We’ve journeyed through twelve powerful chapters of the book of Romans, and now we must face the question: How now should we live?
I found the answer by reading the chapter backwards. No, not sentence by sentence, but thought for thought as follows:
- Put on Christ
- Love is your primary aim
- Duty to the State, but live as citizens of heaven.
As we review this chapter, it would be well to keep in mind Paul’s admonition to the Ephesian Church. “Look carefully, then, how you walk, not as unwise but as wise. Making the best use of the time because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is… but be filled with the Spirit.” (Ephesians 5:15-16 &18b)
Put on Christ (Romans 13:11-14)
All Christians should take on the mantle of Christ. Putting on the Lord Jesus Christ is to follow so closely to Him that we are harmonizing with His will. Where the spirit goes, so goes the soul, where the soul goes, so goes the body.
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ and don’t make plans to gratify the desires of the flesh. Romans 13:14
Christ is 100% human and 100% divine. There is no one like Him, nor will there ever be. He became flesh and dwelt among us. He felt joy, sorrow, and triumph. Furthermore, he sweat in the heat, shivered in the cold, and hurt when beaten. He knows us like no other. Sin could not drag Him down, death could not take Him away, and His love endures forever.
Christ must dwell in us before we can put Him on. He does not fit those who seek their own way to gratify the desires of the flesh. We may not walk indecently, across, get drunk, promiscuous, quarrel, or get jealous, but there is something the Lord is dealing in us that keeps us from putting on Christ.
We need to wake up. Likewise, we’re not of this world. We are closer than ever to Chris’s return. Let us not waste our time on things of this world that are marked for destruction.
To put on Christ is to put on the armor of light. Light banishes the darkness, not the other way around. Our conduct, desires, and plans represent what, or better yet, Who is in our heart.
The secret of our inner life is Christ within us. Without Immanuel, there is no “with God” life. The fruit of the Spirit is the work of the Spirit. To be filled with Christ is to be filled with the Spirit.
When we put on Christ, He becomes part and parcel of our outward appearance. Let love reign in your soul, the same as Christ’s enduring love reigned in the face of His accusers and led Him to the cross.
To put on Christ is to put on the light of His love.
Love is Your Primary Aim (Romans 13:8-10)
Love. It comes again to remind us of how now we should live in a sin sick world.
Love does no wrong to a neighbor… Romans 13:10a
Our initial human response is to fire back at those who hate us. “We know the Word; we know what right looks like. They don’t. How dare they live like that? How dare they throw sin’s dirt in my face and find pleasure in it?”
Is it our job to take the world by force?
The world is going to do what the world is going to do.
You will do what is pleasing in the eyes of the Lord, for you know something the world doesn’t—He is watching over you, watching over you with love.
No one loves his neighbor unless he honestly loves God. They will know us by love—not just for one another, but to even the most unlovely.
Love one another! Self is the cause of all our troubles.
Duty to the State, but live as citizens of heaven (Romans 13:1-7)
We are, first and foremost, citizens of heaven. We live in this world, but we’re not of it.
By capturing this chapter from the end to the beginning, we are given a true perspective of how we should live—understand God’s mind on our behavior, attitude, and actions toward those around us, especially those who have authority.
Let everyone submit to the governing authorities, since there is no authority except from God and the authorities are instituted by God… And for this reason, you pay taxes, since the authorities are God’s servants, continually attending to these tasks. Pay your obligations to everyone: taxes to those you owe taxes, tolls to those you owe tolls, respect to those you owe respect, and honor to those you owe honor.
Romans 13:1 & 6-7
We put on Christ, make love our primary aim and true God has initiated the governing powers over us: submit, pay dues, respect, and do good.
Remember, God is Sovereign. You live in the boundaries He’s set for you, in the time He’s entrusted to you, and He is with you even to the end of the age. Trust Him for the city council, the mayor, the local police, the county judges, the State Legislature, the Governor, the Congress, the House of Representatives, the Supreme Court, and the President. Trust Him for those you pay taxes, owe debt, and owe honor.
But you might say, “I can trust the Lord, but I can’t trust them. I didn’t vote for them and don’t agree with their policies.”
I understand, but the answer to your comment is: Trust God, not man. He who shakes the earth will shake an unethical judge. He who controls the ebb and flow of the sea will move the heart of the governing power. God has established and instituted the authorities, and they exist because He allows it.
Raise your children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Let them see Christ in you. Teach your children well so that when they face the day of accountability, they will be well-informed and not ignorant of the ways of God. Be aware of the forces around you and against you. Trust and obey God.
Not only does the battle belong to Him, but so goes the victory.
The estranged do not know the Lord, the long distant barely captures a glimpse of Him, but the intimate knows Him well and knows Him by name. He speaks to them and thy have His ear. This who walk in the Spirit walk with God.
We pray for our country, this is true. We pray for her security, for her protection from enemies (both foreign and domestic), for brave armed forces, for a faithful senate, a virtuous president, and a world at peace.
Rebellion, and yes, insurrection in our soul, is not of the Lord. Passive resistance is still resistance. Believing God will only help us if we take violent action is not a sign of authentic Christianity. Fanatical Christian nationalism does more harm than good. Christianity and good citizenship go hand-in-hand.
We owe our protection to the state. The state exists for the sake of justice, safety, and security. A state is a body of people in covenant to certain laws. Without agreement, the bad, and selfish strong members of the community would be supreme—then the state would be ruled by the law of the jungle.
What happened to the Christians in Nazi Germany?
The Confessing Church
We cannot entirely disassociate ourselves from the society in which we live. We cannot, in good conscience, opt out of the nation.
In 1933, Germany had 60 million people. Almost all Germans were Christians, belonging to the Roman Catholic Church (20 million) or the Protestant (40 million). The Jewish Community was less than 1% of the total population.
Hitler took advantage of Christian nationalism: nation first, Christ second. For all too many Christians, traditional interpretations of Sacred Scripture seemed to support prejudice. They didn’t read Scripture for themselves but allowed others to decipher it for them.
Most Christians in Germany welcomed the rise of Nazism in 1933. The largest Protestant church in Germany—the German Evangelical Church (28 regional churches that included Reformation, Lutheran, Reformed, and United Churches). There were smaller, so-called “free” Protestant churches, such as Methodist and Baptist.
The Evangelical Church was viewed as one of the pillars of German culture and society, grounded in loyalty to the state. However, in the 1920s, a movement emerged that called for Christians to embrace many of the nationalist and racial aspects of Nazi ideology. Once the Nazis came into power, this group sought the creation of the national “Reich Church” and supported the “nazified” version of Christianity.
Emerging in opposition was the Confessing Church declaring allegiance to God and Scripture, not a worldly Fuhrer. The most famous members of the Confessing Church were the theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, executed for his role in the conspiracy to overthrow the regime, and Pastor Martin Niemoller, who spent seven years in concentration camps for his criticism of Hitler.
There were certainly those members of the clergy and individual Christians who opposed and rested the regime, including helping and hiding Jews.
Anti-Nazi sentiment grew in the Christian Community, as the Nazi regime exerted greater pressure on them. In turn, in March 1935 briefly arrested over 700 pastors.
Eventually, the confessing church had to operate underground.
The White Rose Resistance
Sophie Scholl, a sister disciple, had to make a choice. She trusted God but opposed the evil state. She lived a mere 21 years before being beheaded for her resistance in the White Rose.
Her crime? Passing out anti-war leaflets.
Her story is not one of woe, but of faith.
“I will cling to the rope God has thrown me in Jesus Christ, even when my numb hands can no longer feel it.”
Sophie Scholl
How can we expect righteousness to prevail when there is hardly anyone willing to give himself up individually to a righteous cause? Such a fine, sunny day, and I have to go, but what does my death matter, if through us, thousands of people are wakened and stirred to action.”
Sophie Scholl
I will not go into great details here. But you can read her story here.
The life of Sophie Scholl, a sister disciple, tells us that following Christ is not an easy task in a sin-sick world. But our allegiance is to Christ, we aim to love, and do what is right in the eyes of the Lord as citizens not of this world but of heaven.
In Conclusion
Until now, the German church is compelled to issue statements of guilt and complacency during the Holocaust.
Let us learn from the past.
Living the “with-God” life is not for the faint of heart, but for the heart wholly devoted to God. We are in the world, but not of it. Our dual citizenship is real, and our loyalty to Christ as King is our first and foremost responsibility.
Hopefully, we will not have to face an evil state like Germany, but come what may, let us walk clothed with Christ with the weapons of light and God’s Word as our guide. Our duty is to put on Christ, make love our aim, and our duty is to the state, but live as citizens of heaven first.
Yours in Christ,
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