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Simon the Zealot
Romans 13:1
The 2nd Simon is only mentioned in lists of the disciples. Therefore, the main focus on him comes from this defining label given to him, the Zealot, Simon the Zealot. We think this most likely refers to his political orientation. The Zealots were a political religious group in Israel around the time of Christ. And here’s what a Roman Jewish historian, Josephus, tells us about them.
“They agree in all other things with the Pharisees, but they have an indestructible attachment to liberty and say God is to be their only ruler and Lord.”
So they’re fervent Bible-believing people, but they are resistant to any Roman or Greek influence on Jewish life, and they would sometimes participate in armed rebellions against those ruling authorities. So where were the Zealots right? Where were they wrong? Well, Scripture is very clear that we are to obey and honor the established authorities over us in the world because God works through them to provide us a certain level of peace and order, justice, and prosperity, even if those rulers themselves are not Christian, may participate in inmoral things, or promote things that go against God’s Word. Here’s what Paul wrote in Romans 13,
Everyone must submit to the governing authorities. For no authority exists except by God, and the authorities that do exist have been established by God. [Romans 13:1]
Remember, Paul is writing that in reference to the very same Roman government the Zealots were trying to overthrow. But the Zealots did have a valid concern. There was always this tension about how much the Jewish people, believers in God’s Word, could integrate into these cultures in which they lived, in this case, the Roman Greek culture, and still remain faithful to God’s Word. And man, is that an evergreen question. We still struggle today as Christians to ask, how much can we really participate in and accept our American, Australian, Canadian, Irish culture, whatever it is, and still take it captive to God’s Word and remain faithful to him? So that was a valid concern.
What I really want us to focus on from Simon is that we all live, or we Christians, both live as believers in the spiritual kingdom, but also as citizens in the political sphere.
And just as we find a variety of personalities and socioeconomic levels, professions among the disciples and in the church, we should also expect varying political convictions. We can be faithful to God’s Word and yet may have different opinions about how we should order human life in the world in the most effective way. Now, what Christ does convict us of is making politics into an idol, a form of salvation. If I can just get this political program or this political figure enacted or in power, everything will be great. It’ll be heaven on Earth. Well, no. All of this is still infected with sin, serves only an earthly purpose, and Christ comes so that we would not have ultimate faith in our political goals, but in him, who gives eternal treasures, the gifts of heaven and forgiveness of sins, peace with God. And so he tells us, Don’t sacrifice what is heavenly and eternal for what is earthly and temporary.
But the final point I want to make is though Simon is known as the Zealot, and this might have been as much to distinguish him from Simon Peter as anything else, I expect that his political views softened over time, so that he who was once so zealous for a renewed, fervent Jewish kingdom now turn that zeal toward promoting the kingdom of grace, the kingdom of Christ.
