government

government
In the Bible God is regarded as the supreme governor of the world and those who execute authority on earth are said to hold it in trust from him (Ps. 72:1–4; Rom. 13:1–2; John 19:11) to ensure that justice is done (1 Kgs. 10:9). It may be desirable to delegate judicial functions, as Moses did (Exod. 18:17–23), and it is held that, although Israel was a theocracy rather than a democracy, the people as well as the king shared in the rights and responsibilities of the covenant with God (2 Kgs. 11:17).
Even when the Jews were a subject people, it was expected by the Sadducees that obedience should be given to the government; and in the NT Christians are warned against subversion or defiance (1 Pet. 2:13–17), though this attitude of submissive acceptance of the government was abandoned under the fire of persecution (Rev. 17 and 18).

Dictionary of the Bible.

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  • government — gov‧ern‧ment [ˈgʌvmənt, ˈgʌvnmənt ǁ ˈgʌvərn ] also Government noun [countable] the group of people responsible for running a country or state and making decisions about taxes, laws, public services etc: • The Government is planning further cuts …   Financial and business terms

  • government — gov·ern·ment / gə vər mənt, vərn / n 1: the act or process of governing; specif: authoritative direction or control 2: the office, authority, or function of governing 3: the continuous exercise of authority over and the performance of functions… …   Law dictionary

  • government — [guv′ərn mənt, guv΄ərmənt] n. [OFr governement: see GOVERN & MENT] 1. a) the exercise of authority over a state, district, organization, institution, etc.; direction; control; rule; management b) the right, function, or power of governing 2 …   English World dictionary

  • Government — Gov ern*ment, n. [F. gouvernement. See {Govern}.] 1. The act of governing; the exercise of authority; the administration of laws; control; direction; regulation; as, civil, church, or family government. [1913 Webster] 2. The mode of governing;… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • government — government, governance Note the n in the middle of government (based on the word govern with the noun suffix ment), and that it should be pronounced as well as written. Government is the workaday word for the system by which a state or community… …   Modern English usage

  • Government — athlete tax carry tax competitive compassion declinism democrazy dollarize endism fast food zoning …   New words

  • government — late 14c., act of governing or ruling; 1550s, system by which a thing is governed (especially a state), from O.Fr. governement (Mod.Fr. gouvernement), from governer (see GOVERN (Cf. govern)). Replaced M.E. governance. Meaning governing power in a …   Etymology dictionary

  • government — [n] management, administration authority, bureaucracy, command, control, direction, domination, dominion, empire, execution, executive, governance, guidance, influence, jurisdiction, law, ministry, patronage, political practice, politics, polity …   New thesaurus

  • government — ► NOUN 1) (treated as sing. or pl. ) the governing body of a state. 2) the system by which a state or community is governed. 3) the action or manner of governing a state, organization, or people. DERIVATIVES governmental adjective …   English terms dictionary

  • government — governmental /guv euhrn men tl, euhr men /, adj. governmentally, adv. /guv euhrn meuhnt, euhr meuhnt/, n. 1. the political direction and control exercised over the actions of the members, citizens, or inhabitants of communities, societies, and… …   Universalium

  • Government — For government in linguistics, see Government (linguistics). Part of the Politics series Basic forms of government …   Wikipedia

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