One Thought of Mine on Civil Government in the New Testament Era*

Image Credit: Media from Wix

In my last post, I briefly alluded to one belief I hold concerning the role of civil government in the New Testament era: namely, that civil government should criminalize and punish only what the Bible teaches, declares, and describes to be wrongs committed by human beings against other human beings, not wrongs done against God (i.e., unbelief, blasphemy, apostasy, false religion-whether unbiblical or pseudobiblical religion-false teaching/heresy, etc.). In a footnote to that remark, I said I would elaborate on the remark in my next post. So, this post is my attempt to fulfill my word! So, here we go!

Romans 13:1-7 says that Christians should submit to the civil governments God has providentially placed them under, as well as pay their taxes to those governments, because God has ordained those governments. It is sandwiched in between Romans 12:17-21 and Romans 13:8-10. Romans 12:17-21 commands Christians to not repay evil for evil, not avenge themselves but give place to God's wrath, and not be overcome of evil but instead overcome evil with good. Romans 13:8-10 says that love, which fulfills God's law, works no ill to one's neighbor ("ill" being the same Greek word translated as "evil" in Romans 12:17-13:7). Romans 13:3-5 says that rulers are not a terror to good works but to evil, to do good, that the civil ruler is a minister of God to the Christian for good, that the Christian should fear if he does evil, because the civil ruler, as God's minister, is an avenger to execute wrath on the evildoer, and the Christian must be subject not only because of wrath but also because of conscience. In Romans 13:8, it says that love fulfills God's law, followed by a list of prohibitions from the Ten Commandments concerning sins committed against human beings.This whole section repeats key terms: "good," "evil," "wrath," and different forms of the word "revenge." What am I getting at here? Going back to Romans 13:3-5, the Apostle Paul, by the Holy Spirit, tells us that God's purpose for civil government is to punish evil and praise good. But what is that "evil" and "good"? Romans 12:17-21 and Romans 13:8-10 talk about "good" and "evil" as done between human beings. They don't talk about any wrongs committed against God Himself. Granted, all sin is, ultimately, committed only against God (Psalm 51:4). But the kinds of sins (i.e. "evil") talked about in Romans 12:17-13:10 are not sins committed directly against God, but against our fellow man, who are others made in the image of God (James 3:9). So, it appears (emphasis on "appears") that, in the New Testament's philosophy of civil government, only crimes committed against human beings should be criminalized and punished by the state, not crimes committed against God. And other passages on civil government in the New Testament (i.e., Jesus's teaching in the Gospels to "render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's", 1 Peter 2:13-17, and Titus 3:1) don't appear to contradict that apparent teaching. So, this is my attempt to elaborate on my remark in my previous post!

A final note before I end this post: the link I will provide at the end of this post includes the series of videos that God used to bring me to the convictions about "good" and "evil" in Romans 12:17-13:10 that I hold to. Here it is: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBD92B7B8810CE0A2&si=auOVCEYxWOc1gxmr. However, I don't agree with the man in these videos saying that, when Romans 13:1-7 talks about submission to civil government, it is not talking about obedience to civil government.

*By the "New Testament Era," I mean the time from the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ to the Second Coming of Christ, which includes our current time.