Reflections on Romans 13

Romans 13 (Contemporary English Version)
1. Obey the rulers who have authority over you. Only God can give authority to anyone, and he puts these rulers in their places of power.
   
2. People who oppose the authorities are opposing what God has done, and they will be punished.
   
3. Rulers are a threat to evil people, not to good people. There is no need to be afraid of the authorities. Just do right, and they will praise you for it.
   
4. After all, they are God's servants, and it is their duty to help you. If you do something wrong, you ought to be afraid, because these rulers have the right to punish you. They are God's servants who punish criminals to show how angry God is.
   
5. But you should obey the rulers because you know it is the right thing to do, and not just because of God's anger.
   
6. You must also pay your taxes. The authorities are God's servants, and it is their duty to take care of these matters.
   
7. Pay all that you owe, whether it is taxes and fees or respect and honor.
   
8. Let love be your only debt! If you love others, you have done all that the Law demands.
   
9. In the Law there are many commands, such as, "Be faithful in marriage. Do not murder. Do not steal. Do not want what belongs to others." But all of these are summed up in the command that says, "Love others as much as you love yourself."
   
10. No one who loves others will harm them. So love is all that the Law demands.
    
11. You know what sort of times we live in, and so you should live properly. It is time to wake up. You know that the day when we will be saved is nearer now than when we first put our faith in the Lord.
    
12. Night is almost over, and day will soon appear. We must stop behaving as people do in the dark and be ready to live in the light.
    
13. So behave properly, as people do in the day. Don't go to wild parties or get drunk or be vulgar or indecent. Don't quarrel or be jealous.
    
14. Let the Lord Jesus Christ be as near to you as the clothes you wear. Then you won't try to satisfy your selfish desires.
    
    

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    Paul covered three topics in this chapter: submission to governmental authorities, love for one another, and a Christian lifestyle.
    
    Our response to Paul's first topic, submission to governmental authorities, will be filtered through our own experiences with governmental authorities. Whether those experiences are good or not so good, we can think of situations which seem to take exception with Paul's exhortation to submit to these authorities. But we must remind ourselves that if we accept all scripture as being God-breathed and authoritative in our lives, we cannot embrace Paul's teaching on the subject of mutual love and reject his teaching on submission to government authority.
    
    Paul could have taken exception with his own teaching on this point given his personal experiences with governmental authorities. For on more than one occasion he was unjustly treated by such authorities. There were occasions that Paul, as do we, had to choose between obedience to these authorities and obedience to God when they were in opposition. But even when he chose to obey God rather than the authorities, he submitted to them, willingly accepting the repercussions of his choice. Never did Paul speak out against these authorities or attempt to stir up the Christian community against the injustices of governmental authority even in light of the persecution against Christians. He saw the authority as being instituted by God and failure to submit as disobedience to God.
    
    Paul, as did Jesus, summarized the law in love, saying, "Love . . .  is the fulfillment of the law." (13:10) How can this be? Because love does no wrong to another. This, then, eliminates adultery, murder, stealing, coveting, or any other such action. For each of the ten commandments is a prohibition against unloving or hateful actions against God and man.
    
    The chapter concludes with a reminder to "put on the Lord Jesus Christ," another way of saying, "Become like Christ." (13:14)  In so doing, we will not be inclined to "deeds of darkness" such as carousing, drunkenness, sexual impurity, quarreling, or jealousy. Paul is exhorting Christians to be prepared for the Lord's return. The night - the time of His absence - is nearly over, and the daylight - the time of His coming - is near.