4 fasc. bound as 2Fasc. 1-4 (of 5) only. ( )

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who plotted to kill Hitler although he was an ordained Lutheran minister, and in fact was motivated to act as a Christian by plotting to kill Hitler, commented on Romans 13:4 and the state practicing ekdikos (defined as 1. avenger: Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, p. 238; 1. champion; 2. legal representative: Lampe, A Patristic Greek Lexicon, p. 427). You should note that Romans 13:4 is the only verse where the term applies to the state. Every other biblical use of the word refers to God as the avenger and the context refers to the state as a legitimate avenger to "bring (God's) wrath upon the evil-doer" (Bauer, Lexicon, p. 238). The state is a legitimate avenger only in the case of an evil-doer. Bonhoeffer clarifies the verse by stating: "no state is entitled to read into St. Paul's words a justification of its own existence. Should any State take to heart those words, they would be just as much a challenge to repentance for that State as they are for the Church" (The Cost of Discipleship, p. 294). Bonhoeffer means that no State can justify its existence based on this passage, rulers should be "God's minister for the sake of the fellowship of charity" (Discipleship, p. 294). The State should be driven to repentance just as believers are.

The issue for a believer, also in the same context, is in Romans 13:5, suneidesin (conscience). The State for Bonhoeffer, as for many Christians, is what to do when the State is not repentant and in fact evil, i.e., Nazism. Bonhoeffer concluded his righteous act, acting as a faithful God-fearing Christian, was to plot and kill Hitler.

For many Christians our opposition to the State is not quite as dramatic as Bonhoeffer, who eventually was hung for his efforts to kill Hitler, although his point is still valid. Our conscience dictates that we must at times oppose the State. Otherwise, one could argue for example if a Christian lives under a legitimate God-appointed State ruler, such as a Christian living under sharia law, Christians ought to convert to Islam. Surely there are places and times where Christians will live in a non-repentant, evil regime and the duty of the Christian is to resist the regime. Christians must have opposed Roman authorities or Christianity would have had a short existence.