Do we live according to Gods laws in the Bible? Yes. Even Paul recognized this. Paul may have had several reasons to write about Christians’ duty to the state. 1. The *Jews hated to pay taxes to the *Romans who had occupied their country. Some *Jews felt very angry that the *Romans were in their country. Those *Jews would attack the *Romans wherever they could. Possibly some *Jewish Christians also had the same thoughts about the *Romans. The *Romans had considered that Christians belonged to the *Jewish religion. But Paul was teaching the Christians not to oppose the government. 2. Paul believed that the state existed to protect its citizens against attack and crime. The state punished people who did wrong acts. And it rewarded people who did right acts. Paul himself had received protection from angry *Jews (Acts 18:12-16). 3. The state gives benefits, which its citizens enjoy. Paul was able to travel on good *Roman roads on his journeys to *preach the *gospel. 4. Those who govern are God’s servants (Daniel 4:17). A few years after Paul wrote this letter, the *Roman government began to fight against the Christians. The *Romans were very cruel and the Christians suffered greatly. Many Christians died during those troubles. The Christians who lived in Rome suffered especially. But although the *Romans attacked the Christians, the Christians did not fight back. Jesus had explained how they should behave in such situations (Luke 21:12-19). Paul does not mention such troubles here. But in fact, he was teaching them about the same subjects. Paul told the Christians to respect and to obey the rulers. Christians should try to be ideal citizens. They should pay the taxes and they should obey the law. They should even consider their rulers to be God’s agents on earth. The Christians in Rome followed this advice. And they continued to do so even when the *Romans attacked them. Of course, the Christians could not obey the *Roman laws that ordered them to serve false gods. And the Christians did not obey laws that ordered them to insult *Christ. And they did not obey when rulers ordered them not to tell people about Christ. But the Christians obeyed all the other laws. They obeyed all the laws that did not oppose the Christian *faith. The result was that their confidence in God impressed everyone. It is true that those Christians suffered in the most awful manner. But God helped them to be noble and brave. Even while they were dying, they continued to speak about God’s goodness. They were not afraid to die because they were glad to go to a better home, in heaven. Many people who saw their attitudes wanted to become Christians too. The *Romans thought they could destroy the Christian *faith. But in fact, the numbers of Christians in Rome actually increased. Three centuries afterwards, the *Roman government decided that the Christian religion would become their official religion. Verses 1-2 Christians should obey the rulers to whom God has given power. To oppose people who have authority is to oppose God. But, if a powerful ruler or state does something wicked, Christians do not have to agree with it. Paul does not mean that. Jesus said that we must pay taxes to our rulers. But we must also give to God everything that belongs to him (Mark 12:17). When Christians have to choose between these two duties, they must ‘obey God rather than men’. Peter said this when the *Jewish authorities told the *apostles not to speak about Jesus (Acts 4:18-20). Daniel was also unable to obey a law. He risked his life. He continued to pray to God when the king told him not to (Daniel 6:10). Verses 3-4 Rulers have a duty to punish people who are wicked. Good citizens have no reason to be afraid of them. People who do wrong acts must expect the rulers to punish them. So they have reason to be afraid. A sword was the sign of a judge’s power over life and death. He carried it himself or someone carried the sword in front of him. It showed that he had real power to punish people. Verse 5 Christians must obey the rulers for a better reason than the fear of punishment. Their conscience should tell them that it is the right thing to do. Verses 6-7 Because the *Romans were the rulers, the *Jews had to pay taxes to them. They had to pay a tax on their grain, wine and fruit. Each person between the ages of 14 and 65 had to pay a personal tax. There was also a tax on income. In addition to these, people had to pay local taxes. There were customs taxes on the import and export of goods. There were taxes to use roads, markets and harbours. Paul believed that Christians must pay all these taxes to the state and to the local government. In this verse, he uses a word for ‘servants’ that can also mean a priest. Officials are doing a public service and Christians should respect them.
Posted on: Sat, 11 Oct 2014 03:13:57 +0000
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