Government
Read Romans 13:1-7
This line of reasoning assumes God’s
sovereignty. There are lots of ways that our government and other governments
have acted in ways that are totally contrary to God’s design and principles.
What
does Paul mean by the government being “established by God”?
God has "established" three institutions to
control life in our dispensation: the family (Gen.
2:18-25),
the civil government (Gen. 9:1-7),
and the church (Acts 2). In each institution, there are authorities to whom we
need to submit for God's will to go forward. In each of these institutions
where there are good, capable leaders, and poor, broken, and even wrong
leaders.
But in this case, Paul doesn’t qualify submission based on
the individual’s judgement of how good the government is. He says be in
subjection.
I’ve seen lots of different responses from Christians to our
government. My former Pastor, Mike Huckabee left our church and became the
governor of Arkansas and is running for the Presidency. I know many Christians
who almost completely ignore the government, other than pretty much obeying the
traffic laws.
How would you describe your interactions or involvement with our
government?
Does
God’s sovereignty over the government give us a reason to just “go along” with
everything that the government does? After all, He controls it all, right?
What
does Paul tell us to do as US citizens
in this passage? How should we engage our government?
Luke
4:5-8
Mark
12:13-17
1 Peter2
13-17
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