Submission as Resistance: Romans 13 in the Light of Jesus and Psalm 2 vs Charlie Kirk's Memorial

From Bob Ekblad, creator of the Jesus OR Nationalism course

Submission as Resistance: Romans 13 in the light of Jesus & Psalm 2, vs. Charlie Kirk’s memorial service  Bob Ekblad The prophetic witness of Christians before the State has too often been muted by a surface reading of the Apostle Paul’s words in Romans 13:1-7, with its infamous “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God” (Rm13:1). And further on:  “But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil” (Rm 13:4). Added to this are Peter’s words: “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right” (1 Pet 2:13-14). It is critical that we read these verses about submission and the sword in their larger contexts and in the light of Jesus’ and the Apostles’ missionary activity and teaching.  A uniquely Jesus-inspired form of submission and resistance is clarified when you include Scriptures about governing authorities, like Psalm 2, Revelation 13 and others in the discussion.   We need the full witness of Scripture to inform our thinking and actions in these challenging times. Looking closely at Jesus’ witness and teaching helps us discern and reject false ways of appropriating Romans 13, as in the following example. On September 21 at Charlie Kirk’s memorial service the American political commentator and YouTuber Benny Johnson evoked Romans 13.  “In Romans 13, the Apostle Paul talks about a godly government instituted by our Lord and Savior. And what does he describe? The Apostle Paul describes how God establishes the rulers of the nations” he said. Johnson than motioned over to his left, where Donald Trump and his cabinet were seated and continued.  “In the audience right now, there are rulers of our land. Represented right here is the State Department, the Department of War, the Department of Justice, the Chief Executive. God has instituted them. God has given them power over our nation and our land. God saved our president, President Trump, from an assassin's bullet, for this moment. And what does the Apostle Paul in Romans say about a godly leadership? He says that rulers wield the sword for the protection of good men and for the terror of evil men.” Here Benny Johnson inserts “godly leadership,” which Romans does not state. He goes further still by calling people to pray that the Trump Administration would use violence to terrify (not love) enemies.  “May we pray that our rulers here, rightfully instituted and given power by our God, wield the sword for the terror of evil men in our nation in Charlie's memory. I want to live in a country where the evil are terrified and where the good and the faithful and the moral people of our nation can live in peace, debate in peace, disagree in peace and start families in peace. And so we want to thank the administration for being here and carrying out that godly mission of wielding the sword against evil.” Johnson and many other speakers after him, (including numerous cabinet members), equated the Trump administration with Jesus and the Kingdom of God in ways that Jesus himself, Paul and Peter would never have endorsed. Rulers are also presented in Scripture as bearing the sword for evil—as when Herod Antipas, the Roman tetrarch had John the Baptist beheaded (Mt 14:10), or when King Herod Agrippa beheaded James the son of Zebedee (Acts 12:2). Old Testament prophets spoke out strongly against Israel’s kings, and often were persecuted, incarcerated and executed.  Jesus himself never sought political power. After Jesus multiplied loaves and fish and fed 5,000 people, they tried to take him by force to make him king. He withdrew to the mountain. When Pilate asked Jesus if he were a king he replied: “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, my kingdom is not of this realm” (Jn 18:36). Here Jesus states clearly that he and his servants would not be about self-defense, the right to bear arms, or about fighting for an earthly kingdom.  Right before turning him over to be crucified Pilate pressed Jesus further regarding his identity, asking him: “So You are a king?”  “Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice” (Jn 18:37).  What is often missed is that Jesus, Paul and Peter called believers to submit to the pagan and brutal Roman Empire—and not to an idealized theocratic state. Submission included respecting the rule of law, so long as obedience to human authorities did not counter the higher allegiance to Christ.  For Peter, who addresses his epistle to "those who reside as aliens" (1 Pet 1:1) and "aliens and strangers" (1 Pet 2:11), this meant honoring 1) all people, 2) loving fellow believers, 3) fearing God, and 4) honoring the king, in that order (1 Pet 2:17).  Submission to authorities meant humbly accepting the consequences if disobedience were required. Jesus, Peter and Paul were all arrested, beaten, and imprisoned for their missional activities, and Paul wrote at least four of his Epistles from prison. Yet Paul still viewed all categories of rulers and authorities governing the world as part of the originally good creation, made by Christ: “For by him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created through him and for him” (Col 1:16). These non-human entities were viewed as subsequently fallen and rebellious, as the beast which Revelation 13 graphically portrays– but still operational until the end. So, Paul and Peter are calling for Christians to be in a particular kind of willing subjection to whatever government or political party is in power— whether that be a democracy, a caliphate, a fascist dictatorship, a monarchy or maybe even a mafia or gang network that rules a failed state. Paul and Peter were recommending a course of action so that new believers who were often poor and vulnerable, and fragile new faith communities could survive and advance in hostile terrain, while simultaneously bearing witness to Jesus.  “If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all people” (Rm 12:18).  Their counsel is in part like advice given to prisoners serving a prison sentence, or to people on probation or engaged in drug court who must obey the rules to avoid further trouble.   Paul appears to have often considered governing authorities his enemies, writing strong words regarding enemy love right before Romans 13:  “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.”  He ends with “do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Rm 12:14, 21). So, Paul and Peter’s words must not be read as religious endorsements of State power in ways that promote a cozy alliance between religious and secular leaders—and certainly not as promoting a Christian government or agendas like "America (or any nation) First," or “Make America Great Again.” Secular authorities, governments, and nation states have their specific role. But they are not equated with the Kingdom of God! Jesus, Paul, and Peter called for allegiance to God as the highest power:   “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” (Lk 10:27). Nor do these texts mean that Christians must obey laws that go against conscience, be silent about injustice or hold back from their highest callings as Jesus’ disciples. Jesus resisted religious authorities when he healed on the Sabbath, cleansed the Temple, and strongly critiqued Jewish leaders. Peter and Paul disobeyed orders to not preach in the name of Jesus, and willingly suffered the consequences: imprisonment (Acts 4:1), beatings (2 Cor 11:23), and execution (Acts 7:58-60; 12:2). The first Christians refused military service and worship of Caesar as Lord and suffered torture, imprisonment, and execution. Jesus’ revolutionary submission Jesus models a quiet authority and confidence before the Roman governor of Judea Pontius Pilate, after he informed him he had authority to release him or crucify him with: “You would have no authority over me, unless it had been given you from above” (Jn 19:11)—ultimately from himself! The Apostles saw Jesus’ subjecting himself in self-giving love on the cross as the deathblow to the ruler of this world– the beginning of the end of the reign of the rulers and authorities, which will be judged and finally destroyed (1 Cor 15:24-27). Jesus warned his disciples then and now that his same fate can be expected at the hands of authorities.  “But beware of people, for they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues; and you will even be brought before governors and kings for my sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles” (Mt 10:17-18). In this time before the end of history Paul wrote:  “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12). Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2 must also be read in the light of Psalm 2, which begins by asking a question that Christians in America and in many other nations should be asking:   “Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples imaging a vain thing?” “Why do we as Christians get so caught up in endorsing political candidates and parties, mirroring the hate-filled political divisions around us?” My sense it that many Christians are not adequately informed about the final destiny of the powers and our own unique prophetic vocation. The Psalmist reminds us of the macro divine perspective: “The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed” (Ps 2:2). Jesus experienced hostility from rulers and authorities, and prophesied his followers would experience the same (Mk. 13:9; Lk. 12:11)– which they did (Acts 4:5). Martyrdom was normative then and is on the rise now. Christians are called to be subject to governing authorities not because they are good or represent God’s agenda. Our citizenship is in heaven. Peter urged believers to see themselves as “aliens and foreigners” right before his words about being subject to authorities, who he sought to evangelize: “Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation” (1 Pet. 2:11-12). Christian submission to rulers and authorities must be done from a perspective of open-eyed realism about both the rebellious, hostile orientation of the powers against the reign of God and Jesus’ greater sovereignty and victory. “He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them. Then he will speak to them in his anger and terrify them in his fury, saying, “But as for me, I have installed my King upon Zion, my holy mountain” (Ps. 2:4-6). Jesus is that King, the Son of the Father, come to open the way for us to receive our authority and receive our inheritance as daughters and sons. “I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to me, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you. ‘Ask of me, and I will surely give the nations as your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as your possession” (Ps. 2:4-8). Jesus was installed “King of the Jews” there on the cross. Jesus’ submission to rulers and authorities to the point of death on the cross was God’s secret weapon against Satan and the rebellious powers.   God “disarmed the rulers and authorities, he made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through him [Jesus]” (Col 2:15). Paul understood that the way of Jesus, the cross is how death was defeated-- though the rulers who bore the sword were ignorant of what they were doing:   “For if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory" (1 Cor 2:8).  The Psalmist’s prophetic warning is still in force, putting all Christian submission and resistance into the larger context of Christ’s victory and destruction of the non-human powers. ‘You shall break them with a rod of iron, you shall shatter them like earthenware. Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son, that he not become angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in him! Psalm 2 brings hope to Christians subjecting themselves to unjust rulers as we know Jesus’ submission wins as all authorities will themselves finally submit to Jesus Christ as King. May we learn from the suffering Christ to step into long suffering prophetic witness now.