Neronian Problem
God allows evil rulers to govern us and uses them to accomplish His plans, but He also calls us to show them due respect and obedience.
Paul
exhorted Christians residing in Rome to respect governors and magistrates, obey
the emperor, and pay their taxes. Existing authorities “have been arranged
by God,” and therefore anyone who opposes the government opposes the “arrangement
of God.” That he wrote this about the Roman government when it was ruled by
a notorious despot raises a problem for many of us.
We
tend to agree with Paul’s teachings when we approve of the government and its
policies. But when we disapprove of the system or who is in charge we begin to
seek and even invent loopholes in the Apostle’s words.
For example, the famous New Testament Greek
scholar, A.T. Robertson, commented in his Word Picture in the New
Testament that “Paul is not
arguing for the divine right of kings or for any special form of government,
but for government and order. Nor does he oppose here revolution for a change
of government, but he does oppose all lawlessness and disorder.”
But nothing in
Paul’s words allows for violent revolution, which, if anything, is the exact
opposite of “law and order.” Moreover, if we take it upon ourselves to advocate
for a “change of government,” we are, in fact, “opposing the arrangement of
God.” How do we know whom God desires to run the government?
And
this passage follows immediately Paul’s exhortation not to take vengeance into our own hands. If we are disciples of
Jesus, we must NOT “render
to any man evil for evil.” Instead,
we are summoned to leave judgment and justice in the hands of God. Believers
must “not be overcome by
evil, but instead, overcome evil with good.” To argue that Paul then approved of taking the
law into our own hands by overthrowing the government because it became abusive
is ludicrous.
Moreover,
such interpretations read modern democratic ideas into Paul’s words. At the
time he wrote to the Romans, Christians had few if any civil “rights,” and they
certainly had no “right” or ability to elect their political overlords or influence
governmental policies. Christianity was not recognized by the Roman government
as a legal religion, and the emperor was no champion of democracy, religious
rights, freedom of speech, or other individual liberties. Yet Paul warned Christians
that to oppose THAT government constituted opposition to God’s “arrangement.”
But
the real problem with attempts to water down Paul’s words is Nero.
At the time he wrote to the church at Rome, the empire was ruled by Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (reigned A.D. 54-68),
one of the most despotic emperors in Roman history, a man who had his own
mother murdered, kicked his pregnant wife to death, and became the first
emperor to persecute the Church.
Nevertheless, Paul summoned the Christians of Rome to honor, respect, and obey THAT man’s government. And rather ironically, the Apostle very likely was executed by Nero’s government when the emperor launched his pogrom against the Christians of Rome. And Paul was arguing from solid scriptural grounds.
The
book of Daniel, for example, began by declaring that Yahweh GAVE Jerusalem
and the “vessels of the house of God” into the “HAND of
Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon,” the same pagan ruler who would later
destroy the kingdom of Judah, the city of Jerusalem, and
the Temple, as well as exile a great many Jews to Mesopotamia – (Daniel 1:1).
No
patriotic Israelite would have elected THAT
idol-worshipping tyrant to govern Judah. Nevertheless, with this very king in
mind, Daniel praised Yahweh as the one who “removes kings and sets up
kings,” and even announced to Nebuchadnezzar himself that “You
are the king of kings, for the God of Heavens has GIVEN YOU the
kingship, the might, the power, and the dignity; and wherever the sons of men
dwell, the wild beasts of the field and the birds of the air has HE
GIVEN into your hand and made you ruler over them all.”
God's hand is not limited. He can save by many or few, and He is
well able to employ evil, good, mediocre, and just plain incompetent kings and politicians
to achieve His ends. Moreover, only He sees the “end from the beginning”
and knows what is in every man’s heart.
Neither the form of government nor the nefarious plans of world
rulers can derail His plans. Furthermore, the downfall of dozens of great
empires throughout history, often suddenly and unexpectedly, demonstrates that
He can remove them whenever He pleases.
The demise of the former Soviet Union in 1991 is a case in point,
an event of tremendous significance to this day that NO ONE in
the government, the news media, or the Church at the time saw coming.
When
we declare that God is opposed to a government or policy that we do not like,
and therefore we must oppose it, how do we know that is, in fact, His will?
Just because a government or ruler is “good” in our minds does not mean that
God has chosen it or him to hold political power.
And
despite its many faults and abuses, the Roman Empire did several things that
helped pave the way for the rapid expansion of the gospel, including a system
of empire-spanning roads and shipping routes, things that directly benefited
the missionary efforts of the Apostle Paul.
And
the very fact that God used the idol-worshipping king Nebuchadnezzar and the murderous
Nero to achieve His ends and called His people to submit respectfully to their governments
ought to caution us against presuming to know who God wishes to run the
government in our respective countries.
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