Do Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2:13-17 Require Us Always to Submit to Government?

Just before the coronavirus began creating panic in our country, I preached on 1 Peter 2:13-17 in which Peter instructs believers to submit to their governing authorities. My main point in that message was, “As free servants of God, honor everyone as to the Lord.” I emphasized that Christians should be known as submissive people, always finding ways to serve.

I still affirm greatly everything I said in that message, but if I had preached that text just two weeks later, it would have been much different. Amazingly, circumstances changed dramatically in a matter of days. If I were to preach it today, I would have to include instruction on the limits of such authority, and wisdom on when to disobey any authority.

This is especially confused right now when the government is demanding what it hasn’t ever done in our time: shut down most every social interaction we are used to, including churches.

And many people now are rightly uncomfortable with the government telling churches (among many other things) that we cannot meet together even if we put in extra precautionary measures to promote health and safety. Some who see the importance of the gathered people and are quite concerned about the economic, relational, emotional and theological fallout of the response to this outbreak are more willing to push the boundaries. Others are quite satisfied to sit back and wait to see what happens, trusting our civil authorities to navigate this time with care and wisdom. They tell those eager to push the boundaries to submit to the government based on Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2:13–17. (Some debate whether the American Colonies [as in the picture above] were right to revolt against the British Empire.)

Both sides of this debate need help understanding those texts. Are we free to ignore the commands of the government? Must we always obey? There are many great and much more comprehensive treatments of this subject that I would encourage you to read. But let me offer a basic clarification.

The point of Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2:13–17 is not to tell us to always obey our government no matter what they are doing, but most of the time. Yes, the government is established by God to bring order and justice to society. And, yes, the civil authorities are often going to make bad laws, wrong judgments, and unjust orders. They are going to often be foolish about “public health” and make decisions that are self-serving (often times putting those two together). They are going to inform their decisions through “science” and “trusting the experts,” though conveniently they will only listen to the expert scientists that confirm how they see and operate in the world (that is human nature as our theology should remind us).

But we are still to submit most of the time even to that ridiculous and foolish leadership, because we have a different goal in mind than political revolution. If a mugger holds a gun to our head demanding our wallet (which we know only has $5 in it) we give him the wallet, because we value our life more than $5. That doesn’t say that he is right to do so, but it just uses wisdom to choose our battles wisely. We would rather live and have our moment with him to tell him about Christ’s justice, his forgiveness, and his ability to care for you even when you are so desperate to steal $5 from a stranger.

And we are sometimes okay putting up with government mandates to withhold gathering as a church for a period of time for public health (even though the government has tenuous biblical authority in such circumstances), because we have greater goals in mind than putting the government in their place. We want the gospel to be proclaimed from our mouths and modeled in our unified fellowship.

Should we feel that the government has pushed too far as to encroach on our witness, to restrict our effort in preaching and modeling Christ, we must use wisdom to best determine how we will say no to the government in such a way that is clear we aren’t doing it because we are Americans or because of the Constitution, but because of Christ and Christ alone.

Paul and Peter wrote their encouragements to submit as often as possible is because our gospel witness is going to make the world to think we are rebels anyway. We don’t partake in their entertainment. We don’t praise their gods. We don’t engage in their false worship. We don’t pursue their pleasures. Being a Christian is rebellion against Satan and his work in the world. By being faithful to Christ, the world will already think we are rebellious.

So Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2:13–17 are encouragements to the church to not give the world any more reason to see us as rebels than obeying the commands of Jesus. They will call us “science deniers,” “religious quacks,” “rebels against the social order,” “incestuous,” and “cannibals” (all types of things leveled against the early church in Rome to whom these letters were written). Let’s not add fuel to their hatred by starting political and market revolutions, but instead quietly create a counter-culture built on following and becoming like Christ through his gospel.

In all the current debates over whether or not we should resist, protest, or ignore orders, let us Christians be careful to do so only for reasons that we believe may lead toward compromising our gospel witness. We are Christians first. We have a Great Commission above all other commissions. We are employees, Americans, and neighbors, yes, but don’t let those identities (and the rights they include) trump our mission to represent Christ and his salvation.

We must be willing to put up with all kinds of unjust treatment because our battle lies elsewhere. Will we push back on the government? Perhaps at some point our corporate witness of Christ will have suffered enough to do so, but that will be our primary lens by which we determine which steps to take. The questions we ask to determine our steps will be based primarily on how the gathered people of God as a witness to the power of Christ’s blood and resurrection is affected by the orders. The more God’s people are kept from being that witness (not just the pastor preaching, but the people speaking of and modeling their salvation), the more likely we will be to push back. Sure, nobody is telling us to stop individually speaking about Jesus, but the first way we ordinarily proclaim the gospel is through the church gathering, pastors preaching the word, and the body administering the sacraments (Ephesians 3:10; John 13:35). So in a very important sense we are being told not to preach Jesus. If we are going to push back, we must be sure that it is clear we are doing so to obey Christ and represent his gospel; not any other reason.

Let us be just as eager to obey Christ’s commission to preach the gospel and build the church as we are to stay at home. With eyes on Christ, he will give us wisdom to know when it is time to push back against over-reach or when it is best to live peaceably with all and wait for another battle.