“Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”
~ Romans 13:1
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you pray every day for the President – who is George W. Bush, of the United States of America? Do you pray every day for the Governor – who is Ruth Ann Minner, of your state – which is Delaware? Do you pray every day for the Mayor – who is Vance A. Funk, III, of your town – which is Newark? Your grandpaa has to confess that he does not pray every day for the President of the United States of America. Your grandpaa has to confess that he does not remember ever praying for the Governor of the state of Georgia. Your grandpaa has to confess that he does not know the name of the Mayor of Gainesville, Georgia – let alone that he has prayed for the Mayor of Gainesville. Paul had strong convictions about the need to pray for guys and gals who are elected or positioned as government rulers or leaders. The Romans Book is an in-depth apologetic that Paul sent to Christ-follower guys and gals who were living in the city of Rome. Most of what Paul opines about in his Romans Book is about the need for guys and gals to personally adopt a new belief paradigm that centers on an incarnate guy – Who is Jesus Christ, Who had been ignominiously hung on and nailed to a cross to die. A core message in Paul’s treatise that he couriered to the emerging community of Christ-follower guys and gals in the city of Rome is that the death of Jesus Christ on a cross was not only for the guys and gals who were Christ-followers who were living in the city of Rome but for every guy, gal and kid who God – as God the Father, chose for Himself before He created the universe. Paul – in Romans 13, addressed governmentally and relationally relative issues. When Paul sent his Romans Book in 57 A.D. – possibly from the city of Corinth, to the Christ-follower guys and gals who were living in the city of Rome, Rome’s nation of guys and gals had achieved super power status. Rome nation’s army domineered over the guys and gals who were Jews. Jews are God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids. By the time that the Christ-follower guys and gals who were living in the city of Rome received the Romans Book that Paul sent them, these Christ-follower guys and gals very possibly had embraced a defeated mindset that the Roman authorities were the bad dudes and that they were the poor me guys and gals. Paul starts right out in verse 1 to tell the Christ-follower guys and gals who were living in the city of Rome that “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”
Do you believe that God is sovereign? In order to be a completely sovereign Being, God has to know and be in control of exactly what is going to take place at any moment. If you believe that God is completely sovereign – that He has not left anything to chance, then you are believing that God cannot make a mistake. Why do you think that God has allowed and is allowing tyrannical dictators like Hitler, Stalin, etc. to get into a power position where they influenced and are influencing the deaths of millions of guys, gals and kids? Paul – in his Romans Book, tells the Christ-follower guys and gals who were living in the city of Rome that it was their responsibility to pray for and to support their God-established Roman leadership. Paul explicitly in his Romans Book tells the Christ-follower guys and gals who were living in the city of Rome that it was very important that their conscience – and not a probable punishment if they did not . . ., that was to drive them to submit to the authorities who God puts over them. Paul’s expectations of Christ-follower guys and gals is that they are to always pay their fair taxes, to always show their leaders the respect due them and to always honor their authorities. Paul also tells the Christ-follower guys and gals who were living in the city of Rome that it was their responsibility to never have any outstanding debt, to always love their neighbors, to always live out God’s commandments and to always live decent lives. Paul’s admonition to the Christ-follower guys and gals who were living in the city of Rome was to always be prepared for the imminent return of Jesus Christ.
What do you think you should do if your elected or positioned authority tells you to believe in something or to accept something – such as abortion on demand, which you know is wrong? There will always be times when you will need to turn to the higher authority – Who is God, for His help to take a stance against the direction that you know that your elected or positioned authority wants to take you. Your grandmaa and grandpaa oppose understood liberal beliefs – such as marriage between guys and guys or between gals and gals, such as the killing of a fetus as if the fetus is nothing more than a germ, such as the removal of the death penalty as a deterrent against committing murder, etc. If a guy or gal is elected or positioned in an authority position and he or she is a pagan, he or she will probably not have the moral courage to fight evil. A Christ-follower guy or gal normally has absolutely no excuse but to obey the civil government that has been ordained by God for the time that it is in power but there will be times – such as when the leader of the opposing political party compromises a moral value, that a Christ-follower guy or gal should be intentional to not to submit to an authority’s desire for compliance to his or her wishes. During their first four year term as South America Mission field team missionaries in Bolivia, your grandmaa and grandpaa went through several coups where the military used force to replace the guy who had been elected to take on being the President of Bolivia. How do you feel when there is chaos? Always submitting to God will bring you real peace.
Romans 13 (932)