The Christian's Duty to the Civil Magistrate,
by Greg Loren Durand
Are all governments the “higher powers” spoken of by the Apostle Paul in Romans 13:1-7? Can every man who sits upon a throne or occupies public office lay just claim to the submission, honor, and tribute of Christians? Is every ruler the “minister of God”? Those who attempt to answer “yes” to these and similar questions can do so only by isolating Romans 13:1-7 away from the rest of Scripture and forcing this important passage to support a position to which, if read in their proper context, it is clearly opposed.
The Crown Rights of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the anointed Messiah-King over God’s international Kingdom, is the unmistakable theme of Holy Writ. Woven as a continuous thread throughout the poetic tapestry of the Psalms, heralded with the authority of Almighty God through the mouths of His Prophets, and testified unto by our Lord Himself and by His Apostles, both plainly and in parable, the public notice of the Son’s installment as King over the nations is so evident in the pages of the Bible that it demands our attention.
It was in this context that the Apostle Paul commanded his first-century readers, and us, to “submit... for conscience sake.” Christians are to submit to the godly civil magistrate as unto Christ Himself, because it is Christ’s scepter and Christ’s Law-Word which he holds in his hands as his authority and standard. Such a submission necessarily presupposes a covenantal theocracy — the rule of God through His exalted Son.
Opposed to this rule of Law is the rule of force — the very essence of tyranny. Scripture teaches that when men rebel against the theocratic Government of the Messiah-King, they default to a worship of the “god of force” and reject God’s Law in favor of the unholy and oppressive “law” of man. Such a government is described throughout the Bible as a “beast.” As demonstrated by pagan Rome at the time of Christ’s earthly ministry, a government that sets itself against the Kingdom of God will invariably trample the rights of Christian men and women under the heel of a military despotism. Indeed, there is no such thing as a benevolent government not covenanted to the Lord Jesus Christ, for it will eventually manifest the character of the one who gives it power — the Devil.
It should be noted that the Roman Christians, who had previously been told by the Apostle to submit to the “higher powers,” were commanded to resist the government of Rome in Revelation, chapter thirteen. They knew that to burn even a tiny pinch of incense to Caesar was to acknowledge his right to rule without having first submitted to the true King as the second Psalm demands. Refusing to legitimize Nero as a de jure (lawful) “minister of God,” the Christians chose to die for their only Lord rather than surrender even a pinch of His sovereignty to the ungodly State. And since the burning of incense to Caesar was an integral part of maintaining citizenship in Rome, the first-century Christians made it evident by their actions that they were publicly expatriating themselves from the world’s political system in favor of citizenship in Christ’s Kingdom. “No man can serve two masters,” Christ had said — their allegiance could not thus be divided.
In this book, the author exegetes Romans 13:1-7 and demonstrates from this and many other passages of Scripture that, rather than requiring the passive obedience and non-resistance of Christians to tyrants, the Bible teaches quite the opposite — we must resist, not only ungodly laws, but ungodly rulers themselves if we are to remain faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ.
[Update: The above was a press release sent out by Greg Durand for his book entitled "De Legis et Gubernatis The Christian's Duty to the Civil Magistrate." Mr. Durand wishes to inform readers that this book is no longer available and therefore SRT has removed the non-functioning hypertext link to the book from this press release. — SRT.]
Copyright 1999,
Permission is granted to allow individual file transfer, web posting, Usenet, and listserve posting of the above information.