13.2 what God has appointed... This seems to be an important phrase for a number of reasons; as a limit for government and caution for those eager to rebel.
13.11 salvation... seems to be a reference to our final redemption in the sense of Romans 8:18-25
13.13 It strikes me as interesting the three clusters of sin God mentions here...
orgies and drunkenness
sexual immorality and sensuality
quarreling and jealousy
Why these three? Why is this order? Sexual immorality and orgies seem to overlap some, so it is interesting that both are mentioned.
Title: When Nero Rules
Text: Romans 13
by Phil Martin for God’s glory
INTRODUCTION
1. Segway
2. Background
Roman times of Nero
Sometime in the 40’s A.D., the Emperor Claudis expelled the Jewish community from Rome
Nero was was made emperor by his scheming mother when he was 17. His step brother, a possible heir to the throne, had mysteriously died while eating with Nero in 55 A.D.
Romans was written during the first five years of Nero’s rule when he was being guided by advisors.
“The apostle wrote the letter toward the close of his third missionary journey (most likely in A.D. 56), as he prepared to leave for Palestine with an offering for the poor believers in the Jerusalem
Around A.D. 59-60 things would take a turn for the worse. He was grossly immoral, loved music and poetry and performed, was popular among the common people and younger generation, and was politically liberal in some respects.
He would continue to kill anyone (including his mother) that seemed to be a threat to him, declare himself a god, start the first empire wide persecution of Christians, and eventually commit suicide.
Overview of Romans
Doctrinal: How the Gospel saves the sinner ch. 1-8
National: How the Gospel relates to Israel
Practical: How the Gospel bares on conduct ch. 12-15
Explore the Book ——J. Sidlow Baxter
Larger context of chapter
12 Spiritual gifts and Christian character
13 It is instructive to note that the Holy Spirit inspires the Apostle Paul to pen these words less that ten years before Nero begins to persecute Christians.
14-15 How Christians were to get along with each other
3. Sermon overview
Big Idea:
Paul explains three characteristics of a Christian citizen:
subject to God’s order,
paying the debt of love,
and spiritually awake.
Outline:
1. A Christian citizen is SUBJECT to God’s order. v. 1-7
2. A Christian citizen is paying the debt of LOVE. v. 8-11
3. A Christian citizen is spiritually AWAKE. v. 12-14
3. Read text & and pray
1. The Christian’s role as a SUBJECT
1 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. 4 For he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. 5 Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience' sake. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God's ministers attending continually to this very thing.7 Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.
2. The Christian’s debt of LOVE
8 Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not bear false witness," "You shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
3. The Christian’s urgent need
to AWAKE,
11 And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.
It is instructive to note that the Holy Spirit inspires the Apostle Paul to pen these words less that ten years before Nero begins to persecute Christians.
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Draw a picture of a policeman?
with a big badge and a little gun.
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1. A Christian citizen is SUBJECT to God’s order. 1-7
A. “be subject” and “authority”
1 Let every soul be subject1 to the governing authorities.2 For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed3 by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists4 the ordinance5 of God, and those who resist will bring judgment6 on themselves.
1 subject—St#5293—uJpotavssw hoop-ot-as'-so:
—A Greek military term meaning "to arrange [troop divisions] in a military fashion under the command of a leader".
—In non-military use, it was "carrying a burden, assuming responsibility, a voluntary attitude of giving in, or cooperating".
ylt, kjv, esb, nkjv— “be subject”
nasb, Wuest— “be in subjection”;
niv, nlt— “submit”
2 authority—st#1849— ejxousiva ex-oo-see'-ah: 1. power of choice, liberty of doing as one pleases 2.the power of authority (influence) and of right (privilege) (a policeman’s badge versus his gun)
kjv— “powers”
3 appointed—St#G5021— tavssw tas'-so : (similar to the word translated subject in verse one) to place in a certain order, to arrange, to assign a place, to appoint
ytl, nkjv— “appointed” ; kjv, Wuest— “ordained”;
nasb, niv—“established”; esv— “instituted”;
nlt— “placed there”
Civil government was established in Genesis 9 after the flood.
4 resists —ajntitavssw
James 4.6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
James 5.6 Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.
5 ordinance—St#G1296— diatagh dee-at-ag-ay' :
ylt, kjv, nasb, nkjv, Wuest— “the ordinance of God”;
niv, nlt— “what God has instituted”
6 judgment—St#G2917— κρίμα kree'-mah
ylt, esv, nkjv, niv, Wuest— “judgment”
kjv— “damnation”; ylt— “be punished”
Judgment from God or the authority? Probably refers to primarily to the human authority with a definite allusion to them as God’s ministers.
Since our citizenship is in heaven why should we be concerned with earthly authorities and powers?
Primary concept here is things being arranged in a certain order.
There is a caution here against resisting God’s order. If you proudly resist the civil government order that God established in Noah’s time, God will resist you.
This was written before the state persecutions. Did the attitudes change as the persecution became more prevalent? Note the quotes from two 2nd century church fathers.
Justin Martyr (100–165) speaking to Romans writes,
"Everywhere, we, more readily than all men, endeavour to pay to those appointed by you the taxes, both ordinary and extraordinary, as we have been taught by Jesus. We worship only God, but in other things we will gladly serve you, acknowledging you as kings and rulers of men, and praying that, with your kingly power, you may be found to possess also sound judgment."
—Apology 1:17
Saint Justin Martyr (also Justin the Martyr, Justin of Caesarea, Justin the Philosopher, Latin Iustinus Martyr or Flavius Iustinus) (100–165) was an early Christian apologist and saint. His works represent the earliest surviving Christian "apologies" of notable size.
Tertullian (160 – 220) writes at length:
"We offer prayer for the safety of our princes to the eternal, the true, the living God, whose favour, beyond all other things, they must themselves desire.... Without ceasing, for all our emperors we offer prayer.
We pray for life prolonged; for security to the empire; for protection for the imperial house; for brave armies, a faithful senate, a virtuous people, the world at rest--whatever, as man or Caesar, an emperor would wish." —-Apology 30
He goes on to say that the Christian cannot but look up to the emperor because he "is called by our Lord to his office." And he ends by saying that "Caesar is more ours than yours because our God appointed him."
Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, anglicised as Tertullian, (ca.160 – ca.220 AD)[1] was a prolific early Christian author, and the first to write Christian Latin literature. He also was a notable early Christian apologist and anti-heretical writer.
http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/Kiska-24055-Apostolic-Church-Fathers-FathersThe-100-300AD-Overview-History-Timeline-300-Spread-Gospel-Ea-as-Entertainment-ppt-powerpoint/
MikeBuehrer - Blacksburg
B. The purpose of civil government
3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. 4 For he is God's minister1 to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's minister,1 an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.
1 minister—St#— diavkonoß dee-ak'-on-os : servant
kjv, nasb, nkjv— “minister”
esv, niv, Wuest, nlt— “servant”
& 1 Peter addresses the concern of being punished for doing right and for our loyalty to the King of Kings.
1 Peter 2
13 Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme, 14 or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men-- 16 as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God.
1 Peter 3
13 And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed. "And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled." 15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; 16 having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. 17 For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
We should not necessarily be afraid of being punished, but we should dread being punished for the wrong reason.
C. The motivation for being subject
5 Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience' sake. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God's ministers2 attending continually to this very thing. 7 Render therefore to all their due: taxes3 to whom taxes are due, customs4 to whom customs, fear5 to whom fear, honor6 to whom honor.
2 ministers—St#— leitourgovß li-toorg-os' : a public minister, a servant of the state
3 taxes—St#G5411— φόρος / phoros tribute, esp. the annual tax levied upon houses, lands, and persons
4 customs—St#G5056— τέλος / telos toll, custom (i.e. indirect tax on goods) (A toll road where the toll agent takes a share of goods being transported in addition to a regular toll.)
esv, niv— “revenue”
5 fear—St#G5401— φόβος / phobos fear of the state authorities is an inescapable demand for citizens —tdnt
esv, niv, nlt— “respect”
6 honor—St#G5092— τιμή / timē of the honour which one has by reason of rank and state of office which he holds (ex. respect shown by standing when the judge enters the courtroom)
My parents would routinely remind me that they were spanking me so that I would learn to obey, so that I would obey the policeman and not have to be put into jail. It was a good thought, but not the whole story.
Even if we can get away with something, we should be motivated by our conscience to not go against the order that God has established.
Transitional Sentences:
So do we obey because of the badge or the gun? We should obey because of our love for God and what he has established.
Even after we have paid all our taxes, Love is a debt we will always owe...to God and to others.
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@Draw a picture of a soccer field and game.?
A bird’s eye view with boundary lines, goal, and players
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2. A Christian citizen is paying the debt of LOVE. 8-10
8 Owe no one anything except to love1 one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. [the Mosaic Law] 9 For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not bear false witness," "You shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
1 love G25: ἀγαπάω / agapaō: What word appears most often in this chapter?
1. The nature of love
“Charity … And as it is a sympathizing and merciful spirit, so the spirit of charity, as exercised toward our fellow creatures, is the opposite of a selfish, inasmuch as it is a liberal spirit.”
—--Charity and Its Fruits, Jonathan Edwards
Charles Dickens, in The Christmas Carol, captured this thought in the words of Marley to Scrooge, “My spirit never walked beyond our counting-house -- mark me! -- in life my spirit never roved beyond the narrow limits of our money-changing hole…”
"But you were always a good man of business, Jacob," faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself.
"Business!" cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. "Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!"
“Love, whether used of God or man, is an earnest and anxious desire for and an active and beneficent interest in the well-being of the one loved.” -International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, William Evans
Origen said: "The debt of love remains with us permanently and never leaves us; this is a debt which we both discharge every day and for ever owe."
2. Purpose of the Commands
The commands are not an end in and of themselves.
The purpose of boundaries are to alert us to when we are not loving others as we should.
adultery when self-gratification, lust, and sensual desires are more important than faithfulness to our oath of love
Galatians 5.19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,
murder for love never seeks to destroy, but always to build up; it is always kind and will ever seek to destroy an enemy not by killing him, but by seeking to make him a friend. —-W. Barclay
1 John 3:11-13 11 For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, 12 not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother's righteous.
steal for love is always more concerned with giving than with getting. —-W. Barclay
Ephesians 4.28 Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.
false witness
Ephesians 4.25 Therefore, putting away lying, "Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor," for we are members of one another.
covet for covetousness (epithumia) is the uncontrolled desire to gratify oneself instead looking toward others.
1 Corinthians 13.5 Love…does not seek its own.
“Just as in the relations of man and God pistos has been substituted for nomos, so between a man and a man agoph taks the place of definite legal relations.” —-A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, Sanday and Headlam
3. Summary of the commands
James 2.8 8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well ...
Leviticus 19.18 (quoted more often than any other OT verse.)
17 ‘You shall not hate your brother in your heart.
You shall surely rebuke [reprove] your neighbor,
and not bear sin because of him.
18 You shall not take vengeance,
nor bear any grudge against the children of your people,
but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
“I am the Lord” reminds us that it is our love for (and fear of) the Lord that motivates us to love our neighbor.
Transitional Sentences:
What is the purpose of the boundaries in a soccer game?
When you play soccer, do you focus on the out of bounds lines or the ball and the goal?
We do have to pay attention or we will go out of bounds.
If we don’t pay attention, we will go out of bounds.
We have to be alert and awake.
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@Draw a picture of an alarm clock going off ?
next to someone who is waking up.
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3. The Christian’s urgent need to AWAKE v. 11-14
11 And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake1 out of sleep; for now our salvation2 is nearer than when we first believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly,* as in the day, not in revelry3 and drunkenness, not in lewdness4 and lust,5 not in strife7 and envy.8 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.
1 awake G1453: ἐγείρω / egeirō 1. to arouse, cause to rise a. to arouse from sleep, to awake b. to arouse from the sleep of death, to recall the dead to life c. to cause to rise from a seat or bed etc. —-Ephesians Four Group. Greek Dictionary (electronic ed.)
* niv— “behave decently”
1. Wake out of sleep
a. The concept of spiritual slumber
“Sleep” here refers to a lethargic, non-aggressive, lazy Christian life.” —Kenneth Wuest
The opposite of sleep is watchfulness and being sober. It is the opposite of drunk. One who is showing quick reactions, self-control, & good judgment.
& 1 Thessalonians 5.4-7
4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. 8 But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.
b. The urgency of the times
2 for now our salvation— G4991: σωτηρία / sōtēria We get the word Soteriology, the study of the doctrine of salvation from this word.
Salvation is in three tenses;
past, justification, the removal of the guilt and penalty of sin from the believing sinner and the bestowal of a righteousness, Christ Jesus Himself, this occurring at the moment of believing;
present, sanctification, the continuous process by which the Holy Spirit puts sin out of our lives, produces His own fruit, gradually conforming us to the image of our Lord; and
future, glorification, the transformation of our bodies at the Rapture into perfect bodies of a new nature. —Kenneth Wuest
TBC What We Teach
“We teach that we should constantly watch and be ready for the blessed hope, which is the imminent, pretribulation return of our Lord Jesus Christ to rapture His Church from this earth and to reward believers according to their works.” —-
1 Thessalonians 5.2-3 2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.
2. Walk properly
eu)sxhmo/nwv yoo-skhay-mon'-ose: in a seemly manner, decently
a. day and night
This afternoon you may want to think through these characteristics and meditate on what their opposite “day time” characteristics would be.
b. characteristics of the night
3 revelry ylt, nkjv— “reveling, revelry”; kjv— “rioting”; nasb, Wuest— “carousing, carousals”; esv, niv— “orgeries”
Originally komos was the band of friends who accompanied a victor home from the games, singing his praises and celebrating his triumph as they went. Later it came to mean a noisy band of revellers who swept their way through the city streets at night.
It describes the kind of revelry which lowers a man's self and is a nuisance to others. —-W. Barclay
drunkenness (methe). To the Greeks drunkenness was a particularly disgraceful thing.This was a vice which not only a Christian but any respectable heathen also would have condemned. —-W. Barclay
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4 Lewdness or immorality (koite). Koite literally means a bed and has in it the meaning of the desire for the forbidden bed. The word brings to mind the man who sets no value on fidelity and who takes his pleasure when and where he will. —-W. Barclay
nasb, nlt— “sexual promiscuity”;
esv, niv— “sexual immorality”;
5 lust G766: ἀσέλγεια / aselgeia without control, shameless
kjv— “wantonness”; nasb, esv— “sensuality”;
niv— “debauchery”; Wuest— “dissolute abandon”
It can describe the man who is lost to shame. He does not care who sees him; he does not care how much of a public exhibition he makes of himself; he does not care what people think of him. —-W. Barclay
Jeremiah 6:15 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed; Nor did they know how to blush.
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7 strife G2054: ἔρις / eris the spirit that is born of unbridled and unholy competition. It comes from the desire for place and power and prestige and the hatred of being surpassed. It is essentially the sin which places self in the foreground and is the entire negation of Christian love. —-W. Barclay
esv, nlt— “quarreling”
8 envy G2205: ζῆλος / zēlos. Zelos need not be a bad word. Here, it describes here the spirit which cannot be content with what it has and looks with jealous eye on every blessing given to someone else and denied to itself.
nasb, esv, niv, Wuest, nlt— “jealousy”
2. Wear
a. Putting on Christ
Christ is the same as the new man in...
Eph 4:22 & 24
20 But you have not so learned Christ, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him
b. No provision
14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.
Instead of planning for satisfying the flesh, plan your day to make sensual gratification difficult.
The last verses of this passage must be forever famous, for it was through them Augustine found conversion. He tells the story in his Confessions.
He was walking in the garden.
His heart was in distress, because of his failure to live the good life. He kept exclaiming miserably, "How long? How long? Tomorrow and tomorrow--why not now? Why not this hour an end to my depravity?"
Suddenly he heard a voice saying, "Take and read; take and read." It sounded like a child's voice; and he racked his mind to try to remember any child's game in which these words occurred, but could think of none.
He hurried back to the seat where his friend Alypius was sitting, for he had left there a volume of Paul's writings. "I snatched it up and read silently the first passage my eyes fell upon: ` Let us not walk in revelry or drunkenness, in immorality and in shamelessness, in contention and in strife. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, as a man puts on a garment, and stop living a life in which your first thought is to gratify the desires of Christless human nature.'
I neither wished nor needed to read further. With the end of that sentence, as though the light of assurance had poured into my heart, all the shades of doubt were scattered. I put my finger in the page and closed the book: I turned to Alypius with a calm countenance and told him." (C. H. Dodd's translation.)
We have overslept! It is high time we wake up spiritually walk properly and wear Christ.
REVIEW
The three characteristics of a Christian citizen:
1. A Christian citizen is SUBJECT to God’s order. v. 1-7
2. A Christian citizen is paying the debt of LOVE. v. 8-11
3. A Christian citizen is spiritually AWAKE. v. 12-14
PAS
You may be here today and realize that you are more than asleep, you are dead … like Augustine … miserably in the dark in sin’s tight grip. Come into the light. Renounce the old life and by God’s grace through faith experience the regeneration by the Holy Spirit.
