The New Testament with Commentary Romans 13

Submit

1 Let every soul submit to the governing authorities, because there is no authority except under God, and the existing authorities have been placed by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authority is opposed to God's ordinance, and those who oppose will bring judgment on themselves.* 3 Now rulers are not a terror to good deeds but to bad ones. So if you wish not to fear the authority, do the good and you will have praise from the same; 4 because it is God's minister to you with a view to the good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, because it does not bear the sword for nothing; because it is God's minister, an avenger with a view to wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore it is necessary to submit, not only because of the wrath, but also because of the conscience.† 6 This is precisely why you pay taxes, for they are God's servants, continually attending on this very thing.‡ 7 Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes, customs to whom customs, respect to whom respect, honor to whom honor.

Love

8 Owe no one anything except to love one another, since he who loves the other has fulfilled the law.§ 9 Because—“You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,”* “You shall not covet,”† and whatever further commandment—everything is summed up in this word, namely: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”‡ 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment§ of the law.

Put on Christ

11 Besides this, knowing the time, it is high time for us to be awakened from sleep, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is nearly over, and the day is near;* so let us get rid of the works of the darkness, and let us put on the weapons of the light.† 13 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual orgies and licentiousness, not in strife and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, with a view to lusts.‡

* 13:2 God does not like anarchy. † 13:5 Presumably regimes that are overtly evil are not in view. Where a regime overtly combats the good, while promoting the evil, divine guidance is especially necessary for representatives of the good, because even an evil regime exists by God's permission. That said, however, in Luke 10:19 Sovereign Jesus gives us “the authority over all the power of the enemy”. It is therefore within the sphere of our competence to forbid any use of Satan's power in the administration of the country, in the surrounding culture, in the entertainment industry, and so on. The sky is the limit. ‡ 13:6 Have you ever seen a government that didn't want more money? § 13:8 Of course this is agape love. * 13:9 About a third of the Greek manuscripts omit “You shall not bear false witness”, to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc. † 13:9 See Exodus 20:13-17 and Deuteronomy 5:17-21. ‡ 13:9 See Leviticus 19:18. § 13:10 The Greek word here could also be rendered ‘complement’. * 13:12 When a servant of Christ dies physically, he leaves the ‘night’ of this world behind and his ‘day’ of glory begins. Each day we live brings us closer to that moment, so we need to make the best possible use of the time we have left. † 13:12 That is right, ‘weapons’. Light repels darkness. To make a difference, weapons must be used. ‡ 13:14 Of course we have to eat and drink to maintain life and health; it is the abuse of these appetites that is in view; in fact, Paul's terminology indicates ‘heavy’ abuses.