Therefore we must ask why a good God, who is sovereign over all, would allow evil rulers to come to power? Stated differently, the question is not about our submission to wicked rulers, but their very existence. The criticism of Paul, then, is theodicy in a different form. Asking what we are to do when those tasked with governing us use that power to do harm is simply another way of asking why there is harm at all. One response to the problem of evil has been to posit the cross and resurrection as
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