Romans 13:1

"Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God." (Romans 13:1)


I find this verse fitting in a time like this. As many war-protesters crowd the streets, this verse shines some light into what our role should be. God created all men, and God has authority over all men. Whether it is Saddam Hussein or George W. Bush, God has the authority to determine the outcome of their actions. Jesus Christ sets an example for us to 'subject to the governing authorities' (13:1) when He paid taxes to Caesar. If Jesus submitted to the government, then why should we oppose our's? Ultimately, the end is determined by God. The punishment and the sparing of lives are all up to God. He is the Creator, men are merely His creatures. Who are we to question the Creator? 'Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, "Why have you made me like this"' (9:20)? Therefore, it is not up to us to worry about the actions the government takes as long as it does not contradict the teachings of God.

Then the ever contraversial issue of capital punishment may come up. Should we also support our government for such a cruel action? In the Old Testament and New Testament, capital punishment is often used on the offender. Here, the author clarifies that the ruler 'is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil' (13:4). Therefore, from this verse we can understand that the governing powers are God's ministers. They are to punish those who do evil. The rest is up to God to worry about. Our part is simply to 'do what is good' because 'rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil' (3).

You may then ask, 'Why is there such people as Saddam Hussein in the world?" Sometimes things in life happen for a reason. Even while Jesus prayed for his disciples he said, 'and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled' (Jn 17:12). There will always be the bad guy even from the bunch of people closest to Jesus. Jesus submitted to the authority when Judas pointed Him out to be arrested. Everything is under the plan of God. If we study deeper into the prophesies in the Bible, we may come to see that Saddam Hussein is part of the Scriptures to be fulfilled. This may serve as a sign for us that 'our salvation is nearer than when we first believed' (Rm 13:11) just as Judah's betrayal marked the crucifixion of Jesus. All in all, it is not up to us to worry about the actions of our governing powers. Our role is to do what is good and leave what is evil alone.

To bring this issue back home, we can apply this to the 'politics' in church as well. Our church has set up a way to organize the many things that go on. Sometimes the trend of this world may cause us to despise the way church organizes things. We may think that the church is too traditional or not open-minded and try to come up with new ways to organize the church. I have seen that happen and the only result is chaos. When we try to bring worldy values and worldy ways into church, something is bound to go wrong. There is a reason why the early churches decided to do things a certain way. There's a reason for a certain way of organization. Why is it that we have to do it our own way when the way has been practiced since our church was established? Isn't there a 'governing authority' in our church? The church has organized a way to decide things. Why do we go against it and refuse to follow simple directions? Isn't this also a way of defying the 'governing authority'?

I remember once my dad said, 'If you don't want to follow the ways of TJC, then you might as well split from TJC and be another church." Even though my dad isn't a member of TJC, he understands the concepts. If you were to work for a company, but don't follow the protocols of the company, then why should the company keep you? It's the same with TJC. If we refuse to follow the ways established through God, there's no reason for God to keep us around either.