Skip to main content

Be Subject...

             Let everyone be subject 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) 

            Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges!  As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:18-20)

 

            Those who approve of a governing authority (or at least the authority’s philosophy) are always quick to say, “Be subject!” but the moment they no longer agree, they tend to cry, “Revolution!” And there is a sense in which God is no different. According to this passage, God establishes authorities – even bad ones. They are put in power to fulfill God’s plan, even if they are godless and cruel. This is not to say that we should never act against a despot, but that we should pray long and hard, seeking unambiguous answers about what we should do rather than reach for torches and pitchforks whenever we disagree with what leaders say or do.

            In our country, we have been given a peaceful way to “revolt.” It’s called an election, and it takes place next Tuesday. It’s your right and your responsibility to participate in this process; if you don’t vote, you don’t have the right to revolt. I’ll take it one step further. If you don’t pray earnestly for your leadership's well-being and change of heart, you really don’t have a right to revolt. You haven’t done everything you could short of a revolution, and the revolution should be our last resort, not our knee-jerk reaction.

            On the other side of the equation, submitting to an authority does not involve agreeing with what it does or doing what it commands if/when those commands oppose what God has taught. Submission doesn’t remove responsibility to make decisions. “I was just following orders” doesn’t work. Peter asked the Sanhedrin whether it was right in God’s eyes for Peter and John to obey God or to obey the Sanhedrin. Remember that the Sanhedrin claimed to be good Jewish people (not as much as the Pharisees, but enough), and therefore, they at least gave lip service to serving God. It wouldn’t have been a good thing for them to officially say, “Ignore God, do what we say.”

            Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are great examples of submission and “revolt.” Jesus and the disciples are as well. Their goal was never to take control but always to do what God commands. In other words, our goal should always be submission, but submission to the highest authority, with submission to lower authorities only as submission to the highest permits. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Way, The Truth, and The Life

              Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me . (John 14:6)           If “I am the gate of the sheep…I am the good shepherd” from chapter 10 is a double whammy, this verse is a triple whammy. And its first victim is the notion that any other so-called god was acceptable or the same as Jesus. He, and He alone is the way, the truth, and the life, and the only way to get to the Father. There is no other Savior, or Redeemer, according to Jesus. Now, to be fair, other religions will claim that their religion or god(s) are the only way. That is the nature of gods and of religions. If this and that are equally good and agree on what’s necessary, then this and that are the same thing, so there’s no need to from the other to one. If that’s the case, then why speak against the other or promote the one? There’s a song I’ve been listening to i...
Post a Comment
Read more