CCC Livestream - It's All About The Gospel - Romans 13:1-7
Live Worship Gathering: 11/23/2025
Preaching: Jason Purdy
Submission To Governing Authorities
Jason Purdy
It’s All About The Gospel / Romans 13:1–7
I want to invite you to turn in your Bibles with me to Romans 13.
We will consider verses 1-7 today.
Choosing to preach God’s word in the way and the order that God has given to us is an act of worship and submission to God.
Choosing to sit under and listen to the preaching of God’s word in the way and the order that God has given to us is an act of worship and submission.
I say this because a team of people from our church are in Cuba on a mission trip right now, my wife being one of those people.
And when Robin is gone, I just feel uncomfortable and I feel off.
Don’t get me wrong, I am so grateful our family can serve our Lord Jesus in this way and I’m grateful she went, but it’s just uncomfortable.
Then, add to that, the fact that we come to a passage in Romans today that commands us to submit to government and pay our taxes.
Listen, if I believed it was in my realm of authority to just pick and choose what I wanted to preach about on Sundays, I would not choose this passage on this Sunday, nor would I likely ever choose this passage.
I want to preach on how his burden is easy and yoke is light.
I would probably choose that one at least once a month.
But, nonetheless, when you really think about it, this passage is all about how we are not to lean on our own understanding, but instead we are entrust ourselves fully to God.
So, may we entrust ourselves to God and his sovereignty as we walk through this text this morning.
Now, I have no doubt that I am going to say something in this sermon that will offend every single person in the room, because this text so rubs up against our natural selves, but please stay after and we will comfort ourselves by decorating for Christmas.
I do promise to stay very close to the text of Scripture and not get off on my own ideas.
So, the Christian life is not first about what we can do for God, but about what God has done for us.
That is why Paul spent the first eleven chapters of Romans to expound to us the glorious gospel that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
And because Christ has died for us, God saves us when we place our faith in Him, he declares us right with God, He sets us apart and leads us to begin to hate sin and love righteousness, and he promises us that nothing will separate us from His love and we will one day be glorified in the presence of God for eternity.
So, in light of all that God has done for us on Christ, we are commanded to respond to the great mercies of God by offering ourselves and our lives as living sacrifices to God.
To live lives of worshipful service
To love God and others genuinely and seek to do good.
Which then moves to our text today.
Please follow along as I read aloud:
Romans 13:1-7
1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 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. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
1. Be Subject To The Governing Authorities As Instituted By God
Submit yourselves to the governing authorities.
For many people in our day, the word “authority” is a curse word, and many believe that anyone who has authority or exercises authority is evil and in the wrong simply for claiming any type of authority.
And, while it is true that abuses of authority are particularly hurtful and particularly damaging, the reality of authority and the reality of having and exercising authority is not in and of itself bad and wrong.
Authority as God has designed is for our good and our flourishing.
It is God’s good design as our ultimate authority to place proper authority in our lives.
The Bible describes three main institutions that are ordained by God, which are divinely inspired realms of human life that require proper authority.
Those three institutions are: the family, the church, and the government.
And in all three of these institutions are an authority structure that we are called to honor, respect, and submit to understanding that the ultimate authority of all these is God himself.
It is very natural to ask ourselves at this point, why would Paul bring up the civil government at this point in the book of Romans?
And the answer is that as Paul has written about the marks of a true Christian being love and goodness, he just commanded back up in verse 17 to repay no one evil for evil and to never seek personal vengeance but to instead overcome evil with good.
And then, in the next verse, he tells us to submit ourselves to the governing authorities.
It’s logical because we are going to see in this passage that whereas taking personal vengeance for wrongs is prohibited, God has ordained a realm of life to deal justice to wrongdoers, and that is through civil government.
So, it is not as though since we are not to take personal vengeance, we can’t expect any kind of earthly recourse for order and justice.
Instead, God has provided the governing authorities to provide such things to whom we must submit ourselves.
I want you to consider with me for a moment that the political climate during the time of the early church in Rome was many times ugly, polarizing, and tense much like in our own day.
I have mentioned many times in this series that the Roman emperor had kicked all of the Jews out of the empire for a time, causing them to lose their homes and livelihoods and live as nomads until they were aloud back in.
Yet, the early Christian Jews were going to distinguish themselves from non believing Jews by the way they would refuse to dishonor and rail against the governing authorities who had made their lives so difficult.
Consider examples in the Bible such as David, Daniel, and Mary the mother of Jesus.
King Saul was literally hunting David in order to kill him, and when David was given the perfect opportunity to sneak up behind King Saul and kill him in defense of his own life, David refused to do so, because he knew God was the one who had sovereignly made Saul king, and David honored God’s decision even though Saul had acted wickedly.
Daniel was forcibly taken from his home to the foreign land of Babylon where they sought to brainwash him with paganism, yet Daniel honored the authorities by asking permission to not eat certain foods that would go against he law of God when he could have just rebelliously disobeyed the King.
Mary was pregnant when the Caesar decreed that all the world must be taxed and everyone must travel to the land of their husband’s fathers in order to be registered for the census, and though this created a great hardship, Mary and Joseph obeyed and traveled to Bethlehem.
These are just a few of the many godly examples we see of true believers being subject to the governing authorities.
These fall in stark contrast to Jewish zealots who rebelled against Roman rule and sought to overthrow it and undermine it at every turn.
No matter how wrong or unfair some of the policies of Roman law were toward the Jews, they were commanded to be subject to the governing authorities.
Do you understand that a godly posture toward governing authorities means that you honor, respect, and submit to your leaders even when you disagree with them?
Consider the heart of Paul toward governing authorities when Paul wrote to Timothy:
1 Timothy 2:1-2
1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.
It has never been God’s design for believers in Jesus to rebel and protest against civil government, it is certainly not God’s design for his church to engage in political revolution, violence, or insubordination to the governing authorities.
Instead, we are called to pray for our governing authorities while seeking to live peaceful and quiet lives that are godly and dignified in every way.
Many proclaimed followers of Jesus have gotten this wrong throughout history, and many are getting it wrong today.
Consider with me that these commands are not qualified by what type of government system or government leaders that believers live under.
For verse 1 continues: For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.
In other words, every person who is, ever has been, or ever will be in a position of a governing authority has been ultimately and sovereignly placed there by God.
Proverbs 8:15-16
15 By me kings reign,
and rulers decree what is just;
16 by me princes rule,
and nobles, all who govern justly.
Proverbs 21:1
1 The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord;
he turns it wherever he will.
Jeremiah 27:5-7
5 “It is I who by my great power and my outstretched arm have made the earth, with the men and animals that are on the earth, and I give it to whomever it seems right to me. 6 Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and I have given him also the beasts of the field to serve him. 7 All the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson, until the time of his own land comes. Then many nations and great kings shall make him their slave.
Daniel 2:21
21 He changes times and seasons;
he removes kings and sets up kings;
he gives wisdom to the wise
and knowledge to those who have understanding;
Daniel 4:17
17 The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men.’
Jesus also affirmed this truth when he said to Pilate at his trial:
John 19:11
11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”
You see, trusting in God’s absolute sovereignty means that you affirm that God ultimately places every person in positions of governing authorities.
Sure, in our country, we vote, but God is sovereign over every vote, and he supersedes and sovereignly directs all human means to place every president, senator, representative, mayor, and the list can go on and on.
Sometimes God sets up wise and good governing authorities for the good and flourishing of a people and sometimes God sets up foolish and evil governing authorities as his judgment toward a people.
Who is the ultimate sovereign who placed in power King David, Abraham Lincoln, Donald Trump, Hitler, Stalin, and Kim Jong Un?
It is God who set these government authorities in their positions, and those who resist them will incur judgment.
So, the overarching Christ like ethic toward all governing authorities is to submit to them, respect them, and obey them whether you agree with them or not.
That is true for believers in China, Iran, and the United States.
If you resist your governing authorities you resist the authority that God has appointed over you.
Yet, is there ever a time where a follower of Christ must disobey the governing authorities, even if they may incur their judgment?
Yes, there is one instance where we must disobey governing authorities, and that is when the governing authority is commanding you to do something that God forbids you to do.
In Acts 5, when the governing authorities commanded Peter and the other apostles not to teach in the name of Jesus, consider their response:
Acts 5:29
29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.
So, because Jesus is our sovereign Lord, we must obey him over and above the governing authorities even if our obedience incurs the government’s judgment.
So, although the Roman emperor demanded that his subjects call him Lord and worship him as God, Jesus’ followers were only to name Christ as Lord for all earthly authority is a derived authority under the one true sovereign authority of the true God.
That is why, in the end, even the highest of earthly powers will bow their knee and declare King Jesus Lord of all.
Be subject to the governing authorities as instituted by God.
2. Do What Is Good In Order To Avoid The Sword Of Governing Authorities
Verse 3: For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 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.
Some commentators argue that Paul must be using sarcasm or must be blindly naive to write what he does in verses 3 and 4.
But, I don’t think that is the case at all.
Instead, I believe Paul is saying something that is true about all government even the worst governments.
Generally speaking, no government is going around purposefully terrorizing those who are making the society better and living lives of quiet submission to their government.
Even the worst government generally approves of those who have an attitude of submission toward them.
In the book of Genesis, do you know the first thing God does after he floods the world in judgment and then Noah gets off the ark?
God establishes his covenant with Noah and in that covenant, for the very first time, God established laws that order the protection of human life.
Before the flood, there was only wickedness on the earth and no government established to even restrain any evil.
So, the presence of any government is always preferable to complete anarchy.
So, would you have no fear of the one in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval.
For He is God’s servant for your good.
God gave a similar command to his Old Testament people when they had been forcibly taken to Babylon on exile.
Jeremiah 29:7
7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
Do what is good.
Be a model citizen.
If you are not approved by your governing authorities, make sure it is only because of your devotion to Christ, and not due to your being a poor citizen.
Do good.
The church of Jesus should be a people that the city would want to keep around if if they don’t believe what we believe, because we bring goodness and care to those in our city who need it.
Yet, if you do wrong and do not obey the commands of the governing authorities, be afraid, for the government does not bear the sword in vain.
God has ordained that the governing authorities bear the sword.
While we are never to take personal vengeance, it is good and right that the governing authorities bear the sword and promote justice, maintain laws, and punish wrongdoers.
While we are never to be vigilantes, it is not wrong for us to appeal to the proper authorities to render justice in cases where we have been illegally wronged.
God’s system of justice in the Old Testament is what is formally called “Lex Taliones” or an eye for an eye.
This system provided for proper justice, the restraining and deterring of evil, and the proper restitution for what was owed the one who was wronged.
So, us not taking personal vengeance does not mean God has not ordained a path for which justice to be done.
But, God has ordained the governing authorities to be the one to carry out God’s wrath toward the wrongdoer.
Now, of course, we know in a fallen world, these systems break down, are corrupted, and do not always do as they ought.
This is why we must always entrust ourselves to the perfect judge who will never fail us even when our earthly governing authorities do.
Are you committed to being a model citizen in order to live a quiet and godly life?
Like Jesus says:
Matthew 5:16
16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Do what is good in order to avoid the sword of governing authorities.
3. Do What Is Good In Regards To The Governing Authorities For The Sake Of Conscience
Verse 5: Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience.
I said earlier that the abuse of power and authority is extremely painful and has led many to reject the idea of any type of good authority altogether.
Yet, followers of Jesus should continue to honor, respect, and value the institutions of proper authority God has established not just because we fear punishment,
But because our conscience bears witness that God is good and perfect and what God ordains is always good.
The institution of marriage and family is good, right, and worth protecting though sinfulness leads to much divorce and family hurt.
We should not give up on the institutions, but instead, devote ourselves to living with Christ as Lord within our marriage and family that he might redeem it for his purposes.
The institution of the church is good, right, and worth protecting though sinfulness has led to much hurt and apostasy among the church.
We should not give up the God given institution of the church, but instead, we must devote ourselves anew to Jesus as Lord of His church and commit all the more to follow His ways in it.
The institution of government is good, right, and worth protecting though sinfulness has led to much hurt and corruption.
We should not give up the God given institution of government, but instead, we must devote ourselves anew to pray for our leaders, submit to them, and do good as citizens of our heavenly home.
We do this not just out of fear of wrath, but out of love for our Lord Jesus who submitted himself to every human authority, even to the point of an unjust execution on a Roman cross in order to save us from the authority of sin that enslaved us to sin, Satan, hell, and the grave.
And when Jesus rose from the dead three days later, his resurrection proved that all ultimate power and authority belong to Jesus alone, and all who repent of sin and trust in him will be freed from the authority of sin, and given the power of submit to the authority of their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ both now and forever.
Do what is good in regards to the governing authorities for the sake of conscience.
Finally,
4. Pay Taxes And All That Is Rightfully Owed
This is not the kind of verse you ever see knitted on a pillow, printed on a coffee mug, or claimed as a life verse.
Verse 6: For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing.
Why do you pay taxes? Because the authorities are ministers of God, called to attend to the collecting of taxes.
While government is an institution of God, it is not in the money making business, so it takes the taxing of its citizens in order to make government work.
So, in this matter, God tells followers of Jesus: pay your taxes.
I need to warn you, I used chat gpt for this stat:
For the tax year 2002, the IRS projects a gross tax gap of $696 billion.
They expect $90 billion to be collected by enforcement leaving a $606 billion tax gap.
According to Jesus, none of this tax gap should ever be due to his followers, because followers of Jesus pay their taxes.
In the days when Paul wrote Romans, the Roman taxation system was hated, especially by the Jews.
It was hated to such a level that Jesus’ worst enemies thought if they could get him to say something controversial about taxes, they could get everyone to turn on him.
Matthew 22:15-22
15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. 16 And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” 18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. 20 And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” 21 They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 22 When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.
Caesar claimed to be God.
The inscription of Caesar on the coin was seen by the Jews as idolatry.
The taxation system was unfair and exploited the people.
Surely Jesus will stand up, and demand the rights of the people, and lead out in political revolution!
No. Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world, and we are ultimately citizens of heaven over and above our earthly citizenship,
So, render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s.
Honor and respect him, pay your taxes, pray for him, and live a quiet and godly life.
We are so conditioned to fighting for our rights and desiring what if fair, we scarcely understand Jesus’ command to submit to unfair authorities who infringe on our rights in the name of giving glory to God.
I tell my kids all the time: fair is a place where I buy a corndog and ride a ferris wheel.
Life is not fair, and the Bible would condition us not to base our life and decisions based on our rights and fairness,
But to base our life and decisions based on our ultimately sovereign God who is Lord of all and will finally make all things right.
I’ve said in the last few weeks that God has made his people an honorable people.
When we were dishonorable toward God and others, God honored us highly by submitting His only honorable son to be dishonored to the point of hanging naked on a cross in order to save us, his enemies, and seat us with Christ in the most honorable of places.
So, may we be a people who show honor to one another, to the institutions God ordains, and to the authorities God has placed over us, as we shine as lights in a dark world.
Let’s pray.