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Romans 13: 1-13

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RELATING WITH THE GOVERNMENT Romans 13:1-7
By Rev. James May
At the end of chapter 12 Paul’s teaching to the church on how we should behave toward one another, and toward our enemies in the church comes to a close. In chapter 13 Paul now begins a new subject matter, even though it still relates to chapter 12, the Bible now addresses how all of mankind should behave toward those who are placed in positions of governance over us. This isn’t just for the church, but for everybody.
We are citizens of two kingdoms; one is the Kingdom of Heaven, and the other is the United States of America. As citizens of two kingdoms we must know how to obey the laws of both as best we can, but we must also never forget that we owe a higher allegiance to the Kingdom of Heaven. This world is not our ultimate home. We are pilgrims and strangers in this land, but even so, we are not given diplomatic …show more content…

For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
One thing we must be aware of is that the early church was constantly considered as a threat to the powers that held sway over them. Christianity began with a Jewish Carpenter from Bethlehem, and therefore it was a religion of the Jews. To be a Jew back then was no more tolerated by the rest of the world than than it is now.
Christianity, and the Jews are looked upon as having the same roots, which is true. Being in any way connected with the Jewish faith is all it takes for a lot of heathen rulers to become belligerent toward the church!
It was well-known that the Jews were of the seed Abraham, and that by their own law, they were to never have a king over them, and certainly not a king who was of a heathen nation, and a stranger in the Land of Israel.
It was because of the Jew’s adherence to this law that they resisted the government led by Romans. They had to pay tribute to Caesar, but they didn’t have to like it; and they resisted it every step of the

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