Here is the real message from ‘All Authority Comes from God’ thing!

Introduction

Like me, you must have heard it often from preachers of all walks calling upon Christians to submit to authority, and maybe you wondered if it really included submission to instructions from evil leaders as well. Actually, Janet Kataha Museveni just advised us to respect country’s authorities because they are from God! Today, let us get to some deep understanding of this important rule.

Our lessons will greatly be from 1 Peter 2:13-25 and Romans 13:1-7. Other important verses on this topic are; Colossians 3:22, Ephesians 6:5, 1 Timothy 6:1, and 2 Timothy 2:9. Follow closely.

Understanding the Context and the Verses!

First, it is important to note that the authorities and power talked of here do not mean spiritual power and principalities as bible calls evil spirits and Satan in other books, but the common leadership, power and authority whether in church, government or family relationships. It is human authority.

When we deeply scrutinize through that Peter’s letter, it is clear God asks us to submit to our leadership, and verse 14 reveals that these are leaders who came to execute God’s law; praising those worthy of praise and punishing evildoers. Verse 15 and the starting verse 13 reflect that we need to do this to reflect God’s order (Remember, Jesus paid tax and did registration as required by law).

Yes, many Christians, especially the Jews were exploiting the fact that they were free in Jesus and thus should not submit to their fellow Christians or the unsaved civil society. But this was wrong and bringing many accusations against the church. A good true Christian needs to respect the authority and society laws if they are not contrary to any of God’s laws.

For Laughter: I just enrolled myself on OTT tax!

From verse 18-25, we are called upon to respond with respect to our leaders in all sectors and this is not to be executed only when our leaders are good, nice and friendly, but also when they are harsh. Let us explain this; God is not asking us to suffer under harsh masters and leaders (that is not his call), he is simply asking us not to fight back especially in non-respectful and non-polite manners. This does not make them right or that we should carry such yoke, but it is for salvation purposes (Suffering harsh treatments for the sake of us being good and less defiant or, better put, for the sake of Kingdom).

In 1 Corinthians 7:20, Paul writes, “those who were saved when you were slaves do not get bothered. But if you can be free, then make good use of your freedom”. In other words, we need to behave while still under such harsh bosses, politicians, religious cardinals, and so many more of our modern evil leaders so that we remain blameless, but we should never misuse a chance or an opportunity of getting free. In other words, don’t sin because your leader is evil but use every good opportunity to beat the devil down!

Jesus suffered under such authorities as well, but could not give up on finding his freedom nor did he insult/confront anyone. When the time came to overcome everything, He did.

In our next book, the Romans 13:1-7, we are reminded that every rule, every ruler, every appointed minister in our church, in our parliament, in our society or even in our businesses is God’s business and his appointment or acceptance signature is God’s vindication as well. Yes, as we deeply studied on the cause and origin of evil, we understood that there is nothing that happens without God’s consent. Yes, the judge might have killed someone before securing the post, the bishop might have sacrificed a child to own the position, the president might have stolen votes to be dwelling in state house, but the real fact is God, in mysterious ways we cannot explain, said yes to them all and gave them the thrones or seats they now own, and ours is to respect their powers.

Just like verses 13 and 14 in 1 Peter 2:13-25 complimented each other so well, with verse 13 ordering us what to do and 14 explaining why we have to do it (leaders are executing God’s law on earth), verses 2-5 of this Romans’ chapter makes it clear: Those who are against the government are simply against God for the government is here (or at least is expected to be here only to reward those who do good and punish wrong doers and make justice) to execute God’s justice.

Listen to verse 5; because the government/authorities are expected to be executing God’s law, then our obedience is not actually because we fear punishment but because we know it is right. Again, note that our obedience here is for authorities that are for God’s law.

The last verses of 6 and 7 clearly ask us to pay taxes, and therefore it is very wrong for a Christian to dodge paying his dues to the government. Personally, I feel, in cases of corruption and we are quite sure the individual we are paying to will not deliver the money, then we can use our other available means and pay directly to the offices. Currently, technology has brought means of paying our taxes directly to the taxing body. Yes, there can still be mishandling of money out there, but that may not be our duty.

What God is Saying!

What we all know is that we tend to exploit the weaknesses in the tax collecting system to our advantage and for other people’s good. This is worse. In other words, a person may excuse himself from paying tax because tax collectors are corrupt and yet still not use that same money for helping others. That is broad day robbery.

Apart from the above weakness, from the stories of Joseph, Daniel, David, and Saul (Saul’s rejection by Israelite), people are expected to respect good leaders and resist evil ones! It is clear our God is talking of respect and reverence to authority and leadership that respects God, which rewards the good and punishes the evil ones.

God is not calling upon Christians to start submitting themselves to senseless laws, rules, orders and instructions that are against God’s word. About parents and children, the Bible advises us to respect our parents in the Lord (Col. 3:20; Ephesians 6:1-2; Leviticus 19:3). This means we need to heed to their (parents) instructions if they are not falling short of God’s word. God doesn’t expect you to respect your parent’s order to commit a sin, to do evil! In the same way, we need to submit to our authorities, but not the wrong or evil ones.

The wrong and evil authority?

The issue comes in when it comes to defining what wrong authority really is. This is very hard, especially in our secular world of politics. Our current society is rotten to the point that people define wrong authority basing on their personal interests and ambitions. To be exact, it may be hard to tell if NRM or FDC or People Power is the wrong one or the right and wrong between Lubega, Mbonye, Kakande, Bugingo and more of those ‘men of God’!

READ THIS: How to easily interpret any Biblical Verse with certainty!

This is because we judge our pastors, our politicians, our judges, our parents and all sorts of authority basing on our personal feelings, grudges, and rumors instead of using the truth from God. Additionally, people believe that the truth of God can come from all corners and not necessarily the Bible. That is how hard managing a society can be!

But it should not be hard for us, the Christians, should it be? If a leader’s instructions are against your faith, then diplomatically (through giving explanations), wisely (unknowingly), or even through defiance and confrontation, restrain yourself from such authority whether it be your father, mother, friend, religious or political leader. Remember, the highest authority above every authority is God and his word. To be clear and uniform, replace the words ‘your faith’ with ‘Bible’. In other words, any leadership instructions that defy God’s word deserve no following!

Interestingly, God’s word is also interpretive; people understand Bible and interpret it differently. This means that even if we applied the same book to judge leadership and authority, we would end up on different sides! However, as Christians, we can agree to disagree and be patient with each other as we try to argue out the truth in humility!

Summary and Conclusions

Every type of authority (good or bad) comes from God. And yet a Christian is expected to respect only that which is good and disapprove the evil authorities that don’t represent God’s law.

In this case, disobedience of any authority in respect to the real God’s authority is the real Obedience.

However, a problem still remains; discerning between bad and good authorities based on Bible whose interpretation might be different for different people. In this case, peace, patience and humility is important (agree to disagree as we continuously seek out the truth).

The take home is: Respect authorities only in the Lord! What ‘in the Lord’ means for various people is a discussion of another day, a discussion that answers this: How do you read and understand the Bible the way it was meant to by its author?

READ THIS: How to easily interpret any Biblical Verse with certainty!

Receiving Christ 

Dear brother and sister, if you have not yet received Christ Jesus as your personal Savior to help you in this crazy life and build you up for even the next eternal life, today is your day. Repeat this prayer after me: “Lord Jesus, I am so much happy to meet you today. I have suffered and struggled to live for myself alone, but I am tired and I have sinned a lot along this way. I kindly ask you to take me in today, forgive my sins and make me your holy child. Yes, I want to be there for your service, Lord, starting with now. Save me and make me find true living in you alone. Thank you Jesus. Amen”. If you have finished praying, we believe you are now saved and Jesus will never abandon you. Find a good church near you and be part of their congregation.

 GOD Bless You