What Is Respect? Part 4: Government

This is the fourth post in a seven-part series; see parts 1, 2, and 3 first.

The Study Thus Far

As stated in previous posts, my purpose in writing this series on the topic of respect is to clarify what that word does and does not mean in its various contexts. In spite of the clear teaching of Scripture, the differing categories of respect are not clearly understood, and as a result the word often becomes a banner for generational values and has been frequently abused, causing unnecessary conflicts and controversies.

In this fourth post in my series on respect, I continue to present the case from Scripture that respect is important and even commanded, but there are three categories of respect with narrowing applicability: the base is courtesy, loving others as images of God; then comes submission, living out your position before God; and finally, imitation, which will be addressed in a later post. Here are my main proposals for working through each level of the respect pyramid:

  • All respect is ultimately for God
  • Respect has three different forms or levels
  • The different levels have different theological bases
  • The different levels have different requirements

At this point in the study, I am working through the sub-categories of the second tier of respect: submission to authority. Having already tackled submission in the contexts of marriage and parenting, today’s post turns to the matter of government. In my second post, I made a case for authority from Scripture, culminating in two key points: God created everything (1 Ch. 29:11) and God grants authority to his creation (Dan. 2:21; John 19:11; Rom. 13:1).

As I work through each sub-category of submission in the respect pyramid, I am doing so according to five main scriptural principles more fully explained in my second post:

  1. All authority is God’s authority (Romans 13:1-2).
  2. Our use of authority makes claims about God (Genesis 1:26-30).
  3. All leadership should be servant leadership (Matthew 20:25-28).
  4. The goal of authority is to encourage godly living (1 Timothy 2:1-3).
  5. Submission is living out your position before God (1 Peter 2:13-15).

This series is seven posts long so that each sub-category of submission can receive its own post.

  1. Introduction & Courtesy
  2. Submission, Part 1: Marriage
  3. Submission, Part 2: Parenting
  4. Submission, Part 3: Government [this post]
  5. Submission, Part 4:Workplace
  6. Submission, Part 5: Church
  7. Imitation & Conclusions

Let us now examine the third sub-category of submission: government.

Submission Sub-Category 3: Government

The topic of submission is controversial for multiple reasons, but most of them come back to the original sin in the Garden of Eden: autonomy, or the idea that the individual has the right to act as their own authority. When Adm and Eve disobeyed God’s command, they made a choice to reject God’s rule over them as Creator and instead to follow their own plan. God clearly condemns this decision as sin, and the Fall brought consequences upon all creation: death as part of the Curse (Rom. 5:12-14), as well as an inherited sin nature which desires this same autonomy (Rom. 7:18-20). Aa a result, rebellion is the default attitude of every human being toward any kind of authority established by God. Little wonder, then, that this topic of submission – and submission to government in particular – is such a hot-button issue. Let’s analyze this aspect of submission using the five principles.

All authority is God’s authority – In each sub-category of submission, I have demonstrated how all authority is God-given and not inherent in the humans who wield it, and the case is no different with government. In the famous Romans 13 passage regarding the Christian response to government, following his command that “every person be subject to the governing authorities” (v.1), Paul makes this point explicitly: “For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God” (v.2). The divinely-established hierarchy is plain: God is at the top (as with every hierarchy in Scripture), then the government submits to God, and citizens submit to the government. The passage then goes on to explain the implications of this theological truth: “Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment” (v.3). This passage is possibly the most explicit in Scripture that resisting divinely-established authority is resisting God himself. Note that there are no stated exceptions to this command based upon the suitability of the official in question, their personal life, their morality, or their salvific status. It is of further import to note that the Roman Emperor under whose authority Paul and his recipients lived at the time was Nero, a man famed for burning Christians in his garden at night to light his parties; Peter commands the churches to “honor the emperor” (1 Pet. 3:17). And yet, while the passage does not divest such leaders of their authority, it is also clear that such action is a misuse of that authority.

Our use of authority makes claims about God – Why does it matter how governments use their authority? First, as we have already established, government receives its authority from God for a specific purpose. But second, because all authority is mediatorial, the use of authority points back to the God who established it. Scripture does not belabor this point because (presumably) there were few in the early church who held positions of high governmental authority. Instead, the New Testament focuses on those hierarchies of which both the superior and inferior parties were present in the church: husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and slaves, pastors and congregants. But the fact that Scripture does not emphasize the point does not diminish its truthfulness: when governments act using the authority God has given them, they make claims about who God is, and they are held accountable for those claims. Note in the Old Testament how God, though using pagan nations to judge Israel, held them accountable for their actions: he pronounced woe on Babylon, whom he sent to judge his people (Hab. 2:6-17); and he planned to use Cyrus of Persia to make himself known to the nations (Isa. 45:4-6), just as he used Pharaoh at the Exodus (Ex. 9:16). God has established government for a specific purpose, and he holds the right to depose it (Dan. 2:21).

All leadership should be servant leadership – Why does God establish human authorities? The next few verses of Romans 13 explain the goal as godly living, but that will be covered in the next point. Here, I want to note that the role of the authority is described in summary in verse 4: “he is God’s servant for your good.” This word “servant” is not the one Paul often used to describe himself in relation to Christ (Rom. 1:1), but the one Jesus used to describe his role as Savior (Mk. 10:45), which is often translated “deacon” when referring to the office by that name (1 Tim. 3:8). The distinction between the two words is important: while the former implies that the serving is done from a lower position in a hierarchy, the latter does not speak to hierarchy at all, only to serving [1]. For this reason, Paul can call the government a “servant” even though it occupies the higher position in the hierarchy – it has authority, but that authority is granted it to benefit its subordinates. A government that is cruel, unjust, or corrupt (Christ contrasts this with himself and his followers in Mk. 10:42-45) is not fulfilling its God-intended function of serving for the good of those it governs. Instead, its goal is to promote and exemplify what is right.

The goal is godly living – Verses 3-4 clarify that, in God’s plan, the focus of government in serving its citizens is to punish evil so the good are free to follow God. While there are times when such is not the case, in general “rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad” (v.3a). While at times inconvenient to the righteous, laws protect them from others who would otherwise do evil if left only with their conscience; government is part of God’s common grace that restrains people from being as evil as they could be. The government maintains order through judgment and punishment: “he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer” (v.4b). In this verse, not only is the government referred to again as a “servant,” but its role is clarified as that of an “avenger” that punishes evil as an agent of God’s wrath. Conversely, this role also includes rewarding good conduct: “do what is good, and you will receive his approval” (v.3c; see 1 Pet. 2:13). Therefore, New Testament believers are explicitly commanded to pray that the government will perform its duties correctly so that people can live unhindered godly lives (1 Tim. 2:1-4). Our role as citizens is to submit. Though a tyrannical government is not using its power correctly, we must give place to God’s sovereignty and wrath while obeying unless we are commanded to sin (Acts 5:29).

Submission is living out your position before God – The last few verses of Romans 13:1-7 explain the implications of God-appointed government in the lives of believers. Yet, for believers, it is not the threat of punishment from the government alone that motivates our submission, but also our knowledge of what is right from God’s Word: “Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience” (v.5). We are conscience-bound to fulfill our God-given obligations to government: “taxes,” “revenue,” “respect,” and “honor.” We are told in the passage that we pay “taxes” (and presumably also “revenue,” or fees) to God’s ministers as they are “attending to this very thing” (v.6c), to ensure that this function of upholding justice can be carried out. The Bible doesn't say how many taxes are or are not unreasonable. The Bible doesn't say what kinds of taxes are or are not unreasonable. It simply says to pay them. The last part of v.7 – “respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed” – does not mean that we are to determine which government authorities deserve respect and honor; rather, they deserve it because God has appointed them. This submission positively includes obedience to laws (Tit. 3:1) and doing good works (Tit. 3:1); negatively, it includes not slandering but being courteous (Tit. 3:2) – all because of the truth of the Gospel (Tit. 3:3-8), “that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people” (1 Pet. 2:15). The fact that submission includes not mere obedience but also honor means that our attitudes toward government are also in view, not just our actions for or against it. Christians should be upstanding, model citizens living in obedience to the governments God has placed over them.

Conclusion

This probably was not a fun post to read, and it wasn’t entirely fun to write, either. Yet, Scripture teaches submission to government, and it is not vague about the implications of this submission. In the end, it all goes back to God’s sovereign plan for creation: he made humans in his image to rule creation, then established hierarchies among humans to extend that rule and promote human flourishing, and all of this is for his glory, since human submission to God-ordained authorities proclaims what is true about God. While we chafe under unjust governments now, a day is coming when the perfect King will sit on an eternal throne, and all injustice and treason will be gone forever when Jesus Christ returns to rule forever.

“And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; his kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.” (Daniel 7:27)

Next Post: Workplace

[1] The Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, vol. 1, p. 302.

All Scripture verses come from the ESV.

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