by David Gibson<\/p>\n
A vital principle of Bible study is that often one passage serves to qualify another. Together, they give a more complete picture of God’s will in the matter.<\/p>\n
For example, Christians are taught to obey the laws of the land (Romans 13:1-7; 1 Peter 2:13-17).<\/p>\n
But what if a specific law of the land conflicts with God’s word? The Bible is clear on this: God’s word always has the last word.<\/p>\n
When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to obey King Nebuchadnezzar’s order to worship the idol he had set up, they were obeying God’s higher command to have no other gods before Him (Daniel 3).<\/p>\n
When Daniel continued to pray despite it becoming illegal, God was pleased with his courageous faithfulness (Daniel 6).<\/p>\n
When the highest court in Israel, the Sanhedrin, ordered the apostles in no uncertain terms to stop preaching Christ, Peter spoke for all of them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard<\/em>” (Acts 4:19-20 NASB). “We must obey God rather than men<\/em>” (Acts 5:29).<\/p>\n While God has ordained government, He has not ordained any specific form of government for our day. But whatever form government may take, God requires that it must not exceed the authority He has given it to maintain order in society. God never gave rulers carte blanche authority to do as they please. God detests bribery, corruption, oppression, injustice, or any other abuse of power that hurts the governed.<\/p>\n In addition to the Christian’s responsibility to obey laws that do not violate God’s will and also to pay taxes, we have this from Paul:<\/p>\n “. . . I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior . . .<\/em>” (I Timothy 2:1-3).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by David Gibson A vital principle of Bible study is that often one passage serves to qualify another. Together, they give a more complete picture of God’s will in the matter. For example, Christians are taught to obey the laws of the land (Romans 13:1-7; 1 Peter 2:13-17). No exceptions? But what if a specific…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[310],"class_list":["post-91145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-government"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":30712,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-you-submit-to-a-corrupt-government\/","url_meta":{"origin":91145,"position":0},"title":"How do you submit to a corrupt government?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 16, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I appreciate your Biblically sound responses. As I observe the turmoil our nation is experiencing right now my thoughts are continually on the following topics: submitting to government authority even though we may not like what is happening with all the corruption and dishonesty because God has established\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":63708,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-makes-a-good-ruler\/","url_meta":{"origin":91145,"position":1},"title":"What Makes a Good Ruler?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 29, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Daniel 4:8-27 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Accepting the idea that Christians should vote when their government gives them the opportunity to do so, the question then turns to whom should we vote? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Far too often we are presented with choices where it appears we must choose between the lesser\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24269,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/to-affect-change\/","url_meta":{"origin":91145,"position":2},"title":"To Affect Change","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 2, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: I Peter 2:13-17 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Peter talked about our relationship to the government - I Peter 2:13-17 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Submission to the government is an involuntary action. Most of us do not have opportunities to chose which government we wish to live under. Even with choice, we will\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42589,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-wondrous-book-of-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":91145,"position":3},"title":"The Wondrous Book of God","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 20, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Psalm 119:17-24 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Eulogy of the Bible \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Many years ago, I entered the wonderful temple of God\u2019s revelation. I entered the portico of Genesis and walked down through the Old Testament Art Gallery where the pictures of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Samuel,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69511,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jesus-and-daniels-amazing-prophecy\/","url_meta":{"origin":91145,"position":4},"title":"Jesus’ and Daniel’s Amazing Prophecy","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 30, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Consider one of the most amazing prophecies in all of Scripture. Jesus is leaving the temple when his disciples call his attention to its buildings. As they gaze upon the temple's massive stone and magnificent buildings, Jesus utters the unthinkable: \"I tell you the truth, not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24110,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-could-the-revolutionary-war-be-justified-in-light-of-romans-13\/","url_meta":{"origin":91145,"position":5},"title":"How could the Revolutionary War be justified in light of Romans 13?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 20, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can I ask your thoughts on something? Just a little while ago I read: \"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91145\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}And so . . . .<\/h2>\n
And another thing . . . .<\/h2>\n