Chapter # 13 Paragraph # 1 Study # 1
August 16, 2020
Humble, Texas
(066)
1769 Translation:
1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:
4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to [
execute] wrath upon him that doeth evil.
5 Wherefore [
ye] must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.
6 For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.
7 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute [
is due]; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.
1901 ASV Translation:
1 Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.
2 Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.
3 For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same;
4 for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.
5 Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience' sake.
6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for [
rulers] are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing.
7 Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax [
is due;] custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.
- I. At Issue: The Believer's Responsibilities To Authorities.
- A. "Every soul..."
- 1. The choice to identify people as "souls" is deliberate.
- a. Paul only uses "soul" (psuche) four times in Romans.
- 1) 2:9 -- the use here is within the context of Paul's challenge to the arrogant and impenitent whose approach to life is "judgmental" in respect to others. His statement is that "...tribulation and distress [will be] upon every 'soul' of man who does evil...". That he wrote not "...upon every soul who does evil...", but, rather, "...upon every soul of man who does evil..." strongly suggests that he is not addressing "man" (as in "a person"), but the "soul of man" (as one particular element in the makeup of every man). This is in harmony with Paul's delineation of man's need for sanctification in every aspect of his being: "...spirit and soul and body..." (1 Thessalonians 5:23).
- a) At issue is this "judgmental" attitude, which is a powerful 'relational' issue (how persons relate to other persons).
- b) That he uses "soul" pushes this "relational" realm to the fore because it has been cast as the realm of "the lust of the eyes". The issue of this realm is "security"; the soul experiences "life" (not as a physical concept, but as an emotional reality) by reason of strong, supportive, relationships with other "persons".
- c) That this first use in Romans has to do with the extremely destructive characteristic of a "judgmental attitude" is instructive: no "relationship" can stand the hyper-critical attitude of condemnation.
- 2) 11:3 -- the use here is from Elijah's complaint that he is the sole remaining "prophet of the Lord" and that his adversaries are "seeking my soul" as at least an element of "...they killed Your prophets [and] tore down Your altars...". There is, in this, the possibility that Elijah meant "...they are seeking my life..." (since that is all that the wicked can take from a man -- Matthew 10:28), but the inclusion of "altars" as the places where God is worshiped may well indicate that what the wicked actually wish to do is to destroy Elijah's "soul" as that element of him that 'relates to God in relational harmony'. His enemies would have been satisfied if he would have joined them in their idolatries. They would not have sought to kill his "body" if he had been willing for his "soul" to die by reason of a departure from faith in Yahweh. This is the issue in all manner of "persecutions": not the death of the body as a martyr, but the death of the soul as an apostate who allows the persecutions to drive a wedge between his "soul" and God.
- 3) 13:1 -- our current text. The overall impact of this text is "properly relating to those who are in authority as those in dominion over relational life".
- 4) 16:4 -- the use here is within Paul's "greetings", and his basis for "greeting" Prisca and Aquila is that they "...for my soul risked their own necks...". I am unaware of the historical record of this "risk" (unless it had to do with their willingness to take him into their home while he was engaged in "reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath", and, thus, risking the consequences of their association with him because of the opposition in Corinth). In that setting, the Lord gave Paul an encouraging vision to tell him to keep on speaking in the face of strong opposition: Acts 18:9.
- b. Paul's other uses of "soul" do not fit the idea of "physical life" very well.
- 1) Even as Paul's use of "soul" in our current text (13:1) has to do with "condemnation" and "fear" with attending ideas of "wrath" and "conscience", so also does his use of "soul" fits into his "theology" of soul as revealed by his other references to it in his letters.
- 2) His other references in other letters.
- a) 1 Corinthians 15:45 -- "The first Adam became a "living soul" contrasts with "The last Adam [is/was/became] a "life-giving spirit". This is a deliberate contrast between "soul" and "spirit". This is the only reference to "soul" in all of the First Letter to the Corinthians.
- b) 2 Corinthians 1:23 -- "God as witness to my soul" is not about "God being a witness" regarding Paul's "life", but, rather, regarding the condition of his "soul" as a "truth-teller" in respect to his refusal to "come again to Corinth" because such a coming would have been "relationally destructive" in that he would have had to bring with him a commitment to deal harshly with the arrogant (1 Corinthians 4:21).
- c) 2 Corinthians 12:15 -- "I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved". Again, intensely "relational", not "physical" (for the life of their bodies), nor "spiritual" (for the life of their spirits).
- d) Ephesians 6:6 -- "...as servants of Christ doing the will of God from the soul..." (not "heart" as the NASB mistranslates it). The focus is upon "relating" to "masters" as "slaves" as those who do the will of God out of the "soul".
- e) Philippians 1:27 -- "...stand fast in one spirit, with one soul striving together for the faith...". Clearly blending "spirit" with "soul" (not "mind" as the NASB again falsely translates it) in "steadfastness" of purpose.
- f) Philippians 2:30 -- a statement about the level of commitment in Epaphroditus in that he was willing to die, risking his "soul" to complete the work of Christ to serve Paul.
- g) Colossians 3:23 -- "Whatever you do, do your work 'out of soul' (again, not "heartily" as in the NASB) as to Lord and not to men". The relationship that is critical here is that of the believer to Christ as opposed to the believer to men.
- h) 1 Thessalonians 2:8 -- "...being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you...our own souls, because you were dear unto us". Interestingly the translators of the NASB actually got it right in this case.
- i) 1 Thessalonians 5:23 -- in this last use of "soul" by Paul in the New Testament he sets forth the need for "sanctification" in every one of the three aspects of man (spirit, soul, and body). This is, hands down, the clearest declaration of man's composition made by Paul in the New Testament.
- 2. The Point: Paul is moving into the "topic" of how one is to "relate to" authority when it is exercised by other men.
- a. Paul's use of "authority" (exousia) in Romans.
- 1) 9:21 -- "...does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make ... one ... and another...?" is the question that is raised when Paul sets forth the absolute "authority" of God to "determine" how things will develop. Here Paul is dealing with a "man" having the audacity to "answer back" to "God". This reveals just how critical it is in Paul's thinking that "men" never forget that all they are is "men", and how real is "man's" opposition to "authority" when it impinges upon his experience in both time and eternity.
- 2) 13:1, 2, and 3 -- these are the only other references to "authority" by Paul in Romans by means of his use of this particular word, and, again, at issue is a "man's" response to being in subjection to the "authority" of another.
- b. In Paul's other uses of this term in his other letters, he uses it to indicate "having the 'right' to make personal decisions about his own direction in life" (1 Corinthians 9:4-6 being an example of this meaning). This fits Paul's strong awareness of just how hard men cling to their "right" to be "in control of" their own lives through decisions they make. This is, at root, the fundamental "problem" between men and God: they detest His dominion over them and the situations to which He subjects them as His "subjects".
- 1) Clarity on this issue is established by Paul in several of these other references to this issue: "rights" are those delineated by the Word of God (1 Corinthians 9:3-23) and refusing to exercise them so as to be a "slave" to others is a 'superior' way of responding to the principle of "Love" (1 Corinthians 9:19).
- 2) Paul's "point" is that "rights" really are "rights" when God has extended them to us, but they do not have to be exercised. Being a "slave" to others for their sakes is the "godly" condition. Afterall, "the Kingdom of The God" is a "Servant Kingdom" (Mark 10:43).
- 3) Being a "martyr" to be faithful to Jesus is, on the principle of "if you have done this to the least of My brethren, you have do it unto Me", the same thing as being a "martyr" for the sake of a fellow believer and, even greater, on the principle of "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us", being a "martyr" for the sake of an enemy is the exalted standard of taking part in the Kingdom of The God. Wow, how contradictory is The Faith and The Love to this world's "delusive dreams".