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Originally Posted by Finn_Jarber
It does not talk about kings, it talks about governing authority, who is a servant to God.
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A servant of God would, in fact, be also a servant of the people. Both of the Higher Commandments attest to this.
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To me that must mean a civil government.
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To you. Not me. Civil government happens when people cannot take care of themselves. When they "turn over" their rightful authority under God, to another to act on their benefit.
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Also, it is not mutually exclusive to have Christ as ultimate king, while obeying the laws and paying tax to the civil government.
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Having Christ as the ultimate King CANNOT ever mean having any other king over you. Hense, you canot serve 2 masters, for conflicts will arise in the heart causing division, and there is no division in the Kingdom of God.
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That is how Unites States works today. Only in a libertarian utopia would we not have a civil government at all. Heck, even libertarians want some kind of government, a small one.
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Thank goodness I am not a libertarian, republican, democrat, conservative, liberal, nothing. I am a sevant of the Most High King, and my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ's Body. Only.
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I do not see any contradiction in Paul saying to obey law and civil government while acknowledging that God is ultimately the King of Kings.
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That is the talk of someone who realizes the chains are not there, but in reality, they are. Your tax money funds all kinds of horrors. From abortions, to torture. From wars over property, to killing in the name of whatever the flavor of the day is. This is NOT of God, nor can it be supported by men of God.
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It is two different things and not mutually exclusive at all. There is no reduction in sovereignty of God.
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From what you describe, there is. We take away the sovereignty of God by serving other masters. It doesn't matter if the benefit is SSA, or the War in Iraq. No matter what, Americans ALWAYS reduce our King to an authority "outside" of this world. This is why we are to "be in the world, but not OF it."
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Also, what woud have happened to the Christians of those days if Paul had told them to not pay tax and not obey civil law.
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Hmm, they would have been burned at the stake, or used as human torches, or beheaded, or used as play toys for lions and gladiators. Wait,,,THEY WERE! Hmm, wonder why? Could it be they would not submit their Christ as King to another?
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They would have been massacred for rebelling against the state.
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They were, by the hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions.
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So, it is a common sense thing to say "obey the law of the land, but remember that God is your ultimate King".
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No it isn't. That is the copout for the Churchianity Christian today. But it was not always that way. This country was founded as a means to escape the tyranical regime of the Church of England, and the King's Tax.
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