THE NET OF FAITH
by Peter Chelčický
translated by Rev. Enrico Molnár
CHAPTER 86
INTERPRETATION OF ROMANS 13:5-7
Saint Paul finishes his speech by saying,
Therefore, one must be subject, not only to avoid God’s wrath, but also for the sake of conscience. For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay all of them their dues: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, and honor to whom honor is due.[505]
These words of Saint Paul make it clear that … he is not speaking of authorities of the Christian faith but of pagans in Rome… He admonishes them to be subject not only because of wrath but also because of conscience.
First, concerning wrath, [ if the subjects disobey their lord, they shall be punished by the might of the lords through imprisonments, executions, and expropriations. Pilate punished the Jews for their rebellion,[506] and therefore Paul admonishes the faithful not to incite the anger of Emperor Nero or other pagans who shed the blood of the Christians. ]
Second, concerning conscience, [ if the governing authorities do good, to resist them would mean to scorn the law of God. For God asks us to live peaceably with all, as far as it depends on us.[507] As Christians, we live – a small minority – among pagans, and the restraining power of authority is for their good. ]
CHAPTER 87
INTERPRETATION OF ROMANS 13:5-7 (CONTINUED)
[ What does Paul mean by obedience to authority? Having once fallen away from the pure faith through the Donation of Constantine, the Christians now consider their state of fallenness as normal and as expressing the apostolic faith. The priests have adopted state authority and with it a pagan mode of living. ] Therefore, the words of Saint Paul, addressed as they were to the congregation of believers living in Rome under a pagan power, urges them to be obedient to the existing authority. [ But this obedience to authority must not go beyond the limits of passivity; a Christian must take no active part in the government. ] Christ said,
The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you.[508]
Obey your lords and pay your taxes … but arrange your conduct among yourselves according to the law of Christ.
CHAPTER 88
INTERPRETATION OF ROMANS 13:5-7 (CONTINUED)
[ It is the prerogative of sovereignty to collect taxes on bridges, highways, and at city gates. If a Christian minority lives in a pagan state, it must submit to this exercise of authority humbly. But it must not impose such pagan practices in its own ranks. Taxation cannot be imposed in a Christian society. ]
For, can you imagine Saint Paul preaching the gospel in the Roman Empire and converting two or three thousand of the subjects of Caesar, to appoint one of them an overlord with the (authority of the) sword[509] who would lead in a war for the faith of Christ? How ridiculous! But the masters want to give their kings a firm Biblical foundation in the faith of Christ. They say that the words of Paul establish and sanction the authority of Christian princes…
CHAPTER 89
INTERPRETATION OF ROMANS 13:5-7 (CONTINUED)
It is not true that Paul tried to introduce the right of the kings into (the system of) the people of God. He knew that in the beginning the Jews had no royal sovereignty until they asked for it,[510] and when they got their king he proved to be the punishment for their sins.[511] And now our Christian lords think that they have the right to rule and to oppress!
But having obtained authority they seldom look to the Scriptures for the wisdom of how to rule. They are satisfied to know that authority is good, and they find their approbation and proof in their round belly, fattened at the expense and pain of the poor working class. They do not suspect for one moment that they might rule improperly over their Christians, without the sanction of faith.
CHAPTER 90
INTERPRETATION OF ROMANS 13:5-7 (CONTINUED)
Let us now look at the authority of the king. As it is, the early Jews had no king with pagan sovereignty until the days of Samuel the prophet. Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Ramah and there they said to him,
Consider, you have become old, and your sons do not follow in your footsteps. Now set up for us a king to judge us like all the nations.[512]
But the thing was evil in the sight of Samuel when they said, “Give us a king.”
Nevertheless, Samuel prayed earnestly unto the Lord, and the Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people according to all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. Like all the deeds which they have done to me from the day I brought them up from Egypt even to this day, inasmuch as they have forsaken me and served other gods, so they are also doing to you; now therefore, listen to their utterance, except that you shall certainly warn them, and show them the procedure of the king who shall reign over them.”
Then Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking of him a king, and he said, “This will be the procedure of the king who shall rule over you: he will take your sons and appoint them for himself for his chariots and for his horsemen, and they shall run before his chariots, and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, and some to do his plowing, to reap his harvests, and to make his implements of war and the equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters for perfumers, for cooks, and for bakers. He will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive orchards, and give them to his servants. He will take the tenth of your grain crops and of your vineyards and give it to his eunuchs and to his servants. Then you will cry out on that day because of your king whom you will have chosen for yourselves; but the Lord will not answer you on that day!”
But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel, and said, “No! Let there be a king over us that we also may be like all the pagan nations!”[513]
The Scripture tells in detail how the king introduced his authority over the Jewish people, and how his successors oppressed the Israelites. Even though God said to the Jews that they were getting what they were asking for, in his love he rebuked the wicked kings through the prophet, saying,
Hear now, you princes of the house of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel. Is it not your place to know justice, you who hate the good and love wickedness, snatching their skin from upon them, and their flesh from upon their bones?[514]
And the people will cry out unto the Lord, but He will not answer them, because they rejected His authority. This is His reward for their preference of a king. The kings, the princes, and all the lords have tasted the power of authority which allows them to do every injustice, to oppress the people of God; everything shall be measured, every iniquity contrary to brotherly love.
In oppressing a peasant they defile the pains of Christ. All this shall be counted and measured by God. Today, authority is a sweet affair to the king, opulent with fat and licentious in living … to whom the word “peasant” is repugnant… But woe unto him when he shall meet the words of God face to face… Then his violent deeds shall be met with great discomforts to his well-being, and he shall cry himself blind, “Alas! Woe is me! Why has my mother ever begotten me into this world!”
When Paul commanded the Christians in Rome to pay taxes to Nero he did not contemplate to introduce among them and sanction the Neronian right to oppress and to live off the fat of the land. [ When this authority was, in the end, brought into Christendom, Christianity became paganized. ]
CHAPTER 91
INTERPRETATION OF ROMANS 13:5-7 (CONCLUSION)
First, Paul speaks of the pagan powers, and then he addresses those of the household of faith, saying,
Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.[515]
[ This applies for that inner circle of the believers. From it the authority of the king is excluded, together with his right of fees, taxes, tolls, tithes, and customs. Here he cannot subjugate his brother. There is no fear in brotherly love, but brotherly love casts out fear.[516] ]
You do not impose a bridge-toll on your brother, for – as a Christian – you would willingly carry him across on your shoulder. True Christian faith has no need of sovereignty and authority.
[505] Romans 13:5-7, RSV.
[506] Luke 13:1.
[507] Romans 12:18.
[508] Luke 22:25-26.
[509] i.e. sovereignty with executive power of compulsion.
[510] 1 Samuel 8:4-9. Cf. page 93 and page 139.
[511] Hosea 13:11, cf. page 95; 1 Kings 12.
[512] 1 Samuel 8:5, AT.
[513] 1 Samuel 8:7-20, AT.
[514] Micah 3:1-4, AT.
[515] Romans 13:8, RSV.
[516] 1 John 4:18.