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In the name of Jesus, amen.
Dear Saints of God, Saint Paul writes in Romans chapter 10, verse 4, these words:
“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”
The law of God was not given so that we could keep it and be right before God. That’s a futile dream, the ultimate failure to understand God’s purpose in the law. The law, chiefly, shows us our own sin. It shows us our own failures. It shows us the holiness of God in such splendor and bright array that we can see clearly our own sin, our own failures, our own wrongdoings, so that by the law no flesh is justified, no flesh is righteous, but rather we’re exposed as desperate sinners in need of the Lord’s mercy.
So Paul writes in Romans chapter 10 that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to those who believe. But Paul continues to write, and he continues to preach, and he even brings forth the law even after this saying. We have an incredible text in Romans 13 that we want to consider today. In fact, there are two major sections in this text that teach us what our Christian life looks like as we live before our neighbor.
Now we want to remember this: the Christian has two lives. We live a life before God, not by love, not by works, not by the law, but rather by faith, trusting in His promises, relying on His help. But we also live a life in this world before our neighbor, and that life is lived in love. Love for our neighbor according to God’s law. That life in this world is lived in the three estates of the family, and the church, and the state.
And it’s especially that third estate, how do we as Christians live as citizens, that Paul takes up the pen to instruct the saints of God in Rome. Now it’s incredible for us to consider that these words that Paul writes in Romans chapter 13, beginning with the first verse, were written to the saints who lived in Rome under Nero, perhaps the wickedest Caesar ever to rule, especially the most wicked in the church. It was Nero, remember, who tied the Christians to poles and lit them on fire to light up the garden. It was Nero that incited persecutions against the church by setting parts of Rome on fire and blaming the Christians for it.
To those Christians, Paul says, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers, Paul continues, are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority, then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant.”
I think this is the first of three times Paul uses the phrase, “for he is God’s servant for your good.” Those who are appointed, those who are elected, those who are in authority, by whatever means they came to possess that authority, those are in the office because God has put them there. And we honor those in authority; we are, in fact, subject—that’s the word that Paul uses—we are subject to them because God has put them there.
Now, this is hard for us, especially for Americans, especially for Texans, I suppose, to think that we should be subject to anyone. But let this be your comfort: You are subject to those who rule over you, not because they have put you in subjection, but because God has put you in subjection. You honor those who rule over you, not because they are honorable, but because God has commanded you to do it. You pay, you give—how does Paul say it here? You honor the one honor is owed. You respect the one that respect is owed. You pay taxes to whom taxes are owed, and give revenue to whom revenue is owed, because God Himself, the one who created you and the one who redeemed you, has commanded you to do it.
The same thing is true of our parents. Luther unfolds this beautifully in the large catechism. When we are told by the Lord to honor our father and mother, it doesn’t say honor your father and mother if they are honorable. Respect your father and mother if they are respectable. Obey your father and your mother if they’re good to you. No, that’s not the condition that the Lord puts on the commandments. He simply says, “Honor your father and your mother,” and we do, not because of their honorableness or because of their respectability, but because of the command of God.
And so the Christian citizen is subject to the governing authorities because of the command of God. He does not bear the sword in vain. Now you say, “But pastor, what if those who rule over us are tyrannical? What if those who rule over us are wicked? What if those who rule over us ask of us sinful and ungodly things?” Well, we know that we must obey God rather than man. We know that those who are appointed to rule will come under a stricter judgment. And we know that we, if need be, must obey God’s commands rather than those who are in authority.
But look, when the Christian must rebel against the authorities, we do not rebel in violence. This is precisely the thing that Jesus was talking about when He said, when we’re struck on the right, that we are to turn the other cheek, or that when we’re forced to run a mile, we run two miles. When the Christian finds themselves in the circumstance where they have to disobey the government, we disobey those in authority, but we submit to the punishment that’s offered. If we’re commanded to break God’s law, we don’t follow that command, but if we’re arrested or thrown in jail for it, then we submit to that.
This, in fact, is the history of martyrdom. It’s an amazing thing to think about, that for centuries Christians were arrested because they confessed that Jesus is Lord, not Caesar, and they would go gladly to the prison, gladly to the arena, gladly to the stake, to the flames, to the mouth of the lion, rebelling against man but receiving the punishment that was called for. Because we know that even those who rule on this earth have a king who rules over them, and we are His subjects.
Our citizenship, says St. Paul, is in heaven, from whom we await a Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. There are all these wonderful stories of the martyrs as they were standing there before their accusers. And you know how these Roman procounsels were; they were trying to act like it was the Christians’ fault that they were dying. “Look how easy it is to just offer the incense to Caesar. Look at how easy it is to just renounce your God and I’ll let you off the hook. But if you don’t, then you have to go to the flames.” And they would always say things like, “Well, the flames that you light will last for a few minutes, but the flames that the judge of all will light last forever.”
“You stand here in judgment over me, but there is one who will judge the living and the dead. You also will come under His judgment,” so that we are not afraid. We’re not afraid of the judgments of human courts, not afraid of the judgment of human rulers. We’re gladly subject to the governing authorities, knowing that our Savior sits at the right hand of God the Father and rules and reigns all things for us.
Paul says, “Owe no one anything except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” He takes a step back from the specific questions of how do we live in the state and simply asks the question, how now do we live in this world? And the answer that Paul gives is one word: love. The commandments he says, “You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal,” all are summarized in this one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
I want you to imagine it like this. If you took the Ten Commandments and you put them into a dehydrator, they would all boil down to this one word: love. Love is like the highest concentration of the law. And why? Paul says, “Love does no wrong to the neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
Now I remember one time—I have maybe two stories about the word love. I remember one time I was in a car accident. It was in the outback of Australia. I was in the back of a little Subaru Outback or something like this, and the person who was driving lost control, and we slid off of the road and hit the side, and we bounced and we rolled over a couple of times. I remember I was asleep when the accident happened, but I woke up in midair and, like slow motion, saw the glass kind of breaking and the dust coming like this. And as the car sort of teetered, it kind of ground to a stop on the roof, and I was hanging upside down from the seatbelt.
I remember that the radio was playing, and it said, “All you need is love.” In fact, I remember something distinctly like this: “All you need is love. Ram, bam, na, na, na.” And I thought to myself, and an ambulance. It turns out that while the word love is a nice word and a beautiful word, it is also a dangerous word. Because while love is the fulfilling of the law, none of us can keep its standard. None of us can live up to it. None of us can go to bed at night saying, “I’ve done it. I’ve loved God with all my heart, all my soul, and all my strength. I’ve loved my neighbor as myself.” It just cannot be.
So while that word love is the fulfilling of the law, that word love does what the law does; it also condemns us and shows us our sin. So I remember a second story about the word love. It was at the seminary. My friend Pastor Ketchelmeyer and I were trying to sort out the distinction between law and gospel, and we started playing this game. We would say a word, and we’d have to determine if it was law or gospel. And so we said the word wrath. And you think, wrath? That’s got to be law. But then Pastor Ketchelmeyer said, “The wrath of God was poured out on Christ.” Ah, the word can go both directions.
And then I said the word love, and we found out the same thing. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. Love your neighbor as yourself.” This is a strong word of law. It condemns us, and we come up short. But what about this? “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all who believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.” Now this word is the purest gospel. As long as love is what’s being demanded of us, then we are falling short, but when love is what God has given to us, now we are whole.
Now we are forgiven. Now we are set free. Now we are His children, the object of His delight, of His affection, and His love. So, dear Christians, we rejoice in this, that God loves us. He loves us so much that He sent His only begotten Son to die for us so that through Him we would live forever. And God loves us so much that He set us in this world under the governing authorities so that we could be subject to them and obedient to them. And God loved us so much that He has given us our neighbors so that we could begin to love and serve and bless them.
So behold the love of God in Christ and rejoice in the love of God for your neighbor. May God grant it for Christ’s sake. Amen. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.