"Let every soul (i.e., person) be subject to the higher powers" (Romans 13:1). Christians can often have a secular, selfish, and carnal view of the government. This may be in expressed at the level of action or word, in commission or omission. We may dispute deserved speeding tickets, misrepresent our income for tax purposes, play fast and loose with garbage and recycling laws, lie to custom officials about goods carried across the border. We may judge officials to be "power-hungry," "lazy," or worse. It is easy for Christians to join popular anti-government sentiment for reasons simply of a materialistic nature. We may refuse to pray earnestly for our government officials, implicitly deeming them unworthy of God's blessing and guidance. All these things are sinful and spring from a carnal root. Of these things, it may very well be said: "let it not be once named among you, as is proper for saints" (Ephesians 5:3).

Let us take it even a step further. What is my motivation for obeying the government? One may even avoid fault in action, but still be wrong in motivation. A Christian may avoid doing all the above things, which indeed would be very good, but may do so out of self-interest, or simply for the social good. This is not sufficient. Paul writes:

Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that exist are ordained of God.Romans 13:1

Our obedience must also extend to Paul's "for." Our motivation must be that God has established them in their positions.

The Nature of Power⤒🔗

When we hear the word 'power' or 'powers,' we immediately think of people who are after power, and people who are after power become dangerous, dictators and tyrants. We think of the wars that are raging in various parts of the world with the many victims. Do we think of God who stands behind these powers? The apostle Paul calls the civil government "the minister of God." How encouraging that is!

The Lord Jesus uses the same word "power" in Matthew 28: "All power is given to Me." He received that power from His Father. He was ordained thereto by the Father (Psalm 110; He­brews 7).

A beautiful instance of the exercise of Christ's power on earth was when he arose 'from supper, and laid aside His garments; and took a towel, and girded Himself. After that he pours water into a basin, and began to wash the disci­ples' feet...'John 13:4-5

This is prefaced by the remarkable words, "Jesus knowing that the Fa­ther had given all things into His hands" (John 13:3). Christ's power is a comfort to His church. With the power that the Father had given Him, Christ became a slave, in order to cleanse sinners from sin and save them. The work that normally a slave would do, outside the house, before anyone would come in, that work Jesus does here with all the power in heaven and on earth.

The Perception of the Civil Government←⤒🔗

There is a certain parallel between what Christ does in His kingdom in the realm of grace and the way the government is to function in the societal realm under God. In Greek Paul uses the word 'diakonos,' which is the same word as our word for deacon. The office of the deacon is to comfort, to help, to serve, to minister. The word "servant" ('diakonos') originally signified the service of a table waiter and denotes lowly serv­ice in general.

That is how the civil government is to be. That is how God has ordained these governing authorities. All the powers that exist have been ordained by God, after the order of which Christ is the head. He, after the order of Melchisedec, is the great Almighty Lord. It was He Who wanted to do nothing other than the work of a slave in order to save and minister to sinners.

This means at least three things for the Christian.

1. The Christian does not view the government as an impersonal entity. We need to respect the officers of justice (for example, police and custom officers). We must show obedience under God and His Christ. We do not see them as impersonal entities, or worse, slothful villains, but see them as ministers of God for good. The next time our colleagues speak derogatorily of the government or taxes, we should not join in, but seek to echo the biblical sentiment.
    
2. The Christian must not view the government simply out of self-interest. The government is God's servant. Without a clear understanding of this, a lot of people love it when they hear that the government is a servant. They readily go to the government with a list of wishes and expect the government to serve their interests. However, that is not what Paul writes. The government is not there to serve your and my interests. The government is not my servant but in first instance God's servant. The Belgic Confession spells out what all that entails: "to the end that human lawlessness may be restrained". When we are stopped for speeding, we should not criticize the officer (in our mind), but recognize that it is our lawlessness that brought us this punishment. This is also true, when we are stopped for driving under the influence of alcohol, or we are arrested when we steal items from a store.
   
   "is the minister of God to do thee good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he bears not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God to execute God's wrath upon him that does evil. Rom 13.4
    
3. The Christian must pray for the government (1 Timothy 2:1-3). There is so much to pray for the civil government. This includes praying that she be His servant, in order that the Lord shall perform that great miracle making room for the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Through Him the rulers reign, for He is the Prince of the kings of the earth (Revelation 1:5).

The Abuse of Power←⤒🔗

Romans 13 defines the civil government as "the higher powers." It is remarkable that when Paul was writing these words Nero, a corrupt em­peror, was the reigning emperor in Rome. There have been many such dictators. Think of Joseph Stalin or Idi Amin, or Adolph Hitler. It is not so that any- one who takes power into his own hands has God on his side. You will likely know that during WW II there were ministers and other Christians who said that it was God, who in His providence gave power to Hitler to be ruler over the various countries in Western Europe. We need to make a distinction between God and power. It is not so that anyone who takes power into his own hands has God on his side.

In the days of the Reformation, the Prince of Orange and the States of the Netherlands rose up against the king of Spain, who was the reigning king.

They said: 'Because this king, who is reigning over us, has become a tyrant who forces us to do things and to leave things undone which are contrary to God's Word, we refuse to obey this king, we consider ourselves no longer his subject.'

Some say that we are in a similar circumstance today. Think, for instance of "civil disobedience." Some withhold civic taxes as a protest against waste, mismanagement, or political corruption. Others engage in riots or insurrection, commit­ting murder and atrocities, showing a complete disregard for private property, and clashing with the police and military personnel. Some attempt to stop abortions by blocking the entrances to abortion clinics for a day of more.

Abortion is a terrible sin. It is a definite curse upon our country that is practiced without pen­alty and that governments support it. There are other God-dishonoring practices, such as homo­sexuality and pornography which are legalized. We should speak out more against these things from out of Scripture and pray that these plagues might be stopped. We do not do enough. How­ever, I believe that Scripture does not warrant refusing to pay taxes or transgressing private property or breaking other laws in order to pro­test such things. Mary and Joseph paid taxes (Luke 2:4), as did Christ (Matt 17:27), even though the Romans wickedly abused the people's money. Indeed, if the government prohibits the worship of God and freely and openly speaking about Him, we must obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29). I realize that the issue of civil disobedience is very complex and I cannot exhaust the various angles and implications at this time. Let it be clear, however, that corruption in government, immorality among rulers, and God-dishonoring legislation never warrants us to join in selfish and carnal views regarding the government. Let us humble ourselves and pray that God would give that,

Kings shall see and stand up, princes, and they shall prostrate themselves, because of the LORD.Isaiah 49:7