Romans 13 Is Not a Theology of the State

We sometimes hear that Romans 13 discloses a theology of the state to be used as a pattern today without further qualification, but this well-intended assumption is incorrect.

Nov 22, 2024

Dear friends and supporters,

We sometimes hear that Romans 13 discloses a theology of the state to be used as a pattern today without further qualification, but this well-intended assumption is incorrect. A biblical theology of the state is possible only after carefully investigating and properly weighing all of the biblical data. Even that course isn’t sufficient. To have a proper understanding of the state in the Christian worldview, we need to consider it within the context of the Bible’s creation-fall-redemption storyline, which is also the irreducible basic of the Christian worldview.

Nonetheless Romans 13:1–7 is important, and not just because, like all other Bible passages, it’s the infallible word of God. It shows us God’s will mediated through Paul to Christians living under a particular kind of regime, the dictatorial Roman Empire. By contrast, we live within a constitutional republic. This fact doesn’t negate what Paul taught in Romans 13, but it should cause us to be careful about assuming everything Romans 13 teaches must without further consideration apply to Christians today. Just as we wouldn’t assume Christians should work to reinstitute slavery on the grounds Paul gives instructions to both masters and slaves, so we shouldn’t decontextualize Romans 13 and assume everything about it must equally apply in every political situation in history.

Now available from the Center for Cultural Leadership in both print and digital. If you want 10+ copies, PM me for quantity prices.

Attendees of the Dec. 7 symposium on the recent election will get a complimentary copy.

David Bahnsen on "the parallel economy."

George Grant on two cities and one kingdom.

Joe Boot on biblical law and creational law.

Brian Mattson on natural law.

Jeff Ventrella on what the state must and must not do.

Levi Second on sphere sovereignty.

P. Andrew Sandlin on the state in the Christian worldview, biblical law and Christian culture, and the conceptual Overton Window.

Get the book here.

Summary of Romans 13:17

First, let’s summarize what Romans 13 is teaching

The apostle Paul was writing to the church at Rome, living within the Roman Empire, which was anything but Christian. Only about three centuries later did the Roman Empire become Christian, so Paul’s definition of Christian responsibility to the state and the state’s responsibility to its citizens doesn’t denote a specifically Christian state.

His exhortation to these early Christians was:

• First, Christians must submit to the state (v. 1a). There is no room for political revolutionaries.

• Second, state authority is delegated by God (v. 1b). The state is never autonomous.

• Third, to rebel, therefore, against state authority is to rebel against God, since he established it (v. 2b). Even a pagan state maintains public order, a condition God requires.

• Fourth, the state is authorized to suppress and punish those who violate its duly ( = divinely) constituted authority (v. 3). The state is the only institution permitted to employ physical coercion to enforce its laws. (Parents are permitted to use such coercion with minor children only in a very limited way.)

• Fifth, the state is designed for man’s benefit and not his harm (v. 4). The state is a necessary evil, but in the fallen world it protects society from some of the worst instances of human depravity.

• Sixth, the Christian must obey not only to avoid punishment, but also to keep a clear conscience before God (v. 5). Because God has authorized the state, when we disobey the state, we disobey God.

• Seventh, Christians (like all other citizens) must pay taxes to keep the state operating (vv. 6–7a). Taxes are not anti-Christian, and our Lord himself stated that paying taxes to Caesar is God-honoring (Mk. 12:17).

• Eighth, Christians must respect and honor state officials (v. 7b), since they are God’s delegated authorities.

Paul isn’t laying down a theology of the state; he’s communicating Christian responsibility to the state as a divine institution in the situation the first-century Christians in Rome found themselves.

Nor is he implying every state that claims to be a state is in fact a state. Rather, Paul is addressing a specific issue. It’s important to see that Christian obligation to the state would not have been self-evident to the first Christians. After all, the state is an institution of retribution, and one of the obvious tenets of Christianity is that we leave retribution in the hands of God. Paul had just written, in fact:

Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say,
“I will take revenge;
I will pay them back,”
says the Lord.
(Rom. 12:19, NLT)

Christians of the New Testament era might easily have gotten the impression the state is anti-God because it’s an inherent agency of vengeance. Paul assures them this is not the case. As individuals, we’re not to take vengeance. But the state operates in its own sphere (sphere sovereignty), according to its own unique inner principles, and taking appropriate vengeance is one of those principles.

Not a Pattern of a Christian State

Second, Romans 13, with the pagan Roman Empire specifically in view, is obviously not a pattern for the Christian state, though Christians are required within a Christian state to treat it no less deferentially than they’re required in a non-Christian state.

Civil Disobedience in Limited cases Is Permitted — and Required

Third, we might assume reading only Romans 13 that there is no room in Christianity for civil disobedience. This obviously is false. The Bible, in fact, contains numerous examples of the godly whom God blessed for obeying him rather than a rebellious state (the Hebrew midwives in Egypt; the three captive Hebrew boys in Daniel; the original apostles; and Paul himself, for example). Civil disobedience in the Christian worldview can be summarized as this: we must disobey the state when it requires what the Bible forbids (murdering your newborn children, worshiping the state), or forbids what the Bible requires (preaching the Gospel, rearing your children in the Faith), but we may not disobey the state merely on the grounds it is not Christian.

Objective Standard of Good and Evil

Finally, the fact that Paul writes the state must punish evil presupposes an objective standard of good and evil. In other words, not only is the state’s authority derived from God; its ethics aren’t arbitrary. Paul is assuming the Roman Empire knew the difference between right and wrong. He’d already asserted this in Romans 1:18–20, 32. Unbelievers know who God is, and they even know his law (2:14–15), but they suppress both. How is it, then, that a pagan Roman Empire can preserve the basics of divine ethics — you may not murder, steal, rape, and so forth? This is due to God’s common grace, that is, grace showered on all men irrespective of their spiritual condition. The state is one of the most obvious and beneficial examples of God’s common grace in his world.

Romans, 13, therefore, must be considered when formulating the idea of the state in the Christian worldview, though we may not decontextualize it, as if it were a theology of the state. A theology of the state must spring from a Christian worldview, to which the Bible infallibly contributes.

Only a Few Seats Left

As I write these lines, there are about 6 seats left for the CCL annual symposium December 7 in the San Francisco Bay Area. There’s no cost for attendance, but it’s by invitation only, so please contact me privately if you wish to attend.

The theme is: “Election 2024 and 2060.” We’ll be addressing such topics as: What just happened in the election, and where do we go from here? What in the world has happened to the Democratic Party? What in the world has happened to the Republican Party? What have been the consequences of the end of Roe and the beginning of Dobbs? What do we need to do in culture today to assure political victories in the future? And much, much more.

The day includes a continental breakfast and a catered gourmet lunch. The time is 9 am to 3 pm. The venue is a gorgeous Bayfront hotel, but we don’t advertise the location on social media for obvious reasons. Airport shuttle to the hotel is quick and easy, and we get special hotel rates for those wishing to stay on Friday and/or Saturday night.

Read the article here.

The Antioch Declaration

Friends, please consider signing this major statement exposing the neo-Nazism, racism, and antisemitism currently afflicting Reformed (and other iterations of) Christianity, particularly among young men. It was not hastily conceived or drafted, but is the product of a great deal of prayer and deliberation.

If you agree with it, please publicize it in your own circles.

Read and sign the Antioch Declaration here.

I’ll see many of you at the Dec. 7 symposium.

God bless you all this Thanksgiving.

Yours for the cosmic Lord,

Founder & President, Center for Cultural Leadership

Isaiah 49:1–2