Robert Jeffress has argued on Fox News that Donald Trump shows a better grasp of Romans 13 and the Bible's teaching on government than the pope, using scripture to defend the president's Iran policy during a televised interview in the United States.
The exchange followed comments from the pope about global conflict that Trump allies treated as a rebuke of US policy. The pontiff had spoken about a world 'ravaged by a handful of tyrants' without naming governments, while Trump had already begun criticising him over Iran and framing Vatican concerns as naïve.
The Texas minister told Fox News that President Donald Trump has a better 'understanding' of the Bible than the pope, describing the Vatican's comments on Iran as contradictory. Jeffress said the disagreement was a matter of doctrine, arguing that scripture places clear expectations on political leaders confronting hostile regimes.
Robert Jeffress, the Southern Baptist pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, and a regular Fox News contributor, defended Trump in his feud with the pope, citing a Bible verse. He has frequently appeared on television and at political events as a prominent supporter of Trump.
'And you know, the great irony is it looks like President Trump has a better understanding of what the Bible teaches about the role of government than the pope has, and I'm glad the president hasn't backed down at all,' Jeffress Jr. insisted in a Fox News interview. He did not set out a list of papal lines he thought were wrong, and there has been no direct reply from the Vatican addressing his comparison between Trump and the pope.
'Look, I think it's commendable that the Trump administration is meeting with the pope and trying to work with the pope. The pope is a good man. He's sincere in his faith, but he is sincerely wrong when it comes to Iran,' Jeffress Jr. said. 'The pope ought to know, and I think he does know, God created both the church and government for two distinct purposes.'
'The role of the church is to point people to faith in Jesus Christ, but the role of government is to protect citizens from evildoers, according to Romans 13,' he continued. By invoking Romans 13 on air, Jeffress grounded his defence of Trump in a New Testament passage often used in arguments about obedience to authority, and presented it as a simple mandate for leaders to confront threats such as Iran rather than a text open to debate.
He then described a meeting at the White House. 'And look, 3 days after this conflict began, I was in the Oval Office with President Trump and a few other faith leaders, and he told us that Iran was within weeks of getting a powerful weapon that would destroy Israel, much of the Middle East, and could bring great harm to America.'
'And he had no choice but to act, and I thanked him then for having the courage to fulfill his God‑given responsibility to protect our nation,' the pastor said. His account of the Oval Office conversation is based on his own recollection of what Trump told him, and no supporting intelligence documents were produced during the Fox News segment to back the specific timeline he quoted.
For context, Romans 13 is frequently cited in disputes about how far Christians should support government action. Jeffress's summary on Fox was that the role of government is to protect citizens from evildoers, and he used that phrase to justify Trump's stance on Tehran. Critics in Christian theology have long argued that applying Romans 13 to complex situations such as sanctions, covert operations or military strikes requires careful interpretation, and some warn that the passage has been used in history to defend authoritarian rule, though those debates did not feature in the interview.
Source: International Business Times UK
