Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. -Rom 13:1
I am sure that this is a struggle or some, and one wonders if these would have been the words that Paul would have written when he looked at the world that Bonhoeffer looked at. I believe for Christians there is a time to struggle against that which is unjust, immoral, or corrupt; however I do not think that that is our normal position when it comes to Government. For Paul, this was an entirely practical proposition, the fledgling organisation was coming to notice in the face of all that was the might of the Roman Empire, and it was critical that they not be seen as a threat. The Roman Empire was in a sense brutal, however it did establish a rule of law by which it maintained the Empire. In Australia, in reflecting on Government, we have noticed once or twice that the rabbits appear to be in charge of the lettuce, and on a number of policy issues Christians have been quite loud urging Government change tack. The detention of Asylum Seekers (marine arrivals) in offshore processing centres manned under commercial contracts has been an area where the Church has been quite loud. The Dean of Brisbane has offered sanctuary which was probably a better headline that it was a legal possibility. All those years ago Denis the Menace dreamt that one day he would be the President. Today we realise that a billionaire is about to move into public housing! I think that my great struggles with this verse is that I don't know that I wan't to blame God for every Government, and certainly I don;t want to blame God for every Government decision. How would this verse read to you if you lived in Idi Amin's Uganda, or Gaddafi's Libya, or Hitler's Germany, or Assad's Syria, or ....... I think Paul's position here is a benchmark position. It is kind of like Augustine's position in City of God. However I think there is a place where Christians, and indeed the Church, needs to speak a prophetic voice, to be the moral conscience of the nation, to point to injustice, to stand up and be counted. He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8