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by Jason DeZurik

The United States: A Unique Endeavor

This is a continuing series based off of Romans 13:1-7. Please go read the first post in the series here. To understand this text, know that that the United States is a unique government and experiment based on the very fact that “We The People” are the governing authorities that God has established, which Paul is writing about in this passage. To correctly interpret this in our time, remember that the subjects in our form of government are those who are elected into office and those who work for them. Now read Romans 13:1-2 in that light below. (I have added terms in place to make this easy to follow)

“Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities [We The People], for there is no authority [We The People] except that which God has established. The authorities [We The People] that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever [Subjects, Representatives] rebels against the authority [We The People] is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those [Subjects, Representatives] who do so will bring judgment on themselves [Subjects, Representatives].” Romans 13:1-2

For those of you struggling with what I’ve written, perhaps this will help. Looking at founding documents, “We The People” are the government in the USA. We are the government who elect representatives to serve We The People. When these elected subjects work or go outside of the scope of their range of service, within the proper framework of the U.S. Constitution, they are in rebellion. (Click here for more info.)

Let me try and help us understand this idea with the following little story.

One day, Ron, who is the owner of a home, needed to move with his family to another state. He decided to rent this property and found Joe and his family to rent it while he was living out of state. Ron moved to his new property to live and Joe started renting from Ron. Month after month Joe paid Ron his rent, and months became years.

After 15 years of renting, Joe figured out that he had paid Ron what the house was worth and decided to stop paying rent. After the first month of not paying rent Ron contacted Joe about this and Joe told Ron, “Oh, don’t worry. I’ll pay you soon. I’ve come under some difficult times.”

This took place for three months and still no payment.

Ron decided to take a trip to the house Joe was renting from him and found that Joe was claiming the house to be his own. Joe would not let Ron in the house. Ron also noticed that some things were now changed to favor what Joe wanted and liked, even though Ron had not agreed to these changes. Joe made claims that others in “power” had given him permission to make the changes he wanted, and he no longer needed Ron’s permission because times had changed. Yet, Ron was the one who held the deed to the property and was the rightful owner. Ron was the one with the rightful claim to the property.

Some reading this might say, well of course Ron owned the home. Plus, he had the deed.

I believe this little story shows a great parallel going on in our country right now. The renters are our representatives, claiming to be the government in the USA, when all they really are is effectively the renters of a position held in an office that the owners (We The People) have given them permission to hold. The owners have given the renters a certain boundary to work within, and many of them are working outside of their boundary, effectively rebelling against We The People. We The People are the authority that God Himself put into place, according to Romans 13. How can I make this claim? We The People hold the deed, the U.S. Constitution.

And what does it say about “rebels” in Romans 13?

“Consequently, whoever [Subjects, Representatives] rebels against the authority [We The People] is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those [Subjects, Representatives] who do so will bring judgment on themselves [Subjects, Representatives].” (Romans 13:2)

Those aren’t my words, friends. That is straight up Scripture. Think about it.

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