Berean BlueOpen the app

Romans · Chapter 13

Romans 13

Berean Standard Bible · Public domain · Source credits

Choose a chapter in Romans
  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16

Submission to Authorities

(1 Peter 2:13–20)

1Everyone 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.

2Consequently, whoever resists authority is opposing what God has set in place, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.

3For 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.

4For 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.

5Therefore it is necessary to submit to authority, not only to avoid punishment, but also as a matter of conscience.

6This is also why you pay taxes. For the authorities are God’s servants, who devote themselves to their work.

7Pay 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.

Love Fulfills the Law

(Leviticus 19:9–18)

8Be indebted to no one, except to one another in love. For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

9The 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.”*

10Love does no wrong to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

The Day Is Near

11And 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.

12The 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.

13Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.

14Instead, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.*

Source notes

  1. 13:9 Exodus 20:13–17; Deuteronomy 5:17–21 Leviticus 19:18 Read Exodus 20:13 Read Deuteronomy 5:17 Read Leviticus 19:18
  2. 13:14 Or put on; see verse 12.

Old Testament references

References from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. Text from the Berean Standard Bible.

Exodus 20:13

You shall not murder.

Deuteronomy 5:17

You shall not murder.

Leviticus 19:18

Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against any of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.

Deuteronomy 17:12

But the man who acts presumptuously, refusing to listen either to the priest who stands there to serve the LORD your God, or to the judge, must be put to death. You must purge the evil from Israel.

1 Samuel 2:8

He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap. He seats them among princes and bestows on them a throne of honor. For the foundations of the earth are the LORD’s, and upon them He has set the world.

1 Chronicles 28:4

Yet the LORD, the God of Israel, chose me out of all my father’s house to be king over Israel forever. For He chose Judah as leader, and from the house of Judah He chose my father’s household, and from my father’s sons He was pleased to make me king over all Israel.

1 Chronicles 28:5

And of all my sons—for the LORD has given me many sons—He has chosen Solomon my son to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel.

Psalms 62:11

God has spoken once; I have heard this twice: that power belongs to God,

Proverbs 8:15

By me kings reign, and rulers enact just laws;

Proverbs 8:16

By me princes rule, and all nobles who govern justly.

Jeremiah 27:5

By My great power and outstretched arm, I made the earth and the men and beasts on the face of it, and I give it to whom I please.

Jeremiah 27:6

So now I have placed all these lands under the authority of My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. I have even made the beasts of the field subject to him.

Jeremiah 27:7

All nations will serve him and his son and grandson, until the time of his own land comes; then many nations and great kings will enslave him.

Jeremiah 27:8

As for the nation or kingdom that does not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and does not place its neck under his yoke, I will punish that nation by sword and famine and plague, declares the LORD, until I have destroyed it by his hand.

Daniel 2:21

He changes the times and seasons; He removes kings and establishes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.

Read the commentary on Romans 13

Open in Berean Blue