Curious Christian

Reflections on culture, nature, and spirituality from a Christian perspective

The Word on the Authorities

Published by

Matt Stone

2009-07-16

This evening I was scanning through what the Bible had to say on authorities. It makes for interesting reading.

First, the Romans 13 verses

Romans 13:1 – Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.

Romans 13:5 – Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.

Romans 13:6 – This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing.

Next, everything else

Luke 12:11 – “When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say,

John 7:26 – Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities really concluded that he is the Christ?

Acts 16:19 – When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities.

Ephesians 3:10 – His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms,

Ephesians 6:12 – For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Colossians 1:16 – For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.

Colossians 2:15 – And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Reflections

Now, is it just me or do you think Paul’s relationship with the authorities was somewhat mixed? Did his submission to authorities extend to a rousing endorsement of authorities?

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3 responses to “The Word on the Authorities”

Sabio Lantz

2009-07-17

Maybe he was a pragmatist with his primary goal of growing his churches and did not think ahead to realize that his letters would be made scripture and taken out of context as universals. Paul, what were you thinking?

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Steve Hayes

2009-07-17

Best comment on this comes from G.B. Caird, in his book “Principalities and powers”. I took those as my texts when preachi… making political speeches at Liberal Party meetings in the 1960s.
From Caird’s commentary on Revelation 13:1-10
“But it must not be thought that John is writing off all civil government as an invention of the Devil. Whatever Satan may
claim, the truth is that ‘the Most High controls the sovereignty of the world and gives it to whom he wills’ (Dan iv. 17). In the war between God and Satan, between good and evil, the state is one of the defences established by God to contain the powers of evil within bounds, part of the order which God the Creator had established in the midst of chaos (cf. Rom xiii. 1-7). But when men worship the state, according to it the absolute loyalty and obedience that are due not to Caesar but to God, then the state goes over to the Enemy. What Satan calls from the abyss is not government, but that abuse of government, the omnicompetent state. It is thus misleading to say that the monster is Rome, for it is both more and less: more, because Rome is only its latest embodiment; and less, because Rome is also, even among all the corruptions of
idolatry, ‘God’s agent of punishment, for retribution on the offender’ (Rom. 13. iv).”
Too much to discuss in blog comments! Raise it in the “Christianity and society” conference for full discussion
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/chris_soc

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Steve Hayes

2009-07-17

Oh yes, Colissians – he has transferred us from the authority of darkness to the kingdom of his beloved Son.
And Luke, when they came to arrest Jesus “This is your hour and the authority of darkness” (would have to look them up to find verse numbers etc.

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