“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.” -Romans 13.1-7
Recently we celebrated the 232 birthday of our country (at least those of you joining me from America did!) and to mark the occasion a discussion was brought up on the blog called Out of Ur concerning how we, as Christians, should view ourselves in respect to patriotism and allegiance to a national citizenship. Continuing on in discussion about this led to the eventual conflict and question of just how actively should Christians pursue to have biblical convictions translated into law. It is not my desire currently to flesh out my convictions on this subject here (though you may read a number of them in the comments in the Out of Ur thread), but in response to a question brought up as to how I would defend my stance as a Christian, I would like to link you guys to a sermon by Dr. John Piper which I believe accurately represents the totality of how I feel on this issue.
The message is the fourth in a series of four sermons concerning the balance between a Christian’s responsibilities to God and their responsibility to government, based on Romans 13.1-7. I would recommend all of the four messages, as I feel that, in typical John Piper fashion, the point gets hammered home in each, but, specifically speaking to my views on how a Christian should engage politics in an American-type democracy, I want to offer up this piece. Enjoy!
John Piper- “Subjection to God and Subjection to the State, Part 4″
Posted by Todd Burus 
