Romans ~ Part 34

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As I’ve stressed in my previous post, our journey to comprehend the profound significance of Sha’ul’s Letter to the Romans is not just a study but a crucial cornerstone of our faith.

Believer’s Life and Conduct ~ Part 3

When engaging in political conversations with friends or colleagues, attempt to reflect the spirit of Romans 13 by listening and responding with respect, even to opposing views. Work on developing active listening skills and clarify your stance calmly, seeking to find common ground. By modeling this behavior, you embody Yeshua’s love and humility, which can soften hearts and create healthier dialogue around sensitive issues.

Duty Toward Civil Authority

13 ¹ Everyone is to obey the governing authorities. For there is no authority that is not from God, and the existing authorities have been placed where they are by God. ² Therefore, whoever resists the authorities is resisting what God has instituted, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. ³ For rulers are no terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you like to be unafraid of the person in authority? Then simply do what is good, and you will win his approval; ⁴ for he is God’s servant, there for your benefit. But if you do what is wrong, be afraid! Because it is not for nothing that he holds the power of the sword, for he is God’s servant, there as an avenger to punish wrongdoers. ⁵ Another reason to obey, besides fear of punishment, is for the sake of conscience. ⁶ This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s public officials, constantly attending to these duties. ⁷ Pay everyone what he is owed: if you owe the tax collector, pay your taxes; if you owe the revenue collector, pay revenue; if you owe someone respect, pay him respect; if you owe someone honor, pay him honor.

Having discussed Believers’ relationships with each other and with non-Believers (12:4–21), Sha’ul naturally turns to how they should relate to the chief external institution, the State. His advice can be seen as an application of 12:21. Does this mean that Believers should obey the wicked laws of an evil government—the Nazis, the Communists, or other totalitarian regimes? No, because this rule does not stand by itself in Scripture; it must be set against Acts 5:29 (“We must obey God, not men”) when the will of the state and the will of God conflict (see v. 7). The early Believers refused to offer incense to statues of the Roman emperor because such idolatry would have been disobedience to God; they paid with their lives. Jews also have been martyred ˓al kiddush Hashem (“for the sake of sanctifying the Name” of God”) when they refused conversion to Messianic Jews, which was incapable of communicating either its truth or its Jewishness, with the result that Jews perceived it as idolatry. The implications of Scripture for civil disobedience in the modern sense—that is, for a moral cause, presumably also a selfless one—deserves attention that cannot be given here.

Love Is Key to Obligations

⁸ Don’t owe anyone anything—except to love one another; for whoever loves his fellow human being has fulfilled Torah. ⁹ For the commandments, “Don’t commit adultery,” “Don’t murder,” “Don’t steal,” and “Don’t covet” (Exodus 20:13–14(17), Deuteronomy 5:17–18(21) and any others are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Leviticus 19:18) ¹⁰ Love does not do harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fullness of Torah.

Yeshua said that all the Torah and the Prophets depend on two commandments—loving God, as commanded in the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:5), and loving one’s neighbor as oneself (Leviticus 19:18). Sha’ul quotes four of the five commandments in the “Second Table” of the Law, those which concern behavior toward other people; Yeshua did the same (Mt 19:16–20). Sha’ul’s point in these verses is not to abolish specific commands but to show that the principle of loving one’s neighbor, which is the pervading theme of everything from Romans12:9 till here, must underlie all halakhic (see my Glossary page) applications and will, when appropriated by the power of the Ruach HaKodesh, lead to correct behavior in daily life. This is how love is the fullness of the Torah—not by superseding it, but by being the beginning, the end, and the motivating force at work.

Hope Is Key to Motivation

¹¹ Besides all this, you know at what point of history we stand, so it is high time for you to rouse yourselves from sleep, for the final deliverance is nearer than when we first came to trust. ¹² The night is almost over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and arm ourselves with the weapons of light. ¹³ Let us live properly, as people do in the daytime—not partying and getting drunk, not engaging in sexual immorality and other excesses, not quarreling and being jealous. ¹⁴ Instead, clothe yourselves with the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, and don’t waste your time thinking about how to provide for the sinful desires of your old nature. ^[1]

The urgency of the historical moment makes proper behavior all the more critical. Jewish writings of the period, too, regarded the final deliverance as imminent:

“In those days the Elect One will arise and choose the righteous and holy from among them because the day for their being saved has come near.” (Enoch 51:1b–2)

“For truly my redemption has drawn near; it is not far distant as it was before.” (2 Baruch 23:7)

Night and day, also darkness and light, as metaphors for evil and good are found in the Gospel of Yochanan (see Yochanan 8:12), in the Tanakh (for example, Isaiah 60:1ff.), and in the Dead Sea Scrolls of the Essenes, who separated themselves from what they considered the decadent and immoral life fostered by the establishment Judaism of their time. In addition, day and daytime are metaphors for the ˓olam haba, the age to come.

Clothe yourselves with the Lord Yeshua. Compare Isaiah 61:10:

“I will greatly rejoice in Adonai;

my soul will be joyful in my God.

“For he has clothed me with the garments of salvation,

he has covered me with a robe of righteousness.”

The Hebrew word for “salvation” in this passage is “yesha˓,” related to “Yeshua,” which also means “salvation.”

Our next post begins a new theme, Regarding Mutual Responsibility.

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^[1] Romans 13:1–14.