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diakonos | God’s Government Deacon

diakonos | God’s Government Deacon

Last updated on: January 22, 2025 at 5:22 pm by Rev. Jared V. Ingle

diakonos | God’s Government Deacon 2025-01-22T17:22:11-05:00 Rev. Jared V. Ingle

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How can there be a government deacon? The operative word is “servant” particularly in verse 4.

Romans 13.1-7, NRSV: Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgement. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you wish to have no fear of the authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive its approval; 4 for it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do what is wrong, you should be afraid, for the authority does not bear the sword in vain! It is the servant of God to execute wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be subject, not only because of wrath but also because of conscience. 6 For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, busy with this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is due to them—taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honour to whom honour is due.

Although it is not my absolute favorite, this portion of Romans 13 is one of my favorite Passages in the Bible.

What does Paul mean by “God’s servant” and “servant of God” (verse 4)?

diakonos | God’s government deacon

The word used twice for “servant” in verse 4 is the Greek term diakonos. As one may guess, the more common translation for this term in the Bible is “deacon.”

It is easy to think of public leaders as government leaders or elected officials. We just witnessed the inauguration of the 47th President of the United States. Find a video of it if you like CLICK

Gage Skidmore | Donald Trump | 02.24.17 | creative commons

In such cases, especially in America, we believe elected officials receive a mandate from the people. In some way their power is derived on Election Day from the masses. The will of the people has spoken.

Romans 13 does not negate the power of the government official. Rather, it undergirds it. What is different is that the power of the government officials does not come from a mandate of the people. Ultimately, the power of government officials comes from God. The will of God has been carried out.

In fact, we can understand the government leader as God’s deacon and deacon of God (verse 4). In some mysterious way, the government official is actually a special agent of the Lord to carry out justice in the land.

pushback

The number 1 point of pushback I have heard over the years when I teach this is that the Roman Government was different. They didn’t have elected officials.

I usually reply with by pointing out that the Roman Government was indeed different. It was an empire, and it could be an evil empire at times. There were certainly enough martyrs to prove that Rome could be a dastardly place. Nonetheless, God is demanding respect for the government leaders in this Passage in Romans, as He does in other New Testament Passages.

If God demands respect for the dastardly Roman leaders, how much more respect can we give to our freely elected public officials. After all, the Roman leaders are God’s deacons. So the elected officials in America are God’s deacons, and may I say that includes all forms of civil servants?

The number 2 point of pushback that I’ve heard is actually a good one. It is usually made by a government official who the people are considering for a role in the church (deacon, elder, etc.). That is something like this, “I’m already a government official. Since there is to be a separation of church and state, I don’t think I can serve in the church.”

In response, I generally point out that nowhere in America’s founding documents did we ever write the phrase, “separation of church and state.” So there is nothing preventing the government official from serving in the church.

Then, I often take the leader to this passage and point out the fact that he/she is already a deacon of God. He/she is a special agent of the most high, carrying out his/her duties with a holy mandate.

Because of a proper understanding of Romans 13, I have had Sheriffs serve on my Elder Board in 2 different churches.

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