Blessed Hope Bible-Presbyterian Church
500 Upper Bukit Timah Rd, Singapore 678106
The Apostle Paul exhorts to believers to discharge their God-given responsibility to the authorities has placed over them. He speaks of a whole-hearted submission that involves not just the heart (fear) but in our conduct (honour) and in our actions (tirbute and custom). He says be not slack in doing so.
A significant part of a citizen’s responsibility is the paying of taxes wherein comes government revenue for the enforcement of law and order in society. A Christian living in any society, the Apostle Paul teaches, must not neglect or evade that God-given duty. He says, “pay ye tribute” and do so continually. Every civil government bears the responsibility vested by God to bring law and order in any society by rewarding good and punishing evil. Citizens are thus protected with peace in the land.
The Apostle Paul teaches the believers to submit to the rule of government in the city that they reside in. If they break the law, be willing to go through the due process of law. If found guilty, be willing to face the judgment of the law for whatever wrongdoing. The judgment of the law against committed crime serves as a deterrent for believers. They are to fear to transgress the law. It would be a setback to their Christian testimony in the sight of the world.
Christians are to submit and subject themselves to the authority of human government. They are not above the law but must fear the consequence of breaking the law of the land. And hence, live to glorify God by obeying civil authority.
Law abiding citizens have no cause for fear. It is the law breakers that need fear because the ruling government is God’s instrument to mete out justice in any civil society. Law breakers are punishable by law. The government through its law enforcement agencies carries out the cause of justice. Thus, criminals and all evil perpetrators are dealt with by the law. Therefore, the Christian who obeys the law of the land is protected by the law and enjoys the benefits of peace. Without civil government, the country will be in a state of anarchy.
It is the duty of believers to submit to the authority of human government. The Apostle Paul explains that it is God who sovereignly appoints human government. As such, when the believer resists civil authority, he is resisting the order that God has set to maintain law and order in society. He pronounces God’s displeasure and judgment upon believers who rebel against civil authorities. In any civil society, the law and the enforcement of it bring peace and order.
It is humbling to know that even the most powerful men on earth in their glory placed there by our God. Indeed, He is sovereignly in charge. As His children, we can safely trust in His care as we submit to the authorities that He placed over us. Amen.
We must not allow evil to overwhelm our heart so that we respond evil with evil. To Christians are these words given in Galatians 5:1 “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke” and in Galatians 5:16-17 “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. f bondage…”
Barnes commented, “Be not vanquished or subdued by injury received from others. Do not suffer your temper to be excited; your Christian principles to be abandoned; your mild, amiable, kind, and benevolent temper to be ruffled by any opposition or injury which you may experience. Maintain your Christian principles amidst all opposition, and thus show the power of the gospel. They are overcome by evil who suffer their temper to be excited, who become enraged and revengeful, and who engage in contention with those who injure them.”
The heart of the redeemed is so changed that he is able to return evil with good. This is a manifestation of God’s grace in the believer’s life when we obey God’s will and see His enabling love in our lives. Are we the loser to return evil with good? Certainly not! God in heaven sees all the sufferings that take place in the lives of His people He will surely help them.