Honor Rulers – The Fifth Commandment

Honor Rulers

The Fifth Commandment

Honor rulers as you would honor God.

Exodus 22:28

“You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people.”

Acts 23:1-5; Romans 13:5; Titus 3:1

Parents, prophets, and rulers: these are the primary authorities God has established to bring order and blessing to the community of His people. Just as we should not curse our parents or revile those who, as God’s spokesmen, bring us His Word, so we should not curse or revile our rulers. They may not be the best rulers, and they may even be wicked at times; still, we must guard our tongues in speaking about them, as Paul showed (Acts 23:1-5).

When we speak ill of our rulers the danger is that we will demean the office and, hence, contribute to the undermining of God’s ordained order. There are proper ways of speaking about the decisions, actions, or character of rulers, and we must do so as often as is necessary, for this, too, protects the integrity of the divinely appointed office. However, we must be careful in all our criticisms that we not condemn or curse those whom God has appointed to rule. Wicked rulers must not be obeyed, but not even they may be made subject to our cursing and reviling. If we must disobey a wicked ruler, we must do so honorably, as the Lord Jesus and apostles, following the prophets, demonstrated.

Sign up to receive Crosfigell, our thrice-weekly email devotional, featuring T. M. Moore’s insights to Scripture and the Celtic Christian tradition.

–

In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.