Essay: Unlocking the Divine Mandate: Exploring the Responsibilities of the Earthly Rulers: Part 7

What are the responsibilities of the ruling earthly Powers?  First they are servants for good.  As servants of God, they  are empowered to execute “wrath upon the wrong doer.” They have a responsibility to “punish the wrong doer.”  They are to “govern.” They are to commend those that “do right.”  That is a lot to unpack.  [i]  What is the “good they are to promote? What is the difference between a ruler who “serves” as opposed to a ruler or government that the citizen is expected to serve?  What are the limits of punishment and how is “wrath upon the wrong doer” administered?  What does it man to “govern” in this context? How and when does a ruler commend those who do right?  Who determines what is right? 

First it is observed that Christians are expected to be an integral part of the existing social order. They are not a  separate entity that seeks to subvert or avoid the  ruling authorities.  Christians are to live in a discipled acceptance of the existing political composition of the society of which they are a part.  From  the fact that rulers and thus governments are established by God, Christians are not to isolate themselves from society.  Instead, they are to be “good citizens” of the established order. 

Since rulers’ authority is from God, they have the authority to punish those who resist their rule. To govern is to “ exercise sovereign control over to control and direct the making and administration policy”[ii]  In doing so, the government rulers or administrators do not expect the citizens to serve their own personal needs  but to administer in such a way that it is “good” for the citizen.  In the same way rulers who promote personal agendas that do not serve the needs of the citizenship are not servants of the people.  

What is the “good’ to be promoted or how is the citizen to do “good? Other definitions from the Greek for “good” would be “do right” or “live honestly”  Governments are to promote righteous and honest living.  This is in the same sense of Paul’s admonition to promote what is “true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, gracious, excellent, and praiseworthy”[iii] 

 Those who “do wrong” should be fearful.  Why?   Because the very establishment of ruling authorities by God is not only to promote what is good in citizens but to exact punishment on those that do evil.  What are the limits to this punishment?  Clearly, the power of the sword in this context means execution of the wrong doer.  The death penalty is thus authorized by the ruling power.  This power is expressly forbidden by the individual Christian.  It is noted that action of God using the state to be “agents of wrath upon the wrong doer” was and is carried out by God on evil nations.

There is a much larger message than appears in this discussion of the state and Christians. Jews were distinct a distinct ethnic group who set themselves totally apart.  They ideally were a theocracy – religious and political life combined.  With Christian reconciliation of Jews to Gentiles and both to Christ, this is no longer the case.  Thus, this is admonition of both to live within and participate within the existing state social order.  Paul ends this with the illustration that even paying taxes to the secular state is from God and is expected of the citizen.

In addressing the question are “Christians to “speak truth to power”, we will address the following question in Part 8: 1)  What then are the responsibilities of the citizen?  2) How are Christians to be ambassadors to the world of Christ’s reconciliation? How does this shed light on whether Christians should “speak truth to power?”

[i] Romans 13:1-8

[ii] Meriam-Webster

[iii] Phil. 4:8