Our General Disposition Toward All, Part 1 - The Imperative

Sometimes, in the Scriptures, when an author seeks to address a specific issue, he moves from addressing that specific issue, into extracting a broader, universal principle out of it. The Apostle Paul does that here, and in doing so, we are given a very relevant and critical principle for our time.

Even as the Apostle Paul has been dealing with character issues, he moves on then to
express how we ought to treat governmental authorities, and in doing this, he leads us to understand what our general disposition, as Christians, ought to be toward all people. And as he has done in the previous verses, he follows up the imperative command with a sobering indicative reminder, which ought to greatly motivate us to strive to pursue and maintain the general disposition given in the imperative. This morning, we will begin then, by addressing the imperative (the command).