Abstract
This article aims at demonstrating that Calvin's grasp of the message of Romans 13 in its reference to the state is highly relevant for the present South Africa. This includes the belief that the authority of rulers is ordained by God, be it that of a just or an unjust government, and that their right to govern should therefore be respected; that government should maintain a public order of justice and peace within which people can serve God in all spheres of life; that state authorities should use the sword and even the death penalty when needed, and not shy away from this God-given responsibility; that a society in which crime threatens to create chaos needs stronger measures of punishment; and that rebellion against the government or disruption of public life should be resorted to only as an ultimate means and when carefully considered as in the general interest.
Highlights
It is easy enough to convince those who are interested both in Calvin and in the weal and woe of our country of the topicality of this theme
Some attribute the rise of apartheid largely to the influence of Calvinism (Hexbarn 1981; Ntoane 1983)
For many the replacement of the old apartheid South Africa with the new South Africa in the nineties of this century represents the supplanting of an oppressive Calvinist tradition by freedom (Ntoane 1983:226) and a vague, religiously determined valuation of 'man' as the basis of a 'new' order or 'process of nationbuilding'
Summary
It is easy enough to convince those who are interested both in Calvin and in the weal and woe of our country of the topicality of this theme. Precisely because Calvin wished to be a theologian of Scripture, he grounded his views in this work on Scriptural exegesis (Berkhof 1947:iii-iv) Some of his comments on 'civil government' in the fmal chapter (Book IV, Chapter XX of the 1559 edition) overlap and are directly related to his commentary on Romans 13, as 'composed at Strasburg in the year 1539' (Owen 1947:iii) and published in 1540 (De Groot 1950:8). In his foreword to this commentary, a work dedicated to Simon Grynaeus, Calvin says that a commentary on the Bible should be characterised by 'lucid brevity'. In this way his attitude to matters may be presented in a wider context
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