Reading: Romans 13-14, Psalm 139

Paul has wrapped up his arguments for the supremacy of Jesus as both judge and redeemer, the subjagation of all people to either the law of sin or the grace of God, and the new human life that comes not from meeting expectations but from believing that God is faithful. Now he moves on to the easy stuff: living in a world that does not believe as you do, and arguments among believers.

Anyone who has spent any time in a church knows these points of division are alive and well right up to today. The Church once split (the great schism between the Roman Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox) when the issue at hand was what style of bread to use in Holy Communion. There were, of course, other issues, but that was the final sticking point on the day the Pope and the Patriarch excommunicated each other. Churches have split over carpet color, kitchen remodels, musical styles, parking lot configurations, and any one of a host of other petty issues that, when humans get ahold of them, go from small disagreements to conflicts of epic proportions.

The church in Rome is no different. Paul addresses some of the points of conflict in the ancient world- what you can or should eat, whether you should pay taxes to a government you disagree with, how and whether to be obedient to that government, what day is appropriate for worship. He really boils it all down to one statement. Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. Uh oh. What does that mean? Paul is following the Hebrew Scriptures and what Jesus did at the Sermon on the Mount. He is pulling all these petty disagreements from their external focus into the hearts of those involved. The carpet conflict that divided a church? It was about the heart of the people involved. Eating meat from a pagan temple even though, and maybe especially, because it will tick off your cousin, brother, or spouse? That is not about meat or pagan temples. It is about your heart. Paul takes all these conflicts and applies one of the great themes of Scripture: Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.

Note that this all applies to the government conversation as well. One of the great arguments for not paying taxes for that which we personally oppose is that we have personal rights over our possessions and money. Paul is having none of it. It all belongs to God. He has established the authority of all present governments, and it all belongs to him. Things get a little sticky in our modern system of government, since we vote and have a responsibility to shape the government. However, it is no different when it comes to present authority. It is there, be obedient to it insomuch as it is not require disobedience to Jesus. We don’t have to like it- recall Paul is talking about a government that oppressed and systematically persecuted Christians- but we do have a responsibility to act towards government the same way we would any other authority: with the understanding that God is the ultimate authority. It is, in the end, the same as the carpet or meat question. A heart condition.

Since it is a heart condition, Paul suggests a heart remedy. Stop living for your own honor, authority, or sense of righteousness. Put on Jesus like a garment. Live like the King. It is one of those easy to say but hard to do things that has frustrated Christians for thousands of years, but for all that it is not less true. Be obedient to God by surrendering your heart. It is the only solution to the real problem.