The Christian and Authority

There are two spheres of history that the Bible traces out. One is creation. The other is redemption. Creation is that realm in which all people exist. There is a spiritual realm in which all of God’s elect exist. Now, here is the difficulty that Christians often have. They do not understand that the two realms of redemption and creation have not yet come together again. When we come to Romans 13:1-7, we see first hand how important it is to recognize this basic theological structure of world history. Recognizing that Christians are firstly subject to God and have been created by him to be a kingdom of priests to serve him allows us to then fulfill the creation mandate to be in subjection to authorities.

As always, the key to obedience to God's law is not to push the law to the forefront, but to push the gospel there. For in the gospel we have gained the ability to obey the law, and to be in subjection to all authorities over us. This is a word desperately needed in an age of rugged individualism and antiauthoritarianism.