Romans 13

Submission to the Authorities

1 Let every person *Titus 3:1;1 Pet. 2:13be subject to the governing authorities. For *[John 19:11]; See Dan. 2:21there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you *1 Pet. 2:14will receive his approval, 4 for *2 Chr. 19:6he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, *1 Thess. 4:6an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also *1 Pet. 2:19;[Eccles. 8:2]for the sake of conscience. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 *Matt. 17:25;22:21;Mark 12:17Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.