Romans
Chapter 13
Overview
Paul turns from big questions about government to the everyday demands of love. Writing to believers in Rome, he tells them to respect governing authorities, pay what they owe, and let conscience guide their conduct. Yet the chapter’s center is not power but love: it gathers God’s commands into one practical way of treating other people. Paul then shifts to a dawn image. The night is nearly over, so it is time to wake up, leave destructive habits behind, and live openly in the light, shaped by Jesus rather than by restless desire.
1Every person must submit to the governing authorities. No authority exists unless it comes from God, and the authorities that exist have been put in place by God.
2Therefore, anyone who resists the governing authority is opposing what God has established, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.
3Rulers are not a cause for fear when people do good, but when they do wrong. Do you want to live without fearing the authorities? Do what is good, and they will praise you.
4The governing authority is God’s servant, working for your good. But if you do wrong, you should be afraid, because that authority does not carry the sword for no reason. It is God’s servant, an agent who punishes those who do wrong.
5So you must submit, not only to avoid punishment but also because your conscience tells you it is right.
6This is also why you pay taxes. Government officials are God’s public servants, continually attending to this responsibility.
7Give everyone what you owe: taxes to those who are due taxes, customs fees to those who are due customs fees, respect to those who are due respect, and honor to those who are due honor.
8Owe no one anything except the continuing duty to love one another. Whoever loves another person has fulfilled God’s law.
9The commands “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” and “Do not desire what belongs to someone else”—along with every other command—are summed up in this statement: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”
10Love does no harm to another person. Therefore, love fulfills the law.
11Do all this because you understand the present time. The hour has already come for you to wake from sleep, because God’s rescue of us is closer now than when we first believed.
12The night is nearly over, and the day has come near. So let us throw off the deeds of darkness and put on the weapons of light.
13Let us live honorably, as people living in daylight. We must not take part in wild parties and drunkenness, sexual promiscuity and shameless excess, or quarreling and jealousy.
14Instead, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, and do not plan how to satisfy the wrong desires of your self-centered human nature.