Understanding the Government and Its Authority
Sermon Outline:
Understanding the Government and Its Authority (A look at Romans 13 from the government’s vantage point) | Romans 13:1–4, ESV
- The government has delegated not autonomous authority (Romans 13:1–2)
1 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. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.
- The government’s authority ought to be for God’s purposes (Romans 13:3–4)
3 For rulers 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, 4 for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.