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  • From: Tim Harris <tim.harris AT stmatts.asn.au>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Romans 13:1-7
  • Date: Fri, 17 May 2002 18:28:13 +0930


The notion that those in authority work in partnership with the gods was a commonplace of the stoics. Similarly, it was widely and openly held that there were limits to the authority and capacity of kings/Caesar to exercise complete domination. See for example Epictetus, Discourses Book 1, ch's 9,14,19 and esp. 29. Whilst such an outlook is not precisely the same as Paul in Romans 13, the general topos is not radically dissimilar. So long as those in authority conducted themselves with virtue, due respect would urged; in the case of a tyrant, limits to their authority and a greater freedom from the gods would be affirmed. I do not believe anything subversive would have been identified in Romans 13:1-7 because of the reference to the higher or greater authority of a deity.

Tim Harris
Flinders University,
South Australia

At 04:01 AM 17/05/2002 -0400, you wrote:
> Even within Ro 13 as it stands there is a form of political
> subversion. It could be read as a command to obey Caesar, but it can
> be read to say that even in this obedience, the one really being
> obeyed is God. This may have been enough for some Emperors, but with
> the likes of Nero, this would NOT have been enough. Nero would of
> demanded that he be obeyed AS God, not BECAUSE OF God. The REAL power
> and authority is removed from the empire to the divine. The obedience
> rendered to "the state" has been "relavitized".
>
> This may not be very satisfactory for us, but I wonder if it wasn't
> revolutionary for the original audience?
> --
> Steve Black
> Vancouver School of Theology
> Vancouver, BC
> ---

I think this would be more plausible in a situation where there was an
established tradition of divine kingship. Since it was an innovation at Rome,
how seriously were Imperial claims of that sort actually taken?

Regards,

Robert Brenchley
RSBrenchley AT aol.com
Birmingham UK

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