New Advent devotional books

I’ve written a simple Advent devotional book that we’ll be handing out at Asbury starting this weekend.

Readings start on December 1 and continue through each weekday of the Advent season, and as we work our way to Christmas, we’ll look at the overall story of the Bible and see God’s plan of salvation from the very beginning.

Take a stack of books and hand them out at Thanksgiving!

Live out of town? Email Sandie.

Romans 13

13 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. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

11 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. 12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

In Romans 13, Paul famously tells the Roman Church to “submit to the governing authorities.”

Why does he say that? What does that mean? Does that mean civil disobedience isn’t compatible with the Gospel? What about when the government is wicked?

As background to why Paul felt he needed to talk to the Romans about submitting to the governing authorities, this paragraph from Douglas Moo was helpful to me:

His purpose may be to stifle the kind of extremism that would pervert his emphasis on the coming of a new era and on the “new creation” into a rejection of every human and societal convention—including the government. Paul has had to respond to such extremism before…. (see 1 Corinthians). One can well imagine Christians arguing: “The old age has passed away; we are a ‘new creation in Christ’ and belong to the transcendent, spiritual realm. Surely we, who are now reigning with Christ in his kingdom, need pay no attention to the secular authorities of this defunct age”…. As a manifestation of his common grace, God has established in this world certain institutions, such as marriage and government, that have a positive role to play even after the inauguration of the new age.— from The Letter to the Romans, by Douglas Moo

In other words, some Christians were taking Paul’s teachings too far and rejecting every form of civilization and convention. Paul needed to nip that in the bud. But, does that mean Christians must submit to a wicked law? Does Paul really mean that? No, and it has to do with what Paul actually writes.

As Moo goes on to helpfully put it:

Paul calls on believers to “submit” to governing authorities rather than to “obey” them; and Paul’s choice of words may be important to our interpretation and application of Paul’s exhortation. To submit is to recognize one’s subordinate place in a hierarchy, to acknowledge as a general rule that certain people or institutions have authority over us…. It is this general posture toward government that Paul demands here of Christians. And such a posture will usually demand that we obey what the governing authorities tell us to do. But perhaps our submission to government is compatible with disobedience to government in certain exceptional circumstances. For heading the hierarchy of relations in which Christians find themselves is God; and all subordinate “submissions” must always be measured in relationship to our all-embracing submission to him. — from The Letter to the Romans, by Douglas Moo

So, we need to obey the law, unless the law itself breaks God’s Law. Whenever possible, submit to the authorities over you, but never forget that God is the ultimate authority.

“Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

God’s intention for every law is that every law reflects God’s love.

8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law [Romans 13:8-10].

I like Thomas Aquinas’s definition of love:

To love is to will the good of the other.

When we are willing another’s good, we are fulfilling God’s Law.

And then Paul comes back to the point he made at the beginning of chapter 12, namely that, in light of the Resurrection of Jesus and the Life of the Spirit, the new age has begun:

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect [Romans 12:1–2].

Do not conform to this world.

Here at the close of chapter 13, Paul goes further:

11 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. 12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires [Romans 13:11–14].

It's time to wake up and turn from the old ways of the world into the new ways of Christ. It’s time to live in the Spirit and no longer live in the flesh.

The time is shorter now than when you woke up this morning.

Let’s GO.