Today’s chapter is Romans 13

Tom writes:

Anyone who yearns for social transformation should sit long in this chapter. Should we try to overthrow evil regimes? Should we lobby for Kingdom values to be embodied in all of society? In this chapter Paul sets out a staggering vision for how the church engages with that question; clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ. The Roman government had arrested Paul and killed his friends. The Roman government epitomised the depraved minds Paul highlighted in chapter 1. And, even though Paul has just told the Roman church that they are more than conquerors, that they will co-inherit all the earth, Paul then tells the church to submit to these senseless and ruthless authorities. How does that make sense? Well, Paul really meant it when he said we should clothe ourselves with Jesus as Lord. Jesus said we defeat evil by turning the other cheek. Jesus did defeat evil by dying a death in evil people’s place. Don’t get him wrong- it wasn’t that Jesus didn’t care about social injustice, nor that he just withdrew from society and passively let it happen. No, Jesus went to war with the world… but he did it with love.

Fighting against injustice with love is what Paul urges the church to do. This is so at odds with our cultures view of how to achieve justice. In a culture that doesn’t believe in God, of course we humans have to be the agents of social transformation. No one else is going to do it so humans have to rise up and use all their power to overthrow abuses of power. But we do believe in God. And we know that God wants to overthrow abusive power more than we do. And we know that God uses the Cross of Christ to do it. Our conclusion must be that we will defeat evil when we clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ. We will see evil defeated when we choose to love those who practice it. Even tyrants are overthrown by God when God’s people humbly submit to them. Humble submission isn’t fawning or weak. It can still register disagreement and even sometimes active dissent. But we do everything deliberately as love…trusting that as we lovingly serve them, God will act and bring justice in the end. This is a huge topic, far beyond this quick paragraph. But we can begin with this - love is a choice that we make out of trust in our Father and in emulation of our Lord and Love will truly change the world.

Question for reflection

Who is a “ruthless, senseless, faithless” person that you could really love?

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Romans 13 - Friday 10th May