For Conscience’ Sake

Paul is certainly not lacking for reasons why the Romans should heed his exhortation that they submit to their governing authorities. He already has told them that they should submit because doing otherwise will bring judgment from God (v. 2) and also perhaps from the state itself (v. 3). But now he adds that his readers should submit to the authorities not merely out of fear of punishment by God or government, but “for conscience’ sake.” What does he mean?

The word conscience is composed of the Latin prefix con, or “with,” and the Latin word scientia, or “knowledge.” Thus, it literally means “with knowledge.” In his commentary on Romans, Dr. James M. Boice notes that the conscience “involves our sense of what is right and wrong and, even more importantly, our awareness that we ought to do what is right.” In the doctrinal portion of Romans (chs. 1–11), Paul showed that all men have some knowledge of God (1:20–21) and of His requirements (1:32; 2:15). All people have some sort of innate understanding of God’s expectations. Equipped with this knowledge, they know that sin is wrong, but they do it anyway because of the overwhelmingly strong demands of their sinful natures. Still, their consciences condemn them unless they become seared by repeated disobedience and God gives them over to their sin (1:24, 26, 28). For Christians, however, the conscience can be an invaluable aid to obedience of God’s requirements (although it can become misguided by legalistic or antinomian teaching).

But why does Paul speak of conscience in this discussion of submission to government? It seems he wants the Romans to be spared the condemnation of their consciences in this area. “When Paul speaks of conscience, . . . he suddenly lifts the discussion of submission to the governing authorities from what we might call a merely pragmatic level to the highest possible plane,” Boice writes. “Now, instead of saying, ‘You should obey the state because you will get in trouble if you don’t,’ he says, ‘You should obey the state because that is the right thing to do, and you know you should do what is right.’ ” In other words, submitting to the governing authorities in their legitimate dictates—and opposing their illegitimate actions—will bring the satisfaction of knowing that we are obeying God’s desire for us.