Paul's injunction to Roman Christians to submit to the governing authorities in Chapter 13 has been misunderstood and misused for centuries. It lies in the middle of Paul's ethical instructions for behaviour and the obligation to adopt a cruciform posture of blessing and loving ones enemies. Is obedience unconditional for life under any and every sick, violent and unjust despot and tyrant or are occasions when our allegiance to Jesus obliges us take up forms of resistance to these rulers?
