Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted
among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to the
governors, who are sent by him to punish {24} those who do wrong and to
commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you
should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men (1 Peter 2:13-15 NIV).
Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men (Titus 3:1-2 NIV).
Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities which exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves (Romans 13:1-2 NIV).
The answer is no.
We are to obey governments unless they violate Scripture. Acts 5:29 says, "We must obey God rather than men." Whenever a government violates biblical teaching, Christians are obligated to disobey that government. For example, if a government were to declare that we should kill all unbelievers or in support abortion, we should disobey. Governments are run by people and often become corrupt. Furthermore, the Bible never tells us to obey governments in contradiction to the revealed word of God.
When systems become ungodly and anti-Christian, they are no longer properly representing God and should not be obeyed.
Are we seeing a conflict or a contradiction? Not at all. Let's take, for example, Exodus 20, where we see two commandments: obey your parents and do not murder. We can see that our parents are the authorities above us, even as governments are, and we should obey them. But, what should we do it our parents tell us to murder someone? Should we obey? Of course not. Obedience to our parents is only proper when it's consistent with the rest of the Scriptures. Likewise, submission to the governmental systems is only proper when it is consistent with Scripture.
Finally, let's look at Rom. 13:6-7 again, "For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. 7 Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor." Notice that Paul says that the rulers are servants of God. This is the context of the submission that is mentioned at the beginning of the chapter. If these rulers are no longer servants of God, and if they contradict Scripture, they are not to be obeyed.
Lalasticlala
Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men (Titus 3:1-2 NIV).
Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities which exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves (Romans 13:1-2 NIV).
The answer is no.
We are to obey governments unless they violate Scripture. Acts 5:29 says, "We must obey God rather than men." Whenever a government violates biblical teaching, Christians are obligated to disobey that government. For example, if a government were to declare that we should kill all unbelievers or in support abortion, we should disobey. Governments are run by people and often become corrupt. Furthermore, the Bible never tells us to obey governments in contradiction to the revealed word of God.
When systems become ungodly and anti-Christian, they are no longer properly representing God and should not be obeyed.
Are we seeing a conflict or a contradiction? Not at all. Let's take, for example, Exodus 20, where we see two commandments: obey your parents and do not murder. We can see that our parents are the authorities above us, even as governments are, and we should obey them. But, what should we do it our parents tell us to murder someone? Should we obey? Of course not. Obedience to our parents is only proper when it's consistent with the rest of the Scriptures. Likewise, submission to the governmental systems is only proper when it is consistent with Scripture.
Finally, let's look at Rom. 13:6-7 again, "For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. 7 Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor." Notice that Paul says that the rulers are servants of God. This is the context of the submission that is mentioned at the beginning of the chapter. If these rulers are no longer servants of God, and if they contradict Scripture, they are not to be obeyed.
Lalasticlala
No comments:
Post a Comment