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Volume 33   Number 38 Sep 20, 2009

        I want to look at earthly authorities and why we must obey them. The word authority means "the right or power to command obedience." A kindred word to this principle is the word "government". A good definition of government is: "any person or persons, organization, or agency that has the right to rule, manage, direct, and restrain our actions. This definition not only includes civil governments but also authorities such as the family and church.
        Romans 13:1-7 : Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same, for he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.
        Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience' sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God's ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.
        God has ultimate authority, but He has also established delegated authorities (governments) to rule as His representative. Since all governments have been created and ordained by God, they reflect His rule. All earthy authorities are from God and are expected by God to be obeyed.
        One of the main purposes of earthly governments is for our protection and covering. Romans 13:4: ...for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.
        Each government provides covering in the realm of its specific activity. In most cases, this protection is not automatic. To take advantage of any covering, we must submit to that particular authority which we find ourselves under, whether spiritual or secular.
        In Matthew 23:37, Christ grieves over the city of Jerusalem and the nation of Israel as a whole saying: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Because the people of Israel would not submit to God, He could not cover them with His protection and blessing. Not being under His covering, they were open to the enemy's attack.
        Hebrews 13:17 ESV: Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
        Although the above passage was written primarily concerning ecclesiastical authority, the principle of submission and protection can be extended to include any authority God has placed over you.
        The word submission comes from the Latin word "submissio" which means an act of lowering or to yield. For any covering to function as God intended in our lives, there has to be an attitude and behavior of yielding to its authority.
        Are there legitimate circumstances under which it is possible to be unsubmissive? Yes. I believe under the following condition it may be right and justified to defy authority. We can disobey governments when they are in direct opposition to God's command, when the basic rights of people are being denied, or when the welfare of the populace is not being adhered to by oppression or egregious neglect. But any disobedience to authority is a serious matter and must be done in prayer and a genuine seeking of God's will beforehand.
        However, man's basic problem to authority is not legitimate reasons but the sin of rebellion. Isaiah 53:6 NASU: All of us like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.
        Since the fall of our first parents, we have inherited a fallen and totally depraved nature that wants to be independent. We have a natural propensity to rebel against God and the authority He has placed over us. Total depravity of our nature is not just an occasional want to do evil but an entirely pervasive corruption of our desire and will.
        As one biblical theologian comments: "Because of this condition, every person in the world is by nature a slave to sin. The world, by nature, is held in sin's grip. Everything by nature belongs to sin. Every facet of our personalities belongs to sin; it owns and dominates us. We are its servants. Total depravity is not simply the absence of righteousness but the presence of corruption. Our depravity is enormously creative and inventive, ever devising new ways of violating God's will. It is a growing cancer within us—a rampant, productive, energetic, and self-propagating entity. It is fire out of control—a living, fierce, powerful force." (Joel R. Beeke: Living for God's Glory).
        Paul sums it up when he says in Romans 8:7 ESV: For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
        The only thing that can stop this will to rebel is the merciful hand of God. At the cross, Christ not only took our penalty of death for rebellion, but He also crucified the rebellious nature within us. Romans 6:6-7: ....knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin
        The crucifixion of our old sinful nature has been completed as legal declaration but still needs to be practically, by an act of our will, applied to life. Romans 6:12-14:Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
        Rebellion is the basic problem of mankind. Since all authority originates from God, ultimately all rebellion against authority is rebellion against God. Since all governments are ordained by God and are a reflection of His authority over us, we have a natural inclination to rebel that needs to experience the act of the cross.
        Romans 13:1-2: Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. There are two responses we can make to the authority over us. We can submit or resist. The response we make determines our rebel's growth or death.
        At this point, it is important to remember that God will allow difficult situations to come into your life, particularly in this area, to test your obedience to Him. Even the nation of Israel was tried in the desert to test their willingness to obey God's authority, through His reagent Moses, to see if they would follow His commands or not.
        Deuteronomy 8:15-18 ESV: "...who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.' You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may confirm His covenant that He swore to your fathers."
        In the following verses, Peter gives the example of Christ and His willingness to submit to unjust authorities, even to the point of death at the cross, in order to be obedient to the Father's will.
        1 Peter 2:13-21: Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men–as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God.
        Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh (crooked, perverse, wicked, or unfair). For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God.
        For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: "Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth"; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep gong astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
        Christ was obedient because He trusted His Father and believed that even though the authority He found Himself under was wrong, it was His duty to obey in this specific time under this circumstance.
        Hebrews 12:2: Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
        If we want to be like Christ, we must be acting like Christ. And like Him we, too, may have to face and submit to earthly authority even when it is unpleasant and unjust if it is God's will for that moment.
        Rebellion is part of our old Adamic nature and takes the grace of God to overcome. Remember, we have two options to earthly authorities: submission brings blessing and resistance bring judgment. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. Authority, submission, and rebellion are spiritual principles. Submission is a requirement of God. Those who learn this principle can be greatly blessed by God.
        The story of Jesus and the Centurion in Luke 7 shows the blessing we can receive when we come to an understanding of what it means to submit to authority. Here we have the story of a man who knew this principle. By being under authority and being one in submission to that authority, even in times when it was unpleasant, he could recognize a greater authority and knew that all power was at Christ's command, even the power to heal.
        Luke 7:8-10: "For I, too, am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, ‘Go,' and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, "Do this,' and he does it." When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed Him, said, "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith." And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well.

Rev. Ken Cole