“In Romans 13, Paul is arguing that the state or civil government is a biblically sanctioned institution. He is not saying how Christians are to live before or submit to that institution except that we are to not revolt against it in private revolution but are, instead, to support it and submit to it as legitimate sphere of authority handed down from God, insofar as it fulfils its God-ordained function. This careful distinction about Romans 13, that Paul primarily argues that the institution of government exists but not how we should exist under it, allows the necessary theological and practical qualifications that must be granted if we are to harmonise the many other passages of Scripture that regulate the proper occasions for resistance against government.”
When we hear the phrase, ‘the Great Awakening,’ we think of some amazing religious revivals that occurred in America in the first half of the 1700s. But here I am using it in a more generic sense. That is, the events of 2020-2021 caused many people to wake from their slumber, rouse themselves out of their stupor, and really start questioning things, including the role and reach of the state.
How we should understand civil government in general, and a biblical text like Romans 13:1-7 in particular, both came into sharp focus during this time – and ever since then. While I had written often about statism and the rise of tyrannical government before, during the Covid reign of terror with all the lockdowns, medical fascism and violation of basic human rights and freedoms, I especially started discussing all this.
As but one indication of this, I just searched my site for the term ‘statism’. It is found in some 200 articles, with it first being used in 1992. But the bulk of the times it is used has been over the last four years or so. Thus my thinking and writing about the state, its limits, and its abuses, certainly came to the fore when the Covid virus broke out.
I was not alone during this period in starting to rethink things, question things, and revisit familiar texts such as Romans 13. So many other Christians did the same. One such person is an American pastor and New Testament professor, Timothy Decker. And his new book, A Revolutionary Reading of Romans 13 begins as did my article: by noting how Covid changed everything.
As he says in his Introduction, the pandemic caused him and other pastors to “take up matters of theology and passages of Scripture that have previously been left to minor significance.” Romans 13 is of course the main text he has in mind.
In short, he says that generally speaking we are to obey civil government, but there are many times when we are called to disobey. The commands found in Romans 13 must be seen in light of the totality of Scripture, as well as through the lens of the circumstances that existed when Paul wrote this epistle.
The historical and chronological situation must be kept in mind. There are two areas he dwells on in the opening chapters: the nature of the Roman government at the time, and the revolutionary zeal of some Jews living then. As to the former, Emperor Nero reigned from AD 54 to AD 68, dying at just 30 years of age.
Most Christians are aware of him as being an evil tyrant who mercilessly persecuted Christians. But as Decker reminds us, early on he was much less so, and only later did he become an arch enemy of Christianity. He really only targeted them after the great fire of Rome in July of AD 64.
However, most scholars agree that Paul wrote Romans around AD 57-58. If he had written it later, would he have said things somewhat differently on this matter? What we do know is that the really hard-core persecution of Christians was not occurring in Rome when he did send his epistle.
The second point Decker wants to emphasise is the various revolutionary strands found among the Jews back then. We know about such things as the Jewish Revolt of BC 66–73. And in the gospels and the book of Acts we read more about such matters.
One of the disciples of Jesus was Simon the Zealot. The Zealots were a radical sect of Jewish patriots, or freedom fighters, committed to overthrowing Rome. And Barabbas for example was guilty of rebellion (“insurrection” ESV) and murder (Luke 23:19); while others such as Theudas and Judas had been dealt with by the authorities for their radicalism (Acts 5:36-37).
All these considerations must be taken into account as we try to get a handle on what exactly Paul is urging believers to do in Romans 13. By way of summary thus far, Decker says this:
If Christians, whether Jew or Gentile, were going to publicly preach and confess “Jesus is Lord” (which is tantamount to saying “Caesar is not”), then Rome may not have looked favorably on Christians, including Paul, who was seeking to make his way to Rome as a launching point. This is even more so if revolution and refusing to pay taxes were seen to be corresponding ideals.