Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study

Who’s Authority?

We are going to use an apologetic approach to unravel Romans 13:1-7 this week. The term Apologetics comes from 1 Peter 3.

but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense (Apologia) to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

1 Peter 3:15

I previously covered a few of the most common apologetic approaches here. This week, we will engage in Presuppositional Apologetics. A presupposition is a statement that we assume to be true. We then build an argument based on that original assumption. If the presupposition is wrong then the entire argument falls apart. Paul was a presuppositional apologist extraordinaire. One great example of a Pauline presupposition is found in 1 Corinthians 15.

But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?  If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if, in fact,, the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life, we have hope in Christ; we are of all people most to be pitied.

1 Corinthians 15:12-19

A similar Pauline presupposition is that

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

If the entire Bible is not God-breathed, then we have no logical basis for determining that any of it is God-breathed. All truth and meaning in scripture become subject to individual interpretation. This is called Relativism. Taken to its extreme, relativism ends in Solipsism. In case you were wondering, if God is the creator of all things, then logic was also invented by God. Mankind simply discovered it.

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.

Proverbs 25:2

Mankind’s search for what God concealed was later named science. 

All that being said, if all of the Bible is God-breathed then scripture can not contradict scripture and still be true. Only our faulty human understanding can contradict scripture. This is the foundational presupposition upon which we base the Acts 17:11 Bereans Bible Study.

Moving On to Romans 13

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

Romans 13:1-7

Romans 13:1-7 has been one of the most controversial verses in history. It was cited in defense of slavery during the Civil War. Adolf Hitler used it to justify Nazi rule in Germany along with his Final Solution in the Holocaust. People are forever twisting scripture to minimize, rationalize, and justify errant presuppositions, otherwise known as sin. The outstanding question in this passage is,

Who has the authority to govern?

One argument states that Romans 13 only applies when the authority that governs and bears the sword is good. If it is not good then we are obligated to oppose it. This presupposition has been applied in support of all manner of wars including civil war. Hence this begs the question,

What or who qualifies as good?

If we are to blindly obey every political and religious leader because they are placed in authority by God, then how do we account for Peter’s response to the Pharisees in Acts chapter 5?

And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” But Peter and the apostles answered, 
“We must obey God rather than men“.

Acts 5:27-29

Are Peter and Paul contradicting one another?

He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him, all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.  And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Colossians 1:15-20

If, in fact, Satan is defeated and Jesus is Lord of all creation, then it follows that nothing can happen that God does not cause or allow.  How, then, can we claim that horrors like slavery and the Holocaust happened contrary to God’s will? If that be the case then Satan has the authority and power to foil God’s plan. We are in effect saying,

“Jesus conquered Satan on the cross, but not really because Satan wins sometimes”

This violates the laws of non-contradiction and coherence. Either Jesus has ALL power and authority, Mat 28:18 or He does not.

This was the dilemma that Dietrich Bonhoeffer faced when Adolf Hitler’s SS minions perverted the gospel via Romans 13 in the German church. Bonhoeffer subsequently participated in an assassination attempt on Hitler. His reasoning:

Adolf Hitler was clearly not good. 

What many historians, miss or perhaps omit is that Dietrich Bonhoeffer eventually repented for this. In his final work, “Ethics,” he postulated that man’s ultimate problem and the reason for all evil, including the Holocaust, was man’s “knowledge of good and evil” gleaned from the fruit of the forbidden tree in Eden. Bonhoeffer concluded that all of man’s ethical judgments, even his best most righteous judgments, effectively make him a god onto himself and an enemy of the one true God. That’s a hard sell in faith streams where the authority of individual believers is so emphasized. Still, it’s worth pondering, especially in the context of Romans 13:1-7.

1 Peter chapter two seems to support the assertion that we are called to submit to all authority including oppressive tyrants.

Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

1 Peter 2:13-17

The emperor in the above verse was Nero. Nero is often cited as the inventor of the “false flag attack” after he burned Rome and blamed it on Christians. He then had them mounted on poles, soaked in oil, and burned as human torches to light the streets and gardens of Rome. For this is the will of God, that by doing good, you should silence the ignorance of foolish people.

Is Peter contradicting what he said in Acts 5?

The short answer is “no!”. The question is the phrase “be subject to…” synonymous with “blind obedience to…”? The Greek word is hypotássō. While it can mean obedience it is more clearly defined as “to be in submission to…” 1 Peter 2 commands us to honor the emperor. But we are to fear God.

I would venture to say that the bottom line in Romans 13, 1 Peter 2, and Acts 5 is the sovereignty of God and the requirement of our obedience to Him alone. We preach the gospel out of obedience to God. We obey human authority out of obedience to God. We are to do everything as onto the Lord. Col 3:23 Christians under Nero didn’t reject Jesus out of obedience to Nero. Rather they were faithful to God and submitted to the earthly consequences for doing so. They submitted in obedience to God. They did not fight Nero because he was evil. Rather they responded as Paul commanded in the previous chapter.

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Romans 12:19-21

The apostle’s obedience was displayed in their faithfulness in preaching truth, followed by their willingness to submit to being tortured and killed for doing so, knowing that “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” Nowhere in the gospels is there an exhortation to oppose the earthy government and authority on any grounds apart from speaking the truth of scripture. We are not to oppose any authority in any way apart from preaching the gospel. Like Peter, we disobey any command forbidding us to speak the word of God even if it results in our death.

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

2 Corinthians 10:4-6

Vengence in Romans 12 and Punish in 2 Corinthians 10 are from the same Greek root ekdikéō.

to vindicate one’s right, do one justice
to protect, defend, one person from another
to avenge a thing
to punish a person for a thing

-Strongs Concordance-

I know what some are thinking. Paul says we are to be ready to punish every disobedience. Doesn’t that speak to those in Romans 13 with the authority to wield the sword? Perhaps. But you’d better be sure the Lord gave you that authority or you will be fighting against Him.

The emphasis in 2 Corinthians 10 is upon our obedience being complete. Anger is a normal and even correct response to injustice. The key to understanding anger is found in our response. We only respond correctly when we win the battle in our minds with truth.  There is only one correct response. 

Be angry,and do not sin;
    ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. 
Selah

Psalm 4:4

Of course the idea that we only oppose injustice by speaking truth to power is another hard sell especially in Dominionist streams where the overarching theme is,

“Occupy till I come.”

Luke 19:13

Many believe that occupy implies defense and offense. We take ground for God and hold it. Period! This is one presupposition that supports patriotism and the use of the sword to preserve and extend a nation’s borders.

Throughout scripture, God uses those bearing the sword to fulfill His purpose and righteousness, then punishes the sword bearers for their own unrighteousness. See Jeremiah chapters 14 and 25 and Isaiah chapter 10. The point here is that the mere fact that one has the authority to wield the sword for God’s good purposes does not in itself imply the sword wielder’s righteousness before God. God causes all things to work together for good. Rom 8:28

Chew on that for a minute…

I believe the responses of Jesus further confirm my thesis that believers are never to oppose those in authority with anything other than the word of God.

When Peter attacked Malchus in Gethsemane with the sword Jesus told him to bring, Jesus declared that He could ask his father for twelve legions of angels.

“No more of this!”, said Jesus

Jesus submitted to the wicked authorities so that scripture might be fulfilled.  Luke 22:49-51, John 18:10-15, Matthew 26:51-55

When Jesus was arrested, stood before Caiaphas, and was asked if He was the Son of God, in Mat 26:57-68, Jesus paraphrased Daniel 7:13-14.  

“You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

Mat 26:64

Jesus then became silent and submitted to be struck, spat upon, and condemned.

He stood silent before Pilate never defending himself except to state that His kingdom is not of this world. If it were his followers would fight. Luke 23, Matthew 27, Mark 15, John 19 Nowhere in the gospels did Jesus or His disciples oppose authority beyond speaking God’s word.

So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”

John 19:10-11

Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. 

Titus 3:1-2

Are we to submit to ruling authorities out of obedience to God whether we agree with them or not? It would seem so because God is the only authority. But maybe you see differently. Do you have another biblical apologia that does not violate the laws of coherence and noncontradiction?

Let’s hear about it.

Maranatha

Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study

On Hypocrisy

Romans Chapter 2

Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. Rom 2:1

Paul is addressing what modern psychology calls projection.

Projection is the process of displacing one’s feelings onto a different person, animal, or object. The term is most commonly used to describe defensive projection—attributing one’s own unacceptable urges to another.

As we discussed in What is in Man Jesus understood the nature of all mankind according to the flesh. As much as we like to talk about all human beings beings made in the image of God, that image applied universally to Adam and Eve. Everyone who came after was a corrupted mutation of that image. But to all who did receive him (Jesus) who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. John 1:12 Hence all believers are works in progress on our way to becoming fully conformed to the image of God. Rom 8:29

What Jesus knew is in Man is the culmination of Romans chapter one.

every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity, envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice, gossip, slanderer, insolence, arrogance and boasting; invented ways of doing evil; the lack of understanding, fidelity, love, and mercy (as in man). Not only do they continue to do these things but they approve of (and commiserate with) those who practice them. Rom 1:29-32

It is so very important to understand that our redemption by the blood of Jesus is not a license to sin. The law and the standard for holiness has not change.

For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Mat 5:8

Many believers mistake Jesus’ last words “It is finished!” John 19:30 for all is accomplished. It is finished in Greek is tetelestai from teléō. Perhaps the best analogous context is a business transaction where a debt is paid in full. Jesus was the final blood sacrifice that paid for all sin. All is accomplished in Revelation 19-22. All means the restoration of All God’s creation to its original status before the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. Victory over sin and death is just the beginning. The indwelling of Holy Spirit is a down payment toward our full inheritance. Eph 1:14 

The main error that Paul exposes in the first three chapters of Romans is one of overvaluation of identity. The Jews saw themselves as righteous by way of their Jewish bloodline. Some gentile believers regarded their newfound born-again status, or their identity, as won and done. The fruit of this error can be seen in Martin Luther’s proclamation, “Love God, sin boldly.” Jesus died for all my sins so I don’t need to worry about sin. Right?

Wrong!

…Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? Rom 2:4

The riches of His kindness made possible by the Cross, are what allow us to come boldly to the throne of grace. Heb 4:16 And to be forgiven provided we confess our sins. 1 John 1:9 Those who simply take the cross of Jesus for granted and minimize or justify instead of rectifying their sins and failures through confession and repentance are hypocrites.

The Jews thought they were righteous because they had the law. Apparently like today, many Jewish and gentile believers thought hearing the law, e.g. going to church and claiming to believe what they heard made them righteous. Paul made it clear that

For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. Rom 2:13

While we are not exempt from doing what the law says, we do it His help.

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Heb 4:14-16

At the end of the day, God is most concerned with the intentions of our hearts. Those intentions are defined by our actions.

For a righteous man may fall seven times
And rise again, But the wicked shall fall by calamity. Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; Lest the Lord see it, and it displease Him, And He turn away His wrath from him. Prov 24:16-18

Paul continues to reinforce the theme of projection and resulting hypocrisy throughout the chapter with a discussion of circumcision.

For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. Rom 2:25

Similar to baptism for believers,  circumcision was an outward expression of an inward commitment. While it might be tempting to focus on Paul’s seeming emphasis on distinctions between Jew and Gentile, it’s really not the point. Not at this point anyway. Once again, Paul is writing to the church in Rome. Hence he is speaking to both Jewish and Gentile believers. The message for contemporary believers remains the same. Pursue righteousness by doing what is written to the best of your ability with God’s help. Let us not redact scripture to fit the lifestyle we want to lead.  Don’t be a hypocrite.

The most sobering verse in Romans 2 is

You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” Rom 2:23-24

We constantly hear people justify sin, be it theirs or the sins of others in the name of grace because they errantly believe that the law is irrelevant because Jesus fulfilled it. Hence

love covers a multitude of sins. 1 Pet 4:8

Love is the crucifixion of Jesus that resulted in our justification, not our justifications that demand tolerance for our sins. This is Paul’s point when he says ...God’s kindness is meant to lead (us) to repentance…in Rom2:4

While church leaders and especially teachers are subject stricter qualifications and standards, 1 Tim 3,  James 3 Every believer impacts someone.

“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. “Woe to the world for temptations to sin!  For temptations must come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! Mat 18:5-7

The word for sin and temptation here is skándalon– a trap. However, the trap here includes leading by wrong example. A person consumed by sexual sin and yet claims to represent the gospel of Jesus Christ  falls into the catagory of Romans 1:32.

Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

These are the ones by whom “The name of God is blasphemed (among unbelievers)” Rom 2:23-24

The very idea of covering up or making lite of our or another person’s blatant sin is neither righteous nor loving.

But then here is where projection can make a proverbial twist. Sometimes people errantly give what appears to be grace. We may assume their intentions are pure.  They simply misunderstand the nature and purpose of grace. “They‘re just nice,” we say. When in fact they are reticent to call out and expose worthless deeds of darkness Eph 5:11 because they are guilty of the same sins. …You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? Rom 2:21 A contemporary twist is; if I commit adultery; do I excuse adultery because I am guilty of the same thing? In covering up the sin of another with what I term love and grace; do I hope the same sins will be covered up for me?

There is no end to how those with one foot in the world and one foot in the kingdom will twist God’s word to justify their behavior and the behavior of those whom they are afraid to confront. If this is how a church body or a body within a body operates the end result will at best always be but a variation of what happened at IHOPKC and multiple other ministries over the last twenty years. In the end God is blasphemed and people reject Him because of our failures.

At the end of the day, the overarching theme in Romans 2 is simple.  Right is right. Wrong is wrong. If we know what is right because we got it from scripture then we’d better be doing it. People are watching and looking to justify their unbelief by our actions. When we fail as we all do at times, then we’d best be ready to immediately confess and repent. Anything else makes us hypocrites. This is one reason why Paul said, leaders must be above reproach. 1 Tim 3 And James said, not many of you should become teachers, James 3:1

Woe to the hypocrites. Mat 23

If you are reading this and asking “Where is the love?”, consider the possibility that you have a deficient understanding of love. Why is Paul so hard? Because

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Prov 9:10

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.  For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. Ecc 12:13-14

The love of God can not be understood apart from the fear of God, His goodness apart from His severity.

Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. Rom 11:22

So often any mention of the fear of God, His law, and the pursuit of holiness is dismissed as “religious”. Within the charasmatic stream, the word religion has become a pejorative. The implication is that Jesus was only hard on the religious people. We are “Spirit Filled”. For the record “religion” is from the Latin  Relegere to reread and Religare to bind fast, an obligation, a bond between man and God. In a nutshell, being religious means are who we say we are, and we do what we are supposed to do regardless of who we are with. Being Spirit filled means we have the power to walk in integrity. Integrity is a fruit of being unspotted from the world. James 1:27 Among other things, our religion should produce integrity.

Integrity is the antithesis of Hypocrisy.

Maranatha!