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“For this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues” (Romans 13:6-7).
None of us likes to pay taxes to the government, and especially if we feel that we are paying too much, or that the government is wasting the tax money paid to them. I have known worldly people, and sometimes even Christians, boast about how they managed to cheat the government by avoiding paying their proper taxes.
But here we are explicitly told to pay our taxes, and the Bible says that those who collect taxes are God’s ministers. God has appointed them, and we are to respect them. Would we think of cheating God’s ministers? I hope not.
In the days of the Roman Empire, when the Apostle Paul wrote these words, the government was quite corrupt, and often those who collected taxes were corrupt as well. They often made themselves rich by collecting much more than they were supposed to collect. Yet Paul still calls them God’s ministers, and told believers to honor them. We should do the same.
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