First and foremost, we must remember that even though it applies to all people, Paul’s letter known as Romans is specifically to the body of Christ and each individual Christian. Therefore, we must both understand why not everyone will adhere to Romans 13:1-5, and why we as Christians must never excuse those who continually defy its established authorities.
.
If more local preachers were more concerned about pleasing God than they are about appeasing blacks who continually overlook the crimes often committed by black victims of police shootings, they would take a stand and begin to warn people about what is addressed in this writing.
.
It is certain that God expects true believers to heed Romans 13:1-5, but He also expects us to stand by it when it is being violated by anyone on either side of the badge. The reason is clear. Governmental authorities are established by God. And while that fact alone is a more than sufficient reason, the fact that each little compromise of the authorities erodes the fear that we should have of living defiantly in the sight of God.
.
Yet some would ask, “but what about when the authorities are corrupt?” To them I would ask, do you not believe that God has considered and also made provision to punish such people? Folks, God sovereignly even uses corrupt cops to do His will of punishing law-breakers. And believe me, when He is finished doing so, in His own time and way, He sovereignly punishes the corrupt cop too.
.
God’s word makes it clear that everyone is under the authorities. Some cops may break the law, and some more senior cops may even break the law by covering up their subordinates’ corruption. Yet nowhere in God’s word, and especially not in Romans 13:1-5 does it even come close to saying that we are only to submit IF we feel the cop isn’t a bad cop.
.
Romans 13:5 tells us that we MUST submit for two very specific and critical reasons. We are to submit because of wrath. This means that we must obey the authorities in order to avoid the need for punishment to be inflicted upon us—punishment that could very well be God’s wrath for current or even past disobedience. And we also must submit for conscience sake. And this means that we must obey the authorities in order to maintain a clear moral conscience in the sight of God. This also helps prevent our consciences from becoming desensitized to righteousness and truth.
.
Okay, but what about the saying that the punishment must fit the crime? Well, I’ll agree that it should fit the crime. But we must also remember that a person who continually breaks the law is practicing lawlessness. And if the person keeps practicing lawlessness, God may finally decide that since His mercy is being taken for granted, the only fitting punishment is death. And remember, all of us deserve death anyway. So thank God for His mercy!
.
Now here’s the most critical part of Romans 13:1-5 that must be understood and accepted. In Romans 13:2, it says that the person who resists the authorities is opposing God’s command. It further says that those who oppose will bring judgment upon themselves.
.
Willingly and repeatedly resisting the authorities and breaking the law, even when it comes to misdemeanors, is a very dangerous game to play. Willingly opposing God’s command is willingly opposing God. And to do such is tantamount to saying, “I’m not that concerned about what happens to me, and neither do I care how judgment falls upon me.”
.
As I alluded to already, because all of us are sinful, God’s judgment for the least willful infraction (or misdemeanor) could at any moment bring upon us the full wages of sin. So why on earth would we want to play that game? Yet some choose to play that form of Russian Roulette and lose. And too many people, particularly blacks who call themselves Christian, would rather rage about the outcome than to respect the promised penalty of God’s Romans 13:1-5 restraint.
.
I pray that everyone who claims the name of Christ will deeply consider the fact that whenever anyone chooses to practice sin (and/or becomes a lawbreaker who resists the authorities) he or she could incur the wrath of God and His willingness to let him or her receive the full punishment WE ALL deserve, which is death. Every act of willful lawlessness is a direct temptation of the Lord God. We even see in the Bible how, as a result of His judgment, people have lost their lives for far less.
.
Take for example the biblical character named Uzzah, who was transporting the ark of the covenant, which God expressly commanded must only be handled by the poles on each side of it. The wheels of the cart on which it sat hit a bump in the road and caused the ark to begin to fall. In order to prevent its fall, Uzzah grabbed a corner of it, and God instantly killed him for touching it (see 2 Samuel 6:6-8).
.
Uzzah was not even trying to do anything wrong. In fact he did what most any of us would have done. Yet in his sincerity, he disobeyed God, and brought God’s judgment upon himself. Is this a God we want to tempt with lawlessness?
.
So please let me be clear. I in no way ignore or condone bad policing. Corrupt police officers should and will sooner or later receive an even stricter judgment from God than many of the worst criminals they arrested or killed.
.
But here is one last critical point to realize and remember about Romans 13:1-5. The Holy Spirit gave Paul this passage with full recognition of the fact that even at that time the people were actually living under the oppressive authorities of Rome.
.
Let me repeat that… The Holy Spirit of God moved the apostle Paul to write Romans 13:1-5 (and all of his epistles) in full recognition of the fact that the people of God were living under the oppressive authorities of Rome even at that time.
.
And nowhere did God tell them that they were only to comply when they felt they were innocent. Rome unjustly persecuted and exorbitantly taxed the people of God continually. And speaking of taxation, I recently heard a black “social justice-focused” preacher with a PhD from a decent seminary twist the scriptures to say that Jesus protested taxation by turning over tables in the temple.
.
Nonsense! Jesus said why he overturned tables in the temple. He told us in Matthew 21:12-13 that the Jewish leaders who were using extortionist practices in selling sacrifices had made His Father’s house a den of thieves, when it was supposed to be a house of prayer for all people.
.
Yet even when it comes to paying taxes, that same Jesus honored Caesar by paying both His taxes and Peter’s. And he commanded His disciples to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars (Matthew 22:17-21). And so is it any surprise that Romans 13:6-7 even tells us to pay our taxes?
.
But I digress…
.
Saints, every human being is expected by God to submit, meaning to comply and to not resist, when we are being stopped, questioned, detained, or arrested by the police. We must obey because to not do so opposes God’s command, brings judgment upon us (which may be worse than we can even imagine), defiles our consciousnesses, and promotes lawlessness and disorder, which is the reason Paul writes what he says in Romans 13:1-5…

1 Let everyone submit to the governing authorities, since there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are instituted by God. 2 So then, the one who resists the authority is opposing God’s command, and those who oppose it will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have its approval. 4 For it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, because it does not carry the sword for no reason. For it is God’s servant, an avenger that brings wrath on the one who does wrong. 5 Therefore, you must submit, not only because of wrath but also because of your conscience.”

In conclusion, millions of police interactions happen in this country per year. And by comparison an infinitesimally small amount (less than 0.05%) end in an unjustified shooting of a black person. Yet all across the country, and even from capitol hill, cries to defund, and even abolish the police are overtly or covertly heard. This is a direct assault on God’s restraint of governmental authority. As we can see, it is playing out in the significant increase in attacks and even murders of police officers in more and more cities across the country.
.
And that, my friend, is precisely the kind of lawlessness that Satan and his demonic forces are interested in using people to carry out. Let’s stop allowing a lying, leftist political and mainstream media machine make us believe that every police involved shooting of a black person is a microcosm of the institution of law enforcement itself. The numbers prove it is not even close. Countless acts of good policing happen every day in every single city across the country.
.
Romans 13:1-5 applies to all people including criminals, regardless of skin color, and all police, regardless of whether they are good or bad. And therefore it is impartial. But after all, so is God, the Judge of all.
.
May each of us as Christians view every police shooting incident through the lens of God’s command and warnings of Romans 13:1-5. If we do so, then we will be able to see clearly enough to better distinguish a bad cop from a good cop, and a criminal from a law-abiding citizen. We won’t celebrate or support criminals. And we won’t join a godless culture in demonizing that group which is “God’s servants for [our] good, and God’s avenger that brings wrath [meaning even the strictest judgment] on the one who does wrong” also known as THE POLICE.
.
God bless, beloved.

First and foremost, we must remember that even though it applies to all people, Paul’s letter known as Romans is specifically to the body of Christ and each individual Christian. Therefore, we must both understand why not everyone will adhere to Romans 13:1-5, and why we as Christians must never excuse those who continually defy its established authorities.
.
If more local preachers were more concerned about pleasing God than they are about appeasing blacks who continually overlook the crimes often committed by black victims of police shootings, they would take a stand and begin to warn people about what is addressed in this writing.
.
It is certain that God expects true believers to heed Romans 13:1-5, but He also expects us to stand by it when it is being violated by anyone on either side of the badge. The reason is clear. Governmental authorities are established by God. And while that fact alone is a more than sufficient reason, the fact that each little compromise of the authorities erodes the fear that we should have of living defiantly in the sight of God.
.
Yet some would ask, “but what about when the authorities are corrupt?” To them I would ask, do you not believe that God has considered and also made provision to punish such people? Folks, God sovereignly even uses corrupt cops to do His will of punishing law-breakers. And believe me, when He is finished doing so, in His own time and way, He sovereignly punishes the corrupt cop too.
.
God’s word makes it clear that everyone is under the authorities. Some cops may break the law, and some more senior cops may even break the law by covering up their subordinates’ corruption. Yet nowhere in God’s word, and especially not in Romans 13:1-5 does it even come close to saying that we are only to submit IF we feel the cop isn’t a bad cop.
.
Romans 13:5 tells us that we MUST submit for two very specific and critical reasons. We are to submit because of wrath. This means that we must obey the authorities in order to avoid the need for punishment to be inflicted upon us—punishment that could very well be God’s wrath for current or even past disobedience. And we also must submit for conscience sake. And this means that we must obey the authorities in order to maintain a clear moral conscience in the sight of God. This also helps prevent our consciences from becoming desensitized to righteousness and truth.
.
Okay, but what about the saying that the punishment must fit the crime? Well, I’ll agree that it should fit the crime. But we must also remember that a person who continually breaks the law is practicing lawlessness. And if the person keeps practicing lawlessness, God may finally decide that since His mercy is being taken for granted, the only fitting punishment is death. And remember, all of us deserve death anyway. So thank God for His mercy!
.
Now here’s the most critical part of Romans 13:1-5 that must be understood and accepted. In Romans 13:2, it says that the person who resists the authorities is opposing God’s command. It further says that those who oppose will bring judgment upon themselves.
.
Willingly and repeatedly resisting the authorities and breaking the law, even when it comes to misdemeanors, is a very dangerous game to play. Willingly opposing God’s command is willingly opposing God. And to do such is tantamount to saying, “I’m not that concerned about what happens to me, and neither do I care how judgment falls upon me.”
.
As I alluded to already, because all of us are sinful, God’s judgment for the least willful infraction (or misdemeanor) could at any moment bring upon us the full wages of sin. So why on earth would we want to play that game? Yet some choose to play that form of Russian Roulette and lose. And too many people, particularly blacks who call themselves Christian, would rather rage about the outcome than to respect the promised penalty of God’s Romans 13:1-5 restraint.
.
I pray that everyone who claims the name of Christ will deeply consider the fact that whenever anyone chooses to practice sin (and/or becomes a lawbreaker who resists the authorities) he or she could incur the wrath of God and His willingness to let him or her receive the full punishment WE ALL deserve, which is death. Every act of willful lawlessness is a direct temptation of the Lord God. We even see in the Bible how, as a result of His judgment, people have lost their lives for far less.
.
Take for example the biblical character named Uzzah, who was transporting the ark of the covenant, which God expressly commanded must only be handled by the poles on each side of it. The wheels of the cart on which it sat hit a bump in the road and caused the ark to begin to fall. In order to prevent its fall, Uzzah grabbed a corner of it, and God instantly killed him for touching it (see 2 Samuel 6:6-8).
.
Uzzah was not even trying to do anything wrong. In fact he did what most any of us would have done. Yet in his sincerity, he disobeyed God, and brought God’s judgment upon himself. Is this a God we want to tempt with lawlessness?
.
So please let me be clear. I in no way ignore or condone bad policing. Corrupt police officers should and will sooner or later receive an even stricter judgment from God than many of the worst criminals they arrested or killed.
.
But here is one last critical point to realize and remember about Romans 13:1-5. The Holy Spirit gave Paul this passage with full recognition of the fact that even at that time the people were actually living under the oppressive authorities of Rome.
.
Let me repeat that… The Holy Spirit of God moved the apostle Paul to write Romans 13:1-5 (and all of his epistles) in full recognition of the fact that the people of God were living under the oppressive authorities of Rome even at that time.
.
And nowhere did God tell them that they were only to comply when they felt they were innocent. Rome unjustly persecuted and exorbitantly taxed the people of God continually. And speaking of taxation, I recently heard a black “social justice-focused” preacher with a PhD from a decent seminary twist the scriptures to say that Jesus protested taxation by turning over tables in the temple.
.
Nonsense! Jesus said why he overturned tables in the temple. He told us in Matthew 21:12-13 that the Jewish leaders who were using extortionist practices in selling sacrifices had made His Father’s house a den of thieves, when it was supposed to be a house of prayer for all people.
.
Yet even when it comes to paying taxes, that same Jesus honored Caesar by paying both His taxes and Peter’s. And he commanded His disciples to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars (Matthew 22:17-21). And so is it any surprise that Romans 13:6-7 even tells us to pay our taxes?
.
But I digress…
.
Saints, every human being is expected by God to submit, meaning to comply and to not resist, when we are being stopped, questioned, detained, or arrested by the police. We must obey because to not do so opposes God’s command, brings judgment upon us (which may be worse than we can even imagine), defiles our consciousnesses, and promotes lawlessness and disorder, which is the reason Paul writes what he says in Romans 13:1-5…

1 Let everyone submit to the governing authorities, since there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are instituted by God. 2 So then, the one who resists the authority is opposing God’s command, and those who oppose it will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have its approval. 4 For it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, because it does not carry the sword for no reason. For it is God’s servant, an avenger that brings wrath on the one who does wrong. 5 Therefore, you must submit, not only because of wrath but also because of your conscience.”

In conclusion, millions of police interactions happen in this country per year. And by comparison an infinitesimally small amount (less than 0.05%) end in an unjustified shooting of a black person. Yet all across the country, and even from capitol hill, cries to defund, and even abolish the police are overtly or covertly heard. This is a direct assault on God’s restraint of governmental authority. As we can see, it is playing out in the significant increase in attacks and even murders of police officers in more and more cities across the country.
.
And that, my friend, is precisely the kind of lawlessness that Satan and his demonic forces are interested in using people to carry out. Let’s stop allowing a lying, leftist political and mainstream media machine make us believe that every police involved shooting of a black person is a microcosm of the institution of law enforcement itself. The numbers prove it is not even close. Countless acts of good policing happen every day in every single city across the country.
.
Romans 13:1-5 applies to all people including criminals, regardless of skin color, and all police, regardless of whether they are good or bad. And therefore it is impartial. But after all, so is God, the Judge of all.
.
May each of us as Christians view every police shooting incident through the lens of God’s command and warnings of Romans 13:1-5. If we do so, then we will be able to see clearly enough to better distinguish a bad cop from a good cop, and a criminal from a law-abiding citizen. We won’t celebrate or support criminals. And we won’t join a godless culture in demonizing that group which is “God’s servants for [our] good, and God’s avenger that brings wrath [meaning even the strictest judgment] on the one who does wrong” also known as THE POLICE.
.
God bless, beloved.

First and foremost, we must remember that even though it applies to all people, Paul’s letter known as Romans is specifically to the body of Christ and each individual Christian. Therefore, we must both understand why not everyone will adhere to Romans 13:1-5, and why we as Christians must never excuse those who continually defy its established authorities.
.
If more local preachers were more concerned about pleasing God than they are about appeasing blacks who continually overlook the crimes often committed by black victims of police shootings, they would take a stand and begin to warn people about what is addressed in this writing.
.
It is certain that God expects true believers to heed Romans 13:1-5, but He also expects us to stand by it when it is being violated by anyone on either side of the badge. The reason is clear. Governmental authorities are established by God. And while that fact alone is a more than sufficient reason, the fact that each little compromise of the authorities erodes the fear that we should have of living defiantly in the sight of God.
.
Yet some would ask, “but what about when the authorities are corrupt?” To them I would ask, do you not believe that God has considered and also made provision to punish such people? Folks, God sovereignly even uses corrupt cops to do His will of punishing law-breakers. And believe me, when He is finished doing so, in His own time and way, He sovereignly punishes the corrupt cop too.
.
God’s word makes it clear that everyone is under the authorities. Some cops may break the law, and some more senior cops may even break the law by covering up their subordinates’ corruption. Yet nowhere in God’s word, and especially not in Romans 13:1-5 does it even come close to saying that we are only to submit IF we feel the cop isn’t a bad cop.
.
Romans 13:5 tells us that we MUST submit for two very specific and critical reasons. We are to submit because of wrath. This means that we must obey the authorities in order to avoid the need for punishment to be inflicted upon us—punishment that could very well be God’s wrath for current or even past disobedience. And we also must submit for conscience sake. And this means that we must obey the authorities in order to maintain a clear moral conscience in the sight of God. This also helps prevent our consciences from becoming desensitized to righteousness and truth.
.
Okay, but what about the saying that the punishment must fit the crime? Well, I’ll agree that it should fit the crime. But we must also remember that a person who continually breaks the law is practicing lawlessness. And if the person keeps practicing lawlessness, God may finally decide that since His mercy is being taken for granted, the only fitting punishment is death. And remember, all of us deserve death anyway. So thank God for His mercy!
.
Now here’s the most critical part of Romans 13:1-5 that must be understood and accepted. In Romans 13:2, it says that the person who resists the authorities is opposing God’s command. It further says that those who oppose will bring judgment upon themselves.
.
Willingly and repeatedly resisting the authorities and breaking the law, even when it comes to misdemeanors, is a very dangerous game to play. Willingly opposing God’s command is willingly opposing God. And to do such is tantamount to saying, “I’m not that concerned about what happens to me, and neither do I care how judgment falls upon me.”
.
As I alluded to already, because all of us are sinful, God’s judgment for the least willful infraction (or misdemeanor) could at any moment bring upon us the full wages of sin. So why on earth would we want to play that game? Yet some choose to play that form of Russian Roulette and lose. And too many people, particularly blacks who call themselves Christian, would rather rage about the outcome than to respect the promised penalty of God’s Romans 13:1-5 restraint.
.
I pray that everyone who claims the name of Christ will deeply consider the fact that whenever anyone chooses to practice sin (and/or becomes a lawbreaker who resists the authorities) he or she could incur the wrath of God and His willingness to let him or her receive the full punishment WE ALL deserve, which is death. Every act of willful lawlessness is a direct temptation of the Lord God. We even see in the Bible how, as a result of His judgment, people have lost their lives for far less.
.
Take for example the biblical character named Uzzah, who was transporting the ark of the covenant, which God expressly commanded must only be handled by the poles on each side of it. The wheels of the cart on which it sat hit a bump in the road and caused the ark to begin to fall. In order to prevent its fall, Uzzah grabbed a corner of it, and God instantly killed him for touching it (see 2 Samuel 6:6-8).
.
Uzzah was not even trying to do anything wrong. In fact he did what most any of us would have done. Yet in his sincerity, he disobeyed God, and brought God’s judgment upon himself. Is this a God we want to tempt with lawlessness?
.
So please let me be clear. I in no way ignore or condone bad policing. Corrupt police officers should and will sooner or later receive an even stricter judgment from God than many of the worst criminals they arrested or killed.
.
But here is one last critical point to realize and remember about Romans 13:1-5. The Holy Spirit gave Paul this passage with full recognition of the fact that even at that time the people were actually living under the oppressive authorities of Rome.
.
Let me repeat that… The Holy Spirit of God moved the apostle Paul to write Romans 13:1-5 (and all of his epistles) in full recognition of the fact that the people of God were living under the oppressive authorities of Rome even at that time.
.
And nowhere did God tell them that they were only to comply when they felt they were innocent. Rome unjustly persecuted and exorbitantly taxed the people of God continually. And speaking of taxation, I recently heard a black “social justice-focused” preacher with a PhD from a decent seminary twist the scriptures to say that Jesus protested taxation by turning over tables in the temple.
.
Nonsense! Jesus said why he overturned tables in the temple. He told us in Matthew 21:12-13 that the Jewish leaders who were using extortionist practices in selling sacrifices had made His Father’s house a den of thieves, when it was supposed to be a house of prayer for all people.
.
Yet even when it comes to paying taxes, that same Jesus honored Caesar by paying both His taxes and Peter’s. And he commanded His disciples to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars (Matthew 22:17-21). And so is it any surprise that Romans 13:6-7 even tells us to pay our taxes?
.
But I digress…
.
Saints, every human being is expected by God to submit, meaning to comply and to not resist, when we are being stopped, questioned, detained, or arrested by the police. We must obey because to not do so opposes God’s command, brings judgment upon us (which may be worse than we can even imagine), defiles our consciousnesses, and promotes lawlessness and disorder, which is the reason Paul writes what he says in Romans 13:1-5…

1 Let everyone submit to the governing authorities, since there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are instituted by God. 2 So then, the one who resists the authority is opposing God’s command, and those who oppose it will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have its approval. 4 For it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, because it does not carry the sword for no reason. For it is God’s servant, an avenger that brings wrath on the one who does wrong. 5 Therefore, you must submit, not only because of wrath but also because of your conscience.”

In conclusion, millions of police interactions happen in this country per year. And by comparison an infinitesimally small amount (less than 0.05%) end in an unjustified shooting of a black person. Yet all across the country, and even from capitol hill, cries to defund, and even abolish the police are overtly or covertly heard. This is a direct assault on God’s restraint of governmental authority. As we can see, it is playing out in the significant increase in attacks and even murders of police officers in more and more cities across the country.
.
And that, my friend, is precisely the kind of lawlessness that Satan and his demonic forces are interested in using people to carry out. Let’s stop allowing a lying, leftist political and mainstream media machine make us believe that every police involved shooting of a black person is a microcosm of the institution of law enforcement itself. The numbers prove it is not even close. Countless acts of good policing happen every day in every single city across the country.
.
Romans 13:1-5 applies to all people including criminals, regardless of skin color, and all police, regardless of whether they are good or bad. And therefore it is impartial. But after all, so is God, the Judge of all.
.
May each of us as Christians view every police shooting incident through the lens of God’s command and warnings of Romans 13:1-5. If we do so, then we will be able to see clearly enough to better distinguish a bad cop from a good cop, and a criminal from a law-abiding citizen. We won’t celebrate or support criminals. And we won’t join a godless culture in demonizing that group which is “God’s servants for [our] good, and God’s avenger that brings wrath [meaning even the strictest judgment] on the one who does wrong” also known as THE POLICE.
.
God bless, beloved.