The King & I
The Christian & The State
Romans 13:1 – 7
Introduction:
The King and I. Today's title is actually taken from a 1956 movie based on a book entitled, Anna and the King of Siam. It is the story of Anna Leonowens, a teacher who becomes the private tutor of the children of King Rama IV of Siam in the early 1860s. In the story, we find Anna having to deal with issues such as King Rama's irrational orders as well as his authoritarian ways. Often she would disagree with the king and this led to a lot of tension. What this film and the book depicts for us is the tension that often arises between ruler and subject, an issue none of us can escape from, even as we live in a democratic country.
This morning, we are going to look at a passage that sounds clear enough and yet people have a hard time accepting. We know that God has put into place three institutions in our society. The first is the family. The second is the government. The third is the church. In our day and age, all three are actually disdained or looked down by certain sectors of our society; but of the three, the one that is most disdained, I think, is the government or the state. In fact, it, together with the leaders, is often the subject of our cruel jokes as well as our verbal abuse.
No matter how much we may dislike or we simply tolerate the state, we must realize that the government is important; it has its useful function. This morning, we will continue our study on the Book of Romans, and we will be looking in particular at Romans 13:1 – 7, the passage that talks about our relationship with the government, and how we should behave towards the government and those who are seated in positions of authority.
Context:
I would like to begin by giving the context of this morning's passage. Now, many scholars cannot agree as to the time frame when Paul was writing this letter. Was it a time when widespread persecution against Christians were already taking place? Or was there still relative peace between the state and the church? Most scholars are in agreement that Nero was the emperor during the time of this letter, but they are not certain whether it was written during the early part of Nero's reign as emperor, when he wasn't persecuting Christians yet, or during the latter part of his reign, when he started a widespread campaign to get rid of the believers. Personally, I think we can date Romans as falling within the early part of Nero's reign, as there is no mention of widespread persecution. Furthermore, it seems as if the State or the Empire was still functioning properly, as there was relative peace in the Roman Empire.
However, during the time of the writing of Romans, the Jews were openly expressing their hatred for the Roman Empire. You see, the Jews refused to be subject to the Empire, with some going to the extreme by openly rebelling and fighting against the Roman Empire. The ordinary citizens showed their rebellion by questioning why they need to pay taxes or to even show respect to the authorities. The Jewish people's rebelliousness against the Roman Empire must have impacted the church, especially that many believers were themselves Jews and they could easily sympathize with their fellow Jews. Most likely, some of the believers were also beginning to act rebelliously or were beginning to question the authority of the Roman Empire. Thus, it became necessary for Paul to address the issue of the Christian's relationship to the government.
With that background in mind, let us look more closely at the command given by God through Paul, and understand how we can apply this command in our present context.
The Command:
There is only one command given by the Lord here, and that is, we are to submit ourselves to the authorities. Here, it means, we must willingly accept or yield to a superior force, in this case, the government. Now, before we look at the reason for submission, I want us to pay attention to this particular word. Notice that Paul did not use the word “obey”, but used the word “submit”. I believe there is a reason for this. If the word used had been “obey”, then we would have to obey everything the government tells us to do, even if it is downright wrong and sinful. There is a boundary to what the government is allowed to do by God. When it goes beyond that boundary, then we do not need to follow the orders at all. A good example of this is in Acts 5. The Sanhedrin had commanded Peter and the other apostles not to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, with threat of persecution. However, the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29)”. They knew that they had been commanded by the highest authority, by the Lord Jesus himself, to proclaim the Gospel to all people; the Sanhedrin had issued a command that goes directly against the Lord's command, thus Peter and the apostles had no choice but to disobey the command of the Sanhedrin. Furthermore, the apostles were willing to bear the consequences of their decision to obey Jesus Christ, for in verse 40, we find the apostles receiving a flogging from the Sanhedrin. So, remember that we are to submit ourselves to the government but when there are times that we are told to do something totally against God's command, we must obey the highest authority and be willing to bear punishment for the sake of the Lord. When the government legalizes abortion or euthanasia, when it rewards evildoers and punish the innocent, we as believers must stand up to such wrongdoings by using whatever legal and moral means are available to air our protests, but we must be ready to face whatever the government may do to us.
Now, when God gives us this command to submit to authorities, it came with a reason. The reason is this: God is the one who established government, therefore we must not rebel against what God has put in place to be over us, for if we rebel against the government, we are rebelling against God himself.
When God established government, he intended for it to do good for us. What this means is that a properly functioning government will safeguard her citizens from harm. There will be mechanisms in place that will enhance our living conditions. During Paul's time, there were two things that the Roman Empire did to enhance the quality of life of her citizens. First, their citizens enjoyed protection. Paul himself was a beneficiary of this when he was protected from potential danger when he made known his Roman citizenship. Second, the Roman Empire built expansive road networks that made travel very easy.
Aside from government existing in order to do good for us, it also exists in order to punish evildoers. Again, in a properly functioning government, those who do evil to others will not get away with their crimes but they must pay for it. During Paul's time, the symbol of punishment was the sword. Evildoers can be killed on the spot by Roman authorities as represented by soldiers. Today, we have our police force and our criminal justice system in place to punish those who do evil. We also have the military who not only defend our country from external attacks but also from evil elements from within the country who are out to cause harm to people. We also have our trial courts which dispenses justice for the innocent and punishment for the guilty. Combining both these ideas about government – that it is intended to do good for us and it is for punishing evildoer, we can summarize it as this: God instituted government so that society can be kept in order. Without government, there is chaos. Everyone will be looking out for the interest of one's self.
Therefore, knowing that God established government for our benefit as well as for punishing evildoers, we are thus expected to submit to the government. Two reasons are cited by Paul for submitting to government. First is so that we would not get ourselves punished for failing to submit. As long as the law does not go against God's commandments, then we should submit. Failure to submit is an act of rebellion against the government and is deserving of punishment. The second reason why we must submit is so that we can keep our consciences clean. What this means is that, when we submit to authorities, we are actually obeying God. When we obey God, we will not feel guilty about having offended God in any way, whereas, when we refuse to submit to the government or to the authorities, we will be violating our consciences, because we know we are commanded by God to submit, but we resist Him.
The Means of Submission:
We have looked at the command as well as the reasons why we must submit. Now, let us look at the means of submission to the government. In the passage, we find two means recorded. The first point is that we must pay the appropriate taxes and revenues.
Taxes, according to the dictionary, are compulsory contributions to state revenue, levied by the government on workers' income and business profits or added to the cost of some goods, services and transactions. The tax that is levied on workers' income is called the personal income tax, which is deducted from your gross pay every month. For those who own businesses, you have to pay corporate income tax. The tax that we pay for goods, services and other transactions come in the form of what we call as the expanded value added tax or the E-VAT. We also have to pay annual taxes for our real estate properties. When we die, surviving family members have to pay estate tax. If you think about it, we actually pay a lot of taxes, and, like it or not, we have to do it.
Besides taxes, we must also pay revenue, according to Paul. Now, what exactly is revenue? In the original language, the word for revenue actually means customs duties. It is a kind of tax that is levied on both imports and exports. For our modern age, customs duties are collected based on what you declare being imported or exported for your business.
Now, I believe that when Paul tells us to pay taxes and duties, he wants for us to do it truthfully. Whatever income you make, that must be the basis for the computation of your taxes. Whatever you are importing or exporting, you have to properly declare it and pay the right amount. I can already imagine that protest that is ringing in your minds. What? Pay the right amount of taxes? Yes. As believers we have to be truthful and pay what is right. We cannot and should not short-change the government of the taxes that are rightfully due them. When we cheat the government by declaring wrongly our income or our importations and exportation, we aren't just cheating the government, we are cheating God.
Why pay taxes? Well, our taxes provide for the salaries of our government officials. These people have chosen a career path of service to the people. Let's not short-change them by not paying our taxes. Taxes also pays for the upkeep and improvement of basic services and facilities. If everyone doesn't pay the proper taxes, the government will not have enough money to keep certain services going such as the MRT and LRT. Our roads would not be maintained at all. There would be no military and police force to protect us. There would be no firemen and fire trucks to fight fires. So, make it a point to pay the proper amount of tax and duties at the set time.
The second means by which we submit to the governing authorities is by rendering respect and honor to our leaders, the institutions of government and the laws of the land. We show respect and honor to our leaders by never thinking ill of them nor should we be rude towards them when we deal with them. Respect and honor is shown to the laws of the land by our observance of the laws, not just when the policemen are around, but even when they are not there. Respect and honor is shown to the institutions of government by accepting their ruling and their assessment. If the Bureau of Fire Protection came to inspect your business establishment and found that you violated the fire code, please don't bribe the officials, just conform to what they want you to do. If the sanitation inspectors came to check out your restaurant and found violations of the sanitation code, just conform to what they want you to do, don't bribe your way out of it.
I believe there is one more thing we should do for our government as Christians. We find this third duty in 1 Timothy 2:1 – 2, and this is the duty to pray for our leaders. Here we read, “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone — for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.” While it is the duty of every individual, whether Christian or not, to submit to the authority of the government, our submission should not just be shown by paying taxes and respecting our leaders and the institution. We must also pray for the leaders of our nation. We must pray that our leaders will themselves abide by the laws of the country. We must pray that our leaders will not be corrupted by money. We must pray that our leaders will always put the welfare of the people ahead of their personal interests. We must pray that justice will prevail in our country. Most importantly, pray that our leaders will come to know Jesus Christ and will be transformed.
Conclusion:
This morning's message is short but it contains an important command we should not overlook or neglect – the command to submit to our leaders, to the government. We are to submit to the government because it is an institution that God himself established. If we go against the government in a rebellious manner, remember that you are also going against God.
Remember also your civil duties – you must pay your taxes and revenues, and you must render respect and honor to the leaders, the institution and the laws of the land. Finally, remember your spiritual duty to pray for the government and for our leaders.
In closing, I would like to remind everyone that, while our loyalty is to God alone, it does not mean that we don't need to love and care for our country. We have been given a tremendous privilege of living in the Philippines, where, in spite of so many problems in our government, we have freedom. Our laws are not morally unethical nor do they go against God. Therefore, I entreat you all to respect our government and to follow her laws. Do it for the sake of the Lord. Do it in order to make our nation a respectable place to live in.
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