Blind Obedience?

“Must Caesar always be obeyed?”

With this simple question, Dr. James M. Boice encapsulates a host of questions that come readily to our minds as we read Paul’s exhortation in Romans 13:1: “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities.” As we saw in Friday’s study, Paul argues that such submission is appropriate for everyone, but especially for Christians, because all human authorities are established by God, and to disobey them is, at least in a sense, to rebel against God and risk His judgment. However, we are all aware that power tends to corrupt, so that the men and women who form our governments sometimes act in very ungodly ways. What then? “Are there no conditions under which rebellion against the existing authority is justified? Or demanded?” Boice writes. “Suppose the state is tyrannical. Suppose it is violating human rights. And what about obedience itself? Must obedience be absolute, or are there limits? Can we obey in some areas and not others?” These are not easy questions to answer.

Perhaps the best biblical principle for unravelling this knot comes from Jesus Himself. He said, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Matt. 22:21). Obviously, one of the things we are to render to the governing authorities (“Caesar”) is submission, just as Paul declares. But we must not forget to render to God the obedience due to Him. As long as the state does not prevent us from fulfilling this greater responsibility, there is no problem. But if by its ordinances or policies a government begins to limit believers’ ability to do what God clearly requires of them, Christians have no choice—they must disobey the state.

Boice believes that Christians are to be the very best of citizens in two ways. First, they are to submit to every legitimate expression of government authority. Second, they are to withhold their submission when government steps out of its proper role. Believers are to exercise their citizenship “by opposing the state verbally and by acts of noncompliance whenever the government strays from its legitimate God-given function or transgresses the moral law of God,” he writes. In this way, Christians prove themselves to be model citizens by summoning their government back to its proper role.