Should I Obey God or the Government?
1 Peter 2:13-25
If you are thirty years or older you may remember the Rescue Movement. The Rescue Movement was a grassroots, Christian movement which demonstrated in non-violent protests outside of abortion clinics. Many in the movement used their bodies as human blockades to stop women from entering the clinics so they could not receive an abortion. When the police came to arrest the blockaders, most of them would passively resist arrest, making their bodies go limp so the officers would have to physically carry them away from the entrance to the clinic. Those in the Rescue Movement used Proverbs 24:11 as their theme verse: Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. Those who were arrested and convicted of misdemeanor crimes wore their arrest record like a badge of honor in the ministry of saving lives.
The movement died out rather quickly when abortion lobbyists were successful in getting a Federal ruling stating that blocking abortion clinics was equivalent to racketeering. Thousands of Christians who were more than willing to accrue multiple misdemeanor charges were not willing to face arrest for a much more serious crime. Just last February the racketeering charge was overturned by an 8-1 Supreme Court decision. It will be interesting to see if the Rescue Movement gains steam again. My point is that these Christians broke existing laws for something they believed in and were willing to accept the consequences of their actions.
In a similar manner, the most recent Voice of the Martyrs magazine tells the story of a former Muslim turned Christian man who hands out “New Testaments on buses, trains and sidewalks, praying for opportunities to share Christ. He only targets Muslim fanatics with long beards and robes, humbly finding a way to approach them. Although the Egyptian police have given him electric shocks for evangelizing, he continues his work with a 90-percent acceptance rate from these same Muslims who are curious about the life of Jesus!” (VOM Magazine, Special Issue, 2004)
Who is right in these situations? Is it right for the government to arrest and punish someone who is trying to save a life at an abortion clinic? Is it right for Christians to disobey trespassing laws? Is the Egyptian government justified in punishing this Christian man for handing out Bibles? Is it OK for this man to break the laws of his country to give away New Testaments? You might be thinking, “who cares, really. I don’t have any plans to blockade abortion clinics or give Bibles to fanatical Muslims.” You may not be directly involved in these kind of decisions, but each of us is under multiple levels of governing authority and we must make daily decisions about how to respond to these authorities. Children are under the authority of their parents. Will they fully obey their parents or will they openly or even quietly rebel against this parental authority? Wives are under the authority of their husbands. You are under the authority of your boss in the workplace. We are under the authority of Federal, State and local governments. We are constantly surrounded by rules, regulations, laws and policies. We may not face what this Egyptian Christian man is facing, but given the multitude of governing authorities in our lives and also given our strong propensity to rebel against all of these authorities, this question is relevant to everyone in this room.
13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15 For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. 16 Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. 17 Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.
We are told to submit ourselves to every governing authority instituted among men. Why should we obey all of these governing authorities? If you are a young person, why should you obey your parents? Why should you listen to your employer? Why should you obey the speed limit? Here is our first principle: obeying human authorities is the same thing as obeying God. Did you notice the reason Peter gave for our obedience and submission? He said to do it “for the Lord’s sake”. We are to obey those in authority over us because obeying them is the same as obeying God. Also, disobeying them is the same thing as disobeying God. This is no small matter. The Bible says that rebellion is as the sin of divination. Therefore, rebellion against the governing authorities is equivalent to practicing witchcraft.
Paul elaborates on this principle a bit in Romans 13, Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. God himself established the authority of parents over their children. God established the authority of husbands over their wives. God established the government of the US and yes, God established the government of Iraq. Paul stated it clearly: there is no authority except that which God has established. If children disobey their parents they are rebelling against God. If you run a red light you are rebelling against God.
The second reason that we should submit to all governing authorities is because God himself is in a submissive relationship. God the Son voluntarily puts himself in submission under God the Father. Jesus said this in John 5, 30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me. In John 12 Jesus again stated his submission to the Father, 49 For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. God the Son is in full submission to God the Father. Taking it a step further we also see that God the Spirit is in full submission to God the Son. Jesus explained this in John 16, 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.
The
son is in full submission to the Father and brings glory to the Father through
his obedience. The Spirit is in full submission to the Son and brings glory to
the Son through his obedience. There is full submission and obedience within
the Trinity, but there is also full equality. Jesus’ voluntary submission to
the Father does not make him any less worthy that the Father. Jesus is no less
than fully God because he obeys the Father. The Holy Spirit is also equal to
the Son and the Father, even though he is in submission to both. In the same
way, we are no less valuable than those in authority over us. A child is not
less of a person because he obeys his parents. A wife is no less of a person
because she voluntarily puts herself under her husband’s authority. Instead,
both the child and the wife are living out the pattern of submission set forth
by God himself. Also, the husband and father must fully submit himself to
Jesus Christ. If the husband is not under the authority of Christ, then he
cannot lead his family well.
Before we go any further, let’s stop and take a submission test. Rate yourself as to how well you are submitting to each of these areas of your life. A “1” would be absolute rebellion and a “10” would be perfect submission. You need to rate both your actions and your attitude. For example, at work you may appear compliant on the outside, but on the inside you are a seething ball of rage. Pick out one or two right now and give yourself a score. Make sure you do the one at the bottom of the list: Jesus Christ.
Now let me ask you, is the score you gave yourself for your level of submission to Jesus any higher or lower than the rest? For example, let’s say you gave yourself a “7” under Jesus Christ. But right now you are struggling with submission to your husband— you only scored a “4” there. Or maybe your boss at work is driving you crazy and your attitude is pretty lousy so you gave yourself a “3”. How can your submission to Jesus Christ be a six when your submission to your boss is a three? If this is true, then you have missed everything we have talked about so far. Have all of these governing authorities been established by God? Yes. Isn’t obeying these authorities the same thing as obeying God’s authority? Yes. Then if you gave yourself a three in one category then that must be the way you score yourself under Jesus. Young people—if your submission to your parents is a two, then your submission to Jesus is a two. If your submission to your employer is a four, then your submission to Jesus is a four. Obeying these various authorities in our life is the same as obeying God.
Some of you might be asking this next question about now. When would obeying earthly authorities mean disobeying God? Before we answer that question, let’s again look at Peter’s clear calling to all Christians. Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.. Now you must understand that Peter did not write this section of Scripture in a nation with a strong democracy and religious tolerance like ours is today. Here is one commentator’s explanation of the government of Peter’s day.
In A.D. 37 a boy was born in Italy named Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus. His mother's name was Agrippina the Younger. She married the Roman Emperor Claudius who adopted her little boy and changed his name to Nero Claudius. The adoption and the name change were all part of his mother's plotting to see him, instead of Claudius' biological son Britannicus, become emperor of Rome. In A.D. 54 when Nero was 17 years old his mother arranged for Claudius to be poisoned to death, and the boy was proclaimed emperor of Rome. His reign would last 14 years, until he committed suicide at age 31. In the first half of his reign there was relatively good government because as a youth he received good counsel from Burrus, the head of the Praetorian Guard, and from Seneca the famous stoic philosopher.
Nero was selfish and calculating and incapable of ruling well on his own. He became paranoid of all the rumors about plots to kill him. In 55 he had his step brother Britannicus killed. In 59 he had his mother executed. And in 62 his first wife was executed. And Seneca his former counselor was forced to commit suicide.
In the night of July 19, 64 a fire broke out in the southern part of the city. It raged for six days, spreading far and wide. When it was about to die out, it suddenly broke out again in the northern part of the city and burned three more days. Ten of the 14 wards of the city were destroyed. The frenzy in the city was indescribable. Rumors began to spread that Nero himself had started the fire because of his delirious craving for magnificence and desire to embellish and rebuild the city. To pert attention from himself, the historian Tacitus says, Nero blamed the Christians for the fire, who were hated anyway, and so were good scapegoats.
The effect was horrendous. There had been no persecution like it since the Lord had risen thirty years before. In the gardens of Nero the Christians were crucified, sewn into wild beast skins and fed to dogs, drenched in flammable oil and lifted on poles to burn as torches in the night. (From a message by John Piper—1/17/1993)
This is the context in which Peter wrote his two letters. He was in Rome under the oppressive leadership of an insane Emperor. Tradition tells us that Peter was crucified upside down during Nero’s great persecution. It was under these circumstances that Peter wrote these words: Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men.
Does this mean that we should submit to even an evil madman like Nero? Must we submit to every last whim of murderers like Hitler and Hussein? We cannot obey anyone if it means that we would be forced to do evil. We must submit to even the most corrupt authorities unless they force us to do something which God would forbid. God’s commands always trump the commands of human authorities. If your husband is inclined to cheat on his taxes, you cannot comply with his wishes
If your boss asks you to so something unethical or illegal, you must refuse them. In Acts 4, Peter and John stood before the Sanhedrin and were commanded to immediately stop preaching about Christ. 19 But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. 20 For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” We agree with Peter and John that we must obey God rather than man.
But I don’t want us to lose sight of the tension here. Peter lived and was killed under Nero’s reign, but still he told all Christians to give respect and honor to Nero. Paul lived and was killed under Nero’s reign, but still he commanded submission to Nero’s authority. Submission to an authority figure in your life does not mean you agree with them. You can disagree with your husband and submit to him at the same time. You can disagree with the policeman who tells you that you were speeding. In our free country you can even contest the speeding ticket, but in the end you must submit to their decision.
Even as Christians we are far too prone to rebellion against God and the authorities he has established. We have a difficult time submitting to the authorities in our life, which are nearly perfect compared to what Peter had to deal with. As western Christians, we are far too accustomed to demanding our rights. We have developed a national pastime of criticizing every political leader, every law, and every policy. It’s no wonder some Christians can’t hold down a job, because they clash with every boss they have ever had. I don’t know what it is about this area, but Christians tend to be feisty, a bit angry and suspicious of every level of authority. Our culture teaches us to cultivate a distrust and rebellion against authority. But God wants us to cultivate a respect and submission to the many authorities in our life. We should be teaching our children to submit to the authority figures in their life. This doesn’t mean we don’t think critically about our leaders and our laws, but even critical thinking should be done with gentleness and respect.
If these are wicked leaders or unjust laws, then we can use just laws to fight against unjust laws. This is what the apostle Paul did after he was arrested in Jerusalem. He met with the local government officials and then he utilized his right as a Roman citizen to appeal to Caesar. Use just laws to fight unjust laws, but be careful—there is a fine line between an activist and an anarchist. An activist believes there are just laws and there are unjust laws. An activist respects the various levels of authority because they know that without authority, wrong actions cannot be punished. As Peter said, governing authorities are established by God to punish wrongdoers. An activist has a basic respect for authority, but an anarchist has a basic distrust of authority. An activist utilizes the constitutional right of assembly in order to help improve the governing authority. An anarchist utilizes the right of assembly in order to incite mob action and overthrow the governing authority
As you look down that list of governing authorities in your life, what is the attitude of your heart? Do you tend to be a gentle activist, seeking to obey God and submit to the governing authorities? Or do you tend to shake your clenched fist at the authority figures in your life? Just remember, when you shake your fist at your mom or dad, your boss, the policeman who pulled you over—even if you are only shaking your fist on the inside, you are shaking your fist at God.
Rich Maurer
January 11, 2003