Historical context and authority

Yesterday, we ended class with a discussion of Romans 13, in which we saw that Paul commanded that everyone should subject themselves to the authority of the civil government that rules over them. We had a problem reconciling this with the fact that not every authority is a just one, and the Roman government certainly would not be concerned with the word of the Christian God at this time. Therefore, it does not seem logical for him to say that everyone should follow the authority of their government because it may not be in line with the authority of God. However, Paul states that all of these earthly authorities come directly from God.

It is important to remember the context of the times during which this was written. Although the Bible is supposed to be a divinely inspired book, it was written by actual people who had to endure many different situations. For example, the first creation story of the book of Genesis has man and woman created at the same time. This is because this version of the story was written during the Babylonian Exile, during which it was critical that the Hebrew population remain as united as possible. Because of this, it did not make sense for them to write a creation story in which man and woman were seen as unequal at the time. Instead, the difference in the authority of the genders was put aside in order to focus on the more important point that the Hebrews were all God's chosen people.

In the same way, Paul had to be concise of how the Roman government would perceive his writings. During the period which Paul was writing, the Jews were on shaky ground with the Romans, and he did not need the same happening for the followers of Christ. The introduction to Romans explains that Paul was concerned with civic unrest in the Roman empire backfiring on them (1975). By this logic, it would make sense that Paul would write his letter instructing people to fall in line with the Roman empire, in order to prevent any kind of problem with them.