Scripture quotations on this page are from the World English Bible (public domain), shown in quotation marks; all commentary is written by Scripture Trove. Source: Romans 13 · Commentary
Right after the personal ethic of chapter 12, "overcome evil with good," Paul turns to the relationship between Christians and the social order. This chapter moves from the public sphere (submitting to governing authorities) to the central command (love as the fulfillment of the law), and finally closes with a sense of eschatological urgency. The logic of the transition is this: chapter 12 deals with "the individual facing an enemy" (do not avenge yourself), and chapter 13 deals with "society facing the evildoer" (government carries out justice). The two levels together form a complete view of justice: the individual surrenders the right of revenge, and society recognizes the authority of government. These two do not conflict; they complement each other.
This is the fourth major section of Romans: the practical ethics of the Christian life (12:1–15:13). The chapter sets out the believer's threefold relationship to government, to the law, and to the end of the age. Together with chapter 12 it forms an overview of the shape of the Christian's new life: chapter 12 has three centers, "God, the church, the enemy," and chapter 13 has three more, "Caesar, the law, the last day." The two chapters together cover every area of Christian living. After chapter 13 (chapters 14–15), Paul moves into more specific application, the tension between the weak brother and the strong brother over keeping days and eating foods. But the foundation has already been laid firmly in chapters 12–13.
13:10 "Love doesn’t harm a neighbor. Love therefore is the fulfillment of the law."
Romans 13:10（World English Bible）
13:11 "Do this, knowing the time, that it is already time for you to awaken out of sleep, for salvation is now nearer to us than when we first believed."
Romans 13:11（World English Bible）
13:14 "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, for its lusts."
Romans 13:14（World English Bible）
Brothers and sisters, the order of this chapter is worth pondering carefully. Paul speaks first of submitting to authority (1-7), then of love fulfilling the law (8-10), and finally of putting on Christ (11-14). Why? Because God knows that the Christian does not live in a vacuum. You carry a citizen's identity and obligations, you need the wisdom of love to live among people, and the ultimate motive for all of this comes from the Lord who is about to return.
God has not asked you to flee this world. He has placed you in this world to "walk as in the day." You pay your taxes, keep the law, and respect your rulers, not because the order of this world is perfect, but because the God who upholds that order is faithful. You love your neighbor as yourself, not because everyone deserves your love, but because you have already been loved with a love you can never repay. You put on Christ, not as an attractive outer garment to win admiration, but so that the life of Christ may cover you from the inside out, and you may shine in the last stretch of darkness before dawn.
And when Augustine, in a garden in Milan, heard a child's voice say "Take up and read" (Tolle, lege), he opened the Scriptures and read precisely the words, "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ." A beam of certainty flooded his heart, and all the shadows of doubt dissolved. This verse was not spoken only to Augustine. It is spoken to you. Is there anything in your life today that you could not do in the light of day? Is there anything that amounts to "making provision for the flesh"? Lay those things down. Put on Christ like armor you never take off.
13:1-2 "Let every soul be in subjection to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those who exist are ordained by God. Therefore he who resists the authority, withstands the ordinance of God; and those who withstand will receive to themselves judgment."
Romans 13:1-2（World English Bible）
This passage has sparked enormous controversy in the history of Christian ethics. It has been used to support absolute obedience to government, and it has also been carefully defined as a limited submission. To understand what Paul means, we must first return to the situation in which he wrote. When Paul wrote Romans (around AD 57), it was the early part of Nero's reign, a period of relative political stability, when Nero's tutor Seneca and the praetorian prefect Burrus still guided affairs of state. But the Jewish community in Rome had just experienced Claudius's edict of expulsion in AD 49 (see Acts 18:2), and the Jewish Christians who had now returned may well have been filled with hostility toward the Roman government. Paul's exhortation to submit, against this background, is partly because he did not want the young church to invite needless persecution through political conflict. "There is no authority except from God": Paul's theological framework comes from the Old Testament understanding of God's sovereignty. God is the Lord of history, and even unbelieving kings are under his control (see Daniel 2:21, "he changes the times and the seasons; he removes kings, and sets up kings"). This does not mean God approves of every act of every government. It means that political authority as an institution itself is established by God to maintain social order. Paul uses authority (ἐξουσία, exousia) in its institutional sense; he is not endorsing the moral character of any particular ruler. "He who resists the authority withstands the ordinance of God": this is not an unconditional, absolute command. Paul himself was thrown into prison by the authorities many times for preaching the gospel (2 Corinthians 11:23-25), and Peter and the apostles plainly declared, "We must obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29). What Paul is discussing here is normal civic order, paying taxes, keeping the law, respecting officials, not asking believers to abandon their loyalty to God when God's command and the government's command come into conflict.
13:3 "For rulers are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil. Do you desire to have no fear of the authority? Do that which is good, and you will have praise from the same,"
Romans 13:3（World English Bible）
What Paul describes here is the ideal function of government: rewarding good and punishing evil. Of course, Paul knew well that real governments are not always like this; he himself had been unjustly beaten and imprisoned. But his point concerns the institution's design and purpose, not an evaluation of how every government actually performs. It is like saying "the law exists to protect the people": this speaks of the purpose of law, not a claim that every law actually achieves that purpose. Under the legal system of the Roman Empire, Christians who did good and kept the law usually did receive official tolerance, even protection, and Paul himself repeatedly used his Roman citizenship to protect himself (Acts 16:37-38; 22:25-29).
13:4 "for he is a servant of God to you for good. But if you do that which is evil, be afraid, for he doesn’t bear the sword in vain; for he is a servant of God, an avenger for wrath to him who does evil."
Romans 13:4（World English Bible）
"A servant of God" (διάκονός θεοῦ, diakonos theou) is a striking title. Paul applies a word normally used for those who serve in the church to governing authority, showing that the order of the state also has a serving function within God's general providence. "Bear the sword" refers to the authority of the Roman government to carry out punishment. The point is not to encourage violence, but to show that justice cannot remain merely a matter of private feeling; society needs a public order to restrain evil. The individual Christian may not take private revenge (12:19), but this does not mean society has no need to judge evildoing. This is exactly where Romans 12 and Romans 13 connect with each other.
13:5-7 "Therefore you need to be in subjection, not only because of the wrath, but also for conscience’ sake. For this reason you also pay taxes, for they are servants of God’s service, attending continually on this very thing. Therefore give everyone what you owe: if you owe taxes, pay taxes; if customs, then customs; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor."
Romans 13:5-7（World English Bible）
"Not only because of the wrath, but also for conscience' sake" moves submission from external pressure to inner reverence. When believers pay taxes, keep the law, and respect officials, it is not merely out of fear of punishment, but out of acknowledging, before God, his sovereignty in establishing order. "If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if customs, then customs" also brings the believer's spiritual life down into very concrete public responsibility: the gospel is not an excuse to flee from society. On the contrary, it shapes honest, trustworthy, and responsible civic life. Of course, this submission is still bound by a higher principle. When human commands require us to deny Christ or to do wrong, the principle of Acts 5:29 still holds.
13:8 "Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law."
Romans 13:8（World English Bible）
From obligations toward the government, Paul moves to a more fundamental obligation: love. He uses a clever transition. He has just spoken of paying off various debts (taxes, customs); now he says that all those debts can be paid in full, except one debt that can never be paid off, the debt of loving one another. The word ὀφείλετε (opheilete, "owe") places the obligatory nature of paying taxes and the obligatory nature of love along the same semantic line. Love is not an optional decoration of feeling; it is a debt that can never be "completed." "He who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law": this directly echoes Jesus' summary of the law (Matthew 22:37-40). Paul does not mean that love cancels the law, but that when you truly love others, you naturally do what the law requires. Love is the fulfillment (πλήρωμα, plērōma) of the law, not its abolition. This echoes the declaration of 3:31: "Do we then nullify the law through faith? May it never be! No, we establish the law." Faith establishes the law through love. The law says "you shall not murder," but love makes you unwilling even to entertain the thought of harming another.
13:9 "For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other commandments there are, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”"
Romans 13:9（World English Bible）
13:10 "Love doesn’t harm a neighbor. Love therefore is the fulfillment of the law."
Romans 13:10（World English Bible）
13:11-12 "Do this, knowing the time, that it is already time for you to awaken out of sleep, for salvation is now nearer to us than when we first believed. The night is far gone, and the day is near. Let’s therefore throw off the deeds of darkness, and let’s put on the armor of light."
Romans 13:11-12（World English Bible）
Paul suddenly introduces a sense of eschatological urgency. This is not a new topic; it is the ultimate motive for the ethical life. He says "it is already time for you to awaken out of sleep": the Christian is not slowly cultivating himself in a static world, but living within a history that is counting down. "Salvation is nearer than when we first believed": Paul's eschatology is "already–not yet." Salvation has already begun (justification, sanctification), but its final completion (the resurrection of the body, the new heavens and new earth) still lies ahead, and every day draws nearer. "The night is far gone, the day is near": this image is extraordinarily powerful. The present age is "night," full of sin, suffering, and incompleteness. But the "day" of Christ's return is already sending up its first light on the horizon. You are not asleep at midnight; you are in the last dark hour before dawn, and morning is almost here. At this crucial moment, will you go on sleeping in the deeds of darkness, or will you put on the equipment of light to meet the day? Note the asymmetry between "the deeds of darkness" and "the armor of light": what we cast off is "deeds" (ἔργα, erga), but what we put on is "armor" (ὅπλα, hopla). The Christian life is not merely passively avoiding evil deeds, but actively equipping oneself. You are fighting a battle; you need weapons. This military image belongs to the same family as "the whole armor of God" in Ephesians 6:10-17.
13:13 "Let us walk properly, as in the day; not in reveling and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and lustful acts, and not in strife and jealousy."
Romans 13:13（World English Bible）
The six vices here can be divided into three groups: indulgence in food and drink (reveling, drunkenness), indulgence in passion (sexual promiscuity, lustful acts), and self-centeredness in relationships (strife, jealousy). Paul is not randomly listing moral failures; he is portraying the typical look of "night life": the body dragged along by desire, relationships twisted by comparison and competition. This stands in sharp contrast to chapter 12's "present your bodies a living sacrifice." The Christian does not despise the body, but no longer lets the body become an instrument of sin.
13:14 "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, for its lusts."
Romans 13:14（World English Bible）
"Put on" is the image of clothing oneself, and it is also connected to the language of being baptized into Christ (Galatians 3:27). Paul does not merely say "stop sinning"; he says to put on Christ himself, letting his character, holiness, love, and light become the believer's new identity. The word "provision" in "make no provision for the flesh" carries the sense of planning ahead, reserving space. Many sins do not happen suddenly; they have long been prepared through time, imagination, circumstances, and choices. So sanctification also means concretely dismantling these preparations: leaving no path open for sin, but preparing the way for obedience.
| Theme | Core Teaching |
|---|---|
| Government and God | Political authority is established by God to maintain order, and believers are to submit; but this is not an unconditional, absolute command |
| Love and the Law | Love does not abolish the law; love fulfills the law: when you truly love others, you naturally do what the law requires |
| Eschatological Ethics | The Christian lives in the tension of "already–not yet," and the urgency of the last day is the ultimate motive for the ethical life |
| Putting On Christ | The core of Christian ethics is not keeping rules, but letting the character of Christ become the garment and armor of your life |
Romans 13 is the New Testament's most direct teaching chapter on "the Christian and the state." If Romans 12 is the ethic of "the believer with God, the church, and the enemy" (the personal level), then Romans 13 is the ethic of "the believer with the state, the law, and the last day" (the public level). The two chapters together form one of the most complete pieces of New Testament ethics. The teaching of 13:1-7 about submitting to governing authorities, together with 1 Peter 2:13-17 (Peter urging submission even under more severe persecution), 1 Timothy 2:1-3 (Paul urging prayer for kings), and Titus 3:1 (Paul urging Titus to teach believers "to be in subjection to rulers and to authorities"), forms a fourfold New Testament witness to "Christian citizenship": four books, two authors (Paul, Peter), teaching the same principle in different times and circumstances: submission under normal order, and a firm line at the boundary of faith.
Within the six-part structure of Romans, this chapter falls in the unfolding of the sixth section, "the applied ethics of the Christian" (chapters 12–16). The statement of 13:8-10, "he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law," is Paul's version of Jesus' two greatest commandments (Matthew 22:36-40, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart … you shall love your neighbor as yourself"). Paul summarizes the essence of the Mosaic law in the most concentrated way into one saying, "you shall love your neighbor as yourself." Together with Galatians 5:14 ("the whole law is fulfilled in this one word, in the statement, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'"), James 2:8 ("if you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself,' you do well"), this is a chorus of voices: four New Testament passages together witness to the core claim of Christian ethics, that love is the sum of the law.
13:11-14 is a concentrated passage of Paul's eschatologically urgent ethics. The saying "but put on the Lord Jesus Christ" (13:14) is the very verse Augustine read at the moment of his conversion in a garden in Milan in AD 386 (Confessions VIII.12, "Tolle, lege": "Take up and read!"). This is one of the most famous conversion experiences in church history. Few New Testament verses have so concretely changed the destiny of a "saint" as this one. The theological significance of this conversion shows that the biblical text itself possesses a real agency, driven by the Holy Spirit. A single verse can, at a particular spiritual moment, directly change a life. And Augustine's conversion in turn, through his writings (Confessions + The City of God + On the Trinity), shaped the next fifteen hundred years of Western theology. One verse → one person → the whole of Western Christianity: this is the agency of the New Testament text at its most extreme.
The six Old Testament reference pivots of this chapter:
Core theological tension: this chapter uses a single "therefore" (13:5, "therefore you need to be in subjection") to connect external political submission with inner submission of conscience, and then a single "knowing" (13:11, "do this, knowing the time") to connect the present ethical choice with the eschatological coordinate of history. From "the relationship with Caesar" to "the relationship with the law" to "the relationship with the last day": three layers deepen step by step, and finally land on one action: "put on the Lord Jesus Christ," the ultimate motive of all Christian ethical living.
The heart of it in one sentence: the Christian's citizenship and the citizenship of the kingdom of heaven are not in conflict. You pay taxes and keep the law, not because the government is perfect, but because the God who upholds order is faithful; you love your neighbor as yourself, not because everyone deserves it, but because the Christ who first loved you is faithful; you put on Christ, not to wear an outer garment that wins admiration, but to let the Lord who is about to return cover you from the inside out.
Romans 13:8-10, "he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law," plus 13:9's direct quotation of Leviticus 19:18, "you shall love your neighbor as yourself": this principle echoes in at least five places in the New Testament.
| Source | Text | Setting |
|---|---|---|
| Matthew 22:36-40 (Jesus) | "This is the first and great commandment. A second likewise is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments." | Jesus answering the lawyer's question, "which is the greatest commandment in the law?" |
| Mark 12:28-34 / Luke 10:25-28 (Jesus) | The same + Luke 10 leading into the parable of the Good Samaritan | Jesus' dialogue with a lawyer / scribe |
| Romans 13:9 (Paul) | "For the commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not covet' … are all summed up in this saying, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'" | The ethical section of Romans |
| Galatians 5:14 (Paul) | "For the whole law is fulfilled in this one word, in the statement, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'" | Galatians, opposing legalism |
| James 2:8 (James) | "If you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself,' you do well." | The ethical section of James |
| John 13:34-35 (Jesus) | "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also love one another." | Jesus' "new commandment" at the Last Supper |
Core observations:
| Romans 13 | Echoing Text | Note on the Connection |
|---|---|---|
| 13:1 submit to authorities | 1 Peter 2:13-17 | Peter still urges submission in a later persecution setting: consistent with Paul |
| 13:1 submit to authorities | 1 Timothy 2:1-3 | Paul urges prayer for kings: the same principle |
| 13:1 submit to authorities | Titus 3:1 | Paul urges Titus to teach believers "to be in subjection to rulers and to authorities": a fourfold witness |
| 13:1 authority is from God | John 19:11 | Jesus says to Pilate, "You would have no power at all against me, unless it were given to you from above" |
| 13:1 the line of faith | Acts 5:29 | "We must obey God rather than men": the biblical basis for resistance |
| 13:4 bears the sword | Genesis 9:6 | After the flood God grants humanity authority to carry out justice: the original commission of governmental function |
| 13:7 Caesar and God | Mark 12:17 | Jesus' "render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's": distinction, not opposition |
| 13:8 love fulfills the law | Galatians 5:14 | "the whole law is fulfilled in this one word, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'" |
| 13:9 love your neighbor as yourself | Matthew 22:37-40 | Jesus summarizes the law in two commands: love God, love your neighbor |
| 13:9 love your neighbor as yourself | James 2:8 | "the royal law": James's identical summary |
| 13:9 love your neighbor as yourself | John 13:34-35 | Jesus' "new commandment": loving one another is the mark of disciples |
| 13:11 salvation nearer | Philippians 4:5 | "The Lord is at hand": the same eschatological urgency |
| 13:12 armor of light | Ephesians 6:11-17 | the whole armor: from metaphor to detailed inventory |
| 13:13 not in reveling | Galatians 5:19-21 | the works of the flesh: a similar list of vices |
| 13:14 put on Christ | Galatians 3:27 | identity put on at baptism → character put on daily |
| 13:14 put on Christ | Ephesians 6:11 | put on the whole armor of God: the putting-on of spiritual warfare |
This chapter advances through three authority relationships: government, the law, and the last day. It speaks first of external order, then of how love fulfills the law, and finally of the eschatological pressure of the approaching day. This arrangement links public ethics, neighbor ethics, and the hope of the end together.
| Original | Transliteration | Chinese Union | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| ἐξουσία | exousia | authority | institutional power, not equivalent to moral approval of the power-holder |
| διάκονος θεοῦ | diakonos theou | servant of God | the government's objective role in God's plan: a servant who maintains order |
| μάχαιρα | machaira | sword | symbol of the Roman Empire's ius gladii (power of execution); not borne in vain |
| φόρος / τέλος | phoros / telos | tribute / tax | direct tax / indirect tax: the two main categories of the Roman tax system |
| ὀφείλετε | opheilete | owe | love is a debt that can never be paid off: the one thing we should always go on owing |
| ἀγάπη | agapē | love | the central New Testament word for "love": self-giving love that does not seek its own (1 Corinthians 13) |
| πλήρωμα νόμου | plērōma nomou | the fulfillment of the law | love is the fulfillment/filling-full of the law, not its abolition |
| καιρός | kairos | time | "the decisive moment / the critical hour": an eschatological sense of time, distinct from chronos (ordinary time) |
| ὅπλα φωτός | hopla phōtos | armor of light | Christian ethics is battle equipment, not merely a code of conduct: echoing the whole armor of Ephesians 6:11 |
| ἐνδύσασθε | endysasthe | put on | to put on Christ as one puts on armor: a thorough exchange of character; echoing the baptismal putting-on of Galatians 3:27 |
| πρόνοια | pronoia | provision | the forethought made for the flesh: sin is prepared, not spontaneous |
Romans 13 is made up of three thematic units, each dealing with the Christian's relationship to one "authority":
| Passage | Relationship | Core Command |
|---|---|---|
| 13:1-7 | believer ↔ government (the authority of Caesar) | submit, pay taxes, show respect |
| 13:8-10 | believer ↔ the law (the commandments of Moses) | fulfill it through love |
| 13:11-14 | believer ↔ the last day (the return of Christ) | wake up, put on Christ |
There is a progression among the three: submitting to government is the external baseline of conduct → fulfilling the law through love is the inner deepening of motive → putting on Christ is the ultimate transformation of identity. From conduct to motive to identity, Paul's ethics deepens layer by layer.
Romans 13:11-14 is a concentrated passage of Paul's "eschatologically urgent ethics" (eschatological ethical urgency). The key concept: the Christian's ethical conduct is not only because "this is the right thing to do" (a rational basis), and not only because "God commands it" (an authority basis), but even more because "history is rushing toward an endpoint" (an eschatological basis).
13:11, "it is already time to awaken out of sleep," "salvation is now nearer to us than when we first believed" + 13:12, "the night is far gone, the day is near": these three statements form the core expression of Paul's "already–not yet" eschatology:
The expression "put on the Lord Jesus Christ" has at least three "put on, clothe yourselves" echoes in the New Testament:
| Source | Text | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Romans 13:14 | "but put on the Lord Jesus Christ" | the putting-on at the level of daily character: the fundamental motive of the ethical life |
| Galatians 3:27 | "as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Christon enedysasthe) | the putting-on of identity at baptism: the fundamental transformation of the believer's standing |
| Ephesians 6:11 | "put on the whole armor of God" | the putting-on at the level of spiritual warfare: the equipment for resisting the devil |
All three use the same root, endyō, but at different semantic levels. Galatians 3:27 is the level of standing ("have put on," a completed tense), Romans 13:14 is the level of character ("put on," an imperative), and Ephesians 6:11 is the level of warfare ("put on," an imperative). Paul's theology of "putting on" is a complete threefold structure: the Christian has already, at baptism, put on Christ in terms of standing (once for all), but needs to go on putting this identity onto his character in daily life (continually), and to put on the whole armor of God when facing spiritual warfare (situationally).
Romans 13:1-7 is not Paul's only statement on the church-state relationship. It needs to be read together with other passages to form the complete picture: Daniel and his three friends refused to worship the golden image (Daniel 3 and 6), the apostles said "we must obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29), and Revelation 13 portrays the Roman Empire as a beast rising out of the sea. Scripture presents not a simple formula of "absolute submission," but a dual loyalty held in tension: respecting the government under normal order → holding firm to loyalty to God when the line of faith is crossed. What Paul handles in Romans 13 is the former, not the latter. But this does not mean the latter does not exist.
The "love fulfills the law" of 13:8-10 is an important piece of Romans' view of the law: 3:20 says the law cannot justify a person → 3:31 says faith establishes the law → 7:7-12 says the law itself is holy, righteous, and good → 8:4 says the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in those who walk according to the Spirit → 13:10 says love fulfills the law. Paul is not an antinomian; what he opposes is treating the law as a means of justification. But he fully affirms the law's continuing significance as moral guidance. Love is the fulfilled form of the law. When the Spirit pours love into your heart (5:5), you receive the inner motive truly to keep the law.
The eschatological urgency of 13:11-14 is not a frightening "the end of the world is coming soon," but the ultimate coordinate of Paul's ethical teaching. Christian ethics is not only because "this is the right thing to do" (a rational basis), and not only because "God commands it this way" (an authority basis), but even more because "history is rushing toward an endpoint" (an eschatological basis). You do not make your choices in a vacuum. You are choosing what clothes to wear in a world where dawn is breaking. If the day is almost here, will you still snore away in your pajamas?
Romans 13:13-14 is the most famous conversion text in church history. In August AD 386, the 32-year-old Augustine (Aurelius Augustinus, 354-430) was converted in a garden in Milan, Italy, an event that changed the entire course of Western Christian theology.
Augustine's situation at the time: intellectually he had long agreed with Christianity (under the influence of Ambrose, bishop of Milan), but morally he could not break free from the bondage of passion, especially his thirteen-year relationship with an unnamed woman (with whom he had a son, Adeodatus). This tension of "the mind already believing, the will not yet willing" plunged him into deep spiritual anguish.
The specific experience on the day of his conversion (recorded in detail in Confessions VIII.12): Augustine was weeping bitterly in the garden when he suddenly heard a neighbor's voice (perhaps a child) repeatedly singing out "Tolle, lege; tolle, lege" (Latin for "Take up and read; take up and read"). He went back beside his friend Alypius, opened the letters of Paul that his friend had brought, and the first passage his eye fell on was Romans 13:13-14: "not in reveling and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and lustful acts, and not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, for its lusts." Augustine records that he did not want to read on, nor did he need to; as he finished the sentence, a beam of certainty entered his heart and drove out all doubt.
The theological significance of this conversion:
Application for today: Augustine's story tells us:
When Paul wrote Romans, the early part of Nero's reign (the quinquennium Neronis, the so-called "five good years of Nero," AD 54-59), under the guidance of Seneca and Burrus, was relatively mild. The Roman legal system was at that time the most developed in the ancient world, and Paul benefited many times from the protection of Roman citizenship. Yet only a few years later (after the great fire of Rome in AD 64), Nero began his brutal persecution of Christians, and Paul himself may have been martyred in Rome between AD 64 and 67. Paul, writing 13:1-7, could not have foreseen all this. But even amid persecution, the attitude of the early church toward the Roman Empire remained one of respect and submission as its basic tone (1 Peter 2:13-17, written in a later period, still urges submission), choosing resistance only when the core of faith was touched.
The "tribute" (φόρος, phoros, direct tax) and "tax" (τέλος, telos, indirect tax, customs duties) that Paul mentions reflect the complex tax system of the Roman Empire. Direct taxes included the poll tax and land tax; indirect taxes included customs duties, sales taxes, and harbor tolls. Around AD 58 there was intense popular discontent with the corruption of tax collectors. Tacitus records that Nero once considered abolishing all indirect taxes because of public resentment (though in the end it was not carried out). When Paul says at this very moment "pay tax to whom tax is due," he is choosing a non-provocative stance on a highly sensitive issue.
The most famous echo of Romans 13:13-14 in church history is Augustine's conversion story. At the time Augustine had already accepted Christianity intellectually, but morally he still could not cut off the bondage of passion. In a garden in Milan he heard a neighbor's child singing, as it were, repeatedly, "Take up and read" (Tolle, lege), and he opened Paul's letters at random and read this passage: "not in reveling and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and lustful acts … but put on the Lord Jesus Christ": as if every word were speaking to him. This event not only changed Augustine's own life, but also profoundly shaped the direction of the entire development of Western Christian theology.
| Role | Position in This Chapter | Key Actions / Attributes |
|---|---|---|
| Paul | teacher of practical ethics | teaches Christians how to conduct themselves across three dimensions: government, the law, and the last day |
| Governing authorities | instruments of the order God established | reward good and punish evil, bear the sword to enforce the law, are God's "servant" |
| The Roman believers | dual identity of citizen and citizen of the kingdom | called to submit to government, to fulfill the law through love, and to put on Christ to meet the day |
Romans 13:1-7 is one of the most controversial passages in the whole history of the church. From the time of Nero to the twenty-first century, every generation of Christians has reinterpreted these words: what exactly does "submit to governing authorities" mean? In the face of an unjust government, a government that persecutes the church, laws that violate basic human rights, what should a Christian do? Church history has produced at least four major mainstream theological positions, each with biblical support, support in church tradition, and actual historical cases.
Martin Luther (1483-1546) developed the "Two Kingdoms" doctrine: God has established two kingdoms in the world:
Both kingdoms are God's instruments, but their functions are entirely different. The church may not wield the sword (may not force faith), and the government may not preach the gospel (may not coerce the conscience). The Christian is at the same time a "citizen of two kingdoms": a saint in the church, a citizen in society. Luther argued this position systematically in On Secular Authority (1523). The strength of the Two Kingdoms doctrine is that it clearly distinguishes the different spheres of church and state and protects freedom of conscience (faith is not coerced). Its weakness is that it can easily lead Christians to passive retreat in the face of an unjust government (as with the hesitation of part of the German Lutheran church before the Nazi regime in World War II).
John Calvin (1509-1564) put into practice a "theocratic governance" in Geneva: Christians should actively take part in governing the state, so that the law embodies the sovereignty of Christ. This is not "the union of church and state" (the church ruling the state), but "the sovereignty of Christ" (the sovereignty of Christ should run through every sphere, including politics). The Calvinist strand later developed schools such as Theonomy and Christian Reconstructionism, which hold that the Old Testament civil law should still be applied to the modern state. Puritan New England (seventeenth-century Massachusetts) was an attempt to put Calvinist theocracy into practice. The strength of this position is that it clearly acknowledges Christ's sovereignty over all things. Its weakness is that it can easily blur the boundary between "spreading the gospel" and "enforcing the law."
Menno Simons (1496-1561) and other Anabaptists developed a "separatist, pacifist" position: Christians should completely refuse the violence of the state (military service, oaths, participation in politics), living out the pattern of an "alternative community." Their argument: Christians are "not of the world" (John 17:14-16), Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount clearly forbade retaliation (Matthew 5:38-48), and the government's "bearing the sword" in Romans 13:4 is for unbelievers, not for Christians. The Mennonites, the Amish, the Hutterites, and the Quakers have all maintained this position. Its strength is that it clearly bears witness to a gospel of nonviolence. Its weakness is its practical powerlessness in the face of violent aggression (such as Hitler or the Rwandan genocide).
In the 1960s and 1970s, Latin American Catholic theologians (Gustavo Gutiérrez and others) developed "liberation theology": Christians should actively resist the oppressive structures of the state. Their argument: God is "the God of the poor" (in Exodus 3, God hears the cry of Israel enslaved in Egypt), the gospel necessarily entails economic and political liberation, and Christians may not remain neutral toward oppression. This position carried powerful prophetic force during the era of Latin American military dictatorships (such as Archbishop Óscar Romero of El Salvador, martyred while celebrating Mass in 1980). Its strength is that it clearly bears witness to God's concern for the oppressed. Its weakness is that it can easily politicize the gospel (as in the controversy of certain versions combined with Marxism).
To understand the differences among these four positions, we must return to the specific historical situation in which Paul wrote Romans 13:
The time of writing was around AD 57, the early part of Nero's reign (he reigned 54-68). The first five years of Nero's reign are called the "Quinquennium Neronis" ("the five good years of Nero"), when Seneca (the Stoic philosopher and Nero's tutor) and Burrus (the praetorian prefect) actually governed, and Roman rule in this period was relatively mild. When Paul wrote Romans 13:1-7, he had not yet seen the madness of Nero's later years (after the great fire of Rome in AD 64 the persecution of Christians began; Paul himself may have been martyred in Rome between AD 64 and 67).
The significance of this historical background:
Romans 13 is not a command of "absolute obedience to the government"; it is about "the civic responsibility of the believer under normal order" and "acknowledging God's sovereignty over the order of history." When the government requires Christians to disobey the command of God (worshiping idols, denying Christ, doing injustice), "we must obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29) always applies. This dual principle, normal submission with a firm line at the boundary of faith, is the heart of the New Testament's "Christian citizenship."