Taken out of the context of the whole Bible, the Romans 13 passage has been misused by many to justify turning over to Caesar everything that Caesar asks for. Not so. Verse 7 tells us to render to Caesar his due. He is not due everything he demands. Actually, when Caesar no longer is a terror to those who are evil but actually becomes a terror to those who do good, it becomes the duty of the people to revoke the authority which they have given to the ruler. Not individually. Corporately. No lone rangers allowed. No terrorism or independent acts to overthrow a government. As much as we may chafe at the evil set over us now, we must know that having a civil ruler is indeed of God, and we must not long for chaos. Civil rule, by its nature, is corporate. We disobey God if we seek to be out from under civil rule. Our duty is rather to seek to be under godly civil rule.
Our so-called revolutionary war was not a revolutionary war at all. The colonies were not seeking to be out from under governance, nor were they seeking to take over London and Parliament and unseat King George III. They wanted to be under godly rule, determined that King George III was not a godly ruler, opted for their colonial parliaments, and seceded from England. Thus, our war was vastly different from the one that followed it about 15 years later in France, which was a true revolution, viciously anti-god, and has crippled France to this day.
Excerpt from "Trusting God or Trusting Ourselves"
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