“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 13:7
We all have certain obligations. We owe taxes, debts, respect, and honor when they are due. Sometimes we become confused about when these things are truly our obligations. We recognize that we must pay our taxes – can’t get out of that! And we know we should pay our rent or mortgage – although the government seems to think otherwise. But do we owe respect to everyone who makes the rules? For instance, must we respect someone in authority who lies to us, steals our money, or kills unborn babies?
I have learned that there is a difference between respect and obedience. Romans 13:1-7 is clear that people are to be subject to governing authorities. Authorities have been put in place by God to avoid chaos in society. That “society” may be the family, the church, the military, or the country. We need governing authorities. When everyone does “what is right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6; 21:25) there will be chaos. We see much chaos in our country today because our authorities are not obeyed. And it is interesting that the Bible says that authorities are to be obeyed even when they are difficult people. “Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust” (1 Peter 2:18). There is only one circumstance in which we do not obey our legitimate authorities and that is when they order us to do what is forbidden by God. When we are confronted with an order to sin and we must make a decision, Acts 5: 29 tells us, “We must obey God rather than men.”
Yes, we are to obey our leaders unless they order us to do something that is against God’s Word, but that does not mean we must respect the leaders that order us to do those things that are not specifically addressed in Scripture. For example, the Bible does not mention the wearing of masks, or how voting should be carried out, or belonging to teachers’ unions. We are free to decide these things by how we vote, and how we vote should be decided after getting the facts and prayer. But once we vote we are to obey those who win, like it or not. However, respecting winning leaders is another matter. Leaders often make bad decisions. Some make decisions only for political reasons and not for the good of those they lead. Although we must obey these leaders, we are not required to respect them when they mandate things that go against our consciences or our better judgment. Our verse today says we are to give “respect to whom respect is owed.” Respect is not owed bad leaders.
I personally cannot respect a leader who lies, who does not keep his promises, who does not respect the sanctity of life, or who does not make decisions based on what the Bible teaches. I will obey the laws of the land, but I do not have to respect ungodly leaders.
Having said all that, I am grateful to God that not all leaders today are bad. My children and grandchildren have wonderful fathers, most churches have godly pastors, we have many brave military commanders (my own husband was a decorated military doctor in the Korean War), we have some brave people who try to rescue hostages, and we have had some presidents who protected America well. I thank God for these men and pray that God will give us more of them for America’s future.
God answers prayer so let’s
pray that God will give us godly leaders that we can respect.
This is certainly not an easy topic. On the face of it, it seems very straight-forward. But as you said, it is difficult to respect some of those whom we must obey. When it's one's spouse or parent, things can really get complicated. How blessed we are to have God's word and His spirit to guide us through the difficult moments when respect is demanded by people whose deeds and policies are unacceptable. "To accept the unacceptable is unacceptable with me." Yet God gives grace for these hard times and will see us through them.
ReplyDeleteIn these difficult times I find in helpful to use a person's title before his or her name. It helps to govern my tongue. I am not sure when our presidents began being called by anything other than President Name, but just as a military man deserves to be given the earned rank so do our political leaders.
ReplyDeleteThank you for bringing up these difficult discussions.