Romans 13
Introduction
Romans 13 marks a transition in Paul's practical exhortations that began in chapter 12. Having called believers to present their bodies as living sacrifices and to exercise their gifts within the body of Christ, Paul now addresses the Christian's relationship to the governing authorities. Writing to a church in the heart of the Roman Empire -- likely during the reign of Nero, around AD 57 -- Paul makes the striking claim that civil authorities are ordained by God and that submission to them is a matter of conscience, not merely fear. This teaching would have been especially sensitive for a community that included both Jews (some recently returned after Claudius's expulsion edict) and Gentiles navigating life under imperial rule.
The chapter then pivots from the duty owed to the state to the debt of love owed to one another. Paul argues that love is the fulfillment of the entire law, summing up all the commandments in the single command to love one's neighbor. The chapter closes with an urgent eschatological appeal: the night is far spent, the day is drawing near, and believers must therefore live in moral alertness, clothed not in the works of darkness but in the Lord Jesus Christ himself. This final exhortation famously became the passage that catalyzed Augustine's conversion, as recounted in his Confessions.
Submission to Governing Authorities (vv. 1-5)
1 Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which is from God. The authorities that exist have been appointed by God. 2 Consequently, whoever resists authority is opposing what God has set in place, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.
3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you want to be unafraid of the one in authority? Then do what is right, and you will have his approval. 4 For he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not carry the sword in vain. He is God's servant, an agent of retribution to the wrongdoer.
5 Therefore it is necessary to submit to authority, not only to avoid punishment, but also as a matter of conscience.
1 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been appointed by God. 2 Therefore, the one who resists the authority has opposed the ordinance of God, and those who have opposed it will receive judgment upon themselves.
3 For rulers are not a cause of fear for good conduct, but for evil. Do you wish to have no fear of the authority? Do what is good, and you will receive its approval. 4 For it is God's servant to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid, for it does not bear the sword without purpose. For it is God's servant, an avenger bringing wrath upon the one who practices evil.
5 Therefore it is necessary to be subject, not only because of wrath but also because of conscience.
Notes
Paul opens with the command that πᾶσα ψυχή ("every soul") must submit to the ἐξουσίαις ὑπερεχούσαις ("authorities that are above" or "governing authorities"). The phrase "every soul" is a Semitic idiom meaning "every person" (see Acts 2:43, Romans 2:9) and underscores the command's universal scope.
The verb ὑποτασσέσθω ("let be subject") is a present middle/passive imperative of ὑποτάσσω, a term originally used of arranging soldiers in formation under a commander. It implies a voluntary ordering of oneself under another, not servile groveling. The same word family appears in verse 2: the one who ἀντιτασσόμενος ("resists/sets himself against") the authority has opposed the διαταγῇ ("ordinance/arrangement") of God. Paul creates a wordplay on the root τάσσω ("to arrange/appoint"): the authorities have been τεταγμέναι ("arranged/appointed") by God; to resist them is to ἀντιτάσσω ("arrange oneself against") God's own arrangement.
In verse 4, Paul twice calls the ruler Θεοῦ διάκονος ("God's servant/minister"). The word διάκονος is the same term used for deacons and ministers in the church (see Romans 16:1, 1 Timothy 3:8). The governing authority, whether it knows it or not, serves a function within God's providential ordering of the world. The reference to the μάχαιραν ("sword") is widely understood as a reference to the Roman government's power of capital punishment and coercive force. The verb φορεῖ ("wears/carries habitually") rather than the simple φέρει ("carries") suggests the ongoing, visible display of this authority.
Verse 5 provides two grounds for submission: ὀργήν ("wrath") -- the fear of punishment -- and συνείδησιν ("conscience"). The second ground elevates the motivation beyond mere self-preservation: Christians submit not simply to avoid consequences but because they recognize, in conscience before God, that civil order is part of God's good design for human life.
What Paul does not say here matters. He says nothing about whether the state is always just, nor does he address situations where the governing authority commands what God forbids or forbids what God commands. The broader witness of Scripture shows that faithful resistance to unjust authority is sometimes required (see Exodus 1:17, Daniel 3:18, Daniel 6:10, Acts 5:29).
Interpretations
The scope and limits of submission to governing authorities described in verses 1-5 have generated longstanding debates in Christian political theology.
Lutheran Two Kingdoms: Martin Luther distinguished between God's "two kingdoms" -- the spiritual kingdom (governed by the gospel and the church) and the temporal kingdom (governed by law and the state). Both are ordained by God, but they have distinct purposes. The state restrains evil and maintains order through the sword; the church proclaims the gospel and administers the sacraments. Christians live simultaneously in both kingdoms. This framework generally counsels obedience to the state in temporal matters while reserving spiritual authority for the church. Luther did allow for disobedience when the state commands what God forbids, but he was cautious about active resistance.
Reformed/Calvinist tradition: Calvin agreed that civil magistrates are ordained by God but developed a more robust theory of resistance. He argued that "lesser magistrates" (lower-ranking officials) have a God-given duty to resist tyrannical rulers who violate God's law. This idea profoundly influenced later political thought, including resistance theory during the English Civil War and the American Revolution. The Reformed tradition tends to emphasize that Romans 13 describes the proper function of government, and when a government ceases to fulfill its God-ordained role, it may forfeit its claim to the obedience Paul describes.
Anabaptist tradition: Many Anabaptist interpreters read Romans 13 as acknowledging that God ordains the state for the restraint of evil in a fallen world, but they emphasize that Christians are called to a different ethic -- the way of the cross, nonviolence, and the kingdom of God. Believers submit to the state insofar as conscience permits but do not participate in the state's use of the sword. On this reading, Paul is describing the state's role, not endorsing Christian participation in it.
Paying What Is Owed (vv. 6-7)
6 This is also why you pay taxes. For the authorities are God's servants, who devote themselves to their work. 7 Pay everyone what you owe him: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.
6 For this is also why you pay taxes, for they are God's ministers, attending constantly to this very thing. 7 Render to all what is owed: the tax to whom the tax is due, the toll to whom the toll is due, fear to whom fear is due, honor to whom honor is due.
Notes
In verse 6, Paul uses a different word for the authorities: λειτουργοί ("ministers/public servants"). This term has both civic and sacred connotations. In the Greek Old Testament it referred to priests who served in the temple; in secular Greek it described public officials who performed services for the state. Paul's use of this term reinforces the theological dignity of civil governance: rulers carry out a kind of public service that serves God's purposes.
The verb προσκαρτεροῦντες ("attending constantly/devoting themselves") is the same word used of the early church's devotion to prayer and the apostles' teaching (Acts 2:42, Acts 6:4). This suggests that governing is itself a vocation requiring dedicated attention.
Verse 7 echoes Jesus' famous teaching in Matthew 22:21: "Render to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's." Paul distinguishes between φόρος ("direct tax" -- a tribute levied on persons or property) and τέλος ("toll/revenue" -- an indirect tax on goods, customs duties). The shift from taxes to φόβον ("fear/respect") and τιμήν ("honor") broadens the principle: believers owe not only financial obligations to the state but also appropriate reverence and honor to those in authority. The word ὀφειλάς ("debts/what is owed") sets up the transition to verse 8, where Paul will say the only ongoing debt is the debt of love.
Love as the Fulfillment of the Law (vv. 8-10)
8 Be indebted to no one, except to one another in love. For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and any other commandments, are summed up in this one decree: "Love your neighbor as yourself." 10 Love does no wrong to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
8 Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another, for the one who loves the other has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments -- "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not covet" -- and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 10 Love does not work evil against the neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Notes
Verse 8 turns on the debt language of verse 7. Paul has just told the Romans to pay all their debts; now he says there is one debt that can never be fully discharged: τὸ ἀλλήλους ἀγαπᾶν ("the loving of one another"). The verb ὀφείλετε ("owe") can be read as either an imperative ("owe nothing") or an indicative ("you owe nothing"), but the context favors an imperative sense. The exception clause ("except to love one another") does not mean love is literally a debt that can be paid off; rather, it is the one obligation that remains perpetually binding.
The statement ὁ γὰρ ἀγαπῶν τὸν ἕτερον νόμον πεπλήρωκεν ("for the one who loves the other has fulfilled the law") uses the perfect tense πεπλήρωκεν ("has fulfilled"), indicating a completed state. Love is not merely one command among many; it is the essence and goal of all the law's demands. This parallels Jesus' teaching that the whole law hangs on the two love commands (Matthew 22:37-40) and Paul's own statement in Galatians 5:14.
In verse 9, the verb ἀνακεφαλαιοῦται ("is summed up/recapitulated") literally means "to bring under one head." All the individual commandments from the second table of the Decalogue -- prohibitions against adultery, murder, theft, and coveting (drawn from Exodus 20:13-17 and Deuteronomy 5:17-21) -- find their unity and summary in the single command from Leviticus 19:18: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
Verse 10 states the principle negatively: ἡ ἀγάπη τῷ πλησίον κακὸν οὐκ ἐργάζεται ("love does not work evil against the neighbor"). Then it states the conclusion positively: love is the πλήρωμα ("fullness/fulfillment") of the law. The word πλήρωμα is a rich term in Paul, used elsewhere for the fullness of Christ (Colossians 1:19) and the fullness of the Godhead (Colossians 2:9). Here it means that love is the full content and complete expression of what the law always intended.
This passage has significant implications for Paul's theology of the law. Paul does not abolish the moral law; rather, he shows that the law's deepest intention is fulfilled precisely through love, which is the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) poured into believers' hearts (Romans 5:5).
The Urgency of the Present Time (vv. 11-14)
11 And do this, understanding the occasion. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is nearly over; the day has drawn near. So let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14 Instead, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.
11 And do this, knowing the time, that the hour has already come for you to wake from sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. 12 The night is far advanced; the day has drawn near. Let us therefore put off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly, as in the daytime -- not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
Notes
Verse 11 opens with καὶ τοῦτο ("and this"), connecting the ethical exhortation to what follows: the knowledge of τὸν καιρόν ("the time/season"). The word καιρός does not mean merely chronological time (χρόνος) but a decisive, pregnant moment in salvation history. Paul describes the present as the hour to ἐγερθῆναι ("be raised/wake up") from ὕπνου ("sleep"). The verb is the same one used for resurrection, lending the metaphor a deeper resonance: spiritual awakening echoes the final resurrection.
The statement that "our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed" uses σωτηρία ("salvation") in its future, consummated sense -- not justification (past) or sanctification (present) but the final redemption, the resurrection of the body and the renewal of all things (Romans 8:23).
Verse 12 employs two vivid metaphors of exchange. ἀποθώμεθα ("let us put off/lay aside") pictures removing clothing -- the ἔργα τοῦ σκότους ("works of darkness") are like night garments to be stripped away. ἐνδυσώμεθα ("let us put on") pictures donning new clothing -- but what believers put on is not merely garments but τὰ ὅπλα τοῦ φωτός ("the armor/weapons of light"). The word ὅπλα can mean either "weapons" or "armor" and carries a military connotation (see 2 Corinthians 6:7, Ephesians 6:11-17). The Christian life between the times is not passive but active, a battle fought with the equipment that belongs to the coming day.
The vice list in verse 13 is arranged in three pairs: κώμοις καὶ μέθαις ("carousing and drunkenness"), κοίταις καὶ ἀσελγείαις ("sexual immorality and sensuality"), ἔριδι καὶ ζήλῳ ("strife and jealousy"). The first pair describes excess in drink, the second excess in sexual conduct (the word κοίταις literally means "beds" and is used euphemistically), and the third describes social discord. Together they represent the typical behaviors of Roman nightlife, contrasted with the "daytime" conduct befitting those who belong to the coming day.
Verse 14 provides the climactic positive command: ἐνδύσασθε τὸν Κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν ("put on the Lord Jesus Christ"). Christ is not merely a teacher to follow or an example to imitate -- he is a garment to be worn, an identity to be inhabited. The language echoes baptismal imagery (Galatians 3:27: "as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ") and suggests that the ethical life flows from union with Christ.
The final clause -- τῆς σαρκὸς πρόνοιαν μὴ ποιεῖσθε εἰς ἐπιθυμίας ("make no provision for the flesh, with regard to its desires") -- uses πρόνοια ("forethought/provision"), a word associated with planning and care. The command is not to neglect the body but to stop planning for the gratification of sinful desires. The flesh (σάρξ) here refers not to the physical body as such but to the fallen human nature oriented away from God.
Augustine recounts in his Confessions (8.12) that in the crisis of his conversion, he heard a child's voice saying "Take up and read." He opened Paul's letter to the Romans and his eyes fell on verses 13-14: "Not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires." Augustine wrote: "No further would I read; nor needed I: for instantly at the end of this sentence, by a light as it were of serenity infused into my heart, all the darkness of doubt vanished away."