“Historically, the most terrible things: war, genocide and slavery,
have resulted not from disobedience, but from obedience.” - Howard Zinn

In these tumultuous times, many Christians are trying to figure out a healthy and mature posture towards the government.

Take Romans 13. This chapter is one of those classic “clobber passages”, used to make sure we are all being obedient citizens, which historically has led Christians into all KINDS of problems:

“Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities...” (Romans 13:1)

His fellow Bible-writer, Peter, wrote something very similar:

“Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority…” (1 Peter 2:13)

I call these clobber passages because historically they have been used to crush dissent, stifle protest and discourage civil disobedience.

But we live in times where the question of obedience to the governing authorities is more pressing than ever…

All around the world we are witnessing the rise of the “strongman” – brutal leaders like Putin, Erdoğan, Duterte and Cambodia’s Hun Sen, who has been in power for 36 years. These are hard-line men who rule with little regard for justice or the downtrodden. I know what it’s like to live under an iron fist, because I’ve lived in Cambodia for 15 years.

Meanwhile, there are mandates around vaccines, vaccine passes and meeting together in large groups, here in Cambodia and around the world. Do we follow these government rules because the Bible preaches obedience no matter what - or is there a deeper principle at stake?

I’m concerned that if we don’t get this right, we could easily end up at one of two extremes.

On the one hand we could find ourselves treading the path of the German church under Hitler’s Nazi government. In those days, too many good citizens – good Christians! - stood by, while their vulnerable neighbors were crushed by the governing authorities.

On the other hand, there are those who in the past year have refused to comply with common-sense laws, in the name of protecting their individual “freedom”. Some have prioritized their own personal rights over loving their neighbors through simple public health practices.

So, let’s take a closer look at these passages and see what they really say about obeying the authorities…

After Jesus’ death and resurrection, King Herod got super mad and arrested some of the believers, including James and Peter, and put them on public trial. The night before the trial, an angel of the Lord woke Peter up, removed his chains, opened the prison doors and led him out the main gate of the prison.

Yet after escaping from jail, where he had been imprisoned for breaking the law, Peter went on to write in a letter:

“Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to the governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.”

And similarly, while Paul was in Damascus, he escaped from a strongman city governor who was trying to arrest him, by concealing himself in a picnic basket and having himself lowered down the city wall through a window.

Then after reaching safety, Paul wrote a surprising letter:

“Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities which exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.”

So are Peter and Paul hypocrites, asking Christians to do as they say, but not as they do?

The key to understanding this teaching, is in the word "submit". Take a look at this. The Greek word hupo-tasso, which has been translated as “submit” or “be subject,” literally means to arrange stuff respectfully in an "orderly manner underneath".

This simple meaning of "social orderliness" would have been understood by original readers, but it is a little obscured in our English translation.

This word is used in Ephesians 5:22 to encourage husbands and wives to submit to one another, and it reflects God’s concern for order and respect.

Here’s the main point – Paul and Peter believed that governing authorities are necessary for keeping the peace and maintaining the common good during times of turmoil (such as during a pandemic). God is a God of order – not anarchy or chaos.

But here’s where we go wrong. There’s ANOTHER word, hupo-kouo, which is best translated as “obey,” which literally means to conform, to follow a command, or to kowtow to an authority as a subordinate.

Peter and Paul could have used this word, "obey," but they chose not to.

Used twenty-one times in the New Testament, hupo-kouo always suggests a hierarchical context, as in the relationship between children and parents, or slaves, and masters (Eph 6:1 and 6:5).

And so here’s the most important thing to remember - in the New Testament Greek, to submit does NOT necessarily mean to obey! They are two separate actions or postures.

Though Paul, Peter and other followers of Jesus deliberately disobeyed laws that were in conflict with God’s commands - especially when those laws hurt the poor or vulnerable, they still submitted to the authorities by accepting the legal consequences of their actions.

So what does this look like in practice? I’m proud to be friends with a bunch of clergy, activists and other serious Christian types who are willing to pursue justice in costly ways. Some of them stage hippie sit-ins on the floor of their local government representative’s office to protest unjust treatment of refugees. Others chain themselves to bulldozers to protest environmental injustice.

Forgive me father for you are under arrest.

These people of faith stand up for justice consistently, and with humility, whenever it affects the downtrodden. They sacrifice for the exploited, and the marginalized. They proclaim Good News for the poor!

This is nothing particularly new. As far back as the book of Exodus, the Hebrew midwives refused to carry out the Pharaoh’s repugnant order to murder newborn babies.

The first people who sought to worship Jesus, a trio of spiritual gurus from Asia, deliberately disobeyed the orders of King Herod, a criminal offence punishable by death (and the first recorded act of civil disobedience in the New Testament). Later, many of the disciples, Jesus’ first followers, ended up in prison or executed.

As Christians, the law simply cannot be our ultimate moral guide. Slavery was lawful. The holocaust was legal. Segregation and apartheid were legally sanctioned. Many of today's laws are created to protect corporations rather than people. Simply put, the law does not dictate our ethics. God does. And God’s only law is love.

But, when my radical clergy friends break unjust laws you won’t see them struggling to avoid arrest. You won’t see them acting violently or promoting chaos. You don’t see them throwing tantrums in supermarkets or screaming about their personal rights. In fact, they gladly submit to the legal consequences of their actions.

These heroes show us the way to interpret Romans 13 as Peter and Paul meant - if we break an unjust law to highlight and protest its injustice, we should be willing to submit to the punishment for breaking such laws, so that we demonstrate our respect for the role of government in general.

We do not follow a God of chaos, each doing whatever we want - but a God of order and respect for one another and the governing authorities.

So what about today’s pandemic situation?

In pandemic times, as in all times, we must do what is most loving for the poor and the marginalized - no matter what the government says. Specifically, we must act out of abundant concern for the immuno-compromised and elderly. I don’t need a law to tell me that, but hopefully the law will be a good guide.

In my observation almost all governments - yes including the Cambodian government - are generally trying their best to keep folks alive, according to the best of their current scientific knowledge (here’s an example of the scientific support for masks). And so I support their efforts. Mandates, rules and regulations can help ensure that the most vulnerable are protected from a virus that will disproportionately affect them. Just as we have used vaccine mandates for decades to control polio, measles, whooping cough and rubella for decades.

I’ve lost too many friends to COVID-19 to mess around on this issue.

Are there times when we, as followers of Christ, will be called upon to stand up with a holy ‘NO!’ in the face of evil and injustice? Yes! We will know when that time has arrived because it will be the poor and vulnerable who are being disadvantaged and hurt - not just our sense of individual “freedom” (which is a Western obsession, not a Biblical priority).

Until then, let us in all humility submit to the governing authorities, agree to the consequences if we choose to break the law, and respect the role of the government in maintaining order.

It strikes me that the key Biblical theme here is not obedience, but love. Love for God and love for our neighbors.

Let love be your guide.

Let love be your law.

And may God be with you.

Does the Bible really say we must obey the government?