: so shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee" (Ex. 18:21-22).  God gave this instruction to provide relief for Moses as Israel grew.  God's government consists of judges to interpret His law.  This is what we would call today the Judicial System (see Judicial/Sacrificial System video here).  There is no need for anything else.  We do not need a King, a congress, or any other government institution that man has set up.  When God gave his law He commanded us, "What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it" (Deut. 12:32).  Why would we need a congress if we cannot write new laws?  This is the whole purpose of a congress.  God does not endorse a congress that adds to and takes away from His law.

          God also does not endorse Kings for He has had a King planned for us since the beginning of time.  God did, however, allow Israel to have an earthly King because of their stubborn hearts (1 Sam. 8:7-9).  In fact, before God allowed a king, Israel was following after God's government of judges (1 Sam. 8:1).  The people then came to Samuel the prophet and asked for a king.  God's answer was, "Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.  According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee.  Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them" (1 Sam. 8:7-9).  God sees our rejection of the judicial system in favor of a king as a rejection of Him.  In other words, God rules over a nation through His law interpreted by a judicial system.  In this type of Government God is the King.

          In fact, Samuel warned the people of the dangers of having a king.  This king will, "take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen" (1 Sam. 8:11).  He will, "take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers" (1 Sam. 8:13).  He will, "take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards" (1 Sam. 8:14).  He will, "take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants" (1 Sam. 8:15).  The end result is that we will, "cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; [but] the LORD will not hear you in that day" (1 Sam. 8:18).  This was a warning about having too large of a government.  Large governments tend towards oppression of the people.  America started out with a very small government and prospered.  Now we have a very large government and we are oppressed.  Taxes are higher than ever.  We no longer own our own land, which is why we have to pay property taxes.  Instead of working on our own land making our own money, we are now employed by government corporations and a third of our income is taxed from us.  We now complain and, "cry out" about our government leaders.  Every curse God told the Israelites came true for them, and is now coming true for us.  God's intent was for government to stay small (judicial system only with God as the King) for the purpose of construing law in court.

Examples For Us to Follow:

          Throughout the scriptures God gives us several examples for us to learn from.  We know this because the scriptures state this clearly.  Paul told the Corinthians that, "all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition" (1 Cor. 10:6, 11).  This is right after Paul used the Israelites during Moses day as an example.  We are to do the same for all of the scriptures.  The question to ask is, are there examples of Israel having to submit to secular governments?  The answer is yes, there are many examples throughout the scriptures.  After Israel was given the law of God, they had a fluctuating history of times where they obeyed God and kept His commandments and times when they did not.  In fact, a proper understanding of God's law will teach you that the final curse of God's law is national captivity (Lev. 26:38-39, 43).  God uses secular governments to punish His people.  This is a very important fact when studying Romans 13.  The time that Paul wrote the book of Romans was during a time when Jerusalem was under the control of Rome.  We know this because throughout the Gospels we read about the Jewish struggle with Rome.  This was a punishment from God.

          Not only was the time of the Messiah an example of Israel under a secular government, but there are several other examples throughout the Old Testament.  The biggest of which is a time when Israel was under Babylonian captivity.  This was a time period (607-586 BC) where Israel went in and out of captivity to Babylon.  In fact, in 2 Kings 24:1, King Jehoiakim became a vassal to King Nebuchadnezzar.  Nebuchadnezzar then took many men from Israel captive, including Daniel, Hananiah (Shadrach), Mishael (Meshach) and Azariah (Abednego) (Dan. 1:1, 6).  These four are excellent examples of how we are to apply Romans 13.  In fact, Daniel was one who understood that this captivity was a punishment from God (Dan. 9:2).  He was waiting for the seventy years of captivity to be up and understood when that day was.  This is significant and yet another example of how Daniel obeyed God and kept His commandments.  One of God's commandments was that we, "accept of the punishment of [our] iniquity" (Lev. 26:41).  In fact, the prophet Jeremiah spent an entire chapter warning Israel to submit to king Nebuchadnezzar as a punishment for breaking God's law (Jer. 27:17).  Daniel heeded this warning and accepted Israel's punishment of Babylonian captivity, which is why God was able to prosper him through it.  This does not mean that Daniel stopped following the law of God, but Daniel obeyed all the laws of Babylon as well as the law of God.  When Babylon passed a law against the law of God, Daniel chose to follow Gods laws instead of Babylons (Dan. 6:26-28).  The result was that God protected Daniel for his obedience.  We need to be aware of this ourselves and gain an understanding of how God's law works to better understand Romans 13.  With all this in mind, let's look at Romans 13.

          The greatest example we have concerning Romans 13 is the Messiah Himself.  The Messiah obeyed every commandment, statute and judgment of God (Matt. 5:17).  Otherwise He could not have been the Messiah.  Despite the fact that He never once broke any commandments or did any evil, He was sentenced to death.  If there was ever a time someone would want to rebel against the secular government, this was it, yet the Messiah did not.  However, He did submit to Pontius Pilate and suffered the cross.  This is a great demonstration of what Romans 13 means.  We are to practice the law of God.  If this causes conflict from secular government we are to submit to their authority.  As the Messiah Himself stated, "My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence" (John 18:36).  The kingdom we live in is not from this world.  If it were we should resist and fight against a secular government.  Since we are, "strangers and pilgrims" on the earth, we ought to submit to earthly governments for it is not our government (Heb. 11:13).  When the Messiah returns, this will no doubt change.

Be Subject unto Higher Powers: (Romans 13:1-5)

          "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.  For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God" (Rom. 13:1).  The very first verse introduces some words that need to be defined.  The Greek word for, "powers" is exousia which means, "authority, jurisdiction" (Strong's Concordance - G1849).  This word is used in reference to anyone who has authority.  It is used most often to describe the authority of the Messiah (Matt. 9:6), but is also used in reference to the Jewish Leaders (Acts 9:14, Acts 26:12) as well as secular rulers (Matt. 8:9).  This word has a wide variety of applications.  The Greek word for "higher" is huperechō which means, "better, excellency, higher, pass, supreme" (Strong's Concordance - G5242).  The Greek word for "be subject" is hupotassō which means, "to subordinate; reflexively to obey" (Strong's Concordance - G5293).  What Paul is clearly saying is that we are to be subordinate to the person with the highest authority.  Obviously God has the highest authority, but the context is that of man.  Paul is telling the Romans to submit to the Roman authority.  At first glance, this sounds offensive for Rome acts contrary to God's word, but a proper understanding is necessary.  The second part of verse one says, "For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God."  This does not mean that God set up earthly governments to rule over us contrary to God's word, but it does mean that God has allowed these rulers, at least for a time.  The Greek word for, "ordained" is tassō which means, "to arrange in an orderly manner, that is, assign or dispose" (Strong's Concordance - G5021).  God has apparently arranged for these secular governments to rule over His people.

          Many have tried to argue that these words are not speaking of secular rulers, but the context clearly demonstrates so.  However, we need to remember that God already warned us that He would do this if we did not keep His commandments (Lev. 26:38-39).  Roman rule over Israel is a punishment of God and comes directly from His law.  The question to ask is, what are we supposed to do when God punishes the nation we live in?  The answer is also found in God's law.  Right after we are told that we will, "pine away in your iniquity in your enemies' lands" (Lev. 26:39), God told us the remedy to this curse.  We were told to, "confess [our] iniquity, and the iniquity of [our] fathers" and "accept of the punishment of [our] iniquity" (Lev. 26:40-41).  We are not to become prideful and resent this punishment, but to confess our sins and accept this punishment.  If we do God will restore us.  This is exactly what Daniel did with Nebuchadnezzar.  Daniel accepted Babylonian leadership and understood this to be a punishment from God.  As a result, Daniel was exhaulted despite this punishment.  When Paul tells the Romans to be subject unto higher powers he is speaking of their penal code, not their laws.  We are to follow the laws of our King, the Messiah, not worldly kings.  If we are sentenced by a wordly king for breaking one of their laws we are to submit to their punishment and put our trust in God.  God can deliver us if He so chooses.

          The difficulty comes when this secular government acts contrary to the law of God.  Are we to obey the law of the secular government over the law of God?  The Apostle Peter answered this for us when he said, "We ought to obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29).  This is also confirmed throughout the Old Testament with many examples such and Daniel, Hananiah (Shadrach), Mishael (Meshach) and Azariah (Abednego).  These men were faced with a decision to obey the secular government or obey God.  They chose to obey God and God preserved them through their secular punishment.  We can expect the same today.  God will preserve us through the trials and tribulations of the world if we obey Him and keep His commandments.  Paul has already told us this in chapter twelve when he said, "avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord" (Rom. 12:19).  Romans 13 is the explanation of how to let God take His vengeance upon our enemies.  Our job is to obey God and keep His commandments (Eccl. 12:13).  God's job is to, "keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations" (Deut. 7:9).  This means God will bless and curse us based on the practice of his law, for this is how God keeps His covenant (Lev. 26:3-4, Deut. 28:1-2, Lev. 26:26:14-16, Deut. 28:15-16).  When we reach the point of national captivity (Lev. 26:38-39), God will still protect those and bless them throughout this curse if we obey Him and keep His commandments.  Understanding this is the key to understanding Romans 13.  We are always to submit to secular governments as long as it does not contradict our submission to God.  Why?  Because God sent the secular government as our punishment.  We need to accept this, honor the rulers, and still keep God's commandments.

          With this in mind, we will continue in Romans 13.  Paul continues, "Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation" (Rom. 13:2).  As stated earlier, we are to accept God's punishment and not resist.  Resisting the punishment of God will result in damnation.  This is what Paul meant by, "avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath."  Paul goes on saying, "For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil.  Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same" (Rom. 13:3).  This is a very true statement.  Even secular governments think stealing, murder, and bearing false witness are evil.  These sins will be punished.  The point Paul is making is that if we obey God and keep His commandments, we will live peaceably in the land, even when occupied by a secular government.  If we do not, we will receive judgment and curses.  Many times these curses will come from a secular government.  "For he is the minister of God to thee for good.  But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil" (Rom. 13:4).  Government can be an instrument for good, when used the way God intended, or wrath, when not.  This is a hard statement to understand, but nonetheless is true.  Here is an example.

          The law of God rules the entire Universe, even in secular court rooms.  Here in America, you can go into any court and appeal to the law of God.  This is true, we just don't call it the law of God.  Today we call this law the Common Law.  If you don't believe me you can do some basic research.  You will quickly find out that King Alfred codified the Common law straight from the Mosaic law in 872 A. D.  When you speak of the Common Law you are actually speaking of the law of God.  It is the foundation of law in America.  The problem we have is we have contracted away from this law, which is why we receive curses and why we do not see the law of God in our courts.  For example, churches over the past fifty years have increasingly become 501c3 tax exempt corporations.  At first this might sound like a good idea, but in actuality it is idolatry.  To become a corporation means to place your church under the authority of the state and away from God's authority.  If you don't believe me read my article on Church Incorporation here.  The bottom of the line is that the corporate charter must be obeyed and that charter can be changed by the state at any time without the church's consent.  It might not be a problem now, but when the state decides to change the corporate charter so that the church must do something against God's law, the church has no standing.  You must comply.  If you argue the matter in court you cannot appeal to the Common Law for you have already placed yourself under a different law, the law of the corporate charter.  We do this in so many aspects of our lives today.  Every time we sign a contract, like social security, drivers license or employment, we place ourselves under a new law and that law is the law that the courts will decide on.  Understanding this concept helps shed light on Romans 13.  It is not against the law of God to sign a contract, but that contract needs to be fulfilled.  Today, we are so deep in contracts that the law of God has practically disappeared.

Paying Taxes to Secular Governments: (Romans 13:5-7)

          "Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake" (Rom. 13:5).  We need to submit to these governments, especially since we already agreed to do so.  In fact, we need to pay them taxes as well (Rom. 13:6), but only if we agreed to.  "Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour" (Rom. 13:7).  We do not have to pay tribute or custom to anyone in whom it is not due.  How do we determine this?  Simple, the Messiah told us how in Matthew 2:17-21.  We are to render to Caesar the things of Caesar.  How do we know what belongs to the State (Caesar) and what does not?  We simply look on the money to see who put their name on it.  If we use the State's money (Federal Reserve Notes) we owe taxes because it is their money.  If we use gold and silver measured in ounces, we do not owe taxes.  This is true and our courts have even declared this (Thompson v. Butler, 95 US 694 - 1877).  You only pay taxes to whom it is due.  Now, if we would obey God and keep His commandments, we would use gold and silver just like our Constitution declares in Article 1, Section 10.  "No State shall... make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts."   We used to practice this law, but in 1933 we contracted out of this law and are now under another.  We now have to pay the taxes, but we didn't prior to 1933.  God is punishing us through the government of the United States because we chose not to use gold and silver coin.  What is the punishment?  National debt (Deut. 28:44).  This is a just punishment that the United States is inflicting on us and comes straight from God Himself.

          The same is true with fear and honor.  Those in positions of power are deserving of our respect.  When we stand before a judge we are to address them as, "Your Honour" or "Sir" or whatever title they have earned, so long as it is not against the scripture.  Paul demonstrated this throughout the book of Acts (Acts 26:1-3).  The prophets also demonstrated this as well (Dan. 2:29, Dan. 4:1).   In fact, it is a commandment of God that we not, "curse the ruler of thy people" (Ex. 22:28).  Paul is simply teaching us to obey God's commandments.  In fact, these first seven verses are simply doing the same.  Paul is teaching the Romans to obey God by accepting the punishment God has given.  These punishments are coming from kings and rulers, yet we are to still respect them despite the punishments.  It is our responsibility to respect them and accept the punishment for our sins.  With this said, there is always a way out.  When Paul spoke to the Corinthians regarding the examples of the scriptures he said, "But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness" (1 Cor. 10:5).  God punished the Israelites in the past as, "ensamples: and they [were] written for our admonition" (1 Cor. 10:6, 11).  We are to use the scriptures to learn from.  After all, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it" (1 Cor. 10:13).  Every temptation we might face can be overcome, because God has left us a, "way to escape."  To this day our government has not made one law that commands us to break the law of God.  You can obey all the laws of the state as well as all the laws of God.

Love Fulfills the Law: (Romans 13:8-14)

          Paul concludes the chapter by explaining how love fulfills the law.  We need to remember what love is.  According to the Apostle John, "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous" (1 John 5:3).  To better understand agape love please read my article titled, The Love of God.  The essence of the article is that agape love is an affection so strong towards someone that you do what is right no matter what.  It is somewhat like what we would call today, "tough love."  A father loves his children so much that when the child does wrong the father punishes the child, even though he does not enjoy it.  This is how love fulfills the law.  We love our neighbor so much that we insist on following God's law for them.  We are to, "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law" (Rom. 13:8).  Just as the Messiah stated, "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (Matt. 22:40).  And what two commandments was the Messiah speaking of?  Love the LORD your God and love your neighbor.  Agape love is a contract love.  We are contracted with God (Mosaic Law) to do what is required.  We need to love God and neighbor so much that we obey this contract no matter what.  "For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (Rom. 13:9).  You will not break the commandments if you love your neighbor.  Why?  For, "Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law" (Rom. 13:10). 

          To put this in light of the rulers of this world, we are to still love them despite the fact that they might be persecuting/punishing us.  It is our responsibility to keep God's commandments whether or not others do as well.  We are commanded to, "curse [not] the ruler of thy people" (Ex. 22:28).  We need to obey this even if that ruler does not.  Since we are now closer to our salvation than when we first believed, we need to, "awake out of sleep" (Rom. 13:11) and, "cast off the works of darkness" (Rom. 13:12).  We are to, "walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying" (Rom. 13:13).  How do we do this, but by putting on, "the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof" (Rom. 13"14).  We are to use the Messiah as our example to walk honestly and avoid the lusts of the flesh.  This is a reference to the Holy Spirit.  In Galatians 5:16, Paul said to, "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh."  The phrase, "put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ" is synonymous with "walk in the Spirit." 

          The point to Romans 13 is not to command us to obey our government no matter what they say, but to respect and accept the punishment they bring.  When the United States started we obeyed God and kept His commandments.  We had a very limited government and a judicial system to interpret the law.  This is the way God intended it.  Over the past two centuries our congress has added to and taken away from that law and now we are receiving the penalties for doing so.  These new laws are oppressing us and taxing us.  We can still choose to follow God's law, if we want, and God will protect us through these penalties, but if we choose to follow against God's law we will receive our portion of these penalties.

By Steve Siefken

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Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth

not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

2 Timothy 2:15 KJV