Romans 13 is not what you think

(Below is the sermon I preached on Sunday, Aug. 30, 2020. You can listen to the sermon from the church website — www.ststephenlc.org)

Did you know that there is a long history of the Bible being abused and used as a weapon of control? Did you know that slave owners in America would take their slaves to church? They would sit in different sections of the church of course, because the slaves were considered less than human, and then they would hear a proslavery version of God. There would be an emphasis on passages of Ephesians and Colossians that told the hearers — “Slaves, obey your earthly masters.” The point being that God was obviously in favor of slavery.

A slave bible was published in 1807 which removed portions of Scripture including the Exodus story — why? Because it might inspire rebellious thinking. Can’t have slaves rebelling now can we? Some ministers promoted the idea that Africans were the descendants of Ham, cursed in the book of Genesis, and thus their enslavement was fitting. It’s amazing what lengths humanity will go to in order to maintain unjust and evil systems that oppress and exploit other humans. It’s amazing how we can twist God’s word to suit our own desires and wants. It’s amazing how we can weaponize God and make God and God’s word our slave.

Romans 13:1–7 is another one of those passages of Scripture. It’s one of the most abused passages of Scripture. It’s so abused that the lectionary actually does not include it in year A, B, or C in the three-year lectionary cycle. In other…