Governments Bear a Sword for a Reason

In Romans 13, Paul makes an argument that likely would rub many freedom-minded Americans the wrong way. Paul says that everyone should be subject to the governing authorities (Romans 13:1-2).  He argues that all authorities are appointed by God, and their power flows solely from him. Such being the case, Paul then argues that to resist the authorities is to resist God. He does not make any distinction between whether the authorities are good-hearted, bad-hearted, indifferent, or incompetent. In fact, Paul had already experienced a notable amount of abuse at the hands of governing authorities by the writing of his letter to Rome – which was written around AD 57.  Interestingly, in AD 51, he and his fellow worker, Silas, were unlawfully thrown into prison by local authorities in the city of Philippi (Acts 16:16-24). Those authorities even had them beaten before they were incarcerated. There does not appear to have been a lawful trial – or any trial at all. Later, an earthquake shook open the doors of the prison and loosened their shackles. Paul and Silas did not flee from their unlawful imprisonment (Acts 16:26-28). Instead, they shared the gospel with their jailer and his family (Acts 16:29-34). Paul wrote his second letter to the Corinthians around AD 56, again, before his letter to Rome. He tells them of his frequent imprisonments, and his countless beatings (2 Corinthians 11:23). Even more challenging in Pauls’ argument is that he makes the case that governing authorities “do not bear the sword for nothing (Romans 13:4)!” The sword is to kill you when you are sufficiently out of line, and to inflict God’s wrath on those who do what is wrong. 

So Paul is saying that regardless of whether you live in the gloom of a communist, collective despotism, or the cruel autocracy of an iron-hearted dictatorship, or even the tyranny of an indifferent, incompetent, democratic bureaucracy, you are expected to follow the rules.  Paul argues that the authorities will leave you alone, in general, so long as you are not doing anything that constitutes bad conduct, and therefore brings disorder to the community. But Paul isn’t saying that governments can just do to you whatever they want. They, too, must follow the rules. When he and Silas were thrown into prison at Philippi, the governing authorities who put them there decided to let them go at some point after the earthquake, so they sent word to the jailer. Paul told the jailer to let the authorities know that he and Silas were Roman citizens who had not been lawfully condemned. Those authorities then succumbed to some fears they had forgotten to properly consider before they ordered an imprisonment. Their fear was that they, as lawful authorities, would be subject to the authorities above them who would be displeased at their disrespect for Roman law and their mistreatment of Roman citizens. They had forgotten that those higher authorities also do not bear a sword for nothing. They promptly came and apologized to Paul and Silas in person.

Paul’s point is that for every authority, there is a higher authority, and the highest authority above them all is God. God is the authority to whom every individual must ultimately answer. So you are to obey the authorities, no matter how challenging, so long as what they are telling you to do is not in conflict with God’s will and law. When you must make a choice between human authorities who are in conflict with God, you must obey God (Acts 5:29, Matthew 10:28). He is the highest authority.