Romans 13:1 says, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” This would seem to suggest that every governing authority is an extension of God, therefore we should obey it no matter how outrageous it, or its decrees, are. This may well be fortified by Romans 8:28 which says that with God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.
But one may be inclined to believe that a government that presides with deception and lies and that harms the people is not a governing authority from God. Yet upon consideration, the very nature of Romans 13:1 may imply that EVERY governing authority comes from God, even those that harm the people.
To wit, the Russian dictator Stalin was responsible for the murder of 25 million people around the time of World War Two. Some may be inclined to question of how HIS authority could have come from God to do so? One may ask ‘What good purpose does it serve God to murder 25 million people? Were they all sinners, like in the city of Sodom?’ There is no evidence to indicate that. Also, we know that God was willing to spare that city if there were even 10 righteous people living there. So, we may be inclined to believe that as Daniel 2:21 says that God removes kings and sets up kings, he does so when the kings He removes are not acting on His behalf, especially when they harm the people.
But a reading of Isaiah 3:1-5 puts an interesting angle on this. It says, “For behold, the Lord GOD of hosts is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah support and supply, all support of bread, and all support of water; the mighty man and the soldier, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder, the captain of fifty and the man of rank, the counselor and the skillful magician and the expert in charms. And I will make boys their princes, and infants shall rule over them. And the people will oppress one another, everyone his fellow and everyone his neighbor; the youth will be insolent to the elder, and the despised to the honorable.”
What to make of that? God is punishing the people of Jerusalem and Judah. If God does that, wouldn’t a governing authority, who according to the Bible acts on God’s behalf, do the same? A further reading of Romans chapter 13 reveals the following in verses 2-4: “Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for she is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, tan avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.”
Does this mean we have no choice but to allow whoever the governing authorities are, to do what they want, even if means depriving millions of people who at least at first glance have done nothing wrong? That’s what seems to have happened in, say, Hitler’s Germany. But then, other governments put the government of Germany on trial for their atrocities committed against innocent people and have punished those who were involved.
So even if as implied by Romans 13:1-4 and as tempered by Isaiah 3:1-5, with a dash of Daniel 2:21, one may still have the urge to ask, ‘When is a governing authority acting on behalf of God, and when is it not?’ For one cannot conceive of God harming innocent people. Then again, Proverbs 3:5 says to trust in God with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. And whoever was harmed can expect to go to Heaven if they have been judged to have lived a righteous life on earth.
But one may be inclined to believe that a government that presides with deception and lies and that harms the people is not a governing authority from God. Yet upon consideration, the very nature of Romans 13:1 may imply that EVERY governing authority comes from God, even those that harm the people.
To wit, the Russian dictator Stalin was responsible for the murder of 25 million people around the time of World War Two. Some may be inclined to question of how HIS authority could have come from God to do so? One may ask ‘What good purpose does it serve God to murder 25 million people? Were they all sinners, like in the city of Sodom?’ There is no evidence to indicate that. Also, we know that God was willing to spare that city if there were even 10 righteous people living there. So, we may be inclined to believe that as Daniel 2:21 says that God removes kings and sets up kings, he does so when the kings He removes are not acting on His behalf, especially when they harm the people.
But a reading of Isaiah 3:1-5 puts an interesting angle on this. It says, “For behold, the Lord GOD of hosts is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah support and supply, all support of bread, and all support of water; the mighty man and the soldier, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder, the captain of fifty and the man of rank, the counselor and the skillful magician and the expert in charms. And I will make boys their princes, and infants shall rule over them. And the people will oppress one another, everyone his fellow and everyone his neighbor; the youth will be insolent to the elder, and the despised to the honorable.”
What to make of that? God is punishing the people of Jerusalem and Judah. If God does that, wouldn’t a governing authority, who according to the Bible acts on God’s behalf, do the same? A further reading of Romans chapter 13 reveals the following in verses 2-4: “Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for she is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, tan avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.”
Does this mean we have no choice but to allow whoever the governing authorities are, to do what they want, even if means depriving millions of people who at least at first glance have done nothing wrong? That’s what seems to have happened in, say, Hitler’s Germany. But then, other governments put the government of Germany on trial for their atrocities committed against innocent people and have punished those who were involved.
So even if as implied by Romans 13:1-4 and as tempered by Isaiah 3:1-5, with a dash of Daniel 2:21, one may still have the urge to ask, ‘When is a governing authority acting on behalf of God, and when is it not?’ For one cannot conceive of God harming innocent people. Then again, Proverbs 3:5 says to trust in God with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. And whoever was harmed can expect to go to Heaven if they have been judged to have lived a righteous life on earth.
