Romans Chapter 13

Please note that Paul is addressing saved people who are in the One Body. (Romans 1:6; 12:4,5). 

Vs. 1…"the powers that be are ordained of God.”  Paul the apostle of and to the Gentiles and his co-laborers in the ministry are the higher powers being discussed in Romans 13. Two chapters prior Paul had announced to the Roman believers that he had a unique leadership position given to him by God. The importance of his role in the dispensation of grace was such that it needed to be magnified…“For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:” (Romans 11:13) There are at least two ways Paul “magnified his office”:

First, he magnified it by repeatedly reminding grace believers about his position in the Church, the body of Christ… “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6: Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. 7: Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.”  (1 Timothy 2:5-7).  “For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, 2: If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to youward:” (Ephesians 3:1,2).

Second, he magnified his office by using his power (authority) and the spiritual gifts (sign gifts) given him by the Holy Spirit to bring reproof and correction where needed as he went about building up the new creature--- the Church, the body of Christ. That Paul understood his delegated authority and supernatural sign gifts is seen throughout the books of Romans, I & II Cor., Galatians, I & II Thess. This was necessary in order for God/Paul to deal with the rebellious Jews and the clueless Gentiles as God unfolded (progressively) His plan and purpose to the world of lost sinners:

What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness? (I Cor. 4:21)

“Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort, as putting you in mind, because of the grace that is given to me of God.”  (Romans 15:15)

“For though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord hath given us for edification, and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed:” (2 Corinthians 10:8)

“Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, which to you-ward is not weak, but is mighty in you. 4: For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you.”  (2 Corinthians 13:3-4)

“I am become a fool in glorying; ye have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing.”  (2 Corinthians 12:11)

Paul's had the strength to do God’s work because Jesus was working in and through him. “Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.”  (Colossians 1:29)  

Paul had both the humility and boldness to do what God had ordained him to do. “By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:” (Romans 1:5)

Perhaps this is why Paul could tell the Romans in chapter 12 to not avenge themselves with those who treated them wrong---“but rather give place to wrath”. During that period of time (Acts ministry of Paul) God and His “ordained, higher powers” were His “ministers of revenge, looking to that very thing”. Although this aspect of Paul’s ministry is ignored by the Body of Christ today, it is clearly recorded in Scripture (during the Acts ministry of Paul).  During the Kingdom preaching of Peter and the Twelve (after the resurrection of Jesus from the dead) and the “Acts Ministry” of Paul, God judged the sin in a believer’s life by direct judgment (Acts 5; I Cor. 12)

There is another fascinating observation that believers should ponder as it relates to spiritual gifts and spiritual leaders (higher powers) in the first six books Paul wrote (Acts ministry) and the remaining seven books he wrote post Acts ministry. When we compare Romans 12 and I Cor. 12 (spiritual gifts) with Ephesians 4 we can see several clues that a change has taken place in the program of God.

For instance, I Cor. 12:4-11 tells us that all believers received a spiritual gift from the Holy Spirit. In Ephesians 4 we are told that Jesus gave “men as gifts” from His ascendency position (seated in the heavenly places).

Comparing the passages we note that there was a difference in the spiritual gifts and “men as gifts”. Romans and I Corinthians tell us about the gifts of prophecy, ministering, healing, administration, exhortation, teaching, giving, etc.While Ephesians 4 names the gift of men who were apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. I think you can see that this is a different list.

Another difference in the passages that is worthy of our consideration is the way Paul talks about the word “body”. In Romans and I Corinthians spiritual gifts were given to every saved person in the body as defined as the way the human body works together with its many members. Paul changes that thought or definition in the book of Ephesians and refers to the body as “the Church, the body of Christ”. This was a new agency on earth for God’s glory. This was new or advanced revelation given to Paul from the Lord. The early saints were called upon to transition from thinking about living as a “body” in Christ (Romans 6:1-4) to living in the “body of Christ” (Eph. 4:12). This required them to listen carefully to what their Apostle was telling them about this new doctrinal information and believe it. We are instructed to do nothing less than these early saints---God’s truth is transitional; therefore it is imperative that we seek to rightly divide the word of truth.

In Romans and I Corinthians the saints were dependent on the spiritual gifts and “higher power” spiritual leaders to function properly and maintain their spiritual lives similar to the way a human body operates. In Ephesians 4 “men as gifts” were given for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry and for the edifying of the body of Christ. A change had taken place. There is another change foretold in Eph. 4 as well; verse 13 says that this method (men as gifts” to the body of Christ) would remain in place TILL we all come in the unity of the faith, unto a perfect man…etc. So, how would the Body of Christ operate once this change occurs? II Tim. 2:1-15 tells us…study your completed Bible by rightly dividing it and herald what you learn to others. That is what God calls a workman that will not be ashamed at the judgment seat of Christ.

Some additional evidence to corroborate this transition of progressive revelation is found (in context) in I Cor. 13:8. There we are told the spiritual gifts of I Cor. 12 would cease, fail and pass away. And so they did as recorded in Eph. 4, during the life and ministry of Paul. The Bible confirms that even Paul did not have the benefit of his previous “sign gifts” toward the end of his ministry… And it came to pass, that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him.(Acts 28::8) …Erastus abode at Corinth: but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick. (II Tim. 4:20) Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities. (I Tim. 5:23)

Paul was the higher power because of the Sound Doctrine that God was revealing to him. “According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.”  (1 Timothy 1:11)   “But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour; Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.”    (Titus 1:3, 9). 

God blessed the early saints with “powers” and “rulers” plural. These men labored in harmony with Paul. They were co-laborers with Paul as he exercised his apostolic authority in directing their ministry. “Wherefore when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone; 2: And sent Timotheus, our brother, and minister of God, and our fellowlabourer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith:”  (1 Thessalonians 3:1-2)   “But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state. 20: For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state. 21: For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. 22: But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel. 23: Him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me. 24: But I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly. 25: Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellowsoldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants.”  (Philippians 2:19-25). “To Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour. 5: For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee:”   (Titus 1:5). 

Within themselves, these men were not the authority, but because of the deposit of Truth placed into their trust by God through Paul's ministry, they could speak and rebuke with all authority.   “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.”     (2 Timothy 2:2) “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. 3: For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4: And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”  (2 Timothy 4:2-5)   “These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.”  (Titus 2:15).

Vs. 2-5… Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. [3] For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: [4] For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. [5] Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.

There are two ways the saints could respond to the higher powers of verse one.  For example, in Romans chapters 6-8, Paul lays before each saint the newness of life that we have been raised to walk in. A Christian can either choose to walk "after" the flesh or yield to the Spirit of God. One walk is a daily life in subjection to God and His revealed Word under Grace. The other is resistance to God and His authority revealed by Paul's epistles (1 Corinthians 14:37). These believers that resist receive unto themselves judgment as explained above (Acts 13:11; 1 Corinthians 4:21; 5:3-5) There was also a great spiritual loss in the blessedness of grace reigning within the local assemblies when they rejected and spoke against Paul (2 Corinthians 12:12- 13:3,10; Galatians 4:15). 

Likewise, in Romans 13 the charge is to grow in grace through willingly subjecting oneself unto God's higher power/rulers/ministers. The opposite of this is to ignore/resist that which God had ordained to be the power. Perhaps this is why “Christians” today are inclined to dwell in Matt-John for their doctrine---because these books clearly reveal the “power of God” on display. People like to see the power of God displayed (in their behalf) rather than submit to the “powers that be”. In the early church, the power of God was on display as well but that soon was terminated. Please do not be like those who Paul said “changed the truth of God into a lie” (Rom. 1:25)

Vs. 8…Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.   

In context, Paul is admonishing the Roman saints to not neglect their responsibilities to support “the powers that be”. This financial support was not to be past due. Many who study the Bible tell us that this verse is telling us not to borrow money. A good question to ask is: Did Paul ever take on financial debt? According to the book of Philemon he did. Paul asked Philemon to release Onesimus from any debt he possibly owed him and to “put it on my (Paul’s) account”… If thou count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself. [18] If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine account; [19] I Paul have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it: albeit I do not say to thee how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides. (vs. 17-19) Paul is not saying never borrow any money. He is saying, the “higher powers” were committed to announcing to the world of lost sinners the glorious news of what the work of Christ on the Cross had accomplished concerning their sin debt. This important “Greater Commission” should not be hampered by a lack of financial support. Today the “higher powers” are long gone. We, as ambassadors of Christ, “owe it” to the higher powers and to the world of the unsaved to get the message of salvation to whosoever will.

This relationship between love and debt was beautifully explained by Jesus in His earthly ministry to Israel. It is recorded in Luke 7:37-47. The essence of the gospel of Christ is: if you do not see yourself as one who been forgiven a great debt (reconciliation) arising freely from the love of God in Christ, you will of necessity see yourself and others in light of how you measure up to the law (performance). Taking that view will always result in “little love”. The gospel of grace results in “much love”.

What kind of love is he talking about here? It is not emotional love because that type of love in not stable. Human emotions are like ocean with its cycle of tides. It is Calvary-based love…But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom. 5:8) This kind of love is not based on the character of the person being loved. It is also not based on the response of the person being loved. Love comes from the person doing the loving---the source. Our love is selfish; want what we can get out of a situation. Paul is talking about the love of God. How can we do this when the reality is we don’t naturally know how to do this? When we live under grace/walking in the Spirit, the Spirit will produce His love in and through us…But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, (Gal. 5:22). Is adultery an expression of divine love? Of course not! It is self-seeking and self-interest. Why does love not kill, commit adultery, or steal? Because it is not Christ’s attitude toward the world. Jesus did not go to the Cross out of a desire to control things; He did it to take care of a need of the world.

Therefore, love is to value and esteem what Christ values and esteems. The Godhead values and esteems His Word and people. It is our privilege to point them to the love of God in Christ Jesus. 

Vs.9-10… For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. [10] Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.  

So why does Paul get into the business of talking about “fulfilling the law”? Is that how we are to live our lives? No! So why would Paul have to repeatedly deal with the place of the law in the life of a believer? Because we are trained in this fashion by the culture and religion. Listen to what your Apostle of grace teaches you about law keeping:

1. If you are under the law you are under the curse… For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. (Gal. 3:10) Then he goes on to say in that same passage… But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. [12] And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.

2. Once again in Gal. 4:21 he states…Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?

3. And in Gal. 2:19 Paul says a grace believer is (positionally) dead to the law through the law…For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. What “law” makes me dead to the “law” that I might live unto God? The answer is found in Rom. 8:1-6… There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
[2] For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
[3] For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: [4] That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. [5] For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. [6] For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Choosing to “walk after the Spirit” is the law of the Spirit of life IN CHRIST JESUS.  “Walking in the flesh” is to hold up a check list of performance (law) to do for God which results in sin and death. However, the natural by-product of walking in the Spirit/living under grace IS THE FULFILIING OF THE LAW---WHICH LAW? The LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE!  Not the Ten Commandments. The life of Christ is the resource of the saint---the life of Christ as defined by the Apostle of Grace---Paul…When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Col. 3:4) The life of Christ is a life of gratitude, love and grace. As I walk in the Spirit I am drawn to a close relationship with my Father; not a list of things to do or avoid doing.

5. And finally he makes his strongest statement about the consequences of adding law to grace in Gal. 5:3-4…For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. [4] Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. That sounds strangely like the warning Paul gave to those who promote water baptism as a picture of salvation or the first step of obedience for the believer…For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. (I Cor. 1:17)

Vs. 11-12…And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. [12] The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.

Paul now turns his attention from to the subject of financially supporting the “powers that be” as they looked continually to the business of God as He temporarily set aside the Prophetic Program with the nation of Israel with its Covenant of Law and introduces His Mystery Program to both Jew and Gentile established upon Grace and to the subject of time. Could the importance of time be overstated as it relates to human life? N0! However, he is not encouraging them to learn the time of day it is; he wants to remind them that SINCE they know what time it is DISPENSATIONALLY. How would they know that? Because he just took three chapters (Rom. 9-11) to explain to them that God had set the nation of Israel with its program aside and had sent him (Paul) to proclaim a new program, a new gospel and a new agency on earth. Based on this glorious news of a new dispensation, the new creature (members of the body of Christ/the saved) had a duty to awake out of sleep. They were to do something with the doctrine they had been taught by Paul. Now some people talk in their sleep and a few even walk in their sleep but this is not normal and it is certainly unintended. Sleep is a gift from God to rest the human body and renew its strength. We would prefer that no one or no thing disturb our sleep. Based on what God was doing in Paul’s day, it was not a time for sleep. It was time for activity. Why was this so? The night is far spent, the day is at hand. So Paul uses the constant cycle of night following day to relate to the dispensational things that have happened. God is at work in time; His work among people in time does not stay the same. His dispensational work is just as real as a 24 hour night/day cycle that we observe all the time.

“The night is far spent”… What night is he talking about and in what sense is it far spent? John 9: 4-5        will help us understand it I believe… I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. [5] As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. When Jesus was here on earth it was daytime. When He was going to leave planet earth the darkness would come. He said this to warn Israel that the nighttime/darkness of the Tribulation would come upon the Nation when He left to go back to the Father. Joel corroborates this truth in 2:1-2… Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand; [2] A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. I Thess. 5: 2… For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. Once again, the Day of the Lord is associated with the darkness or nighttime. The Day of the Lord is not going to be a fun time. Peter says the same thing in II Peter 3: 10… But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

So if the tribulation is the nighttime referred to in verse 11, what does Paul mean that it is “far spent”? When God ushered in the dispensation of the grace of God which is where we live today, the prophecy of Joel was beginning to be fulfilled. Peter pointed that out on the Day of Pentecost in his sermon to the Nation of Israel (Acts 2: 16-21… But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; [17] And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God,I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: [18] And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: [19] And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: [20] The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:  But what God did was interrupt Joel’s prophecy or postponed Joel’s prophecy. So the night is “far spent” in that had God not interrupted His work with Israel or postponed His work with them the Tribulation would have already come and gone and they (Paul and the Roman saints) would already be living in the Kingdom. Paul wrote Romans in about 57 AD. Jesus ascended back to heaven in about 33 AD. Had Joel’s prophecy continued to unfold as it began at Pentecost, the Tribulation (seven years) would have already past and they would be living in the Millennial reign of Christ on earth. 

So, that means “the time” is we are living in the “parentheses” of human history. We are living in the time that God postponed the pouring out of His wrath on the earth. That is awesome, is it not? Now, why did God do this? Because “before the foundation of the earth” God had a purpose and plan to form a “new agency” on earth to spend eternity in the heavenly places that will bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, do you know THE TIME?

“the day is at hand”… What day is he taking about? The day of Christ’s coming for us; the end of the day of grace. “Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed”  We (grace believers) are going to be “saved” from the “night” of Tribulation… Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: (Phil. 1:6) God saves you and keeps you for a purpose---the heavenly places. The day of Christ is a good thing but some were turning it into a scary thing and sending out a counterfeit letter “signed by Paul’… That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. (II Thess. 2:2) The dispensation in which we live is not time based; the end of it could come at any time. There were “signs” associated with other dispensations. Paul corrects the “letter” because it said the day of Christ is “AT HAND”. God in His wisdom will determine when this dispensation will end. God knows when it will end, but it is not based on time. God told Daniel a detail time schedule for Messiah coming into the world and Israel’s history.

“let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light”…Given the foregoing information, we get to cast off the “works of darkness” and put on light. Darkness is a reference to the LIE PROGRAM of Satan. During the Tribulation Satan’s program will be fully implemented on planet earth. It will be in your face. You and I get to expose it, explain it, fight against it, and proclaim an escape from it by proclaiming the gospel of Christ. Before we were saved we were in the darkness program. It was operational in us. Now we are in the “light program” and we get the opportunity to “turn on the light”.

“Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. [14] But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof”…Conducting your life like you are in the darkness program while being in the light program makes no sense. Every day we make choices about what we will wear. In that sense, we are to put on the Lord Jesus---wear what He wears. Rather than providing for the flesh, we can make a different decision to provide the right clothing for our flesh. God has given us a new wardrobe.

Vs. 13…“let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light”…Given the foregoing information, we get to cast off the “works of darkness” and put on light. Darkness is a reference to the LIE PROGRAM of Satan. During the Tribulation Satan’s program will be fully implemented on planet earth. It will be in your face. You and I get to expose it, explain it, fight against it, and proclaim an escape from it by proclaiming the gospel of Christ. Before we were saved we were in the darkness program. It was operational in us. Now we are in the “light program” and we get the opportunity to “turn on the light”.

Vs. 14…“Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. [14] But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof”…Conducting your life like you are in the darkness program while being in the light program makes no sense. Every day we make choices about what we will wear. In that sense, we are to put on the Lord Jesus---wear what He wears. Rather than providing for the flesh, we can make a different decision to provide the right clothing for our flesh. God has given us a new wardrobe.