Politics and Submitting to the Sovereign's Sword: A Biblical Guide to Christian Citizenship

On July 4th each year the skies over South Jersey and across the country were lit up with fireworks. Many grilled hotdogs, wore red, white, and blue, and celebrated a rebellion. Independence Day is, quite literally, the celebration of throwing off authority. It is baked deeply into our nation's cultural DNA to prize our rights, to question our leaders, and to fiercely protect our personal freedoms. We are Americans, and our origin story is a tax revolt against a distant tyrannical king.  

But what happens when the calendar turns to July 5th?

The "spirit of the age" is political outrage, rebellion, vitriol, and a fierce, unyielding demand for our own way. Yet, in Romans 13:1-7, the Apostle Paul locks us into a very different reality: "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities".  

Because God establishes human government to restrain evil during this present age, the believer is duty-bound to submit to legal authorities as an act of obedience to God Himself.  
Here is what it looks like when a mind transformed by the Gospel interacts with the state.

The Divine Institution vs. The Flawed Politician

When Paul wrote these words around AD 57, the man sitting on the throne in Rome, possessing absolute, autocratic power, was Nero. This was a pagan, tyrannical ruler who would eventually blame Christians for the burning of Rome and order believers to be dipped in pitch and set on fire to illuminate his garden parties.  

Furthermore, just eight years prior, the previous Emperor, Claudius, had issued an edict expelling all Jews and Jewish Christians from Rome. The state confiscated their property, stripped their livelihoods, and marched them out of the city.  

If anyone had the right to harbor visceral, anti-government resentment, it was the Roman church. Yet, Paul commands them to submit. Why?  

Because we must separate the divine institution from the flawed politician. God established the office of government all the way back in Genesis 9, right after the flood. He knew that a world populated by totally depraved sinners would destroy itself without a mechanism for order. You are not commanded to endorse a politician's morality. You are commanded to respect the office because God designed the order.  

The Sword of Restraint

To understand politics, you must start with the doctrine of total depravity. Without God's created restraint, we all become savage. Government is God's common grace to a fallen world to keep us from destroying ourselves.  

Paul refers to the secular civil magistrate as a diakonos—the exact same Greek word we use for "deacon" in the local church. The pagan magistrate down the street doesn't know it, but he is a middle-management employee appointed by the true God to do a specific job: maintain public order.  

However, this deacon carries a weapon. God has armed the State with the "sword" (machaira) of temporal justice to restrain evil, freeing the Church to focus entirely on radical mercy, active hospitality, and preaching the cross of Christ. We do not try to build a Christian theocracy today. The Church is not called to conquer the state, nor is the state permitted to govern the Church.  

Phobos and Timē: Respect and Honor

In Romans 13:7, Paul demands total compliance: "Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed".  

In the original language, Paul uses two distinct words here that govern our conduct:

1. Phobos (Respect/Fear): This is acknowledging the state's God-given power to punish. It dictates our actions and compliance with the law.  
2. Timē (Honor): This means treating the office with the dignity that God's institution demands. It dictates our attitude.  

You may vigorously disagree with a politician's platform, but you owe them honor because the seat they occupy is by God's providence. We must strip our speech of the vitriol, the mocking, the cruel memes, and the slander that the world casually hurls at political leaders.  

The Exception Clause: Respectful Defiance

Does Romans 13 mean we blindly obey the government no matter what they tell us to do? Absolutely not. Submission is the general rule, but disobedience is biblically required when the state steps out of its God-ordained jurisdiction.  

There are two clear lines:

1. When the state forbids what God commands. When King Darius signed a law forbidding prayer, Daniel went to his house and prayed to God anyway. When told to stop preaching, Peter and John replied, "We must obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29).  
2. When the state commands what God forbids. When King Nebuchadnezzar commanded Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to worship a golden statue, they firmly refused.  

Notice how they disobeyed. They did not start a riot or try to overthrow Babylon. They engaged in respectful defiance. They disobeyed the unjust law, and then they submitted to the punishment.  

But what about the American Revolution?

Was 1776 a sin?  

Historically, the men who founded this nation appealed to the "Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrate." They argued that 1776 was not a chaotic mob overthrowing the government, but rather lower, God-ordained authorities (colonial legislatures) stepping in to protect citizens from a higher authority (the King) who had become a tyrant. It was one level of Romans 13 government holding another level accountable.  

But you and I are not colonial legislatures in 1776; we are citizens of New Jersey today. Romans 13 is a command for how the individual believer is to conduct their daily life.  

True Christian patriotism is not fundamentally about honoring humans or institutions.
True patriotism is giving honor and glory to the Sovereign God who created the concept of government.  

6 Challenges for the Christian Citizen (based on Romans 13):

1. Elevate Your Patriotism: Stop idolizing political parties; start honoring the God who ordains the offices.  
2. Pay Your Dues Gladly: Pay your taxes and civic fees not as a reluctant victim, but as a believer funding God's mechanism for public order.  
3. Filter Your Speech: Strip your conversations and social media feeds of political vitriol and replace it with the dignity becoming of a citizen of heaven.  
4. Obey the Law as Worship: Follow local ordinances and laws with a clear conscience, proving to the watching world that you trust a Higher Sovereign.  
5. Pray for Your Leaders: Actively petition God for the men and women holding office, regardless of whether you voted for them.  
6. When you Defy, Defy with Respect: Submit completely to the state until it demands you disobey God—and when it does, disobey respectfully and accept the consequences.