Series: What is the truth? Romans 13 - The higher right to choose part 1
Romans 13 in the King James version of the Bible begins:
“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)
A common interpretation of this verse appears in The Living Bible, "Obey the government, for God is the one who has put it there. There is no government anywhere that God has not placed in power. So those who refuse to obey the laws of the land are refusing to obey God, and punishment will follow..." (Romans 13:1-3).
What was Paul attempting to say in his Epistle to the Romans? A misunderstanding seems to hinge on one word of the text, powers. Dunamis, dunamai, didomi, arche, ischus, ischuros, kratos and energes are all translated in the New Testament as 'power', but have decidedly different meanings than the word that appears in Romans 13.
The word is exousia and it is from two Greek words. Ex means 'of' or 'from', while ousia is "what one has, i.e. property, possessions, estate". The word is defined: “power of choice, liberty of doing as one pleases."(1) Is Paul simply telling you that you should remain subject to the right to choose under the perfect law of liberty?
From the beginning, God has endowed man with freewill, which is the power to choose. This inalienable right to choose is man's responsibility to govern himself under the providence of God. The Bible also clearly tells us that man goes out of the presence of God, sins against God, and even rejects God when he goes under the authority of other men like Cain, Nimrod, Pharaoh, even Saul (2) and Caesar (3).
“Are men the property of the state? Or are they free souls under God? This same battle continues throughout the world.”(4)
God desires that every man should be a free soul under Him directly, having that divinely endowed right of choice unimpaired. He, like Paul, does not desire that we go under the power of any. (5)
The word exousia is translated "right" in Hebrews 13:10 and Revelations 22:14, and it is translated as "liberty" in 1 Corinthians 8:9: “But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak.” What would happen if we translated exousia in Romans 13 into the English word “liberty” as we see it translated in Corinthians?
“Let every soul be subject unto the higher liberty. For there is no liberty but of God: the liberties that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth (opposes) the liberty, resisteth (opposes) the ordinance of God: and they that resist (sets one's self against) shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the liberty? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same.” Romans 13: 1,3
To claim that Paul is actually saying that we should be at liberty to obey God rather than subject to the will men is a bold accusation against the doctrines of modern Christendom. Has the Church been steadily deceived, by either negligence or design, arrogance or ignorance?
All we need to do is examine how the word exousia was used by the Greeks and the authors of those sacred texts in the days of Christ. The Greek Glossary of Aristotelian Terms states that exousia means "right". (6) Aristotle actually exemplifies exousia's use in the statement, "The right (exousia) to do anything one wishes..."(7) In Plato's notes the "Greek words for freedom (are) eleutheros (liberal/Free), exousia (Freedom/Power to do something), ..."(8)
In Bryn Mawr's Classical Review we see, “Brancacci notices that the term used by Enomaos to refer to human freedom is not the typical Cynic one (eleutheria), but exousia, which expresses 'the new concept of freedom in opposition to the already defunct and unhelpful eleutheria'."(9)
It seems clear that Paul is telling us that we should be subject to the liberty and right to choose endowed by God. Paul understood the perfect law of liberty, to oppose liberty is to oppose the will of God for men. The word rulers in verse 3 of Romans 13 we see the Greek word archon. It is translated ruler 22 times, and prince 11 times as well as chief twice. We also see it translated magistrate and chief ruler.
We see the same term used when Christ appointed a kingdom to the apostles and instructed them not to be like “the princes of the Gentiles” who exercise authority and dominion over people. (10) The apostles were actually appointed princes of the kingdom of God, which they and Jesus said was at hand. The word apostle is also the Greek word for ambassador. They were a government but they were not like “the benefactors” that exercised authority one over the other, but they were one form of government, unlike that "of the world."
The Bible has always been a book about government, and man's relationship to it---and to God. Jesus came to take the kingdom from the those who had been leading the people into bondage, and redeem them again---not unlike what Moses did in Egypt. He even told those who were ruling the people in Judea at the time what His plan was: “...The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” Matthew 21:43
The ministers of the Church appointed by the Christ were benefactors in service to the people, but they were required to seek righteousness. Christians were not allowed to covet their neighbors goods or elect men to exercise power and control for their personal enrichment or benefit. Their ministers were leaders of a government that operated charity, not force. They provided a table of freewill offerings, not compelled contributions taken from members by force (or the threat of it).
“We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.” Hebrews 13:10. Does the world have altars whereof we should have no right to eat? If the temple was to be made of living stones, were the ancient altars also to be made of living stones? Did God really want men to pile up dead rocks and kill sheep and set them on fire, or have we been misled about the meaning of words in that ancient text, as well? (11)
The answers are simple, but often contrary to what we have been taught. We must become like little children, seeing with new eyes, letting go of the lies and delusions passed down from age to age.
To understand how Christ, His apostles, and His Church were turning the world upside down, it may be required to turn some modern religious beliefs upside down, or throw them out all together. Have certain men crept in unawares denying the Kingship of the Christ (12)?
What is Proverbs 23 telling us when it says, “When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what [is] before thee: And put a knife to thy throat, if thou [be] a man given to appetite. Be not desirous of his dainties: for they [are] deceitful meat”?
What did Jesus mean when he told us to pray (apply) to our Father in Heaven and “call no man father upon the earth”?
Why did Paul repeat David's warning, “...Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling block, and a recompense unto them:”? (Romans 11:9)
And what did David mean in Psalms 69:22 when he said, “Let their table become a snare before them: and [that which should have been] for [their] welfare, [let it become] a trap”? The kingdom of God binds men together by faith, hope, and charity. The apostles, like Gideon,(13) would not rule over the people. Moses led the people out of bondage where there were no kings who could exercise authority one over the other. Ministers of God were never rulers like Nimrod, or Caesar, but are to be titular leaders of a peculiar people.
Edward Gibbon praised "the union and discipline of the Christian republic" in his book The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and explained that the Church "gradually formed an independent and increasing state in the heart of the Roman Empire."(14)
What was the early Church doing that would warrant such praise? What was this kingdom of God at hand that turned the world upside down? Why were they accused of robbing the temple at Ephesus? If Christians were told to "Obey the government, for God is the one who has put it there. There is no government anywhere that God has not placed in power.” then why were Christians persecuted by governments? Why were they accused of saying that there is another king, one Jesus?(15)
“Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute [is due]; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour. Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.” Romans 13:7,8
Why do you owe Caesar at all? How is it that you are under tribute, when we are told that the slothful shall be under tribute?
“The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute.” (Pr 12:24)
Governments of men are created by men. The righteous power of government to tax the people comes from the people by consent. When the voice of the people called for a leader who could rule over them in the days of Samuel, the election of the people was a rejection of God.(16)
The people had lived without such authoritarian benefactors for centuries,(17) but they were now doing evil and rejecting God, because they were tired of taking on the responsibility of protecting one another. Is it evil to reject God, covet your neighbor's goods through the agency of others, eat at the table (or altars) of authoritarian rulers and gods? When the people rejected God and called to the prophet Samuel to swear in a ruler to make laws and appoint judges, make laws, and to lead them in battle, that was an evil thing.
1 Hebrew & Greek Lexicons, J.B. Smith, Herald Press, Scottdale, PA. OnlineBible.com
2 Genesis 4:16, Genesis 10:9, Deuteronomy 7:8, 1 Samuel 8:7
3 “But they cried out, Away with [him], away with [him], crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King?
The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.” John 19:15
4 Cecil B. DeMille in “The Ten Commandments.”
5 “All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought
under the power of any.” 1 Corinthians 6:12
6 http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-politics/
7 Lawmakers and Ordinary People in Aristotle, by Paul Bullen (1996) http://paul.bullen.com/BullenLawmakers.html (VI.
4.1318b38-1319a4)
8 http://www.uiowa.edu/~lsa/bkh/lla/plato
9 Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2001.08.19 On this issue, see S. Bobzien, Determinism and Freedom in Stoic Philosophy,
Oxford 1998, chap. 6 . http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/2001/2001-08-19.html
10 Matthew 20:25, Mark 10:42, Luke 22:25
11 Thy Kingdom Comes Brother Gregory HHC 2002.
12 “...certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” Jude 1:4
13 “And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: the LORD shall rule over you.” Judges 8:23
14 Rousseau and Revolution, Will et Ariel Durant p.801. fn 83 Heiseler, 85.
15 Acts 17:6, 7
16 1 Samuel 8:7 “And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for
they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.”
17 Judges 17:6 In those days [there was] no king in Israel, [but] every man did [that which was] right in his own eyes.
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