Be subject for the
Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as
supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to
praise those who do good. (1Pe 2:13 -14)
Gill writes:
“. . . . because civil government is of God; magistracy is
of divine appointment; the powers that he{re} are ordained of God, though this
or the other form is of man's prescription: it is the command of God that
magistrates should be obeyed; and it makes for his glory, as well as for the
good of men, when they are submitted to in things that do not contradict the
revealed will of God; for otherwise, not man, but God, is to be obeyed:”
The kicker here is: “when
they are submitted to in things that do not contradict the revealed will of
God; for otherwise, not man, but God, is to be obeyed:”
Politics is commonly called the "art of
compromise."
Our faith – if we consider it a type of “art,” is the “art
of commitment.”
Consider the following:
But there were also very serious objects in the way of people
embracing the Christian faith. For Christians of Jewish background it meant
breaking with their community of origin – which now regarded them as deserters
and traitors. Gentile converts, especially those belonging to the upper
classes, encountered similar difficulties: their faith did not allow them take
part in a series of traditional pagan-religious practices involving worship of
Rome and the emperor, yet these practices were part and parcel of a citizen’s
everyday life and they were a conventional sign of loyalty to the empire. Hence
the accusations often leveled against the Christians that they were ‘atheists.’
This was a reason why they were threatened with persecution and martyrdom – a
threat which hung over them for centuries and meant that to become a Christian
involved taking risks; and demanded a high degree of moral courage.
What caused the great confrontation
between the pagan empire and Christianity? The Christian religion encouraged
people to respect and obey lawful authority. ‘Render to Caesar the things that
are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s’ (cf. Mt 22:15 -21) was the principle given by Christ
himself. The Apostles developed this teaching: ‘Let every person be subject to
the governing authorities. For there is no authority except God.’ (Rom 13:1),
wrote St. Paul
to the faithful at Rome ;
and St. Peter exhorted the disciples to ‘Fear God. Honor the emperor’ (1 Pet 2:17 ). The empire, for its part, was
liberal in religious matters and easily tolerated new forms of worship and
foreign divinities. The collision and the break occurred because Rome tried to get its
Christian subjects to do something they could not do – render it the religious
homage of adoration which may be given lawfully to God alone.
The question for us, as for them, is: At what point do we
decide that the civil government is demanding our “religious homage of
adoration,” or preventing us from living out the Biblical lives we are called
to?”
This is a knotty problem for us – but no less for them. Our government spends our tax money on things
which we, as believers, cannot support or condone. Abortion is one such issue. But did you know that in the Roman Empire a father, if he was not pleased with his new
born child, would set the child outside the door or gate to die of
exposure? This action Roman law
allowed. So as the early disciples
“rendered unto Caesar” they not only funded a regime that allowed infanticide
but they actually funded the vehicle of their persecution.
Oh, minor point – After the gospel came to Rome , believers were known to go out and find
these children and save them to be raised in believing homes. Mmmmm – think about that.
Loyalty was a big issue.
Are you “loyal” to God or to government?
To the City of God
or the City of Man ? Where is the line in patriotism?
The danger for us is when we consider the Constitution to be
a semi-religious document. Though some
(not as many as we think) of our “founding fathers” were believers, many were,
for the most part what would have been called “religious.”
The First amendment reads:
Congress shall make no
law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of
the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress
of grievances.
I find it interesting that the amendment leads off with the
religion issue. But are these not all
issues that relate to our religious liberty?
Does this not allow for not only the free exercise of our faith, but
also, its verbal communication, printing, assemblage and redress?
As I said, this is a knotty verse. But we must all pray carefully and long over
where the line needs to be drawn and where it is being crossed. Man-made government, even though God
ordained, is unholy, impure and unrighteous – I would go so far as to say it is
anti-holy, anti-pure and anti-righteous.
It is about power, not service.
It really is about Mammon and not men.
But – God has too much for us to do for us to be distracted
by the evil works of evil men aimed at power and oppression. We must obey and render where we can –
determining where we can’t is an issue of the Word, the Spirit and our
consciences.
But yes, speeding is a sin.
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