The Authority of Government

By John Kpikpi

City of God Church

Accra, Ghana

Imagine the following situations:

1. You are awakened at 4am by a very loud noise coming from mega-speakers and it seems that those creating the noise are going to do this every morning because that is their custom.

2. One evening two older gentlemen in your extended family tell you that the house you inherited from your parents, and in which you’ve been living for the last 30 years, is actually not yours but theirs and they want you to move out.  They even produce a forged document to support their claim.

What would you do? If you were a Christian, you would pray and possibly tell your pastors about it. But what if the trouble-makers do not belong to your church or acknowledge your pastor? Or, what if they are not Christians?

In such situations, you would really wish you had someone to appeal to with authority whom those in your neighbourhood would recognise, and who has not only the wisdom to arbitrate between you and the opposing party but also the authority to enforce their decisions. You are looking for a ‘government’.

If you find the two scenarios described above hard to imagine then you are living in a country with effective government. On the other hand, if the scenarios I have described are fairly typical in the country in which you live, you need an effective government.

What is Government?

Governments are organisations that all the people in a given geographical area accept and which they expect to protect them from external as well as internal aggression. We expect governments to make sure that people play ‘according to the rules’ of sharing a common territory.

If we recognise the vital role of government we will want to thank God for this organisation called government. In Romans 13:1-7, Paul follows his wonderful proclamation of the gospel of grace and begins to tackle the theme of political power, making the following points:

• There is no authority except that which God has established (Rom. 13:1b)
• The authorities that exist have been established by God (Rom. 13:1c)
• The governing authorities have been instituted by God (Rom. 13:2)

Note that Paul is saying practically the same thing three times – a pedagogical method used when wanting to get through to your students. Maybe Paul is speaking to people cynical about governments.

I can imagine the church in Rome gasping!  Paul was not only associating the name of the holy God with the pagan governments, but actually saying that the governing authorities have been put there by God in spite of their persecution of the church.  Paul knew he needed to repeat himself to establish this truth.

Then Paul becomes even more provocative. The person in authority in government is God’s servant! Paul repeats himself three times here as well, twice in Romans 13:4 and again in Romans 13:6, where Paul actually says government officials are full-time servants of God. Those in authority are God’s servants!

God’s rule manifests itself in several ways. Most of us probably encountered God’s authority first at home and later in school, in the church and at the workplace.  Now Paul says that government is yet another expression of God’s rule in the earth. Because it is clear to Paul that the governing authorities represent God’s power and authority, he finds no difficulty in urging us to submit to government. Paul’s insight into the source of the authority of government leads him to reckon that, for those of us in whose hearts the ‘government of God’ has finally been internalised through faith in Jesus, there is nothing to fear in submission. Since what is in our hearts will be consistent with what God has placed within governments, we can submit freely.

Godly order for a healthy society

As with families and places of work, where the Scriptures reveal a godly order to which we need to submit, so too in the wider sphere of human communities, societies and nations God reveals His order. God so identifies with governments that He says that those who rebel against governments are actually rebelling against Him!

In giving us governments to submit to, the logic is the same as that found in the apostle John’s principle about love, ‘If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen’ (1 John 4:20).

Just as God gives us tangible expressions of Himself in order that we can truly show our love to Him, so it appears He gives us tangible expressions of His power and authority in order that we can truly show that we do submit to Him.

What if government clearly contravenes God’s word?

Depending on which country you live in, this may well be normal rather than the exception! The extent of deviation from God’s way may vary widely as well. The apostles were aware of such conflicts. Although political power has been instituted by God and we can enjoy good from government, abuses may be common, including outright confrontation with the gospel.

The priority of the gospel

Although in general the apostles submitted to the authorities of their day, they were uncompromising regarding any obstruction to the gospel arising from government. They amazed everyone with the tenacity with which they held to their faith in the face of strong opposition from the temporal powers.

The message here is this: the gospel holds priority of place in the heart and mind of our sovereign God. All that He has created and established (including governments) has been put in place to facilitate the delivery of this most precious of messages to all peoples everywhere, so that they might believe and be saved. So, when Paul was instructing Timothy (and the churches) to pray for governments and the authorities, his goal was not essentially to improve the financial well-being of the nation but that ‘…we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, who wants all men to be saved...’ (1 Tim. 2:2-4). Consequently, nothing was allowed to stand in the way of the advance of the gospel – not even governments which have been set up by God Himself.

Uncompromising Apostles

Peter, in conflict with the powerful Sanhedrin who opposed God’s gospel, withstood them, delivering his historic rebuff, ‘Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God’ (Acts 4:19). Peter hoped his opponents would have enough knowledge of God to choose who really should be obeyed. If only they would understand that the God they were opposing was the One who put them in their position as rulers in the first place!

When confronted again by the same body with orders not to preach or teach in the name of Jesus (a direct opposition to the gospel) Peter and the other apostles had to say it as it is, ‘We must obey God rather than men!’ (Acts 5:29).

So the same apostles who commended governments as being bodies to whom we should submit and show honour and respect, also knew when to say ‘no’ to governments. We have the same Holy Spirit who led the apostles to make decisions in their walk through what was often a minefield of church-state relations. If we listen to the Holy Spirit we shall also ‘get it right’ and respond to government in a way that pleases God.

Paul’s teaching in Romans 13 which, on first reading, sounds draconian and even dangerous (appearing to give a sweeping, not-to-be-questioned authority to governments) now takes on a different meaning. Governments have the same Boss as the people they rule over. He hires them (and will fire them when necessary). Governments had better take note of this God.

Paul’s teaching then, far from subjugating people to governments, redeems the relationship so that, for the first time, the ruled and the rulers should aim to please the same God. We can expect to see harmony only if both sides choose to accept Paul’s insights.