*** w62 11/1 p. 650 pars. 5-8 “Be in Subjection”—to Whom? *** as a nation revolted in the year 66 and brought terrible ruin and destruction upon themselves. Their holy capital city, Jerusalem, was destroyed, along with its magnificent temple to Jehovah God; the land of Judea was laid in ruins by the Roman armies, and 97,000 Jewish survivors were carried off captive into a slavery worse than that of mere political subjection to the Roman Empire. (Luke 21:5-7, 20-24; 19:41-44) None of the Christians, not even Jewish converts to Christianity, were tied in with that revolt against subjection to Roman imperialism. Why not? 6 On the festival day of Pentecost A.D. 33 the Christian congregation was founded in the city of Jerusalem. The members of that original congregation were marked by God himself, for he poured down his holy spirit upon them and gave them miraculous powers. (Acts 2:1-40) Thus in that critical year the Christian congregation was founded in the midst of a Jewish world where the coals of revolt smoldered against Rome despite the antichristian cry: “We have no king but Caesar.” (John 19:15, 16) But the newborn congregation was safely guided by the rule of action laid down by their Leader Jesus Christ: “Pay back Caesar’s things to Caesar, but God’s things to God.” (Mark 12:17) Thousands witnessed the founding of the Christian congregation there in Jerusalem in the year 33. Many were reverent Jews from Parthia, Media, Elam, Mesopotamia, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia Province, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, Libya, Judea, Arabia, Crete, Rome, that is, from places inside and outside the Roman Empire. Three thousand of these Jews from such far-flung lands were converted to Christianity and baptized on that day of Pentecost. (Acts 2:5-11, 37-42) After they returned to the lands of their residence, Christian congregations were set up in those lands, including the island of Crete in the Mediterranean Sea, ruled by Rome. 7 Sometime about the year 61 the Christian apostle Paul and his young fellow missionary Titus visited Crete. When Paul left the island he had Titus stay there to attend to the needs of the Christian congregation. In a letter to Titus Paul said: “I left you in Crete, that you might correct the things that were defective and might make appointments of older men in city after city, as I gave you orders . . . For there are many unruly men, profitless talkers, and deceivers of the mind, especially those men [Jews] who adhere to the [Jewish] circumcision.” (Titus 1:5-10) In order to have any defective thinking corrected in the minds of the Cretan Christians and in order to help them to take the right road in their relations with persons of all sorts, Paul wrote Titus to give proper counsel when he talked to the congregations: “Continue reminding them to be in subjection and be obedient to governments and authorities as rulers, to be ready for every good work, to speak injuriously of no one, not to be belligerent, to be reasonable, exhibiting all mildness toward all men. For even we were once [like them] senseless, disobedient, being misled, being slaves to various desires and pleasures, carrying on in maliciousness and envy, hateful, hating one another.”—Titus 3:1-3. 8 Here is the only place in his letter to Titus that Paul mentions “governments and authorities.” Since the Christians were to be in subjection to these, whom did Paul mean by “governments and authorities”? Are they inside the Christian congregation?
Posted on: Fri, 14 Jun 2013 22:32:18 +0000
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