“Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God.” (1 Peter 2:13-16 NASB1995)

We who believe in Jesus Christ are to obey our governmental authorities, such as kings, governors, or presidents, etc. This means that we obey the law of the land. But there are biblical exceptions to this rule of law. For we are not to sin against God. We are not to tell lies. We are not to harm our own bodies. We are not to murder. We are not to commit perjury or idolatry or adultery. We are not to worship foreign gods. And we are not to stop speaking the true gospel in the name of Jesus. Obeying God comes first.

And we are not to worship the government. We are not to put hand over heart and pledge (vow) our allegiance (fidelity) to any human government. Our vow of fidelity and worship should be to God and to God alone. And we are not to sing songs of worship to our government and/or to our military, giving them praise, adoration, and thanksgiving for what we have been taught that they have done (or are presently doing). For people tell lies. Government heads tell lies. So our trust cannot be in governments (see Revelation 13).

[Psalms 118:9; Psalms 146:3; Psalms 147:10-11; Isaiah 40:23; Jeremiah 17:5-6; Hosea 8:4; Hosea 13:10; 1 Corinthians 2:1-5; 1 Corinthians 3:1-9,18-23; 1 Corinthians 7:23; Galatians 1:10; Galatians 2:12; Ephesians 4:14-16; Ephesians 6:5-8; Colossians 2:8,20-23; Colossians 3:23-24; 1 Thessalonians 2:3-8; 1 Peter 4:1-5; 2 Peter 3:17-18]

For, although the law is given for the purpose to praise those who do right and to punish those who deliberately and habitually do evil (who do what is harmful to others), not even all government heads adhere to the law. Many of them don’t. Many of them are crooks and cheats and liars who use and abuse other people to their own advantage. Many of them are in the practice of deceiving the people who they promise to serve, and are plotting evil against their own people of their own nation, and for the New World Order.

So, this Scripture is not teaching blind loyalty and devotion to any human government. It is teaching us to obey the laws of the land, but as long as those laws do not contradict the commands of our Lord. And the prophets of old, and Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and Jesus Christ, and his New Testament apostles, and many more followers of Christ down through the ages set the example for us to follow. We do not obey men if obeying men means disobeying God. We can refuse to obey the lawmen.

What is the ultimate goal in all of this? That by doing right we may silence the ignorance of foolish men. And many of these “foolish men” are our government heads who are lying to us, and who are taking advantage of our ignorance, and who are using it against us to cause us harm. So “doing right” in this case is to obey God, and it is to expose the fruitless deeds of darkness and the thieves and liars so that the ones we love will not be deceived, fall into traps, and suffer because they trusted the wrong people.

And we are to live our lives as though Jesus really did set us free from slavery to sin so that we could serve him in walks of obedience to his commands. And we are to do what is right in the eyes of God. And we are not to use our freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God, not as those who vow their fidelity to human governments. For many are not serving God but their own selves and their own appetites, which is to the detriment of the people, and not for their ultimate good.

Your Salvation

Based off of Isaiah 30
An Original Work / May 29, 2011
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

In repentance is your salvation.
In quietness and trust is your strength.
The Lord longs to be gracious to you.
Blessed are all who wait for Him.

Pharaoh’s protection will be your shame.
Egypt’s shade will bring you to disgrace.
Ev’ryone will be put to their shame,
Because they trusted in man.

Woe to those who carry out their plans
Without consulting God their Savior.
God’s calling out for you to listen
And obey all He commands.

In repentance is your salvation.
In quietness and trust is your strength.
The Lord longs to be gracious to you.
Blessed are all who wait for Him.

Exceptions to The Rule
An Original Work / March 21, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love