Theme: The challenge of Christian citizenship

Exegetical note
The exhortation in the first seven verses of this selection would seem to mitigate against any sort of civil disobedience in the name of Christian conscience. But it must be read in the light of the fact that Christianity itself was an illegal sect (or "cult"!) in Paul's time (or soon after). It also must be balanced (as it has been throughout the history of Christian political ethics) by Acts 5:28 as a kind of "bottom line": "We must obey God rather than hu…