Chapter # 13 Paragraph # 1 Study # 9
November 22, 2020
Humble, Texas
(082)
1769 Translation:
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:
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. The Outcomes of The Soul's "Subjection" To "Higher Authorities".
- A. "For on this account..."
- 1. The grammatical expression "...dia plus an accusative..." means "For on this account...", or an equivalent sense of "For, because of this, ...".
- 2. The idea is this: Paul had laid out his reasoning for submission to authority and, now, he is revealing several of the ways this works out.
- B. The outcomes...
- 1. "You (Second Person Plural) are bringing to completion (Present Tense, Active Voice, Indicative Mood) tributes (Plural Accusative).
- a. Out of 28 texts of the New Testament where the verb translated "pay" is used, only two are so translated. The dominant choice of the translators is "finish".
- b. Paul's only other use in Romans is instructive: 2:27 indicates the meaning of this verb is "to bring to a final conclusion" in that it indicates Paul's sense that "if a person brings his/ her obedience to Law to its legitimate conclusion, he/she will sit in judgment upon the fraud who claims obedience but is lying by consistently transgressing that Law".
- c. The idea is not to do a single thing (i.e., "pay a tax"), but to prove consistent in meeting all "tax demands made by the governing authorities". In other words all "taxes" are made a priority for legal fulfillment.
- 1) The "tax" is defined in the text: it is "payment" for "consistently attending to the business to which God has appointed them". In other words, God has put this group into their place in the culture and they regularly attend to the task to which He has appointed them and He has established "taxes" as the means by which they are recompensed for their labors.
- a) These have already been identified as "ministers" (deakonoi), as persons assigned a task by God.
- b) Now they are described as "servants" (leitourgoi). This word has only five texts in the New Testament where it is found. The meaning is expressed in Romans 15:16 where it is expanded by identifying it with a "priest" who offers up offerings to God. This meaning is also expressed in Philippians 2:25 where Paul calls Epaphroditus "...your... minister to my need". Epaphroditus is a "stand-in" for the Philippians to address Paul's needs for them. This use seems to continue the idea of "offering up to God" certain actions on the behalf of someone else. Hebrews 1:7 and 8:2 are also texts which indicate a "priest-like" activity in service to God. "Now the main point in what has been said [from Hebrews 1:1 to the end of chapter 7] is this: we have such an High Priest, Who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the Heavens, a leitourgoi in the sanctuary..." (8:1-2). This use of leitourgoi puts "secular authority" into the realm of "spiritual service to God" so that there is no such thing as "secular authority"; the Kingdom is the Lord's and the fulness thereof in every respect.
- 2) Since, "the laborer is worthy of his/her hire" (Luke 10:7), these "ministers" have payment for their labors due to them from those who profit from their labors. "Taxes" are the way such "payments" are made possible.
- a) These "leitourgoi" are said to be "devoting themselves to this very thing".
- b) The "devotion" is a participle carrying the notion of "being exclusively ready to carry out their task" (note Luke's uses in Acts 1:14; 2:42, 46; 6:4; 8:13; and 10:7). This "exclusivity" keeps them from other tasks by which they might provide for their own needs so that they have need of "taxes" to support them.
- d. Thus, because these "authorities" are commissioned by God to their task, those who benefit from their applications of authority for the common good are to "pay their taxes".
- 2. "Return to all the payments of debt".
- a. Paul sees all men as "debtors" to "higher authorities".
- b. There are four kinds of "debt". The question is why Paul pulled these four up for the consideration of his readers.
- 1) There are two which address the believer's use of his/her money.
- a) There is the "debt" of "taxes". This he has already addressed: "higher authorities" are tasked by God with maintaining beneficent order in the culture and those in that culture are to support them as they labor.
- b) There is the "debt" of "payment for the things accomplished". Paul's use of "telos" in Romans 6:21, 22; and 10:4 puts forward the concept of "a task completed" so that it is time to recompense the one who has completed it. 2 Corinthians 11:5 directly addresses this meaning ("...whose end will be according to their deeds."). Paul is consistent in all of his letters to use "telos" to refer to the "final outcome" that has been established by the behavior.
- 2) There are two which address the believer's attitude toward those in authority.
- a) There is the "debt" of "fear". In Romans, this "fear" is the attitude that motivates a person's behavior, either for good or for evil. "Fear" is not, typically, the best motivator, it is simply the most immediately effective on a short term basis.
- b) There is the "debt" of "honor". In Romans, "honor" is "positive recognition and approval" so that the one being "honored" delights in the expression of that recognition and approval. It is sought by the spirit, and the spirit exults when it is extended. It is a commercial term in many cases (the "value" assigned by the price tag) and it is, thus, the "reward" of being paid according to that "value".
- c. Summary: two of Paul's demands attack a person's flawed attitude toward his/her pocket book; and two attack a person's attitude toward "flawed authorities". Being "fearless" in this context means "ignoring the sword of the avenger", and taking a disrespectful attitude toward corrupt human authorities in this context means "dishonoring" (seeking to bring shame upon) a "leitourgos" of The God. "Dishonor" is no small matter primarily because it is in God's exclusive domain to accomplish (Romans 1:26 and 9:21). In Peter's instruction regarding submission to higher authorities, he argues that rendering obedience to their authority will "silence foolish men" (i.e., shame them into silence): 1 Peter 2:15. These two major issues address the believer's tendency to depend upon his pocket book rather than God (an issue of the soul), and to retaliate against one whom God has honored with dishonor because of the built-in flaws of character.
