Here’s why Paul wrote what he wrote (and it wasn’t in support of civil government)
The Attorney General infamously offered a biblical justification for tearing children away from parents at the border:
“I would cite to you the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13,” Sessions said Thursday in Indiana, “to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained them for the purpose of order.”
Romans 13 begins with this sentence: “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God.” (NRSV)
This is a troublesome passage because on its face it appears to bring Paul down on the side of respecting any governmental action regardless of how egregious. Most Christians intuitively know that’s wrong but don’t have immediate argument at hand to rebut it.
There are a number of very good recent responses from church leaders across the spectrum (which in itself is important) denouncing such a reading of the the Jewish/Christian scriptures. Most of them quote Hebrew scriptures commanding fair treatment for strangers or from Jesus and other Christian scriptures (including Paul) commanding loving treatment for all people.
Those are all powerful rebuttals especially considering their sources—from Roman Catholic bishops to evangelical Southern Baptists.
But most miss a point I think is even better: Paul was not writing about respecting civil authorities but about respecting religious authorities of the synagogue in the historical moment in which he wrote.
David May, Professor of New Testament, Central Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote a compelling article six years ago entitled “Context Is Key to Interpreting Romans 13:1-7” at EthicsDaily.com.
An excerpt:
We have misunderstood, misapplied and missed the point of these verses all because we have divorced them from the original context.
The original Judean context, specifically believers worshipping in the Roman synagogues, makes all the difference in the world how verses 1-7 are understood.
Let me illustrate this neglected context. First, rarely does a reader consider it odd that these few verses suddenly appear out of nowhere related to the Roman Empire and taxes.
Paul has spent chapter after chapter focused on internal community issues related to Judeans and Gentile believers. Why does Paul change direction from dealing with these issues and digress to a totally off-the-wall subject about Roman rule?
He doesn't. We have wrenched these verses out of their Judean context and made them service a de-Judaized interpretation - a thing they were never meant to do.
(Professor May cites Mark Nano’s book, The Mystery of Romans: The Jewish Context of Paul's Letters, upon which he bases his article.)
The key is that Paul was urging Roman Gentile Christians to respect Jewish synagogue authorities in Rome:
“In Romans 13:1-7,Paul is writing to Gentile believers in Rome to obey, not Roman secular/pagan authority, but to obey the God-ordained authority of the synagogue rulers in Rome.”
Paul was NOT writing about civil (Roman) governmental authority, and certainly not governmental authority in general. Yet this misconstruction of Romans 13 has led to its citation as support through history for many governmental acts of cruelty including in support of slavery and more recently Nazism by Hitler’s government.
Christians across the spectrum (and interested others) need to know the context for Romans 13 because of the tendency for civil authorities to quote it for their own illegitimate ends.
Professor May’s article explains the context of Paul’s writing in Romans 13 very clearly. The article is well worth the brief time it takes to read it.
