"The Powers That Be"

A better understanding of Romans 13:1-9 gave me a better understanding how God intended government to be run.

I mentioned in my first post regarding the book "Rights of the People" that there most likely would be more insights that I would like to share from this book.  My prediction proved correct with the next chapter entitled "The Powers That Be."  The following is a summary of the main thoughts found in this chapter.

Many people have used Romans 13:1 to show that civil government has the right to govern in things that pertain to God.  The first nine verses of the chapter show that governmental powers are ordained by God and state that everyone regardless of religious persuasion has "the duty of respectful subjection to civil government."  It's not a stretch of the imagination to see that this passage is built upon Jesus' command to "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's."  In this command, Jesus shows a plain recognition of "the rightfulness of civil government, and that civil government has claims upon us which we are in duty bound to recognize, and that there are things which duty requires us to render to the civil government."  The passage in Romans 13 is simply saying the same thing in different words.

Jones summarizes this point by stating,

"[T]his instruction is confined absolutely to man's relationship to his fellow-men; it is evident that when Christians have paid their taxes, and have show proper respect to their fellow-men, then their obligation, their duty, and their respect to the powers that be, have been fully discharged, and those powers never can rightly have any further jurisdiction over their conduct.  This is not to say that the State has jurisdiction of the last six commandments as such.  It is only to say that the jurisdiction of the State is confined solely to man's conduct to man, and never can touch his relationship to God, even under the second table of the law."

Even though the powers that be are ordained of God, they are not ordained for the purpose of enforcing anything regarding the first four commandments.  As a basis for this point, Jones uses the example of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.  Jeremiah 27:1-8 states that Nebuchadnezzar's power was ordained of God.  God called him "my servant" and stated that whoever would not submit to the Babylonian monarch would be severely punished.  However, there is one well-known passage that shows the limitation of God's ordination.  This is the story of the giant golden image in Daniel 3.

In this story the three Hebrews did not bow to the image when they were commanded to bow.  They knew that they should submit to Nebuchadnezzar because it had be prophesied by Jeremiah (in the previously mentioned passage) as well as by Isaiah (in Isaiah 39).  However, they knew that in regards to worship, Nebuchadnezzar had no power over them.  In the ensuing miracle of deliverance from the fire, God proved the point that even though He gave the king power, that power was limited to certain areas.  This limitation was also shown to Babylon's successor, Media-Persia, in the situation involving Daniel's worship and the den of lions.

A key question to ask at this point is the one pertaining to how the powers that be are ordained of God.  Some powers were directly and/or miraculously ordained as in the case of David, Moses, Gideon, etc.  Nebuchadnezzar did not come to power this way.  His power came through the providential workings of God, and through the people, namely the soldiers whom his father led to conquer the land of Babylonia.

Romans 13:1-9 does not speak of the rulers themselves, but rather the governmental power they represent.  Jones puts it this way,

"Outside the theocracy of Israel, there never has been a ruler on earth whose authority was not, primarily or ultimately, expressly or permissively, derived from the people.  It is not particular sovereigns whose power is ordained of God nor any particular form of government.  It is the genius of government itself.  The absence of government is anarchy."

It is interesting to note that Jones does not advocate any specific form of government, and later on in that paragraph he stated that it does not matter what form of government it is, "the governmental power and order thus exercised are ordained of God."  After stating that, he is sure to reiterate the previous point that regardless of this God-ordained power, government cannot do anything to infringe upon mankind's relationship with God.