The following student report was submitted by Ambassador League Agent Kelcey W. during the 2009-2010 League.
Mission: Research on Civil Government
Romans chapter thirteen has strong words concerning Christians and the government. While all Christians may not agree on how to interpret the commands, a few things are very clear throughout the passage and are supported elsewhere in the Bible.
The first verse of chapter thirteen says that every soul should be subject to the governmental authorities. It does not separate by class, age, or belief – it simply says that everyone is under this authority. The verse continues to say that these authorities have divine appointment; they would not be in their positions if it was not according to God's will. This means that God's hand is in every election, every primary race, and every nomination. He sees to these politician's hearts and puts the best person into positions according to His own purposes and plans. While we may have a hard time coming to grasp with some of these outcomes, we should have a huge sense of peace that no one will get elected contrary to God's will. God has hand on every election, whether for mayor, president, or leader of a far away country. Even if we are defeated, He is glorified, and His plans are accomplished.
Paul goes on to talk about fearing authority only if we have committed evil. He says that authorities "do not bear the sword in vain." Their power to punish is very real and a healthy fear of this should cause us to follow the laws of our country. However, if we are confident that we have committed no wrong, we should not feel threatened of scared of their power. Chaos would be prevalent in a society without laws and appropriate punishment. Paul says that people who do good have nothing to fear from authorities, but those who disobey the law should have cause to be afraid.
There are times, however, when authorities take their power too far and Christians cannot in good conscience obey their laws. The Bible tells us to obey the laws placed over us and to submit to them, but we are not to disobey God to obey these commands. If the ones in authority decide to enact laws contrary to God's laws, Christians cannot in good conscience obey them. An example of this is found in Exodus chapter one; Pharaoh commands the Hebrew midwives to kill all of the Hebrew newborn males. These women knew this was wrong in God's eyes and lied to Pharaoh, saying they could not get to the women in time before they gave birth and hid the babies. The law to obey him could not reconcile the law Pharaoh had made (murder), and the women chose to risk their lives to uphold God's law. Likewise, when Hitler was trying to make German churches go along with his plans, some of them did not have the courage to stand up to him and allowed their message to become watered down. Those churches and Christians who couldn't obey the dictator because of their love for God often faced dire consequences, sometimes even death. However, they could not follow a leader that was forcing them to go against God.
Finally in this chapter about the government, Paul addresses taxation. As citizens of heaven, are Christians required to pay taxes to their earthly countries? Paul states that taxes are "God's ministers" to keep the government functioning properly. Jesus was also asked this same question, "Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar [insert country here]?" Jesus answered that we are to give to Caesar [or the government] what is his due, and give to God what is God's. While taxes can sometimes be a hard thing to accept, Paul says that we need to give taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, and honor to whom honor. We can show our obedience to God by treating those He has placed in earthly authority over us with respect.
