1Peter 2:13-17

¹³Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, ¹⁴or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. ¹⁵For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. ¹⁶Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. ¹⁷Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.

This is a hard passage to swallow. We want to obey God, but we don’t want to submit to authority. We would rather cloak our rebellion to authority in righteous indignation. After all, why should we obey the wicked pagans just because they happen to be in a position of civil authority? Besides, we are smarter than them anyway, right? I know what’s best for me, and I shouldn’t have to submit to the bone heads in Washington, or Austin for that matter, or the city council, or the DPS officer who patrols my morning commute, or my boss, or the church leaders…

Like it or not, though, submission to human institutions and authorities is a vital aspect of obedience to God’s will. This offends our fallen nature, and so we reinterpret and rewrite scripture to suit our sinful desires. For me, it usually goes something like this:

¹³Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men (as long as I agree with them): whether to the king, as the supreme authority, ¹⁴or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those (other idiots) who do wrong and to commend those who do right (me). ¹⁵For it is God's will that by doing (what is right in my own eyes) good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. ¹⁶Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of (to be served by) God. ¹⁷Show proper respect to everyone (whom I like and deem not to be an idiot): Love the brotherhood of believers (as long as they are Dispensationist, Pro-life, Reformed, Southern Baptists who affirm the sanctity of marriage, premillennialist eschatology, progressive sanctification, cessationism, Calvinism, new earth creationism, substitutionary atonement, Christocentrism, natural hermeneutics, expository homiletics, and prefer acoustical guitars to organs) , fear (show mild reverence to) God, honor the king (if he is a Republican).

Scripture should change me, not vise versa.