“For the sake of the Lord submit yourselves to every human authority: to the Emperor, who is the supreme authority, and to the governors, who have been appointed by him to punish the evildoers and to praise those who do good” (1 Peter 2:13-14 GNB).
In addressing the relationship between God and unjust forms of human government, the 17th century commentator Matthew Henry once observed, “God… hath appointed the ordinance of magistracy, so that all civil power is derived from him… The usurpation (or wrongful exercise) of power and the abuse of power are not of God, for he is not the author of sin; but the power itself is.” (1)
This represents an important distinction. While God establishes the authority of human government, that is not to say He approves of those who abuse such power or exercise it inappropriately. When a government engages in practices that are Biblically unjust or declines to protect the individual right to acknowledge and follow God, that government (in whatever form it takes) exceeds its authority.
While Christians are responsible to obey the laws of their nation, our ultimate responsibility rests with the highest authority- God Himself. The Biblical book of Acts records an incident that illustrates this concept in action. That incident involved the Apostles Peter and John and their appearance before a group of judges known as the Sanhedrin.
After a period of testimony regarding Peter and John’s involvement in the healing of a disabled man, Acts 4:18 records the following interaction…
“Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, ‘Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard'” (NIV).
We find another important exchange between the Apostles and the Sanhedrin in the following chapter of Acts…
“Having brought the apostles, they made them appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. ‘We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,’ he said. ‘Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.’ Peter and the other apostles replied: ‘We must obey God rather than men!'” (Acts 5:27-29 NIV).
Much like these Apostles in the Biblical book of Acts, we are similarly responsible to “obey God rather than men,” even if doing so results in civil noncompliance.
(1) Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/matthew-henry/Rom.13.1-Rom.13.6