Top 7 Bible Verses About Government and Government Power

Here are seven Bible verses that refer to government or governmental power.

Psalm 22:28 “For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations.”

God is sovereign over all nations. We might think that man reigns but where mankind rules, God overrules and all do whatever He decrees and wills. Daniel the Prophet was well aware of this in saying about God; “He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding” (Dan 2:21-22).

Romans 13:1 “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.”

When you read Romans chapter 13 it is clear that the Apostle Paul expects us to obey those who are in authority over since “whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment” (Rom 13:2). See those in who are in authority for what they are; “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. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience” (Rom 13:4-5)

Romans 13:7 “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.”

This is exactly what Jesus taught when the Pharisees joined with their natural enemies, the Herodians, because they had the same enemy and that was Jesus Christ, so they tried to trick Him (Matt 22:15-18) by asking Him “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” (Matt 22:17) and so “he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Matt 22:21) and “When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away” (Matt 22:22), or just gave up.

Proverbs 21:1 “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.”

If ever this said who is sovereign over mankind, this does. The king’s heart, whether he knows it or not, is like a stream of water in the hands of the Lord and He will direct it, turn it, or move it “wherever he will” and it is always for our ultimate best (Rom 8:28). It might not seem like it at the time but God can use evil for good (Gen 50:20. Just look how God used the evil work done to Jesus by murdering the sinless Son of God but it turned for our good (John 3:16).

Deuteronomy 16:18 “You shall appoint judges and officers in all your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.”

God is always highly concerned that righteousness is behind every court decision and in ancient Israel, God said “You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous. Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the Lord your God is giving you” (Deut 16:19-20). Only when man’s laws conflict with God’s law must we say, like the Apostle Peter, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29b).

Titus 3:1 “Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work.”

Paul reminds Titus that the church must live in submission to the local authorities for that is by God’s sovereign design. The Apostle Peter wrote we are to “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good” (1st Peter 2:13-14) because “this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people” (1st Pet 2:15).

First Timothy 2:1-2 “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.”

In the next to the last letters that Paul would ever write, he instructs Timothy to make sure that we pray for those in authority since God put them there for His purposes. We can lead a peaceful and quite life if we live lives of obedience in society. The reason is first, it is the right thing to do (Rom 13:1-7) and “This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1st Tim 2:3-4).

Conclusion

There is no power that is in place today that has not allowed by God, and as such, He will use them for His purposes and nothing can stop what He has already decreed from before time began (Eph 1), so if you are a Christian, you are commanded to obey those in authority over you, but only if it doesn’t break one of God’s laws. For those of you who refuse to repent and believe, Paul writes that it is “because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed” (Rom 2:5) and for a certainty, “He will render to each one according to his works” (Rom 2:6).

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.