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New Testament Assignment:

Being Subject to Authority

Romans 13:1-7

In Romans 13:1-7 Paul says that as Christians we need to be subject to governing authorities. What he means is that we should obey our governments through God’s word. He also points out that whoever resists authority resists what God’s word and will be punished. In the context it says that a person should not only fear the punishment that may be given but more fear your conscience. Through what has been said these are the reasons why we should pay our taxes as well as our bills. I have determined that Romans 13:1-7 is a letter. Paul’s letter can and is brought up a lot in today’s society. The reason why is because of the all of the people wanting to go against authority, whether it be the government or even parents. The two scholars in my articles discuss authority in the government. Before reading the two articles I had some previous uncertainties but they were cleared up after reading them. Between the two articles I have discovered that we need to obey authority even if we do not always agree with what is going on. The only thing that was left unanswered is how we are supposed to deal with an issue we might have without questioning or obeying authority.

Some the uncertainties that were cleared up after I read the two articles were, did Paul think that we should or shouldn’t put our government before us. The reason why that it confused me is because it made me think that the only thing that should have authority

over us is God’s word. The two articles helped me understand that through God’s word we should obey authority (Vonck 338). Another part of the text that confused me was when Paul discussed taxes and that authorities were servants of God. What he means by this is that authorities are ministers of God and we should pay our taxes in honor of who it is due (Vonck 338). Those were the only two parts of the passage that confused me, mainly because of the wording.

Both of my authors agree that we should obey authority basically in honor of God. Therefore both of them agree that we should obey our governments because they are like ministers of God (Vonck 338). Another thing that I discovered in one of the articles is that a large question that Christians commonly ask is “how do we balance Paul’s word’s, written in his context, with the context of our world today” (Johnson 91). From what I have discovered in today’s world you need to obey your government or authority rather you agree with everything they are doing or not. In most cases we as the people may not agree with something mainly because we don’t know all of the facts. Even though it is not brought up in my articles I think an even bigger issue in today’s society than the government is parents and their teenage children. The reason why I say that is because it seems like every year we have more and more trouble with teenagers obeying their parent’s authority. For example every year there are more and more kids running away and getting in trouble with school because they cannot handle obeying their parents or teachers at school.

Both of the authors that I have articles on do not disagree on anything because both of them believe that we should indeed obey our government or authority. Paul even says, “He who resists authorities resists what God has appointed” (Vonck 338). In my

opinion the reason why the authors do not disagree is because it is true in that we should always obey authority because it is what god wants. If they were to disagree they would almost be disagreeing with God’s word. The only thing that they left unanswered was how we are supposed to react to authority besides just letting it go if there is something that we do not like or disagree with. I guess what I am asking is how can we the people confront them or challenge them without going against their authority. I think if not only the authors would discuss this more parents, teachers, and teenagers would be able to deal with their problems a little better.

The only weakness that I can identify in either of the two articles is that they talk about never going against authority and always obeying it but they never tell us how to deal with it if we don’t agree or like what the authority is doing. In