Romans 13 is Not Unquestioned Obedience to Government

By Dr. Ken Matto

Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. (Romans 13:1)

Since the beginning of this created Plandemic, Christians and pastors have been quick to invoke the belief that Romans 13 is a decree that we are to blindly follow the dictates of government even when they are totally in opposition to the Constitution of the United States which is the highest law of the land.  Now it is true that laws were created for the protection of the people and we can find these where laws are passed about theft, murder, stop signs, red lights, and basically all other criminal activities.  Does the Federal, State, and local governments possess the right to abrogate the Constitution by creating laws which are in total contradiction to it?  The answer is no they do not. 

When our Founding Fathers created the present form of government, they fashioned it after Isaiah 33:22.

For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will 

save us. (Isaiah 33:22)

Judge – Judicial Branch

Lawgiver – Legislative Branch

King – Executive Branch

Presidents and Governors have no Constitutional authority to issue Executive orders as laws.  It is the Legislative branch which makes laws not the Executive branch.  Once we allow the Executive branch to make laws, then it is King George III all over again and his oppression of the colonies being resurrected.  This is why executive orders will not hold up in court if a citizen refuses to abandon their God-given freedoms and gets arrested.  We always look at Romans 13 that it is focusing only on the citizen and that they must obey what is dictated.  The reality is that it also behooves government officials and representatives to act according to the laws of the land and if they do not, then they are in violation of the law.  For example, if a Governor declares that all the beaches are closed and a person is on the beach and gets arrested, then the Governor and the police officers who arrested him are in violation of their oath.  Police officers and politicians take an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.  Whenever they enforce an executive edict they are violating that oath.

This Covid-19 is a created Plandemic for the purpose of removing all freedoms from the American people because the global elite know that if America falls then the rest of the world will fall in line.  Many in the world hate America but we are the last bastion of freedom because once we fall, the world becomes a global slave plantation and believe me the first group to go will be the Christians.  So every time you submit to the unconstitutional decrees of local tyrants, you are literally chipping away your freedoms and if you have children or grandchildren, then you are helping to create the slave state they will live in.  Now I want to turn to the Scriptures to show you that Romans 13 is not taking about mindless obedience to a politician but is speaking about obedience to the legitimate laws of the land.  If an earthly law coincides with the word of God, then the Christian will have no problem obeying it.  If it goes against the word of God, then the Christian has to disobey and we will see some great examples of brave believers in the Bible who stood against tyranny.   These biblical examples will show that Romans 13 is not speaking about mindless obedience.

Hebrew Midwives

But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive. (Exodus 1:17)

They feared God more than they feared Pharaoh.  “Feared” carries with it the meaning of “afraid or be terrified.”  They knew that if they carried out the orders of Pharaoh, they would be violating the law of God.  “Choose you this day whom ye will serve” was the question Joshua posed to the Israelites.  The principle is transferrable to our lives every  day.  If you notice the Scripture tells us that they did not obey the command of Pharaoh.  Now we have a dilemma.  If Romans 13 means mindless obedience to a tyrant, then we have a major contradiction in the word of God because here in Exodus 1:17 we see the Hebrew midwives obeying God but Romans 13 means mindless obedience.  If that was the case the midwives would have killed all the babies which would then fall in line with the way most Christians view Romans 13.  So here we see that the Hebrew midwives were obedient to Pharaoh until his ungodly edict to kill all the baby boys which they knew they could not obey.  Ancient Egypt had laws against murder so they would have been disobeying the law of the land and God’s law.  Instead they obeyed God’s law and spared the male babies.

Obadiah

For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.) (1 Kings 18:4)

Queen Jezebel wanted all the true prophets of the LORD killed as the daughter of Ethbaal II king of the Sydonians whose main deity was Baal-Melkart, a nature god.  Obadiah took 100 prophets of the LORD and hid them in two caves.  This way if one of the hiding places were discovered, at least there would still be 50 true prophets left.  He would not allow the prophets of the LORD to be slaughtered by an ungodly heathen queen.  In the world today, most people are involved in Gaia worship which is the worship of nature and planet earth.  How many Christians are castigated because they will worship God and not the earth.  Obadiah was an obedient servant until the ungodly edict of Jezebel to kill the prophets of God and knowing he could not obey that edict, he took action and saved at least 100 prophets of God.  The name “Obadiah” means “Servant of the LORD.”  Christians are to be servants of the LORD and not sycophants of government.

Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego

There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. (Daniel 3:12)

If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. (Daniel 3:17)

Here we have one of the famous trios in the Bible who refused to bow to the state.  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego refused to bow down to the image of Nebuchadnezzar and even though the king gave them a second chance to obey, they refused and stated that if they were placed in the fiery furnace, God is able to deliver them but if God chooses not to deliver them, they will still not bow to the image.  That made Nebuchadnezzar furious and had the furnace heated seven times hotter than normal.   Nebuchadnezzar was making sure that he would never be challenged and would make them an example of his authority.  So what happened?  They were thrown into the furnace and in that furnace with them appeared the Lord Jesus Christ showing that the law of God was higher than the law of Nebuchadnezzar and disobedience to a tyrant in favor of obedience to the law of God is necessary in the life of a Christian no matter what the consequence is.

Micaiah

⁷ And Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the LORD besides, that we might inquire of him? ⁸ And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the LORD: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so. (1 Kings 22:7-8)

King Jehoshaphat of Judah and King Ahab made an alliance and Jehoshaphat being a godly man wanted to inquire of the LORD before he went to battle.  So he requested a prophet of God and that was Micaiah but Ahab hated him because he never prophesied good.  Ahab was a wicked man and no true prophet of God could prophesy anything good to a man who was married to a worshipper of Baal-Melkart.  Micaiah was brought forth and prophesied that Ahab would die in the battle, which he did. Micaiah told the truth right to the king’s face and did not shrink because of his title as King.  Since Micaiah prophesied the truth, he was placed in prison and fed bread and water but what he prophesied came to pass.  Christians need to stop looking at the places of power and getting lost in those fantasies.  Many preachers are invited to the White House and other places of government and shrink from their calling to tell the truth or else they will not be called back.  Christians must tell the truth to these tyrants that they are opposing God when they publish ungodly edicts such as closing the churches and that they are facing everlasting damnation for their actions.

Peter

Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. (Acts 5:29)

We ought – Must or necessary – Ought is in the Present Tense, Active Voice, Indicative Mood – Present tense means we always obey God in our lives.  Active Voice means we are to perform the action (we don’t wait for somebody else to start) – Indicative Mood is a statement of fact.  In other words, a major fact or truth of the Christian life is that we must obey God.  If God has placed something like that in here then he has made provision for the results of obeying him in a godless society.  Too many pastors ran and obeyed the government without even investigating the Corona scam and the unconstitutional nature of these tyrannical edicts.  Peter stated in Scripture that we must obey God, today’s pastors are “we must obey government.”  You can see how many of them have turned their backs on God as they rushed to close their churches.  Robert Jeffress, who is a staunch Trump worshipper stated we must show a strong Christianity at this time.  Yeah how do you show the people how strong you are by closing your church and hiding at home?  In the 1980’s over 20,000 pastors signed up to be FEMA pastors which makes them governmental stooges and the reason they did this was to claim that during disasters, they could come in and calm the people and minister to them.  They needed the Government to come in and tell them that.  Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. (2 Corinthians 1:4)  If these pastors would study their Bibles they wouldn’t need the government coming in to tell them their duties and they would not have to be sellouts either.

Moses

²⁴ By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; ²⁵ Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; ²⁶ Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. ²⁷ By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. (Hebrews 11:24-27)

Moses rejected all the riches of Egypt which might have been his since he may have become Pharaoh instead when he became saved he had another authority which was God himself.  Notice in verse 27 that Moses did not fear the wrath of the king instead he saw God who was invisible.  Although God was invisible to Moses, His works were seen very plainly throughout all the land. Again, here is the principle of faith, Moses acted upon the words and promises of God, and the faith of Moses was the evidence for the existence of God.  Pharaoh was an unbeliever who worshipped false gods in fact in Egypt Pharaoh was looked on as a god.  Once Moses had become saved, he then realized that all of the riches and power of Egypt was fleeting.   What made Moses give up all that power?  The same motivation that lives in every Christian.

The Christian Position

For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: (Philippians 3:20)

Conversation – “Politeuma” which means “a place of citizenship, community, or lifestyle”

By means of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ, the true Christian holds dual citizenship.  We are citizens of Heaven while we are citizens of our earthly country.  This means that we are to interpret all aspects of life on earth through the word of God.  This is why modern versions of the Bible will fail Christians all the time.  While we are still on earth, we have citizenship in Heaven which will come to pass on the last day when all the believers will be taken to Heaven. As believers in a sin cursed world, we look forward to the time when the Lord Jesus Christ returns to take all His children to Heaven and we will forever be with Him and never again face any type of sin. This verse also teaches that as believers, we have a different authority being citizens of Heaven. Those who are unsaved will look for the things of earth to satisfy them but those who are saved know well that earthly goods do not satisfy and we have a higher calling than just trying to amass wealth, for that will be taken on the last day. As citizens of Heaven, we are ambassadors for that kingdom until the time we are called home.  This is what caused Moses to reject the earthly kingdom in favor of the heavenly kingdom.  Christians must look beyond the earthly horizon and when we are confronted with laws which are contrary to God’s law, then we must invoke heavenly citizenship and obey God.

Elijah

¹⁷ And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? ¹⁸ And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim. (1 Kings 18:17-18)

Elijah is another example of a prophet of God who looked the king right in the eye and told him that he and his house were those who troubled Israel.  The Government was Ahab and here he is told that he troubled Israel.  The Governments all over the world would love nothing better than if all the churches were closed permanently.  Instead of the pastors telling the Government they are in violation of their Constitutional rights, instead they bow the knee to every edict.  Pastors like to talk tough from the pulpits, like they are great patriots, but when it comes time to prove it, they cower in fear, worse than their fear prone congregations.  Elijah like Micaiah told the truth right to the face of King Ahab and did not cower in fear of losing their “tax exempt status.”  When churches actually believe the message they are preaching, then they will be taken seriously!

John the Baptizer

¹⁸ For John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife. ¹⁹ Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him, and would have killed him; but she could not: (Mark 6:18-19)

John the Baptizer told Herod Antipas that it was unlawful for him to have his brother Phillip’s wife because that was committing adultery since Philip was still alive.  Here is another case of God’s people not concerning themselves with the rank of whom they are addressing.  God’s people must never fear the government in that they should be told the truth the same as if you told the truth to someone on the street.  If Government had more fear of God among them, they might not be so eager to play the tyrant.

Nathan

⁷ And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; ⁸ And I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. ⁹ Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. (2 Samuel 12:7-9)

David had sinned by having sex with Bathsheba.  She became pregnant so David schemed to have Uriah sleep with her and this way no one would be the wiser because then they could claim it was by Uriah.  Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us? (Isaiah 29:15)  He did not count on Uriah being a loyal soldier and he refused to sleep with his wife.  So David sent him back to the lines carrying his own death warrant stating that Uriah was to be placed in the front lines of the battle.  So David’s plan worked and Uriah was killed in the battle.  About a year later, David probably thought he got away with it until Nathan was sent by the LORD to confront him about his sin.  Sin is the transgression of God’s law and the churches being closed down is a transgression of God’s law.  Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. (1 Corinthians 16:2)  The first day of the week, which is Sunday, has been set aside in the Bible for Christians to meet and when they are not meeting, they are in violation of the precedent which is set forth in the Bible for churches and house churches.  The churches were too quick to close without any concern as to whether they were violating the word of God or the Constitution.

Daniel

Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God. (Daniel 6:5)

All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, and the princes, the counsellers, and the captains, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions. (Daniel 6:7)

This edict deified Darius as the only one who could receive prayer or petitions making the Government of Persia “god!”  Daniel could have petitioned the king to be delivered from the Lion’s Den instead he trusted God for the outcome.  King Darius liked him and could have pardoned him but Daniel did not place his hopes in a king but in God alone.  It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes. (Psalm 118:9)  The pastors of the churches could open them and leave the results to God.  Daniel was no more of a Holy Spirit indwelt believer than any redeemed child of God today, we just have different callings.  This means that same power which propelled Daniel to disobey the edict to the glory of God is within every believer but why don’t we see more strong or committed believers?  Here is why!

Quench not the Spirit. (1 Thessalonians 5:19)  “Quench” means extinguish, dowse, or smother.  Instead of building our lives on the power of the Holy Spirit, instead we smother him and run our lives according to our own intellect and we wonder why Christianity is so weak?  There are very few Daniels in today’s Christianity because of the fear which is being propagated and believed by Christians.  And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28)  Matthew 10:28 gives the dividing line between who we are to fear and who we are not to fear.

Uzzah

⁶ And when they came to Nachon's threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. ⁷ And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God. (2 Samuel 6:6-7)

Uzzah was smitten by the LORD for touching the Ark of God which was the most holy item in the temple.   Uzzah thought he was doing good by steadying the cart so the Ark would not fall on the ground.  However, even though his intentions were good he was struck by the LORD for his error.  It didn’t say sin because the word “error” in the Hebrew means “negligent or be deceived.”  What we have here is akin to many pastors which were so quick to close the churches and they think they are doing right but are in opposition to God’s Word.

Summary

As we have seen that there are legitimate examples in the Bible who disobeyed ungodly laws and edicts by tyrants.  It is never sin to obey the law of God while setting aside the ungodly and unconstitutional laws and edicts of tyrants.  As Christians we look beyond this earth for truth and power and not to the governments of this earth which are subservient to the kingdom of God.  And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Daniel 2:44) 

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