Romans 13

There are also those who call themselves Christian who believe that Donald Trump is literally, and I mean literally, the chosen one.

They say that Trump was chosen by God to do our Lord's work, In order to support their idea, these people will point to Romans 13, verse 1, which reads, Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.

They'll even add to that with the words God tells Samuel in 1 Samuel 16, verse 7, But the Lord said to Samuel, Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him.

For the Lord does not see as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

It just says, look, I'm in a unique position here and I need people who recognize that and will be in it too for the purpose of following me, not following wealth.

What about, I have a note here about Romans 13.

Yes.

Romans 13 sometimes is cited by people who say, ah, it appears from Romans 13 that Paul, the author, is saying that we should all obey every government command because it's ordained from God.

At first blush, when you read Romans 13, it looks like that.

It looks like he's saying government is ordained, obey at every turn.

But there's a context here that is often left out.

Those words of Paul in Romans 13 presuppose that government is doing what government is supposed to do, protect life and property, for instance.

But I am being asked as an American to state who I believe should bear the sword of the state.

to use paul's words and we can talk more about why that's important to the analysis i'm asking who should be given the sword to use it against my fellow citizens as a minister of god according to romans 13. and i don't think i'm restricted in answering that to what everybody else is going to do i'm trying to answer that as a christian It may not, and I'm not delusional, will not ultimately result in the election of Peter Sonsky, but I am being asked as a citizen who I believe is worthy, morally worthy to bear that sword.

And that's how I'm answering the question when I vote is by voting for the person who I think will bear the sword most justly.

you acknowledge it yourself, there's not a realistic chance that 70 odd million people even know who Peter Sonsky is on election day, right? Ultimately, barring an act of God of some sort, it's gonna come down to being one of these two people.

They are not.

But whether or not they're morally equivalent, each of their positions, I think, is morally disqualifying.

And so maybe it's important to back up and to answer the question of voting, I think you have to answer the question for a Christian, what is government? What do we understand government to be as Christians? Augustine said, justice removed, then what are kingdoms but great bands of robbers? He's identifying through his rhetorical question what Paul identifies in Romans 13, that the government operates by coercive force.

And if that coercive force is being brought to bear to accomplish evil, then what are kingdoms but great bands of robbers? That what distinguishes organized crime from government is justice.

With respect to individuals, if someone slapped us on the right cheek, we're to turn to him the other cheek.

But with respect to serving as an officer of a government, a policeman or a soldier or a president has to bear the sword, Romans 13, and has to... pay back the wrongdoer for the wrong that he has done, and punish crime and keep us safe.

He's God's servant carrying out God's judgment on the wrongdoer in Romans 13.

And that means the use of force to defeat evil.

Jimmy Carter, I think, was too influenced by the turn the other cheek teaching of Jesus, which was intended for individuals and didn't give enough heed to the teaching Romans 13, that the government bears the sword and bears it to protect us and use force to protect us against evil.

The difference between liberals and conservatives and a lot of political issues has to do with what do you think, what means do you think should be used to stop evil doers from harming others in society? And a lot of liberal ideas political issues or liberal Christians even who hold liberal political views just think that the only solution to wrongdoing on the earth is talk and then negotiate, negotiate, negotiate.

I'm a little worried that President Trump may be affected by that too much right now with Iran.

even if I found it difficult or others found it objectionable.

So my sermon was the last event.

And my text was at Wild Goose, Romans 13, let everyone submit to the government.

And it was, I love doing that kind of thing at Wild Goose, taking a text.

what I call a text of terror against evangelicals and then going right for it and unpacking it in a completely different way.

I think I've mentioned that I did this little experiment with, I know we're going to talk about AI a little later.

I think we were at least huddling about that, that when I did this little experiment with AI Jesus, you can do this kind of chat with Jesus on, on AI, but you can calibrate Jesus to be Southern Baptist Jesus or UCC Jesus and, And I set up two dueling Jesuses and had them have a conversation about immigration.

And Southern Baptist Jesus kept going to Romans 13.

No matter what question I would ask, Southern Baptist Jesus would go to Romans 13.

That's a whole different issue.

then God giving the right to a national government, which is exactly what Romans 13 says, the powers that be are ordained of God, and they bear the sword and they don't bear it for nothing.

They bear it to use against the evildoer for the protection of the one who does good.

Would you say then that

Romans 13 puts a responsibility on our government to retaliate? Well, I definitely do.

It would be wrong for them not to

retain you.

It calls a holy people to wake up.

Romans 13 verse 11 says, besides this you know the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep.

For now our salvation is nearer than when we first came to trust.

The night is almost gone and the day is near, so let us put off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.