Categories
Faith

Submitting to the government

The Westminster style democracy which is now regarded as essential to good government seems to be a highly inefficient way to govern. Elected representatives vote according to the party line and not according to their own consciences. People do deals with each other in order to get their pet policies accepted by a party. People with particular interests make large donations to political parties which might support those interests. There frequently seems to be a hint or at least a suspicion of corruption about the process.

But the other styles of government existing in the world today are even less encouraging. In many countries the government oppresses the people, and the people suffer varying degrees of hardship as a result. Sometimes governments are openly corrupt. Sometimes dictators simply enrich themselves at everyone else’s expense. So, regardless of what type of government you are talking about, it is hard to get enthusiastic about how good it is.

This is why Paul’s message in chapter 13 of his letter to the Romans seems so surprising: “Everyone should submit to the governing authorities, because there is no authority except from God, and those who exist are appointed by God.” Before you argue that this must have been limited to the government which existed at Paul’s time, bear in mind that the government in Paul’s time was an occupying army. Paul’s message is essentially that Christians are called to be good citizens, paying taxes when they are due, and respecting people who are in power.