What Oppressive Governments Cannot Do
00:00:00.000 | Pastor John, in the last podcast, in episode 43, we talked about civil disobedience, and
00:00:09.320 | there you suggested that the Apostle Paul wrote the early verses of Romans 13 under
00:00:13.560 | the assumption that Caesar himself would read the letter.
00:00:16.400 | The statements are really strongly put by the Apostle Paul for obedience to government
00:00:20.400 | in those verses.
00:00:22.160 | Explain this point further and the implications of your interpretation.
00:00:26.480 | When Paul says here, "Rulers," he's looking Caesar in the face and he's saying, "You,
00:00:33.000 | Mr. Caesar, you are a terror to what is bad, not a terror to what is good.
00:00:39.720 | Do you understand that?
00:00:41.160 | That's what you are.
00:00:42.160 | That's what God made you to be."
00:00:44.080 | He's not saying it always works that way.
00:00:46.840 | He's saying that's what it ought to be.
00:00:48.160 | I think he's using "is" statements to imply "ought" statements in order to communicate
00:00:55.480 | to the Caesar.
00:00:57.480 | I think if you were to ask me, "Why did he write it so absolutely?"
00:01:03.440 | You said, John, that he doesn't mean it absolutely.
00:01:07.400 | Why did he write it absolutely?
00:01:09.640 | My two answers are, number one, he knows, writing to Rome, this is going to be read
00:01:16.760 | by the authorities, and he wants to make sure the authorities hear his belief in them and
00:01:25.040 | deliver a subtle message to them, not a waving of your finger in their face, but this is
00:01:30.840 | what you're to do.
00:01:31.840 | You're to reward the good and punish the bad.
00:01:34.520 | The second reason, I think, is because we Christians are in much greater danger of hell
00:01:41.880 | by our own sinful pride and rebellion than we are by being abused by a government.
00:01:48.360 | A lot of people don't feel that.
00:01:49.680 | They feel like, "Wow, I think an oppressive government is more dangerous to me than my
00:01:55.920 | own sinfulness."
00:01:56.920 | I don't think so.
00:01:59.120 | An oppressive government will make your life miserable, but it cannot damn you.
00:02:04.360 | Your own sin and rebellion and anger and bitterness cannot only make your life miserable, it can
00:02:10.480 | send you to hell, and therefore Paul, I think, is writing these verses in Romans 13 in the
00:02:17.720 | way he does to cut in both directions.
00:02:21.400 | He has to protect himself against insurrection against the Romans, and he wants to guard
00:02:26.280 | Christians against getting their back up and being proud and arrogant, and so I think he
00:02:32.220 | writes it the way he does in the wider context of what he says to be understood as not absolute.
00:02:40.680 | Very sobering.
00:02:41.680 | Thank you, Pastor John, and thank you for listening to this podcast.
00:02:43.680 | Email your Bible questions to us at askpastorjohn@desiringgod.org.
00:02:47.600 | You can find thousands of other free resources online from johnpiper@desiringgod.org.
00:02:51.880 | I'm your host Tony Reinke.
00:02:52.880 | Thanks for listening.
00:02:53.440 | [END]
00:02:53.940 | 1.
00:02:54.940 | What is the purpose of the Bible?
00:02:55.940 | 2.
00:02:56.940 | What is the purpose of the Bible?
00:02:57.940 | 3.
00:02:58.940 | What is the purpose of the Bible?
00:02:59.940 | 4.
00:03:00.940 | What is the purpose of the Bible?
00:03:01.940 | 5.