Audio: God, the Gospel, and Government.

I was asked to address this topic at the Fall Men's Breakfast at Redeemer Church in Fort Worth, Texas (where Brandy and I are members). From Romans 13:1-8 I drew some basic biblical principles that have both attitudinal and behavioral applications. 

Link to Audio

A basic outline of the lecture is below (which will be greatly lacking on its own, please listen to the audio for a fuller context and relationship between these principles): 

Three main principles

Principle 1: God is Sovereign over government

• Verse 1: “There is no authority except from God.”
• Paul gives us this undeniable maxim: All governing authorities have been put into power by God.
• When we look at the whole biblical account this is not surprising, since
• We see God intimately involved in the affairs of nations, succession of kings, and even the disposition of government leaders (look at Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, and Darius)
• Also, we see God is the one who established the very institution of human civil government in Genesis 9:5-6 following the flood.

Principle 2: Governmental authorities are the servants of God

• Paul repeats this point multiples times: Not only did God institute and appoint those leaders in verse 1 and verse 2, but verse 4 “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.”
• Then in verse 6 he refers to governing authorities as “ministers of God.”
• We see God practicing authority over his servant/ministers when Paul goes on to clarify that God has actually orders the purpose of government in verse 4.
• Verse 4: Governments are appointed to work for people’s good.
• Verse 4: Punish bad conduct and distribute God’s wrath on the criminal.
• This is also explicit in 1 Peter 2:13-14: "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."

Principle 3: Politics as a means to love our neighbor

• Given where God has providentially put us politically, this should also be our thinking.
• Three Connections of politics and love:
• 1) Contextually from Romans 12-13.
• 2) The overarching call for Christians to be defined by loving our neighbor. 
• 3) The explicit textual connection in verse 4 with the term "your good."
• How political action is used to love our neighbors:
• Vote for candidate that will punish evil, praise good, and pass good legislation
• Vote/work for good and just laws/policies that:
• Protect my neighbor (punish evil)
• Benefit my neighbor (praise/encourage good)
• Teach my neighbor (like Old Testament law does, as our teacher) 

Three reactions to those principles:

Reaction 1: Give due recognition to governmental authorities as God’s representatives.

• Lets not misinterpret Paul’s command again, its ‘subject’ (hupotasso) not ‘obey’ (hupakouo).

• We see Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego participating in civil disobedience, as well as the apostles themselves in Acts 5:29.
• Also we see Paul’s disposition repeatedly that God rather than man must be obeyed if a conflict arises.
• “Resistance to legitimate authority legitimately exercised is wrong”

Reaction 2: What we Should Do: Serve as God’s servant in our civic duties

• Stewardship: using sovereignly given political position in voting, lobbying, promote just laws/policies, possibly running for office, and even paying taxes.

Reaction 3: How we should do it: Seek to punish evil and praise good, and the good of our neighbor when doing our civic duty.

• Reflecting on laws/policies/elections ‘how will this policy/candidate punish evil and praise good?'
• This affects what laws/policies we support, what we think about candidates, even how we read drudge report and the news.
• Support/speak well of when a good decision is made by our government. No matter what party they're from.

This is not intended to be a comprehensive handling of the passage or subject, but a basic starting point to reflecting on how Scripture should shape our outlook and practice when it comes to politics and government.