"Let every soul (i.e., person) be subject unto the higher powers" (Romans 13:1). Christians can often have a secular, selfish and carnal view of the government. This may be in expressed in actions or words, by commission or by omission. We may dispute deserved speeding tickets, misrepresent our income for tax purposes, play fast and loose with garbage and recycling laws or lie to custom officials about goods carried across the border. We may judge officials as "power-hungry," "lazy" or worse. It is easy for Christians to join in popular anti-government sentiments simply for reasons of a materialistic nature. We may refuse to pray earnestly for our government officials, implicitly deeming them unworthy of God's blessing and guidance.

All these things are sinful and spring from a carnal root. Of these things it may well be said: "Let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints" (Ephesians 5:3).

Let us take it a step further. What is my motivation for obeying the government? One may even avoid bad actions, but still be wrong in motivation. A Christian may avoid doing all the above things, which indeed would be very good, but may do so out of self-interest or simply for the social good. This is not sufficient. Paul writes: "Let every soul be sub­ject unto the higher powers. For (emphasis mine, LWB) there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God" (Romans 13:1). Our obedience must extend to Paul's for. Our motivation must be that God has established government officials in their positions.

The Nature of Power⤒🔗

When we hear the word "power" or "powers," we immediately think of people who are after power. People who are power-hungry become dangerous, dictators or tyrants. Just think of the wars that are raging in various parts of the world with the many victims. Do we think of God who stands behind these powers? The apostle Paul calls the civil government "the minister of God." How encouraging that is!

The Lord Jesus uses the same word "power" in Matthew 28: "All power is given unto Me." He received that power from His Father. He was ordained thereunto by the Father (Psalm 110; Hebrews 7). A beautiful instance of the exercise of Christ's power on earth was when He arose "from supper, and laid aside His garments; and took a towel, and girded Himself. After that he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet..." (John 13:4-5). This is prefaced by the remark­able words, "Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands" (John 13:3).

Christ's power is a comfort to His church. With the power that the Father had given Him, Christ became a slave, that He might cleanse sinners from sin and save them. The work that a slave normally would do outside the house before anyone would come in, that work Jesus does here with all the power He has in heaven and on earth.

The Perception of the Civil Government←⤒🔗

There is a certain parallel between what Christ does in His kingdom in the realm of grace and the way the government is to function in the societal realm under God. In Greek Paul uses the word "diakonos," which is the same word as our word for deacon. The office of the deacon is to comfort, help, serve and minister. The word "servant" (diakonos) originally signified the service of a table waiter and denotes lowly service in general.

That is what the civil government is to be like. God ordained these governing authorities for that purpose. All the powers that exist have been ordained by God, after the order of which Christ is the Head.

After the order of Melchisedec He is the Almighty Lord. Jesus wanted to do nothing other than the work of a slave in order to save and minister to sinners. This has at least three implications for the Christian:

1. The Christian does not view the government as an impersonal entity. We need to respect the officers of justice (for example, policemen and custom officers). Under God and His Christ we must give them our obedience. We may not see government officials as impersonal entities, or worse, slothful villains. We must see them as ministers of God for good. The next time our peers speak derogatorily of the government or taxes, we should not join in, but seek to present the biblical sentiments.
    
2. The Christian must not view the government as simply being there for self-interest. The government is God's servant. Without a clear understanding of the meaning of servant, a lot of people love it when they hear that the government is a servant. They readily go to the government with a list of their wish­es and expect the government to serve their interests. That is not what Paul means, however. The gov­ernment is not there to serve your and my interests. The government is not my servant, but in first instance is God's servant. The Belgic Confession spells out what this all entails. "To the end that the dissoluteness of men (= human lawlessness) may be restrained." When we are stopped for speeding, we should not criticize (in our mind) the officer, but rec­ognize that it is our lawlessness that brought us this punishment. This is also true, if we should be stopped for driving under the influence of alcohol or are arrested because of stealing items from a store. The government "is the minister of God to do thee good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minis­ter of God to execute God's wrath upon him that doeth evil" (vs. 4).
    
3. The Christian must pray for the government (1 Timothy 2:1-3). There is so much to pray for in connection with the civil government. This includes praying that it be His servant, in order that the Lord will perform the great miracle of making room for the Messiah, Jesus Christ. By Him the rulers of the earth reign, for He is the Prince of the kings of the earth (Revelation 1:5).

The Abuse of Power←⤒🔗

Romans 13 defines the civil government as "the higher powers." It is remarkable that when Paul was writing these words Nero, a corrupt emperor, was the supreme ruler in Rome. There have been many evil and corrupt dictators, for example, Joseph Stalin, Idi Amin and Adolph Hitler. It is not so that anyone who takes power into his own hands has God on his side. During World War II there were ministers and other Christians who said that it was God, who in His providence gave power to Hitler to be ruler over the various countries in Western Europe. We need to make a distinction between God and power. It is not so that anyone who takes power into his own hands has God on his side.

In the days of the Reformation, the Prince of Orange and the States of the Netherlands rose up against the king of Spain, who was the reigning king. They said: "Because this king, who is reigning over us, has become a tyrant who forces us to do things and to leave things undone which are contrary to God's Word, we refuse to obey this king and we consider ourselves no longer his subjects."

Some say that we are in a similar circumstance today and practice "civil disobedience." They withhold civic taxes as a protest against waste, mismanagement or political corruption. Others engage in riots or violence, committing murder and other atrocities, and show complete disregard for private property by clashing with the police and military personnel. Some attempt to stop abortions by blocking the entrances to abortion clinics for a day or longer.

Understand me well; abortion is a terrible sin. It is a terrible curse upon our country that is practiced without penalty and supported by our governments. There are other God-dishonouring practices, such as homosexuality and pornography which are legalized. Based on Scripture, we should speak out more against these matters and pray that these plagues might be stopped. We do not do enough. However, I believe that Scripture does not warrant refusing to pay taxes, transgressing private property or breaking other laws in order to protest such things. Mary and Joseph paid taxes (Luke 2:4), as did Christ (Matthew 17:27), even though the Romans wickedly abused the people's tax money. Indeed, if the government would prohibit the worship of God and the freedom to publicly speak about Him, we must obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29).

I realize that the issue of civil disobedience is very complex and I cannot exhaustively deal with the various angles and implications at this time. Let it be clear, however, that corruption in government, immorality among rulers and God-dishonouring legislation never gives us a warrant to join with those who have selfish and carnal views regarding the government. Let us humble ourselves and pray that God would give that "Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD" (Isaiah 49:7)