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Germans 13:1-7
GERMANS 13:1-7
My dear Jewish brothers and sisters,
Let every person be subject to Hitler and the governing Nazi authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and the Nazi authorities that exist have been instituted by God. Whoever resists Nazi authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For the Nazi rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you wish to have no fear of the Nazi authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive the Nazi’s approval, for Hitler is God’s servant for your good. But if you do what is wrong, you should be afraid, for the Gestapo does not wield the sword in vain. Hitler is the servant of God to execute wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore, one must be subject to Hitler, not only because of wrath but also because of conscience. For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the Nazis are God’s servants, busy with this very thing. Pay to all what is due to them—taxes to whom taxes are do, revenue to whom revenue is due. Respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.
Sincerely, Rabbi Benjamin Roth Sachsenhousen, Germany January 15, 1938
This letter was sent by Rabbi Roth to the members of his synagogue in Stuttgart from a Nazi “labor” camp shortly after he was arrested as an enemy of the state for his rather open condemnation of Hitler and the Nazis. The letter was, of course, first opened and read by the prison’s Gestapo censors. It was allowed to be mailed thanks only to the Nazi/Hitler-flattering content.
It was seen immediately by all but one of the members of the Rabbi’s synagogue for the irony that it was meant to be. It inspired many members to do exactly the opposite of what the Rabbi seemed to be directing them to do, knowing that is what he really wanted of them. Resistance to taxes was higher among members of his synagogue than anywhere in Germany, and many went to their deaths for resisting Hitler’s taxes. The one member who took his letter at face value was Ike Z., a rather dull honeydipper. When the letter was read to him he took it to heart and immediately joined the Nazi Party. However, when it was discovered that he was a Jew he was immediately shot dead by the Gestapo.
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Benjamin Neusse January 2, 2016 , 6:23 pm Vote1
Beautiful. A great modern example, written for exactly the same reason that Paul wrote it. I ask my statist Christian brothers and sisters all the time which “Governing Authority” qualifies as a “governing authority” as Paul defines it in Romans 13:3-4. No one can show me one example of a governing authority that meets Paul’s definition. Then the semantic gymnastics ensue, but Paul’s definition of governing authority it right there, and by that standard, the Biblical standard, there seem to be very few “governing authorities.”
Jeff Gochenour January 7, 2016 , 3:56 am Vote1
With all the bible says about men ruling men, there can never be authority in Scripture or the nature in man to do so…
Ned Netterville January 19, 2016 , 5:09 pm Vote0
Thank you Benjamin and Jeff for your insightful comments. The gentleman who first called my attention to the likely possibility that Paul was speaking ironically in Romans 13 is David Hillary of New Zealand, a rather insightful Christian exegete who has influenced my thinking in a number of ways about the New Testament.
Paul wrote his Epistle to the Romans from Corinth during the reign of Nero. It was said of Nero by his contemporaries that he would douse Christians in oil and set them ablaze to light his garden when entertaining at night.. He was certainly Hitler-like in his respect for human life, or rather Hitler was rather Nero-like. Paul’s letter would have had to be carried to Rome in the hands of a courier by land and sea entirely within territory under the stern control of the Romans. It would have been subject to inspection by a Roman official on demand, which is a likely explanation for Paul’s inclusion of that strange passage, 13:1-7, which contradicts Paul’s philosophy and his words in his other Epistles, particularly his reference to rulers in 1st Corinthians.
If Paul actually wrote the offensive passage. James Kallas, a New Testament scholar, has posited that Romans 13:1-7 is an interpolation inserted into Paul’s letter by a scribe at a later date when the Church’s understanding of Christians’ “proper”” relation to human authority had evolved from the time Paul was writing and from Jesus’ own aversion to humans ruling other humans by force. For a thorough review of the issue of Paul’s true position viz-a-viz the Roman authorities, see . “Paul and the Imperial Authorities at Thessalonica and Rome,” by James R. Harrison (on the web), and see the book, IN SEARCH OF PAUL, by John Dominic Crossan and Jonathan L. Reed.
I have edited the text making a few unimportant changes.