Romans 13:1-9 “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God… (9) “For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not bear false witness," "You shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
In the above quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul records for us what norms God expects the nations to live by, for the context of this passage deals with the governments that God has raised up in the earth and how He expects those governments to function. And so we see that the norms listed are in fact taken from the Ten Commandments that God gave to the children of Israel (Exodus 20:1-17), i.e. “You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not bear false witness," "You shall not covet,” and although Paul does not specifically mention the commandment “Honour your father and your mother”, it is nevertheless implied. It is important to note that in dealing with how societies are to conduct their affairs in this life that Paul leaves out the first four of the Ten Commandments. So why is that? The reason is because the first four commandments, i.e. “You shall have no other gods before Me”, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image”, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain” and “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy”, deal with Israel’s relationship with God, and the gentile nations do not have such a relationship, thus God does not expect them to adhere to those commandments. With regards to the last six of the Ten Commandments however, although God expects their laws to reflect His standards of governance in these areas, He obviously does not expect the gentile nations to have those exact same laws on their statute books. For example, when God says “You shall not commit adultery”, He expects the nations to have laws that curb sexually immoral behaviour. When God says “You shall not murder”, He expects the nations to have laws that protect the sanctity of life. When God says “You shall not steal”, He expects the nations to have laws that protect the property rights of its citizens. When God says “You shall not bear false witness”, He expects nations to have laws that curb dishonest behaviour. When God says “You shall not covet”, He expects nations to have laws that prohibit the wealthy and powerful from exploiting the poor and disadvantaged. When God says “Honour your father and your mother”, He expects nations to have laws that treat their elderly with respect and dignity.
Michael E.B. Maher
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