More biblical guidance on the appropriate role of government

This blog entry serves as an extention to my previous blog entry - Romans 13 – The Appropriate Role of Government.  In this blog entry, I discussed the biblically appropriate role of government, and the fact that Romans 13 mandates a "limited" government somewhat in alignment with the U.S. Constitution. Romans 13 is critical for believers to understand when discerning what roles are appropriate and what roles are not in the eyes of God. 

In addition to Romans 13, I wanted to add some additional instructions that I failed to mention in my Romans 13 blog entry. Read Luke 3:12-14. In these verses, John The Baptist gave specific instructions to two government employees - a tax collector and a soldier. Both of these functions are ordained by God, and both functions have limits. It is these "limits" that current governments have totally ignored for many years!

Luke 3:12-14 says the following:

¹² And some tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?”

¹³ And he said to them, “Collect no more than what you have been ordered to.”

¹⁴ Some soldiers were questioning him, saying, “And what about us, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages.”

Just these verses alone strongly indicate the fact that government is to be LIMITED! Soldiers are needed to protect a nation and a people, but they are NOT to engage in tyranny or to extract (or steal) more money from the citizens either through intimidation or through force. And yet, liberal Christians would likely submit to such tyranny not ordained by God!

The tax collectors have a necessary job to collect a LIMITED amount of taxes needed to fund the biblically appropriate functions of a God-ordained government. However, John says they are to collect absolutely no more than that! The implication is that any taxes extracted above and beyond that are outside of that which is God-ordained!

So why then have taxes been going up and up and up over the years? Much of this money is funding government programs that are not ordained by God. My Romans 13 blog entry airs that rant!

Therefore, use discernment when determining what roles of government are biblical and what roles are not. The more people who wake up to this fact, and who become aware of what is biblical and what is not, will also be more able to make decisions that are in accordance to God's will.