Studying His Word and His Works

Listen to the study here: Romans 13:4-5

Read here: Romans 13

Review

• Calvin on the theme of Romans: “Man’s only righteousness is the mercy of God in Christ, when it is offered by the Gospel and received by faith.” Romans 1:17 and elsewhere.
• IMPORTANT: Paul wrote the letter to the saints (1:7), and the letter is about the gospel, which is a reminder we need to preach the gospel to ourselves daily. 
• Luther: Simul iustus et peccator = At the same time, righteous and a sinner! Romans 3:23-25
• In Ch. 1-3 Paul shows us our unrighteousness, and God’s wrath against that, and then switches to Christ’s righteousness as our covering, the propitiation of our sins (Romans 3:25) as the final sacrifice for sin, fulfilling the promise to Abraham, who had faith before any works
• Faith being “counted” or “credited to our account” as righteousness is mentioned 11 times in Chapter 4! If “none are righteous” as Paul wrote in Romans 3:10, then this saving faith must be a gift from God.
• Ch. 5, We now have peace with God, access to God, and hope, because of what Christ did for us while we were weak(v. 6), sinners (v. 8), and enemies (v. 10). Christ did this “at the right time,” (v. 6), connecting Christ’s work on the cross and God’s plan of redemption to real history (not just a myth or legend).
• Atonement(5:6-11): Jesus satisfying God’s wrath for us through His sacrificial death on the cross.
• Ch. 5 and 6 describe federalism, this idea of one man making a difference, for righteousness (Jesus) or wickedness (Adam). 
• Ch 6 ended with lots of words pointing to the new road we are now on with Christ, the sanctification road.
  • Service is the key word, “slaves” used 8 times
  • “Present yourselves”(5), “Leads to”(5)
• Sproul: “our regeneration, our rebirth was the work of one Person, God. It was not a joint venture; but from the moment we take our first breath of regenerated spiritual life, it  becomes a joint effort.” the work of one Person is what salvation is about. The joint venture is what sanctification is about. Ch.6 ends and we continue into Ch.7 describing what this “sanctification road” looks like to walk down. We were on the sin road that leads to death, but now we are on the grace road that leads to eternal life.
• Chapter 8 is describing the assurance we have as Christians in salvation. Deus pro nobis – God for us. It is a reminder of God’s sovereignty over our salvation, and God’s infinite wisdom, in the creation, fall, redemption plan he has for not just us, but the whole world. Ultimately, God, not us, foreknows, predestines, calls, justifies and glorifies. There are many verses (Romans 2:4, John 3:16, etc) that point to God’s patience with everyone, His love for everyone, that none should perish (2 Peter 3:9), so I believe there is some free will in there somewhere, perhaps an ability to answer the call, or not. But, even if we answer the call, it is God who initiated. Even if we are crying out for God, “feeling our way to Him” like Acts 17:27 says, we are only doing this because He has already called. We are MORE THAN CONQUERORS, not on our own of course, but “through Him who loved us” from before time began. 
• Chapter 9 continues on the point of election, which, if you think about it, Paul has been discussing since Romans 1:1 when he said he was “set apart”. Paul continues to hammer the point that it is God’s free will, not ours, that matters most. It’s good to keep in mind the complexity of God, as he is not just electing, but he is doing a bunch of things simultaneously and eternally. He is electing, foreknowing, predestining, calling, justifying, glorifying, answering prayer, “giving them over to a debased mind” (Romans 1:28-32) while also being kind as a means to lead people to repentance (Romans 2:4), showing mercy to some and hardening others (9:18). It’s like God is working on an eternal and therefore infinite scale, but also an instantaneous and therefore infinitesimal scale. Pastor John Macarthur, who went home to Jesus recently, described this as a parallelism, God’s sovereign election running alongside the “whoever believes in Him will have eternal life” of John 3:16. It is Euler’s “every instant,” of God initiating, so the saved are always indebted to Him. And it’s also Paul’s “unceasing anguish” for the lost in 9:2, something we should ask God to give us, too. And something that clearly shows that God predestines us to a team, His team, and we are working with Him to save sinners. He’s just team captain and MVP. He gets all the glory!
  • Also remember that Paul references almost 50 OT verses in Chapter 9 alone. He is retelling Israel’s story in many places to serve as a reminder of God’s sovereign will over nations, but also individuals like Pharoah, Moses, Jacob and Esau, etc. Some want to say election is only about nations, or only individuals, but this is another both/and. 
  • Romans 9:6 is key (I think) to understanding a lot of Ch. 9-11. We need to keep going back to this, that “not all Israel belongs to Israel.” What Paul is getting at here is that true Israel are believers, regardless of nation or ancestry.
• Chapter 10 also discusses election, as well as Macarthur’s “parallelism”, or even the “3 strands are not easily broken” analogy in Ecclesiastes 4:12. That’s more what some of Chapter 10 is describing, because God could just yell the gospel down from heaven if He wanted, but he chooses to use us, weak on our own but strong in Him. Ch. 10 describes a deep, personal bond God has with believers. Paul also describes Israel’s history of disobedience, how they did not hear the gospel, but in Ch. 11 again reminds that God preserves a remnant.
• In Chapter 11, there is one tree, with branches being broken off and grafted in. One body of covenant believers, and broken branches are those who had the outward signs like circumcision (OT) or baptism (NT) but no belief, no Holy Spirit-given gift of faith, no imputation of Christ’s righteousness. Chapter 11 hints that God works through individuals of course, but also nations, and that He is not done with ethnic Israel. He used Israel’s “stumbling” to lead the Gentiles to salvation, and these verses say he will eventually use the Gentiles to lead Israel to salvation. Paul also reiterates that salvation is by grace, not works, that God is merciful in spite of man’s disobedience. Paul ends Ch. 11 with what Calvin called “finitum non capax infinitum,” meaning, “the finite cannot grasp the fullness of the infinite.” Stay humble, don’t think you have to figure everything out about God because you can’t! It’s also important to note that all Paul says in Ch. 11 is that God still has a plan for Israel. The only emphasis Paul makes in Ch. 9-11 is on their salvation, on a mission mindset, which is something modern evangelical churches should refocus on. Getting away from blind political support for Israel, and praying for and getting the gospel to Jew and Gentile in the region. 
• Chapter 12 saw a switch from mostly describing God and his character, to application for believers. To discipleship. Verses 1-2 describe the importance for Christians to turn from the world, the “spirit of the age” and present themselves to Christ. With the Holy Spirit in you now as a Christian, He WILL renew your mind, whether you like it or not, but it is a joint effort, it is clear it is not robotic, you have choices to make, to turn and present (v. 1), or not, to think with sober judgment (v. 3), or not, to do everything in verses 9-21 that you can as a Christian, or not. Verses 3-8 focused on spiritual gifts, which make us unique in the body, while verses 9-21 describe things that all Christians can be, regardless of gifts. Ch. 12 ended with a Proverbs 25:21-22 reference to smother evil with good, and a judicial system that upholds 10 Commandment based laws is one way. All three spheres (family, church, civil government) executing justice and mercy in accordance with their positions is a good thing.

Intro

• Key words are from verses 4-8; we will just cover 4-5 in this post: to, God(‘s), owe(d) (6); one, taxes (3); wrath, servant, honor, love, pay, be wrong, avenge(r) (2)
  A proper civil magistrate carries out God’s wrath on earth. It requires money to run it, which is why we have taxes. A proper civil magistrate frees us up to focus on loving each other. 
• Another title for these verses could be “By What Standard?” In other words, by what standard are you going to judge the world? What is your government going to be like? What is the rule? How are these governing authorities in v.1 supposed to define what is “good?” What are they supposed to govern if they don’t know what is good and what is evil? Are you going to have shifting standards or one standard and enforce it? 
  • What was man’s original responsibility? God’s first, and only rule for humanity was for people to make rules, to “have dominion” is what Genesis 1:26-28 says. The original design was for mankind to be self-governing. Since the Fall, man could no longer be self-governing and needed help, we needed to know what the rules were, and so God set those in place for us, even though we really know what they are.
• Here’s something to consider: When you go to the gas station to buy 10 gallons of gas, how do you know you got 10 gallons? Have you ever brought a 10 gallon container with you to test and see if the gas pump is accurate? Nobody ever does this, but why? We trust the system that’s why. That you don’t have to worry about it is actually one of the biggest achievements of Western Civilization, that when you go buy 10 gallons of gas, you pay for 10 gallons and not 7 gallons. And where does this idea of having honest measurements come from? What is the oldest book on the planet, and really the only book on the planet, that describes the importance of honest measurement standards? The Bible! Read Proverbs 20:23, or Deuteronomy 25:13-16. These verses are telling us to maintain standards, and the reason for that is because not doing so is stealing, a violation of the 8th commandment. So, just the act of maintaining the same standard for everyone, whether at the gas pump or elsewhere, when we do that we are restoring God’s kingdom on earth, as it is in heaven, saying yes to righteousness and no to wickedness.
• Imagine a nation with shifting standards, where, like in late 18th Century France, there were over 100 different measurements for a “bushel” in just one part of France (see Measuring America). Or, living in a place where “the commonest deceit was simply to use two sets of weights and containers, the large one for buying, the small for selling”, which still occurs today in some places. Imagine trying to stop practices like that and instead have only 1 standard, and enforce it? And it would require force at times to get people to adhere to one standard. Who decides what the standard is? Who decides it is “good” to have one, unchanging standard? There is not one person on the planet that is like “gee I hope I get ripped off at the gas station today because they changed the standard for a gallon of gas.”  But history shows that the Bible is the original source of this idea, and history shows that Christian principles will be the best at defining “good”, and from that, establishing justice, but also mercy and peace. 
  • Thomas Sowell, a famous economist and thought leader once said: “If you are not prepared to use force to defend civilization, then be prepared to accept barbarism.”
    Does this discussion of measurement standards help you see why standards are important, and in particular biblical standards? Nobody on the planet wants their stuff stolen. And we can see from just that one command how that creates the need for a government to enforce rather than us running around avenging ourselves, lest we get barbarism and chaos. 
• Verse 4
  • The civil magistrate is God’s chosen avenger from verse 12:19, but there is another great both/and here, because civil magistrates can end up “calling evil good,” which invokes the “if possible” of 12:18, that, “as far as it depends on you,” or in other words, if the civil magistrate is calling evil, good, and you see it, then it may not be possible to live peaceably with that situation until it is smothered out with good. These verses are saying a nation stays at peace best when it is filled with Christ-honoring individuals, and if that is the foundation, then government, which is made up of those individuals, will properly administer God’s vengeance. Do you really think a government filled with Christ-hating individuals will be a terror to bad conduct as v. 3 describes? Possibly, but the chances are much less, which is why we need BOTH the civil magistrate, AND the individual’s “if possible” to resist and correct. Our constitution is set up with this both/and in mind. It begins with “We the people” AND it lays out the governing system. 
  • Sproul describes two big issues related to this, war and the death penalty.
    • What are the wages of sin? The death penalty. As Christians, what are we saved from? God’s wrath, His vengeance. We are saved from the death penalty. So, these verses are saying there are two ways we can receive the death penalty, either by God directly or by his planetary avengers, the civil magistrate. By what standard do you want the civil magistrate to define what a “wrongdoer” is? Do you want a biblical standard, or how about the Mormons and their shifting standards, dependent on whoever is in charge? Like maybe Brigham Young, who taught some sins are unforgivable, and could only be paid for by sacrificing yourself, a so-called “blood atonement.” Or how about the Hawaiian standards back before they abandoned the kapu system, when women could receive the death penalty for eating a banana? What do you think about those standards?
    • Paul’s bear the sword remark is a historical connection back to Genesis 3:22-24 and God placing cherubim with flaming swords at the gates of Eden to guard it from sinful man. This is the first instance of a physical deterrent to evil being established. Plus their swords are pretty cool, “flaming swords,” which kind-of sounds like they had light sabers haha.
    • Specifically regarding the death penalty (capital punishment), this is laid out first in Genesis 9, the death penalty if you kill someone. “By man his blood shall be shed,” meaning this is the job of the civil magistrate. Originally, before sin, the death penalty for disobedience was also in place. The difference at the Noahic covenant in Genesis 9 was now God also gave man the job of administering the death penalty. Before the Fall, this was just up to God. 
      • Note in particular the value placed on human life. On the sanctity of life. Life is so important to God, that He had only one rule that resulted in the death penalty. In fact, the original plan was eternal life. That’s how much God values life. He didn’t design it to be a temporary thing but an eternal thing. But he also didn’t create robots, and gave humans free will, to choose to value life like God did, or not and be deceived by Satan into thinking life wasn’t that valuable. 
      • Some want to say the death penalty is wrong, that it devalues human life. But that’s not the case. Originally, God intended life to be such a big deal, to be so important, that he designed it to last forever. Man’s rebellion ended it, and the only way to restore it was for Jesus to live a perfect life and be the propitiation of our sins. To have our sins imputed to Christ, and His righteousness imputed to us. God values human life so much that he allowed His own son to die in our place so that we could live. 
      • Genesis 9:6 reminds again that humans are made in the image of God. Nothing else was made that way. So when you destroy a human life you are destroying God’s image bearer, and that includes the unborn. 
      • Evil people start by trying to shoot holes in Genesis. “There is no God, I am god” they say, which then means we weren’t created uniquely in His image, and it also means God didn’t design us to be immortal. And since none of that is real they say, then if we kill someone, it’s not thaaaat big a deal, is it? So, the fool says it’s not okay for God to set the standards on what does and doesn’t deserve the death penalty in this life or the next, but it’s okay for me to do this since I am god, and so I’m gonna say let the murderers free and let’s kill unborn babies even though science confirms life begins at conception. 
        • Notice how these are exact talking points of the left. Against you being able to protect your family and the lives of your loved ones (against 2A), but also against the death penalty for murderers (because life really isn’t that important), while the life of the unborn is irrelevant. So a fool’s position is that life is not sacred. They aren’t against the death penalty because they are pro-life, they are against the death penalty because God is for it. They are pro abortion because God is anti-abortion. They are against the 2A because God is for it. 
      • Regarding war, Sproul says Romans 13:4 is foundational to historical Christian ethics regarding just-war theory, which is that nations have the right to protect themselves from aggressors. You can’t just invade another nation. That’s why nations have legal methods for non-citizens to become citizens. This is why we have passports, border patrol, ICE, etc. 
        • The father is protector of a family as a policeman is protector of a community as a military is protector of a nation. The biblical model is protecting the innocent, protecting the sanctity of life. The biblical model is defensive. The biblical model is not offensive “regime change” wars, which our own government has unfortunately been involved with in recent decades. The biblical model is “peace if possible, truth at all costs”, as Martin Luther said.
        • Sproul: “The sword is necessary because there is sin in the world, and the sword is given to work against and to restrain evildoers in order to protect the lives of the innocent.” 
• Verse 5
  • Obey the civil magistrate for the sake of conscience. It always helps to remember Paul was a Roman citizen, that Rome itself had a large amount of corruption, and that Paul was eventually beheaded at the request of the emperor, Nero. Even in all of that, Paul reminds that God appointed them to be in charge, and for the sake of our own conscience we should obey the authorities. It does seem strange that Paul let them take him to be beheaded, but we don’t know the whole story there. Possibly, he knew that if he fled, his friends could get blamed, and then even more people would be murdered than just him. Unlike baby Moses, who was illegally hidden from Pharoah in his decree to kill all the firstborn, Paul was not hidden from Nero’s decree to kill him. 
  • God’s word is good. We want a civil magistrate that agrees and therefore bears the sword in a way that “heaps burning coals” on evil. What Paul describes in verses 3 and 4 is the ideal situation. But, when that doesn’t happen, God is still sovereign and allowing evil within the government. We need to use wisdom, use our conscience, to discern when to be and not be a “conscientious objector.” The old WWI film, Sergeant York, is a great example of this. 
  • Verse 5 says government authorities are ministers of God. Therefore, we would prefer authorities who believed God and his word. That is what America’s founders had in mind. For example, according to a 1984 paper by Lutz and Hyneman, if we ask “what book was most frequently cited by Americans during the founding era, the answer somewhat surprisingly is: the Book of Deuteronomy.”
    • Lutz and Hyneman reviewed an estimated 15,000 political writings of Americans, written between 1760 and 1805, when the declaration of independence and constitution were written.
    • Based on the Lutz & Hyneman study and supporting analysis from Donald Lutz’s follow-up work (The Origins of American Constitutionalism, 1988), here’s a breakdown (using alter.systems AI tool) of which specific Scriptures were most cited by Founding-era writers when discussing law, government, civil authority, and constitutional structure:
      
      📖 Most Frequently Cited Scriptures for Law & Government
      🏛 1. Deuteronomy – Covenantal Law & Civil Order
      Most cited book of the Bible.
      Deut. 1:13–17 – Choose wise men to judge the people (basis for representative government).
      Deut. 17:14–20 – Restrictions on kings and limits on civil rulers (proto-constitutional principles).
      Deut. 28 – Blessings and curses for national obedience or rebellion (national covenant theology).
      Deut. 31:9–13 – Public reading of law before the people (basis for written constitution).
      ⚖ 2. Exodus – Law, liberty, and resistance to tyranny
      Exodus 18:21–22 – Moses appoints rulers under him → Hierarchical but accountable government.
      Exodus 20 (Ten Commandments) – Moral law as foundation for civil law.
      Exodus 1:17 – Hebrew midwives fear God and disobey Pharaoh → Justification for resisting unjust rulers.
      👑 3. 1 Samuel 8 – Warning about centralized power
      Samuel warns that a king will tax, conscript, and oppress the people.
      He describes what happens when citizens trade liberty for security (often cited by pastors and pamphleteers).
      📜 4. Isaiah & Proverbs – Justice and righteous rule
      Proverbs 29:2 – “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice…”
      Isaiah 33:22 – “For the Lord is our Judge, Lawgiver, and King” → referenced as three-branch government model.
      🧱 5. Romans 13 & Acts 5:29 – Civil authority vs. higher law
      Romans 13 – Government as servant of God for justice → framework for lawful authority.
      Acts 5:29 – “We must obey God rather than men.” → limits of obedience to civil power.
      
      📊 Founders’ Biblical Themes in Civil Government
      
      Covenant = Constitution
      Deuteronomy
      Written law, oath-based government
      Distributed power
      Exodus 18; Deut. 1
      Representation and checks
      Limits on rulers
      Deut. 17; 1 Sam. 8
      Anti-tyranny, limited government
      Right to resist tyranny
      Exodus 1; Acts 5:29
      Resistance to unjust authority
      Moral law as civil foundation
      Exodus 20; Proverbs
      Law grounded in absolute moral order
      
      🎯 Key Takeaway
      The Founders did not quote the Bible generically — they specifically used covenant passages (Deuteronomy, Exodus) to justify written constitutions, representative structures, and limits on state authority.
      
      
    • From my Founders Bible on page 1765-66, it states that in John Locke’s Two Treatises of Government, he references the Bible about 1,500 times! And his use of the Bible is considered moderate compared to Blackstone (see Lutz and Hyneman paper).
    • Did you know Pennsylvania and some other colonies passed laws to bring slavery to an end, but the laws were vetoed by King George, the supposedly Christian King of England? 
    • The majority of Americans at the time of the Declaration of Independence believed Romans 13:1-7(and Romans 12, Acts 5:29, etc), were to be interpreted as saying “Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.” They were saying that they were NOT for anarchy, they believed in the role of government as described in Romans 13. They were pro-Romans 13, but anti-tyrant. 
    • Another big thing the majority were for is that defense, not offense, is what Romans 12-13 describe (p. 1769 of Founder’s Bible). This is also what we concluded by considering ALL of Romans.
      • ”Don’t fire unless fired upon” was coined during the American Revolution, by Americans, not British!
  • What did we discuss in the previous study? That of all the ideologies out there, Christianity is the most likely to form a government that prioritizes peace, justice and mercy. And look at what we just found out about our government, that it’s rooted in biblical principles and that the founders quoted the Bible more than any other book, and the next closest books were by people who were pro Christian even though they were considered “Enlightenment scholars.” So, when you hear the phrase “Christian nationalism” used in a derogatory way, especially by other Christians, think of what you learned here. Share with a smile that the Supreme Court declared the USA a Christian nation in 1892. Get them a copy of the Founders Bible that helps explain the “why” behind this. Remind them we are a constitutional republic, not a democracy, because of the Bible. We don’t have a king because of the Bible. We have checks and balances on authority because of the Bible. We have hierarchy but also accountability in government because of the Bible. We have covenantal law and civil order because of the Bible. And our government is to be a terror to evil because of what God’s word says in the Bible.
• Up next, Romans 13:6-14.