FOR IT
IS A MINISTER OF GOD TO YOU FOR GOOD: theou gar diakonos estin (3SPAI)
soi eis to agathon: (6;
1 Kings 10:9;
2 Chronicles 19:6;
Psalms 82:2-4;
Proverbs 24:23,24;
31:8,9;
Ecclesiastes 8:2-5;
Isaiah 1:17;
Jeremiah 5:28;
Ezekiel 22:27;
Micah 3:1-4,9)
As Ray Pritchard writes the word
"minister"...
sounds odd to our ears. Most of us
associate “ministry” with what happens on Sunday morning. Twice in verse 4
he calls rulers “God’s servants.” He doesn’t mean that they are
necessarily saved, but that human authorities serve the purpose of God on
earth...This, by the way, is the basis for treating our leaders with
respect. Christians ought to the lead the way in showing honor to human
authorities because we understand they are appointed by God...I must treat
them with respect--without regard to how I feel about certain of their
decisions--because they are God’s servants. Whom God has appointed, I must
not treat lightly. (Romans
13:1-7: How to be a Godly Rebel)
Minister (1249)
(diakonos)
(Click
in depth study of related word
diakonia) has an uncertain derivation
some saying it is from diakónis which means "in dust laboring" or
"running through dust". Others derive diakonos from diáko same as
dieko which means to hasten. The diakonos is one who renders
assistance or help by performing certain duties, often of a humble or
menial nature. Since service associated with the word diakonia
necessarily involved dependence, submission, and constraints of time and
freedom, the Greeks regarded diakonia as degrading and
dishonorable. Service for the public good was honored. And so we see that
Paul is saying that the government is God's "deacon", and as with any
deacon, its job is to humbly serve. The point is that whether the
government knows it or admits it, it serves God. If our elected officials
only truly understand this Biblical principle!
For he is God’s servant for your
good. (Amplified)
Note that
in the Greek sentence, "Theou" (God) comes first for emphasis. Paul's
point is that the "ruler" is God's servant, no less. And "servant"
reminds us that he is no more. He is not God even if some rulers have had
very exalted views of themselves and their roles. This thought is brought
out by Paul's choice of "diakonos"
for servant, as this word
emphases menial service as of a table waiter & thus came to be used of
lowly service in general. However exalted the ruler may be among the
people, before God he is nothing more than a lowly servant. And he is a
servant "to you", which adds a personal touch. The ruler's function
concerns the individual subject, and this function is "for good".
And so Queen Victoria of England in the
1800's was prone to refer to herself as "Victoria, by the grace of God".
King Jehoshaphat of Judah upon
the occasion of appointing judges over the cities of the land wisely
instructed them declaring...
"Consider what you are doing, for you
do not judge for man but for the LORD Who is with you when you render
judgment. Now then let the fear of the LORD be upon you; be very careful
what you do, for the LORD our God will have no part in unrighteousness, or
partiality, or the taking of a bribe." (2 Chronicles
19:6-7)
The psalmist Asaph records God's instructions
to those in authority asking...
"How long will you defend the unjust
and show partiality to the wicked? Selah 3 Defend the cause of the weak
and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. 4 Rescue
the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. (Psalms
82:2-4)
All of these ministers of God will one day give an account for their
stewardship of God's gift of authority. And so we should pray for our
leaders (1Ti 2:1-3).
David repeatedly referred to the wicked King Saul as the Lord’s anointed (1Sa 24:6,10
26:9,11,16,23). In spite of Saul’s repeated attempts on David’s
life, the latter would not allow his men to harm the king. Why? Because
Saul was the king, and as such he was the Lord’s appointee.
The government is God's
servant working for your good. But if you
do what is wrong, you should be afraid. The civil magistrate, saved or
unsaved, is a servant of God in the sense that since God has instituted
human government as a means of regulating the affairs of the human race, a
magistrate who carries out the law, acts as a servant of God.
Orderly government is part of God's provision, even in a wicked world. No
ruler exercises control except as God permits (Da 2:21,
4:17, 5:21). Under normal circumstances the Christian is to be
obedient to the law of the land. This does not mean that he is to obey
regulations that are immoral or anti-Christian. In such cases it is his
duty to obey God rather than men (Ac 4:19-20
5:29; cp. Da 3:16-18; 6:10ff).
Note that Ro 13:4 supports the concept of using "the sword" by government
when necessary. This would confirm the principle of justified capital
punishment first established in Ge9:6, as well as the concept of warfare
when justified.
In Israel, as in most other parts of the empire, nationals of the country
were appointed (usually after paying a high fee) as
tax collectors and were given specified
amounts to collect for Rome each year. They were free to charge virtually
any rate they wanted and to collect taxes almost as often as they wanted,
under the protection of Roman soldiers. Whatever they collected over the
prescribed amount for Rome, they could keep for themselves. As would be
expected, abuse was rampant, and because most of them were fellow
countrymen, tax collectors often were more hated than the Roman officials
and soldiers. The gospels vividly reveal how much the tax collector was
despised in Israel (Mt
9:10-11).
R Kent Hughes commenting on the
government as a minister to "for good" writes...
Even a Communist dictatorship is better
than no state at all. The darkest days in Israel’s history were those days
described in Judges 17:6 when “everyone did as he saw fit.” Just a few
days (a few hours!) without law in today’s world and all would be chaos,
just as in the book of Judges. This is true both of dictatorships and
democracies, although Paul does not have in mind a government which has
lost its ability to rule or is at the whim of a madman. (Hughes, R. K.
Romans : Righteousness from heaven. Preaching the Word. Wheaton, Ill.:
Crossway Books)
BUT IF YOU
DO WHAT IS EVIL BE AFRAID: ean de to kakon poies
(2PPAS), phobou (2SPPM): (Proverbs
16:14;
20:2,8,26)
But if you are habitually doing
that which is evil, be fearing (Wuest)
"Be
afraid" (5399)
(phobeo)
in this context picks up the classic Greek meaning which was to cause to run away
which gives us our English word "phobia". (See related
topic
How To Handle Fear)
Present
tense means to be continually fearing.
If you continually do evil you have a good reason to "be fearing" or have a "phobia" of
the authorities! If you drive 55 in a 55 mph zone, you will
have nothing to fear. But if you are doing 70, you will be looking in the
rear-view mirror constantly. Are you convicted? I am!
Solomon writes that...
The anger of the king is a deadly
threat; the wise do what they can to appease it. (Proverbs
16:14
NLT)
A king's wrath is like the roar of a
lion; he who angers him forfeits his life...When a king sits on his throne
to judge, he winnows out all evil with his eyes...A wise king winnows out
the wicked [from among the good]; he drives the threshing wheel over them
(lays them out like wheat, then runs the crushing wheel over them) [to
separate the chaff from the grain]. (Proverbs
20:2,8,26)
In Our Daily Bread we read the
following devotional of fear ...
One night I heard a radio preacher say
that we should fear only God. But I don't agree. Peter exhorted servants
to be subject to their masters "with all fear" (1 Pet. 2:18) , and Paul
said that wrongdoers should be afraid of civil authorities (Rom. 13:4) . A
hierarchy of fear is an integral part of living on our sin-cursed planet.
Our moral responsibility is to put the things we fear in their proper
place.
A boy whose friends urged him to experiment with illicit drugs told me he
was afraid they would think of him as a coward, but he resisted because he
was more frightened of the consequences. A young man who volunteered for
dangerous military duty admitted he was scared of being wounded or killed,
but he had a greater concern about what would happen if the enemy won the
war. Both of these young men did what was right because they recognized
the priority of certain fears.
The Bible teaches that our greatest fear should be of displeasing God. A
believer who is told that he must either commit evil or face the firing
squad should be more concerned about disobeying the Lord than being shot.
That's what Jesus meant when He said, "Do not fear those who kill the body
but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both
soul and body in hell" (Matt. 10:28).
Fear is part and parcel of life here on earth. But this strong emotion can
serve us well if we let our fear of God be supreme. —HVL
Shame arises from the fear of men, conscience from the fear of God. -
Samuel Johnson
FOR IT DOES NOT BEAR THE SWORD FOR NOTHING: ou gar eike ten machairan
phorei (3SPAI):
"Sword" (3162)
(machaira)
refers to a short sword or dagger in contrast to
rhomphaia. The
sword is not just an innocuous symbol of power for reference to a scepter
would have served that purpose. This figure means that the
government is armed and can use force. Many commentators feel the
sword speaks of the ultimate power of the ruler— capital
punishment.
"The sword” therefore could be a
reference to the common method of execution (beheading) during this time
period in history. According to tradition, Paul himself experienced the
cruelty of the Roman sword when Nero had him beheaded.
Swords were carried in front of Roman
officials to indicate their authority over life and death -- the "ius
gladi" or the Roman "law of the sword" which some
feel was more limited during the first 2 centuries. Irregardless a "sword"
certainly does support that the government is authorized by God to use
force in order to bring law and order.
Pastor Ray Pritchard makes an
interesting comment...
This reference to the sword
provides the Christian basis both for service in the armed forces (and for
going to war in general) as well as the theological justification for
capital punishment. God says that the state does have the right to take
life--not capriciously or unjustly, but in certain cases, it is clearly
justified. “He does not bear the sword for nothing.” (Romans
13:1-7: How to be a Godly Rebel)
FOR IT IS A MINISTER OF GOD AN AVENGER WHO BRINGS WRATH UPON THE ONE WHO PRACTICES EVIL: theou gar diakonos
estin (3SPAI) ekdikos eis orgen to to kakon prassonti (PAPMSD):
(Ro
12:19;
Joshua 20:5,9;
Ezekiel 25:14)
Paul for a
second time refers to the rulers as God's servants and again places "Theou"
for "God" first for emphasis. The Emperor on his throne might well see his
power as something to be exercised as he chose. But Paul is clear that
everyone in any position of responsibility is first and foremost God's
servant and that it is to God that he will one day be forced to render
account. The authority is not an independent operator but an agent of
wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.
Avenger (1558)
(ekdikos
from
ek =
from, out +
dike = justice)
(used only one other time in
1Th 4:6)
literally describes one outside of that which is lawful then one who
exacts a penalty from a person. Thus
ekdikos
is
one who executes justice so as to exact satisfaction for a wrong by
punishing the wrongdoer in retaliation for an injury or offense.
The Old Testament laid down important
principles for the blood avenger (the Hebrew word goel which was
also the word for the kinsman redeemer), Moses recording some of these
ordinances in Numbers...
'The blood avenger himself shall put
the murderer to death; he shall put him to death when he meets him.
20 'And if he pushed him of hatred, or threw something at him lying in
wait and as a result he died, 21 or if he struck him down with his
hand in enmity, and as a result he died, the one who struck him shall
surely be put to death, he is a murderer; the blood avenger shall put the
murderer to death when he meets him. 22 'But if he pushed him suddenly
without enmity, or threw something at him without lying in wait, 23 or
with any deadly object of stone, and without seeing it dropped on him so
that he died, while he was not his enemy nor seeking his injury, 24 then
the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the blood avenger
according to these ordinances. 25 'And the congregation shall deliver the
manslayer from the hand of the blood avenger, and the congregation shall
restore him to his city of refuge to which he fled; and he shall live in
it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.
26 'But if the manslayer shall at any time go beyond the border of his
city of refuge to which he may flee, 27 and the blood avenger finds him
outside the border of his city of refuge, and the blood avenger kills the
manslayer, he shall not be guilty of blood 28 because he should have
remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But
after the death of the high priest the manslayer shall return to the land
of his possession. 29 'And these things shall be for a statutory ordinance
to you throughout your generations in all your dwellings. (Numbers
35:19-29)
Wrath (3709)
(orge
from orgaô = to teem, to swell) (Click
in depth study of
orge )
(See related topic: God's Attribute of
Wrath)
is derived from the idea of a swelling which eventually bursts, and
applies more to an anger that proceeds from one’s settled nature.
"Practices" (4238)
(prasso) expresses an action as continued or not yet completed, what one
does repeatedly, continually, habitually (present
tense).
