Week Fur Handut Gd & Caesar The Ancient Mdern Clash Dr. James C. (Jim) Wallace Render unt Caesar: A New Testament Perspective Paul and the Epistles What des Paul mean when he exhrts believers t submit t the gverning authrities? Are there limits and qualificatins t this cmmand? In additin, we will attempt t harmnize the OT and NT views f religin and plitics t arrive at a whle Bible view. The Ministry f Paul 1. Paul s claim f Rman citizenship Acts 22:22 29 Civitas = citizenship Rman citizens numbered nly 6 millin men in AD 47 in the census f Claudius. Rman citizens had particular rights, privileges, and duties. 2. Paul s Trial befre Festus and appeal t Caesar Acts 25:1 26:32 Festus was Rman prcuratr (administratr gvernr); replaced Felix Paul arrested under Felix (Acts 22:25), tried befre Felix (24:1 3), held in prisn fr tw years (24:27), and then tried befre Festus very early in his mandate (25:1 5) It was the right f every Rman citizen t have his case heard befre Caesar himself (r his representative) in Rme. This was the highest curt f appeal. Hwever, Ner was Emperr at this time. Questin: Was Paul s appeal t Rman citizenship self defense r strategic? Acts 19:21 Rmans 1:10 15 Rmans 15:20 29 Week Fur Handut 1
3. Submissin t gverning authrities Rmans 13:1 7 J.W. Allen, prfessr f Histry at the University f Lndn (1928) The thirteenth chapter f the Epistle f Rmans cntains what are perhaps the mst imprtant wrds ever written fr the histry f plitical thught. Yet it wuld be a grss mistake t suppse that men, at any time, tk their plitical pinins frm St. Paul. Everett F. Harrisn, Cmmentary n Rmans (Expsitrs Bible Cmmentary Series) This is the mst ntable passage in the New Testament n Christian civic respnsibility. Respublica Christiana and the Medieval Cncept f tw swrds and tw kingdms Ppe Gelasius 1 (492 496 AD), influential letter Du Sunt Regnum and Sacerdtium Jean Bethke Elshtain: Gelasius prffered a dctrine f imperial r secular rule (regnum) and spiritual r episcpal rule (sacerdtium) that laid the grundwrk fr subsequent thinking and cntrversy surrunding ecclesia and empires, and kingdms and kingships. This religi plitical paradigm lasted fr a millennium until the Refrmatin. Rman law and the Jews Backgrund f Emperr Claudius (41 54 AD) expulsin f the Jews frm Rme Acts 18:2 Rman law and the experiences f Paul Key Wrds: (13:1) Everyne (13:1) Must submit (13:1) Gverning authrities (13:1) Authrities (13:1) Established Cmpare with Rmans 13:6 7 Cmpare with Hebrews 13:7, 17 Spiritual leaders vs. civic leaders (13:2) Rebel (13:4) Servant (13:5) Necessary (13:5) Submit (13:5) Wrath & cnscience 4. Cmpare with Peter s injunctin 1 Peter 2:13 17 (2:13) Submit yurselves (2:13) Every authrity (2:15) Gd s will Week Fur Handut 2
Discussin questins: 1. Are these injunctins fr believers r fllwers f Christ nly? 2. What des it meant t submit t gverning authrities? In what matters is submissin applicable? 3. Des the frm f gvernment matter as t hw we are t submit? Is it easier r harder t submit in ne frm f gvernment versus anther? Is submissin different in a demcracy than in ther frms f gvernment? 4. Des Gd establish all authrities even evil nes? Ner? Stalin? Hitler? Why? 5. Des this passage frbid all rebellin r revlutin against plitical rulers? Is nn vilent rebellin and civil disbedience allwable? Were the Jews wrng t rebel against the Rmans in the Great Jewish Revlt (66 70 AD)? Were the British Lyalists mre biblical and Christian than the American Revlutinaries? 6. Under what circumstances are we t bey Gd rather than men (Acts 5:29)? 7. Hw is the gvernment the servant (diakns) f Gd? 8. What are ur attitudes, manners, wrds and actins t be as citizens in a demcracy when dealing with plicies and peple with whm we disagree? Jim s Principles fr a Whle Bible Interpretatin 1. Use. 2. Understand and apply. 3. Wrestle. 4. Be. Week Fur Handut 3
5. Pray fr yur leaders 1 Timthy 2:1 4 Requests, entreaties Prayers Intercessin, petitins Thanksgiving Kings and all thse in authrity Clement f Rme (d. 99 AD) First Apstlic Father f the Church Cnsecrated by Peter Ppe frm 92 99 AD The Rman Emperr f the day was Dmitian (81 96 AD) wh severely persecuted the Jews and the Christians. Wrte The First Epistle f Clement f Rme t the Crinthians (c. 96 AD); written abut the same time as the Bk f Revelatin (c. 95 97 AD). Online versin fund at Early Christian Writings http://www.earlychristianwritings.cm 1 Clement 60:2 61:2 Prayer fr Leaders Lay nt t ur accunt every sin f Thy servants and Thine handmaids, but cleanse us with the cleansing f Thy truth, and guide ur steps t walk in hliness and righteusness and singleness f heart and t d such things as are gd and well pleasing in Thy sight and in the sight f ur rulers. Yea, Lrd, make Thy face t shine upn us in peace fr ur gd, that we may be sheltered by Thy mighty hand and delivered frm every sin by Thine uplifted arm. And deliver us frm them that hate us wrngfully. Give cncrd and peace t us and t all that dwell n the earth, as Thu gavest t ur fathers, when they called n Thee in faith and truth with hliness, [that we may be saved,] while we render bedience t Thine almighty and mst excellent Name, and t ur rulers and gvernrs upn the earth. Thu, Lrd and Master, hast given them the pwer f svereignty thrugh Thine excellent and unspeakable might, that we knwing the glry and hnr which Thu hast given them may submit urselves unt them, in nthing resisting Thy will. Grant unt them therefre, O Lrd, health peace, cncrd, stability, that they may administer the gvernment which Thu hast given them withut failure. Fr Thu, O heavenly Master, King f the ages, givest t the sns f men glry and hnr and pwer ver all things that are upn the earth. D Thu, Lrd, direct their cunsel accrding t that which is gd and well pleasing in Thy sight, that, administering in peace and gentleness with Gdliness the pwer which Thu hast given them, they may btain Thy favr. Week Fur Handut 4
Bibligraphy Allen, J. W. A Histry f Plitical Thught in the Sixteenth Century. Lndn: Methuen & C, 1928. Barker, Kenneth, ed. The NIV Study Bible. Grand Rapids: The Zndervan Crpratin, 1985. Clement f Rme. First Epistle f Clement t the Crinthians. Trans. J. B. Lightft. Early Christian Writings. http://www.earlychristianwritings.cm/text/1clementlightft.html (accessed Octber 5, 2010). Cullman, Oscar. The State and the New Testament. New Yrk: Scribner, 1956. Elwell, Walter A., ed. Evangelical Dictinary f Thelgy. Grand Rapids: Baker Bk Huse, 1984. Elshtain, Jean Bethke. Svereignty: Gd, State, and Self. New Yrk: Basic Bks, 2008. Gaebelein, Frank E., ed. The Expsitr s Bible Cmmentary. Grand Rapids: The Zndervan Crpratin, 1976. Jsephus, Flavius. The Cmplete Wrks f Jsephus. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publicatins, 1974. Rbertsn, A.T. Wrd Pictures in the New Testament. Nashville: Bradman Press, 1930. Smith, William. Smith s Dictinary f Greek and Rman Antiquities. Lndn: Jhn Murray Publisher, 1875. Civitas, 291. Tasker, R.V.G., ed. The Tyndale New Testament Cmmentaries. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Cmpany, 1961. Tenney, Merrill C., ed. The Zndervan Pictrial Encyclpedia f the Bible. Grand Rapids: The Zndervan Crpratin, 1975. Week Fur Handut 5