Crossroads: Cooperation of Church and State - Romans 13

Romans 12 makes the case that our duty as Christians is to follow the path of Christ, focusing on serving and loving one another. We are taught that the sanctification and transformation process will cause us all to raise others above ourselves, looking out for their best above our own. This flies in the face of our nature of self-preservation and self-promotion. It will cause us to decide if God's Kingdom or our own kingdoms are more important. This line of thought leads us into Romans 13, where Paul brings into view the kingdoms of this world and the role they play in our Christian lives of love and service. His commands are extremely contrary to our own wills and will seem completely unreasonable to most. However, if we've committed to a life of building up God's Kingdom and bringing as many under His love, then it will not be challenging at all. Together these two chapters offer us a way of escape from the pull of this world, wherein "winning" and "being in power" is most important. It puts in perspective the role of the state and its leaders, and calls us to focus on the Church's lane and determine to follow Christ's path through the up's and down's. Whether the state is for us or against us, we are called to be for the world and find a way to be the Body of Christ no matter what. We are to rest in God's sovereignty over the state, and trust that He is good whether the state is or not. Paul's teaching about how we are to relate to politicians will at first seem controversial, but with an understanding of our greater purpose, it begins to seem most logical. Ultimately, by being the best citizens we can possibly be, we maintain and even strengthen our witness to the world and faithfulness to God. This is what matters most. By fulfilling our civic duties with grace and respect, we are able to maximize our Christian calling of love and service. By this, and only this, the world will come to know the Greater King we serve and the Kingdom He is building.