Throughout history, pagans have often figured out successful legal systems that reflect biblical values because, since God designed the world to work in a certain way, those kinds of systems just work best for the order and prosperity of a society. That’s the reality of common grace politics. The truth is that in matters of the state, the only two options are not Christ or chaos. In his kind providence, God specifically designed human government to provide a third common grace option given to all humankind (not just his redeemed people) that imperfectly preserves a degree of order and peace until Christ establishes his perfect theocratic Kingdom on earth.

God is Sovereign King, and he takes care of his world. In his common grace, he even takes care of those who reject him, and as we have seen, he does so through particular common grace institutions that he created. These include the institution of family, common human vocations, and as we will address in this chapter, human government.

God’s Servants

In Genesis 9:6—notably after the Fall and after the Flood—God established the institution of human government:

Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.

God gave the responsibility of capital punishment—an exercise of his just judgment of sin—to all humankind as a means through which he would sovereignly control man’s sinfulness and preserve the world and its order. This responsibility, which takes shape in formal human governments over the course of history, has been given to humankind collectively, not just believing people. Thus, even unbelieving governors, when they exercise justice against wrongdoing, are an extension of God’s universal rule.

Romans 13:1 emphasizes this point:

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.

The governing authority Paul references is not the redemptive rule of God over his people; this is the earthly administration of making and enforcing laws that preserve peace and justice in the common, everyday affairs of life. This kind of earthly rule—a rule that comes with authority derived from the ultimate Ruler—has been instituted by God himself. Even something seemingly mundane and “earthly” has been instituted by God in just the same way as he instituted the church and rulers within the government of God’s redeemed people.

What is remarkable about this passage is the Roman political situation in which Paul wrote this. For over 500 years Rome had existed as a republic, but it was now transitioning to a monarchy. Emperor Nero had gained power after his mother had poisoned his father, and under Nero’s reign persecution against the Jews and Christians was on the rise and taxes were oppressive. It is in this less-than-ideal political situation that Paul instructs Christians to “be subject to governing authorities.”

Why? Because “there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” As we have seen, God instituted human government, however imperfect, as a common grace institution with the purpose of maintaining peace and order in a sin-cursed world.

And not only that, look at what Paul says about a governmental ruler who does what God has instituted in punishing wrongdoing and protecting the innocent:

. . . for he is 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. (Rom 13:4)

Do you see what he is saying there? A government employee like a governor, legislator, judge, or police officer who does his job and enforces laws that help to establish peace and order in society is a servant of God. And what does Paul say at the end of the verse? When he punishes wrongdoing, he is actually carrying out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Paul calls magistrates literally “deacons of God,” but he says this of pagan Roman governors who didn’t even acknowledge the fact; indeed, they did not believe it. But nevertheless, they were deacons of God when they carried out God’s wrath, similar to how the Lord called King Cyrus his “anointed” (Is 45:1). God is ruling over his universal, common kingdom, and he is doing that through unbelieving human rulers.

However, the other important point to recognize here is that since God is the one who instituted human government as an extension of his providential rule over all, human governments are subject to the moral law of God. Human governments are not ultimate; governments must operate as God intended them to operate.

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