Basic Christian Apologetics

Obey Secular authorities according to the Bible?

Let everyone be subject 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 13:1

Paul writes to the Gentile believers in Yeshua in Rome (Romans 16) about obeying religious authority rather than secular authorities in his letter to the Romans. He was well aware of the evils of secular government and would never teach anyone to follow in their footsteps.

Here is some evidence that Paul is referring to religious authority:

♣ God appointed these rulers, Paul explains in Romans 13:1.

♣The religious authority is referred to by Yeshua as authorities (Luke 12:11)

♣In verse 2, Paul goes on to say that this authority is a divine command and that anyone who defies it will bring judgement upon themselves.

♣Verse 4 confirms that he is God's minister.

♣As Mark Nanos reminds out, the word sword in verse 4 can also mean knife.

The knife is the word for sword. The Septuagint-Greek translation of the Old Testament uses the same word for the circumcision knife (Joshua 5:2), the offering of Issac (Genesis 22:6,10), and the "small sword" or "dagger" (Genesis 22:6,10). (Judges 3:16).

♣The word 'sword' can represent a variety of things, including:

Harsh speech (Proverbs 12:17), false testimony (Proverbs 25:18), and Elohim's Word (Ephesians 6:17)

♣Many times in the New Testament, the word "rulers" is used to refer to religious leaders. (John 3:1, 7:48, Luke 24:20)

♣Many scholars think that the word "sword" refers to the responsibility of the authorities to punish those who commit crimes.

♣The Torah gives judges the authority to pass judgment in order to exercise discipleship.

♣In Hebrews 13:17, the author of Hebrews encourages us to submit to the leaders because they were the ones who interpreted the Torah and set the laws for the society.

♣This isn't to say that we should blindly follow religious authority; in fact, Paul tells us to "test everything" (1 Thessalonians 5:21) "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God's curse!" Galatians 1:8.

♣The word "ministers" in verse 6 has religious implications. In 1 Timothy 3:8, the same word "deacon" is used.

♣In verses 6-7, the word "taxes" can possibly refer to the temple taxes or the sanctuary shekel, which are mentioned several times in the Old Testament. Its origins can be traced back to religious duties.

As a result, Paul asked Gentile believers in Rome to make peace with the Jewish authorities because there was no other site in Rome where the scriptures could be found. He desired unity in the church, which was prone to dissension, as we are, due to differing interpretations of the scriptures. Finally, Paul wants the gentile Christians in Rome to be subjective in their submission to religious authority in Romans 13:1-7.

Shalom!