Tonight, Dad was working on his material for his Bible Study, and I was listening to him go through it. He was putting together stuff for a discussion over Romans 13, where it talks about being submissive to governing authorities. We got to talking about how that passage is so often misread today, and is taken to mean that Christians should not ever go against anyone who is in a governing position. But that is not what the passage is saying, nor is that assumption true. When Paul wrote it, the general idea among Christians was that since Christ was their King, they did not have to respond at all to Caesar. But since we do still live in a fallen world, we need to obey the governing authorities, so long as those authorities stay in line with what Christ has said. Romans 13 is not saying that anyone in a governing position is the highest authority. Christ is, and it is His will that we must follow. If someone in a governing position is not in line with Christ, then we as Christians should not follow it, and must rebel against it if that is the only course left.
But during our discussion, I was reminded of what one of my professors had talked about one day in class. He had talked about the differences in different Bible translations, and how some are closer hermaneutically than others. Basically, he explained it like this:
So through all of this, my prayer for tonight is to always ask God to give me discernment when I'm looking for the meaning in His word.
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