Subject to Whose Authority? Multiple Readings of Romans 13 [Emory Studies in Early Christianity]

The thirteenth chapter of Paul's Epistle to the Romans, wherein he teaches that Christians must be obedient to the State, is not without controversy and abusive interpretation. Jan Botha writes that New Testament scholars have the responsibility to attempt to propose valid interpretation(s) of this - and other - problematic passages in the Bible. The aim of this study is to attempt to put readers in a better position to reflect in a plausible manner on interpretative issues of Romans 13.1-7. Botha analyzes this passage from a linguistic perspective, a literary perspective, a rhetorical perspective, and a social-scientific perspective.

This book argues for an authority derived from ethically responsible readings of New Testament texts, reading to be undertaken by the various interpretative communities of the New Testament. Legitimate and acceptable authority is not possible without morality. Thus the act of reading New Testament texts has to be ethically responsible and publicly accountable. This means, among other things, that the textuality and concomitantly, the otherness of the text has to be respected. This respect calls for a conscious effort to honor its textuality in all its complexity.