EthnAlln

I'm wondering about a seeming inconsistency between one famous passage in Paul's letter to the Romans and a number of others in the NT. Specifically,...

Romans, chapter 13: "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that does evil."

What's the reconciliation of this passage with the three places in John's Gospel, (12:31; 14:30; 16:11) where the "prince of this world" is mentioned in terms that seem to indicate Satan is running the place? Is Satan "ordained of God" to be a minister for good? Or were his human agents somehow working for human good despite the malice of their spiritual overseer? Possible explanations:

1. The secular arm suddenly changed into an instrument of God after the crucifixion and resurrection. (In that case, does that passage in Romans include such specimens of God's ordinance as Idi Amin, Pol Pot, Adolf Hitler, and Joseph Stalin?)

2. Paul was simply being politically astute and including passages like the one above in order to allay any thoughts of civil rebellion on the part of Christians.

Whichever it is, Christians are, it seems to me, caught in a web of their own making. It's hard enough for a secularist like me to set priorities and express them through the crude instrument of political activity. If one has to take into account an entire realm of transcendant reality presided over by an omnipotent god who for some reason doesn't leave clear instructions about
what his followers are supposed to do in the only world they know, the whole problem becomes essentially insoluble.