Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
About
Christology
Israel/Palestine
Publications
KermitZarley.com
Archives
Categories
- Angels
- Blog Description
- Book Reviews
- Christian Living
  - Unconditional Love?
- Christianity
- Christology
  - Deity of Christ?
  - Holy Spirit
  - Incarnation?
  - My Change
  - Trinity?
- Church History
- Current Events
- War on Terrorism
- Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
- Eschatology
- Ezekiel 38-39
- Last Empire
- Primitive Weapons
- Film Reviews
- God
- Golf
  - Billy Graham
  - Karsten Solheim
  - Lee Trevino
  - Major Championship Winners
  - Masters
  - Purpose
  - Ryder Cup
- Gospel Harmonization
- Interview
- Islam
- Jesus
- Literary Announcements
- Monotheism
- My Books
  - The Restitution of Jesus Christ
- Old Testament
- Politics
- Society of Biblical Literature
- The Bible
- Trinitarianism
- Uncategorized
FREE NEWSLETTER

Home
Progressive Christian
Religion News
What Does Mike Pence Believe about Romans 13:1-7?

What Does Mike Pence Believe about Romans 13:1-7?

Last updated on: April 28, 2025 at 11:54 am by Kermit Zarley

0 Comments

What Does Mike Pence Believe about Romans 13:1-7? 2025-04-28T11:54:00-07:00 Kermit Zarley

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Former Vice President Mike Pence and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions are both professing Christians. How they believed about these two biblical texts would have had a strong impact on decisions they made relating to President Trump.

What are these two texts in the Bible’s New Testament about? I have blogged about with a post entitled “Did Paul Teach Unconditional Obedience to Civil Rulers.” Jeff Sessions, who was President Donald Trump’s first attorney general, cited Romans 13.1-7 in defending total obedience to authorities. Many Christians do as well, not only due to their own reading of the these texts but because they are often taught that in church, especially evangelical churches.

I think Paul and Peter did not mean in these two texts that Christians should obey civil authorities no matter what they do. Most of the time, yes they should. But what if we lived in Germany in the 1930s? Would I have done whatever Hitler and the Nazis told me to do, including exposing the identity and whereabouts of Jews? No way.

Paul and Peter (in 2 Peter 2.13-17) were writing these letters to specific people in recognition of their own time in history, when civil authorities were not persecuting Christians and generally doing what was lawful. Paul refers to the Roman Empire of that time by saying, “whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgement. . . . 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” (Romans 13:2, 4 NRSV).

The American democratic experiment makes no sense for Christians if they believe Paul taught unconditional obedience to governing authorities in Romans 13.1-7. I mean they would have to believe it was wrong-headed. In fact, there was somewhat of a division among colonial Christians at that time about this subject. Those who supported the American Revolution were called “patriots” or “revolutionaries,” and those who opposed it were called “loyalists.” “Loyalist” meant being loyal to the crown, referring to the King of England. Some of the Christian loyalists were opposed because of their belief about Romans 13.1-7.

Benjamin Franklin had a huge impact on the success of the American Revolution even though he never held political office. He and his son, William, who was governor of Connecticut, disagreed strongly about it. William’s two reasons for being a loyalist were that we should be loyal to the king, and he didn’t think most of the colonists would support war. William eventually cut off relations with his father and moved to England, where he lived for the remainder of his life. William was known for being more of a Christian than his father Benjamin, who publicly professed Deism. I wonder if William’s view of loyalty to the king was affected by his view of Romans 13.1-7.

I suspect that Evangelical Mike Pence’s constant choice to not cross President Trump in any way, not even telling him he was wrong about something, was partly due to Pence’s belief about Romans 13.1-7 just as it was with Jeff Sessions. But I don’t know of any evidence to support that idea.

Previous Post

June 11, 2022

Finau and McIlroy Lead Canadian Open After Three Rounds

Next Post

June 12, 2022 Rory Mc Ilroy Wins RBC Canadian Open

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"Glen, you seem to be advocating a preterist viewpoint, with which I disagree." I'm a ..."

Kermit Zarley

Family Estrangement Versus Honoring Father and ..."

"THESIS is a SCRIPTURE QUOTE.“Remember the predictions foretold by the holy prophets and by the ..."

glen smith

Family Estrangement Versus Honoring Father and ..."

"How are they going to answer it. They don't have unlimited financial resources. They're trying ..."

Kermit Zarley

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Getting Much Worse

"...but isn't that an important question to answer?"

Harold Porter

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Getting Much Worse

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Angels Billy Graham Blog Description Book Reviews Christian Living Christianity Christology Church History Current Events Deity of Christ? Disarmament Eschatology Evangelicalism Ezekiel 38-39 Film Reviews God Golf Gospel Harmonization Health History Holy Spirit Incarnation? Interview Islam Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Jesus Last Empire Literary Announcements Major Championship Winners Masters Monotheism My Books New Testament Old Testament Politics Primitive Weapons Ryder Cup Science Society of Biblical Literature The Bible The Restitution of Jesus Christ Trinitarianism Trinity? Uncategorized Unconditional Love? War on Terrorism

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does "Gospel" mean?

Select your answer to see how you score.

God's Truth Sacred Story Good News Holy Word

Books by This Author Books by Kermit Zarley Blog

See All Titles »