Romans 13:1–7 instructs Christians to submit to governing authorities, yet the letter was written when the evil Nero ruled over those same believers. Romans 13:1–3 tells Christians to submit to governing authorities because God ordained their rule. God established human government as a means to thwart evil. Resisting God's plan for human leadership is resisting God. Verses 4–7 tells Christians that governmental authorities are to punish lawbreakers as an extension of God's justice. Subjects should pay taxes, respect, and honor to those to whom it is owed.
However, many accounts in the Bible show governmental authorities (kings and such) being held accountable for their actions—sometimes by God's direct action, sometimes by His followers, and sometimes by circumstance. Peter and John acted against the Sanhedrin's wishes (Acts 4:19; 5:29), Hebrew midwives refused to kill babies in Exodus 1:15–17, and Daniel's friends disobeyed Persian law by refusing to bow to Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 3:8–12). Hebrews 11 lists several revolutionaries as heroes of the faith, including Gideon, Barak, Samson, Rahab, and Jephthah.
So, what about the American Revolution? Did it violate Romans 13? Colonial revolutionaries gave many justifications for their revolt. Some discerned between governmental authorities and tyranny. There was no desire to spread anarchy or establish a society with no rule. They revolted against an evil ruler, not against being ruled, they argued. Christian revolutionaries saw King George III as the one who violated Scripture by not acting as God's servant. "Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God," said Mayhew in 1750.
Colonists believed they had exhausted all legal, civil, and peaceful avenues to set things right. England sent military forces and revolutionary fighters initially acted in self-defense.
Some Christian revolutionaries pointed to 1 Peter 2:13 as placing submission to authorities as secondary to submitting "for the Lord's sake." They reasoned that they could not submit to what they perceived as evil rule for the sake of the Lord.
American Christians at the time struggled with revolution, and not all joined the side of the revolt. Some of the revolutionary reasoning was biblically flawed; Romans 13 does not give exceptions to its instruction. However, some of arguments hold biblical merit, such as self-defense. Either way, the leaders of the American Revolution seem to have acted in good faith and believed they were honoring God. And it would seem that God has brought about many good things from the freedoms lauded by the American Revolutionaries and the way many of those freedoms have persisted not only in the US but in other countries today.
Today we can take the same principles to heart, submitting to our governing authorities, knowing that God has allowed them to come to power, while also standing up to oppression.
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