Commentary on Romans 13, Form #17.056
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R O M A N S 1 3 Are Christians Always Supposed to Obey the Government? Commentary Notes by B r o o k y R S t o c k t o n E-Book COMMENTARY ON ROMANS 13:1-8 Commentary on Romans 13:1-8 Lecture Notes 3.3 2006, 2018 Common Law Copyright By Brooky R Stockton, BA, MSL, PHD PO Box 884 Tijeras, New Mexico 87059 “Men are a product of their theology, whether it be right or wrong.” Read More; Talk Less. This E-book can be downloaded for free. This ministry is supported by and sustained by the grace of God and the gifts of grateful Christians. Maxim of Law: “A workman is worthy of his hire” (Exodus 20:15; Lev. 19:13; Matt. 10:10; Luke 10:7) Version 3.3 B.R. Stockton Page 2 of 113 COMMENTARY ON ROMANS 13:1-8 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................. 3 PREFACE ...................................................................................................................................... 5 1 INTRODUCTION TO ROMANS 13 .................................................................................. 7 2 INTERPRETIVE PRINCIPLES ....................................................................................... 11 3 ROMANS 13:1 .................................................................................................................... 13 4 ROMANS 13:2 .................................................................................................................... 23 5 ROMANS 13:3 .................................................................................................................... 32 6 ROMANS 13:4 .................................................................................................................... 39 7 ROMANS 13:5 .................................................................................................................... 45 8 ROMANS 13:6 .................................................................................................................... 50 9 ROMANS 13:7 .................................................................................................................... 54 10 ROMANS 13:8 .................................................................................................................... 59 11 APPENDICES ..................................................................................................................... 62 11.1 America’s Unique Form of Government ................................................................ 63 11.2 Romans 13 and American Law ............................................................................... 64 11.3 Eleven Rules Regulating Authority ........................................................................ 73 11.4 The Milgram Experiment ........................................................................................ 75 11.5 Police Taught: Informed Citizen = Terrorist Threat ............................................ 78 11.6 Resisting Tyranny ..................................................................................................... 81 11.7 Maxims of Law.......................................................................................................... 83 11.8 Romans 13 and Taxes ............................................................................................... 85 11.9 Moral Issues Regarding Taxes ................................................................................ 88 11.10 The So Called “Income Tax” ................................................................................... 88 Version 3.3 B.R. Stockton Page 3 of 113 COMMENTARY ON ROMANS 13:1-8 11.11 The Legal Reality ...................................................................................................... 90 11.12 The Income Tax Declared Unconstitutional .......................................................... 95 11.13 Definition of Taxpayer ............................................................................................. 99 11.14 Legal Robbery ......................................................................................................... 100 11.15 Distinction About Types of Money........................................................................ 101 11.16 The Truth About Money ........................................................................................ 102 11.17 Truth About the Federal Reserve ......................................................................... 102 11.18 How to Translate Romans 13:8 ............................................................................. 102 11.19 Good Government .................................................................................................. 103 12 TABLE OF AUTHORITIES ........................................................................................... 106 13 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................. 112 Version 3.3 B.R. Stockton Page 4 of 113 COMMENTARY ON ROMANS 13:1-8 PREFACE The whole foundation of this work is that Jesus Christ is Lord. If Jesus is Lord, then it is not possible or desirable to always obey the government. “If we say that we will always obey the State, the State becomes our God” (Pastor Erwin Lutzer, “Hitler’s Cross”). If you cannot say, “I do not consent” to an officer who commits ultra vires acts against the Constitution, then you have not perfected your walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. The work is a collection of thoughts I was forced to develop as I smelled the garlic breath of passive Christians who were scared spitless about living as free men apart from government control. United States citizens are not free nor do they love freedom. Rather, they love big government and are happy to live out their lives in chains sucking the pacifier handed to them by the State. Some leaders in the church hold their congregations hostage demanding their members dot their i’s and cross their t’s regarding every code, rule, and regulation known to man. They even elect a church treasurer to become the uncompensated tax collector for the IRS duty bound to report the income of all the staff to this criminal organization. These people confess Christ as Lord with their mouth, but in practice the United States government is their god (Luke 6:46). These people insist that Romans 13 requires the church to submit to Congress and every bit of legislation passed by that aberrant organization. While they know that Jesus is Head of the Church, the shepherds lead their flock to the gates of the Philistines to become a 501 c 3 organization to be ruled under the headship of the IRS. Diabolically, the incorporated “church” has two masters, and no church can serve two masters. He will love one and hate the other. Furthermore, the preachers have made Romans 13 the umpire on the infield of Christian interaction with the State. But, Romans 13 does not control all of the Bible on God and government. Rather Romans 13 must submit to the whole Scripture, and the whole of Scripture does not teach unlimited submission to any government. Furthermore, the United States is federal government of states with limited powers, none of which included the power to track, regulate, or control the lives of individual citizens. To say that Christians have a duty to the federal government is to contradict over two hundred years of legal history. Since Congress has no power to regulate free men, it is a great error for preachers to teach their congregations that they have a duty to obey the State. “The most important principle to all three branches of government is the lack of power to create new legal duties for citizens” (Dr. Eduardo Rivera, Attorney, CA; “Duty, Part I”) “The individual may stand upon his constitutional rights as a citizen. He is entitled to carry on his private business in his own way. His power to contract is unlimited . He owes no such duty to the State, since he receives nothing therefrom beyond the protection of his life and property. His rights are such as existed by the law of the land long antecedent to the organization of the State, Version 3.3 B.R. Stockton Page 5 of 113 COMMENTARY ON ROMANS 13:1-8 and can only be taken from him by due process of law, and in accordance with the Constitution.” [Hale v. Henkel, 201 U.S. 43 (1906)] The only duty Americans have is to recognize and discard an overreaching despotic government and to replace it with a guard that will acknowledge God’s law-order and protect the rights of man. “But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security” [Declaration of Independence] The Revolutionary War was started when the British regiment ordered the colonists at Lexington to lay down their arms. From a militia trained by Pastor Jonas Clark came the shot that was heard around the world. So powerful were the pastors during the Revolution, they were called the “Black Robed Regiment.” In order to win the war, the Brits burned church after church in order to diminish the power of pastors urging their congregations to take up arms to resist the Crown. Where is the black robed regiment today? Instead of leading Americans to take back this country from the socialists that are pushing abortion, homosexuality, and massive taxation down our throats, pastors have gone silent. None