Today, Tuesday April 6
Romans 13:6-7 – Pay Your Taxes
“For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.”
It is so interesting that this subject would come up especially at this time of the year and this week as Americans are trying to get their taxes prepared and into the IRS before the deadline. After Paul told the believers at Rome that they are to be subject to the government authorities, he tells them to also pay their taxes!
I am pretty sure that might have been difficult for them to hear especially as the Roman government was very much anti-Christian and very pagan in its worship of idols and the heads of state. But remember Paul had told them, that no matter who oversees the government, that they are placed there by a God Who is sovereign and they owe them honor too.
When Jesus was asked about paying taxes, He told His disciples that they were to “Render to Caesar that things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.”
God’s design and purpose for human government is to protect its citizens and bring security and order to a community or nation.
Paul reinforces this instruction to pay our taxes by also reminding us that those who enforce the law are “ministers of God”. I love telling law enforcement officers and military personnel that, just like I am a minister of God, they are too. In other words, they are acting on God’s behalf to protect people by punishing evil doers and rewarding those who do good.
We should be thankful for, and also be prayerful for all those who serve our communities in this capacity. And as you pay your taxes this year, remember what they are really for. And thank God you do not live in fear every moment of every day in a pagan culture where there is no fear of God and no government to protect you.
God bless!