Christians and Civil Government

by Mike Ratliff

1 Let every person p be subject to the governing authorities. For q there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you r will receive his approval, 4 for s he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, t an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also u for the sake of conscience. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 v 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. (Romans 13:1-7 ESV)

13 n Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, [2] whether it be to the emperor [3] as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him o to punish those who do evil and p to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, q that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 16 r Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but s living as servants [4] of God. 17 t Honor everyone. u Love the brotherhood. v Fear God. Honor the emperor. (1 Peter 2:13-17 ESV) 

God, the supreme Lord and King of all the world, hath ordained civil magistrates, to be, under Him, over the people, for His own glory, and the public good; and, to this end, hath armed them with the power of the sword, for the defence and encouragement of them that are good, and for the punishment of evil doers…Civil magistrates may not assume to themselves the administration of the Word and sacraments; or the power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Westminster Confession 23.1,3) 

During my recent visit to Washington, D.C., it was obvious that the city and surrounding area is being consumed by the upcoming Barak Obama inauguration. The city will be pretty much shut down for several days during this time; at least as far as vehicular traffic is concerned. One curious souvenir I returned with is my Metro fare card. I purchased it for $20 last Tuesday. When I departed on Saturday morning it still had $4.20 left on it. The curiosity about it for me, however, is the picture printed on front. At the top, just below the arrow showing what direction to insert the card, it states, “Celebrating the Inauguration of Barak Obama.” Below that is a black and white photo of a smiling Obama. Below his face is printed, “44^th President of the United States.” Every time I used that card, my descending balance was printed one line lower just to the left of Obama’s face.