During his years as a preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and throughout his missionary journeys for Christ’s cause, the apostle Paul endured resistance to his ministry from many people. Some of the religious authorities opposed him and fomented persecutions against him and his fellow Christians. At times he was arrested and endured imprisonment, instigated not only by opposing religious forces, but also by governing authorities who were worried about influential voices such as his, fearing disturbances or uprisings among the people.

Yet despite the frictions and discomforts he endured, the apostle maintained a remarkably high view of government and taught Christians to respect the governing authorities, to expect good things among the lives of the people resulting from the work of those authorities and to work responsively with the governing authorities for the good of the societies in which they lived.

I’m looking especially at Romans 13:1-7, where Paul begins with this statement: “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.” In verse three, he states: “For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad.” Then, in verse 5: “Therefore one must be subject, not only to avoid God’s wrath, but also for the sake of conscience.” And in verse 7: “Pay all of them their dues, taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect towhom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.”

At the time the apostle Paul was teaching these things, there were as yet no Christian governments, and very few Christians occupied positions in the governments of the time. Yet he speaks positively of the function of government, and teaches respect for those who occupy positions of authority in governments.

Likewise, Jesus taught respect and kindness toward authorities such as the Roman soldiers who occupied the land of Palestine at the time (Matt.

5:41).

I grew up as part of a family and religious tradition which believed in showing respect toward our leaders, family leaders, our elders, church leaders and ministers, the police, our county authorities, state officials, our nation’s president and cabinet, and our members of Congress and Senate. From my elders I often heard suchstatements as: “If you can’t say anything good about a person, then don’t say anything.”

While I would be uncomfortable with taking that stated maxim as an absolute, holding that there are appropriate and needed times for us to be respectfully critical of our leaders’ policies or ideas, I value greatly the disposition commended in that statement - the disposition toward respecting our leaders at every level and being respectful toward other people in general. It is possible for people of conscience to disagree agreeably, to wrestle with differing views and to contend for ideas and policies for the good of the people as we see it, without attacking and savaging persons who may think differently from us.

Obviously, as seen in the experience of the apostle Paul, governing authorities may not always act justly or wisely, yet even when he suffered from actions taken by unjust authorities, one doesn’t see him waging personal attacks against them, or disparaging the function of government in life. He maintained the sense of expecting that the God of all life intends governmental authorities to protect the rights and wellbeing of people at all levels of their societies.

The leaders from whom our Christian movement has grown through the centuries did not encourage a climate of pessimistic and negative expectations regarding the secular leadership of nations. Christians are not a people called to disparage governments or to besmirch the character of persons in leadership. Positive expectations are more likely toproduce positive results. We pray God’s blessings, help and guidance toward those who serve in positions of authority and leadership in our communities, in our nation and the world.

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Editor’s note: Jerry Nichols, a native of Pea Ridge, is a retired Methodist minister with a passion for history. He is vice president of the Pea Ridge Historical Society. He can be contacted by e-mail at [email protected], or call 621-1621.

Church, Pages 2 on 01/19/2011