Romans 13 Commentary

As Christians, we should obey the laws of our earthly government. The existing authorities were put there by God. If we break the law, we are defying God, and we're not exempt from punishment.

The government is meant to make laws that punish evil actions. If we want to feel safe in our country, we should obey the laws. The government's job is to act on God's behalf to enact justice. If we break the law, we rightly should feel worried. We should obey the laws of our country to both avoid punishment and to have a clean conscience.

Obeying the law means paying our taxes. We need to pay what we owe to those in charge of us, both money and respect.

Love fulfills the Law. If we love one another, we can live righteously and harmoniously with each other. Jesus said the same thing, that in loving God and one another we fulfill the Law. We have an obligation, we owe it to each other, to love one another.

We should live righteously, harmoniously together through faith because we will soon be with God. Paul has shown us how we should live and is now telling us to live this way because the day is approaching—the day of our glorification when we come to the presence of God.