Elijah

Paul was just saying what he had to in order to keep his head. If you want to speak in Roman territory you better be careful about speaking of any authority other then Roman. Showing that being Christian wasn't going to be a threat to the earthly authority was necessary for it's success in Rome.

Doug Shaver

So far as the extant documentary evidence suggests, that story didn't get told until many years after Paul's time. If there was no historical Jesus, and if (contrary to orthodox tradition and the book of Acts) there was no official persecution of Christianity in its early years, then there is nothing anomalous about Paul's telling Christians to be treat secular authority as divinely sanctioned.

Minimalist

I can see Constantine dictating that part to the scribes! The priest and the tyrant are always in cahoots, to paraphrase Thomas Jefferson.

Ben C Smith

Can you see Constantine dictating that part to the scribe of P46, dated to about 200?

Ben.

aa5874

It would appear that there were people who were called Christians in the 1st century that had nothing to do with Jesus of the NT, based on Tacitus Annals.

The persecution of believers in Jesus of the NT appear to have occured long after the followers of the "anointed ones" or the "anointed" [the Christs] were persecuted.

Mark 13.6 I think those "Christs" came well before the author of Mark began to write his Jesus story.

Chili

I think this persecution complex belongs to the imposters since a Christian will not be know as Christian . . . or the the Jews would have never crucified him.

dog-on

What do you expect from a religion created by the Romans...

Huon

I am not sure that P46 contains this part of Romans, that is Romans 13:1-4. I have not seen that in a description of P46. Ben, you have a good knowledge of the question, could you verifiy ?

Chaupoline

It is better to try to work with the system instead of fighting back in a violent rebellion. Herod's Temple was destroyed because of the rebellion of the Zealots. The Indo-Fijians will eventually become an accepted part of Fijian life in the future of a prosperous Fiji because they are working with the system regardless of all the crap that they have had to endure up until now. The Tamils have not made life better for the Sri Lankan Tamils or the Indian Tamils with their violent attacks against the government of Sri Lanka. The average Palestinian's life is not better off because of the violence against Israel perpetrated by the PLO. The only ones whom benefit from the violent uprisings are the elites who are promoting the uprisings. Violence and war destroys infrastructure and brings about setbacks to progress. Black people in America are better off because their ancestors worked with the system and staged peaceful protests for change. If nobody had opposed Roman rule and instead attempted to work with the government the world would be better off today.

Huon

Romans 13 NIV
3 For rulers (Pilate, for instance) hold no terror for those who do right (the Sadducees), but for those who do wrong (a Jehoshuah ben Yosef, for instance). Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. 4 For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.

Another reading of Romans 13 ...