in having the remotest connection with sedition or rebellion.  He

cannot be an agitator, or march under the banner of any company,

whatever may be its grievance; neither must he fail to comply with the

just demands for tribute, custom, fear, or honour, that necessarily

accompany organized government'

(Just and the Justifier chapter 17).

Following the reminder to obey magistrates, the exhortation continues

`to speak evil of no man' and the reader may be surprised to discover that

the Greek word translated `speak evil' is blasphemeo.  Today the word

blasphemy is reserved mainly to the legal meaning of the word as given in

Blackstone's Commentary:

`To deny the being and providence of God; to utter contumelious

reproaches against Christ, to scoff at the Holy Scriptures, or attempt

to turn them into contempt and ridicule'.

It will be illuminating and a corrective, to observe the following

occurrences of the verb blasphemeo, where it is applied not to God, but to

`We be slanderously reported' (Rom. 3:8).

`Let not then your good be evil spoken of' (Rom. 14:16).

`Being defamed, we intreat' (1 Cor. 4:13).

`Why am I evil spoken of?' (1 Cor. 10:30).

`Speak evil of no man' (Titus 3:2).

Discriminating obedience to civil authorities consequently was

according to the Divine will, during the Lord's earthly ministry.  After

Pentecost we discover the authorities taking to themselves Divine

prerogatives, and so we read Peter's rejoinder `we ought to obey God rather

than men' (Acts 5:29).  When Caesar claims, not his own things, but those

that belong to God, then obedience to such claims would be sinful and must be

refused.  Peter, writing to the elect of the Dispersion, who were also called

`a peculiar people' (1 Pet. 2:9) said:

`Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake:

whether it be to the king, as supreme; or unto governors, as unto them

that are sent by Him for the punishment of evil doers, and for the

praise of them that do well' (1 Pet. 2:13,14).

Here there can be no question but that the civil authorities are in

view, neither can we evade the fact that pagan kings and governors are sent

for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well,

even though such kings and governors are in themselves sinful and stand in

need of a Saviour themselves.  It has been maintained by some expositors,

that Romans 13:1 -7 does not refer to civil rulers, but to those who have

been ordained by God to rule the affairs of the church.  These `higher

powers' who have been `ordained of God' who are not a terror to good works,

but to evil, who are ministers of God `for good', these, say some, cannot be

pagan civil rulers, but the bishops and deacons set over the church by Divine

authority.  Before we can pronounce with any authority as to the meaning or

intention of any one term in Scripture, due regard must be paid to the

context and the structure.  Now the structure of Romans 13:1 -7 cannot be set

out apart from the closing verses of Romans 12.