Chamburuka, A Theological reflection on Romans 13:1-7 in ...second coming of Christ. Therefore, Paul being preoccupied by the
eschaton he encouraged Christians to be good citizens and be subject to
the present regime for the true kingdom was just but at the corner
where they will reign together with Christ forever. However, this suppo-
sition remains speculative since Paul did not explicitly connected church
and state relations with the eschaton. Be as it may, we cannot completely
rule out its validity since it is evident that Paul was usually apocalyptic in
most of his messages in his epistle to the Romans and elsewhere (Rom
13:11, 1Thess 5:1ff, 1Cor 7:8).
The integrity of Romans 13:1-7 with the rest of the Epistle:
Redaction critical analysis.
Buttrick (1954:599) contends that, one wonders why this brief account
(Rom 13:1- 7 ) of the proper conduct of Christian attitude towards the
state appears in this particular letter because nowhere else does Paul
touches this subject. His observation has persuaded some scholars like
O Michel (1986:651) to suggest that this passage is an interpolation. He
contends that, there is no connection between this section and the im-
mediate context; it interrupts the continuity between 12:21 and 13:8. The
idea of state and its use of force is far removed from that of love which is
the theme of 12:9-21 and 13:8-10. More so, Michel (:651) contends that
this section is altogether non-Christological; reference is made only to
God as creator.
However, Meeks (1985:106) and others assert that Rom 13:1-7 is not an
interpolation but that Paul adopted a form of paraenesis that had been
formulated by the diaspora Jewish communities. It was probably origi-
nally a traditional piece of paraenesis that was probably formed by the
Greek synagogue, which was then taken over by Christians. Barrett
(1987:245) argues that the term “every/one” (v.1) conceals a Semitic
expression (every soul), and in what Paul expresses what is characteristi-
cally Jewish point of view. The statement “all should obey the authori-
ties, for there is no authority that is not ordained by God, and the au-
thorities which in fact exist have been appointed by God,” has many
parallels that can be cited from Jewish authors, such as Wisdom 6:3,
Josephus, Jewish War2:140 which states that no ruler attains his office
save by the will of God. Barrett (:245) asserts that from the time of
Pompey this attitude was given practical effect by offering of daily sacri-
fices on behalf of the Roman authorities. Its roots lie in the Old Testa-