The section of Romans from chapter 12-14 deals with living the Christian life. First, Paul develops the idea of living in relationship to God in chapter 12. In chapter 13, he deals with living in relationship to the government. Then in chapter 14, he considers the Christian life in relationship to our brethren.

It is important to remember that as Paul discusses the interaction between Christians and their rulers, he is dealing with Imperial Rome. This government did not resemble any form of government with which we are familiar. It was a totalitarian state with a huge, suffocating bureaucracy. There was no appeal for relief available to the average citizen, and society was divided between the fabulously rich and the hardscrabble poor. The rich paid few or no taxes while the burden of government cost fell upon non-citizens, provincial subjects and traders. All this is to say that Paul was addressing a situation where government could hardly be called a benevolent necessity. It was, in fact, an oppressive tyranny ruled harshly.

God has ordained that humans have government. He established judges under Moses, then instituted a monarchy at Israel’s insistence. He has used human governments (Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian) to accomplish His purposes. The reason such governments exist is so that peace and good order may be established and maintained. The rulers have the responsibility for punishing rebels and evildoers while protecting and rewarding the peaceful and good.

Such rulers have the means to accomplish their goals, including exacting the ultimate penalty-death. In a broad sense, such rulers are God’s servants whether they acknowledge Him or not, for God instituted moral rules concerning right and wrong conduct.

Under human government, the Christian has the responsibility to submit to the rulers, pay taxes, and respect and honor the authorities. Submission means more than a grudging acceptance and sullen obedience. Submission means actually to accept this order as part of God’s plan and to support the authorities that exist. If we rebel against the established government, even in our minds, we are in rebellion also against God. It is at that moment that we violate our consciences. Submission avoids governmental wrath and moral failure.

The practical effect of all this is that Christians are to pay their taxes, fully and honestly. We are also to respect our governmental officials and render the honor they are due, even if we disagree with their approach to governing. The only time we may rebel against our government is when they attempt to require us to violate the will of God. Then, our higher allegiance overrules human authority-but we must be prepared to pay the price of wrath for our disobedience.

As the Christian lives in his society, he must show the highest nobility in his daily conduct. He must not be the kind of person who shirks his debts, but he must pay everyone whatever he owes. This passage is not a prohibition against ever borrowing money; it forbids any attempt to escape repaying legitimate debts whether by mere refusal or by legal wrangling. We must, instead, be guided by a very simple principle of God’s will for our lives: love for our neighbor. If we truly have love toward all, we will not be the kind of people who seek to take advantage or injure our neighbor. And that means we will not seek some excuse or opportunity financially to cheat him, either.

We must be aware of our culture. Jesus calls us to a separate citizenship, a culture foreign to our time. In order for us to take our place within His kingdom, we must recognize the friction points between our worldly culture and the culture of Christ. We may not complacently trudge on, assuming that our habits and customs agree with the spiritual kingdom of Christ. Instead, we must examine our culture and reject it wherever it conflicts with the character of Christ being formed within us. This is one of the most difficult “character alignment” tasks we face.

It calls for us to reject ungodliness and behave in righteousness. There are customs accepted on all sides of us that Christians may not adopt. We must set aside indecent behavior of all kinds and instead “clothe” ourselves with Christ. We are to wrap Him personality and character all around us, so that whenever someone sees us, they actually see Christ. In time, of course, His character becomes our own. We childishly imitate Him until we can freely become like Him.

In rejecting certain elements of our culture, the greatest challenge involves the deceitfulness of sin in us. While we profess a dedicated war against ungodliness, our fleshly desires plot a subversive campaign to lead us directly into temptation. Our bodies are amazingly clever at subjecting our will to serve bodily wishes. We must be on our guard so that we do not study ways to gratify our bodily desires while barely skirting the boundaries of sin. We must bring our bodies into subjection to the will of God, not give in to every fleshly whim and encourage infantile character. If we refuse to dwell on how we might enjoy the illicit thrills without the sin that accompanies it, we will be far less likely to fall into sin. We live in a kingdom of which this world knows nothing. A law our culture does not understand governs us. We live in our society, but not for our society.

Discussion Questions:

1. How loyal should we be to our government? May a Christian be involved in government to the point of holding office? Should a Christian vote? Serve in the military?

2. What is the point of human government? If everyone were a Christian, what kind of government would we have? For what purposes does God use human governments?

3. Why will our culture consider basic honesty to be noble conduct? If a Christian fulfills his obligations and pays his debts, will he be thought honest? Or foolish? How does the command to love one another provide guidance in this?

4. How would you describe our times? What is the sickness of our culture? Why do professed Christians have so little leavening effect on our society? How can we change our world for the better?

5. What steps should we take to forestall gratifying our sinful desires? Why is our flesh so cunning at manipulating us to fulfill temptation? What process will bring about godliness in our lives?