Romans 13

The divine purpose, and limited role, of ruling authorities

1Every person must be subject to the ruling authorities. There is no authority, you see, except from God, and those that exist have been put in place by God. 2As a result, anyone who rebels against authority is resisting what God has set up, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. 3For rulers hold no terrors for people who do good, but only for people who do evil.

If you want to have no fear of the ruling power, do what is good, and it will praise you. 4It is God’s servant, you see, for you and your good. But if you do evil, be afraid; the sword it carries is no empty gesture. It is God’s servant, you see: an agent of justice to bring his anger on evildoers. 5That is why it is necessary to submit, not only to avoid punishment but because of conscience.

6That, too, is why you pay taxes. The officials in question are God’s ministers, attending to this very thing. 7So pay each of them what is owed: tribute to those who collect it, revenue to those who collect it. Respect those who should be respected. Honor the people one ought to honor.

Love, the law and the coming day

8Don’t owe anything to anyone, except the debt of mutual love. If you love your neighbor, you see, you have fulfilled the law. 9Commandments like “don’t commit adultery, don’t kill, don’t steal, don’t covet”—and any other commandment—are summed up in this: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10Love does no wrong to its neighbor; so love is the fulfillment of the law.

11This is all the more important because you know what time it is. The hour has come for you to wake up from sleep. Our salvation, you see, is nearer now than it was when first we came to faith. 12The night is nearly over, the day is almost here. So let’s put off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light. 13Let’s behave appropriately, as in the daytime: not in wild parties and drunkenness, not in orgies and shameless immorality, not in bad temper and jealousy. 14Instead, put on the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, and don’t make any allowance for the flesh and its lusts.

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Romans 13: NTFE

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a. The New Testament for Everyone, Third Edition. Copyright © 2011, 2018, 2019 by Nicholas Thomas Wright, The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. All rights reserved. Published by Zondervan, 2023.

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