A Rebuttal to the Manipulative Use of Romans 13
During this entire COVID debacle, there has been much talk of Romans 13-style submission to whatever the government says. For those of you who have been fortunate enough to avoid the simpering pandering of the weak-willed evangelical elites, I’ll fill you in. When the occasion presents itself (as it has daily over the last year and a half) for a well-informed Christian to voice his disdain for the unconstitutional overreach of mandates implemented by the various administrations of local, state, and federal government, a noble Evangelical big-wig suddenly appears out of nowhere on a prancing Twitter-steed, frills and lace and smelling salts, and reminds the lowly peasant that he can’t have a differing opinion about any aspect of civil affairs because Paul says,
“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.” Romans 13:1-2 ESV
If they are in no particular hurry, they may even quote the entire passage before loping off to their mega-church in order to scold more rascally rabble-rousers for having such an odious and unbiblical opinion. He usually can’t stay long, though, lest someone somewhere may have actually gotten around to doing something. Good thing he was in the neighborhood.
The problem is this, when people use this argument, they assume that because our governing authorities are simply in office, they have carte blanche to do whatever they want because God said so. These same people gnash their teeth at the mere mention of a combined Church and State Theocracy. However, their position assumes that there are no governing laws in place at the time of the person’s ascent to office. On the contrary, much like the Church, the United States of America is founded upon a supreme governing document. The Church submits to Jesus Christ as its head and sovereign as He has revealed himself according to His Holy Word, the Bible. The United States is founded upon the Constitution of the United States, wherein the elected officials (who consequently derive their right to govern by the consent of the citizens per our Declaration of Independence) must adhere to the Articles and Amendments in order to exercise legitimate governing authority. What the prancing pony showmen want you to think is that, right now, you as a Christian are engaging in a damnable offense when you question the legitimacy of a state governor’s unilateral law, cleverly disguised as an emergency order. What they don’t want you to remember is that only legislative bodies have the constitutional authority to create and pass laws. They also want you to forget that Amendment 14, Section 1 of the Constitution of the United States of America clearly commands,
“No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
In other words, they want you to shut up, mask up, and vax up in order to get back your rights as a citizen. In other words, they want to manipulate you using Holy Scripture to make you think that what they’re doing is unquestionable. In other words, they want you to think that you are a slave, beholden to the whim of a divinely appointed master, but they want you to forget that you woke up at 6 AM on a Tuesday, voted as a free man, and that your vote (or a bunch of other people’s votes) ultimately put up that governor fella in some pretty nice digs that you, your friends, your parents, and your grandparents paid for when the government, exercising their true authority, taxed the income you made from working a job on your own volition, and then passed a budget allocating those funds to the purpose of building a gubernatorial mansion. You ungrateful pond scum, you.
Why does this matter? It matters because you are free. As a human being living in the United States of America, you live in liberty, and that comes with authority. That authority is more potent than that wielded by the big chiefs with the big titles and lifetime pensions. That authority is coveted by the elected representatives, and feared by would-be despots. Without the consent of free men and women, those in power have no power. Any power wielded in opposition to the law of the land is not legitimate power, but the frantic usurpations of a petty tyrant, and it is the duty of the citizen to remove the fraud from office. Freedom is always bought at a price. For Americans, it was purchased by the blood of soldiers on the fields on the battlefields of Yorktown, Bull Run, Gettysburg, New Orleans, Normandy, and many others. We know the cost. We know it too well. And that frightens us. It could mean loss. It could mean hardship and sacrifice.
But as Christians, we know this to a fuller extent. Our liberty was purchased, “not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.” (1 Peter 1:18-19 ESV) The chastisement that brought us peace with God was laid upon Jesus, and by his wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5) We aren’t just healed by Christ’s blood, but we are sealed for redemption and adoption as sons of God into the household of God by the Holy Spirit who now dwells within us. “The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:35-36) And as Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:17, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” What are we freed from? Sin, death, and Satan. Hebrews 2:14-16 says of Jesus,
“Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death,
that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham.”
Maybe you didn’t catch that. As a Christian, you have been delivered by Christ Jesus from the fear of death, because the devil - who has the power of death - was destroyed. What have you been told for a year and a half? Death is in the land. Be afraid. What happens to those who fear death? They are subject to lifelong slavery. What is the government holding hostage through a narrative of fear in return for your compliance? Your inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Do you still think they’re doing all this as if they were submitting to the righteous rule of Christ? Or are they running this show in order to get you to willfully submit your freedoms at the altar of their lust for power?
As children of God, seeking true submission of our governing authorities to Jesus Christ, our King, our Lord, our God, let us pray for revival within the church, so that it may not be slothful in zeal, but may be fervent in spirit and serve the Lord! (Romans 12:11) Let us sing praises to our God, for He is mighty to save! Let us in one voice cry out, “Arise, O LORD! Save me, O God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked. O God, break the teeth in their mouths; tear out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD!” (Psalm 3:7; 58:6) May we, the ambassadors of Christ, no longer be misled by the smooth words of the wicked, but act as free men. May we count the cost, and act like Christ, and secure our freedom for us and for our children.
POST SCRIPT
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that Jim Wilson’s use of both Hebrews 2 and John 8 in his first chapter of The Principles of War was the catalyst that tied together my thoughts on American Liberty and the Christian as a free man in Christ. So much so that I couldn’t sleep until I had written the above entry. While his chapter doesn’t cover Romans 13, but rather discusses the concept of a Christian’s objective in warfare, credit must be given where credit is due. Buy his book.