Romans 13:1-7

Remember that the chapter and verse numbers were not part of the original text, but were added later for our convenience. Sometimes this can make us compartmentalise sections, whereas they were written as a continuous text. Paul has just said do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Governments often do evil, and the Roman authorities were certainly no exception to this. The instructions that Paul gives here on submission to authority should be read in this context.

Authority has been instituted by God. Now, the government may not be exercising that authority properly, but we are still to submit to it. If we resist authority we are in fact resisting God. We often feel self-righteous when we object to some authority, whether it be government or at work, but we are in fact resisting God.

The godly purpose of authority is to promote good and to restrain evil. So the general rule is that if we do good then we will get on fine with authority, if we do evil we will suffer the consequences. Likewise we are to pay our taxes fully and willingly.

Of course all this raises many questions. Is it ever right to resist authority? The answer has to be yes. Peter and John refused to stop preaching, but we need to closely examine our motives.

Our starting point should be that we will submit to authority. Our sinful nature is to be rebellious, so we should always view inclinations to resist authority with suspicion.

If we then still feel we must resist we should ask ourselves on whose behalf are we resisting? Is it for our own self-interest, or is to protect others. If the former then it is highly likely that we are wrong to resits.

Another question to ask is who is going to pay the price of our resisting? Is it us or someone else? If it is someone else, again we need to closely question whether or not we should resist.

Finally we should examine our hearts. Are we feeling self-righteous? If we suffer for resisting are we going to start blaming all sorts of people and complaining "it's not fair". If so, then it is unlikely to be a godly resistance, for Christ did not complain at the suffering He had to endure.