Many church leaders invoke biblical passages like Romans 13:1-7 to bolster the congregation's trust in the government and keep paying taxes, as it says in the King James Version of this passage:
Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.
Ok, some churches teach out of this passage because they're looking for the truth, and that's what they should be doing. Not all churches use this passage for social control. I'm referring to this misuse of scripture:
So I'll break it down thought-by-thought.
Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.
This is where people get confused. I believe "higher powers" do not refer to all governments like the video says, but only the ones God has established.
For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
This further emphasizes the fact that if God didn't ordain it, it's not a valid power.
Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
So it's extremely serious to resist the power God ordains because it's tantamount to resisting God.
For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil.
Now this is a clarification about who those powers are embodied by. The key here is that if the person of authority is a terror to good works and not evil, that person is not a ruler.
Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for good.
This further links the ruler with the power God ordains. The ruler embodies the power. If the person of authority does not praise good works, we should question the legitimacy of their leadership. They don't fit the description God has given us so they are impostors.
But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
Again, if you do evil and you are not punished by the person of authority, this further identifies that person as not being a minister of God. They continue to defy God's description of a real leader.
Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.
But only under the true authority defined previously. It is a determent to our conscience to allow an unfit authority to rule us.
For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.
Only pay moral taxes. Only allow your tribute to pay for things God would approve. Only honor God's servants with our precious resources.
In summary, the Bible defines the kind of ruler we should follow. A qualified ruler rewards good and punishes bad. Do rulers reward bad and punish good? If you ask people in the world if they know rulers who do that, they'd say yes. So we have a problem. Is the Bible in contradiction or are people's definitions wrong?
The Bible is not in contradiction. The Bible refers to bats as birds. Now we refer to bats as mammals that happen to fly. Did the Bible become wrong because science changed? No, and likewise, just because a person subjects himself to an unworthy authority and calls them rulers, doesn't make the Bible wrong. They are just not true rulers. They are cheap copies. The Bible gives us a narrow description of what a ruler is and therefore excludes unjust rulers from having any authority. We widened the definition beyond what the author originally intended.