Submitting to authority

“Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.” Romans 13:1
It’s a favourite pastime of many people to complain about the government, particularly if we live in a democratic country. You might have voted for the party in power, and feel that they are not representing you in the way you want to be represented, or you may have voted for the party that didn’t get into power, and feel that they aren’t doing enough as the opposition. But human governments are never going to be avid promoters of Christian ideals, so we shouldn’t be surprised. However, the Bible tells us that we are to submit to whatever government structure is over us. We are to live by the laws of the land. There is one exception: if we are required to do something contradictory to the Word of God, then we are to submit to God as the higher authority, and we have an exemption from submitting to the government in that situation. For example, Peter and John, when told by the Sanhedrin that they must stop preaching about Jesus being risen from the dead, replied, “We must obey God rather than men!” (Acts 5:29). Jesus had given them a direct commandment before He ascended into heaven, to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15). But like the apostles, if we do have to stand against the government because it is requiring us to do something contrary to the Word of God, we should expect to be persecuted by it.
Paul himself lived in the time of the Roman emperors, a tyrannical dictatorship. If he could submit to that government, we can submit to ours.