We go back to Peter’s first epistle, chapter 2, verses 13-15: “Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.”
The assumption people make is that we are to submit to and obey everything that the government does, but that is not what this is saying. It’s context is that, as Christians, we should always look to do good and follow the laws that are in place. The government’s purpose is to reward the good and punish the evil (seems to be opposite of that today). We should always strive to follow the laws because by doing so we are doing God’s will.
But what if the laws of the land go against God’s Word? What do we do then as Christians? We should always follow God’s Word and obey Him over the law. When the council of the chief priests summoned Peter and the other apostles before them to command them to stop preaching the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Peter answered them by saying, “we must obey God rather than men”. He gave us the answer to what we are to do when having to decide between the Laws of God and the laws of men.
In the end, we should do the best we can to be good citizens by obeying and submitting to all the laws of the land that do not go against the Word of God. In this way, we are fulfilling to will of God in our lives. As the Apostle Paul said in Romans 13:1-7, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.”
God’s will is for us to be holy, to witness in our world, to rejoice always, pray continuously, be thankful in all circumstances and now submit to authorities. This is God’s will for you and me.
Have a great day and God bless.
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