Romans 13:1-14
1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordaineda of God.
2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:
4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
5 Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.
6 For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.
7 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.
8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
13 Let us walk honestly,b as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
The apostle now showed what attitude the believer will take toward the world. The first thing dealt with is submission to authority. These powers are of God. The believer's submission to the will of God is manifested in the world by his obedience to properly constituted authority. The very statement of the case, however, inferentially reveals another side of the question. The believer subjects himself to the power when he fulfils the true intent of his calling and office. Paul's own case will give examples of rebuking rulers.
Again, abandonment to the will of God is evidenced before the world by the discharge of all just debts. This is summed up in the first injunction, "Owe no man anything save to love one another." Always to owe love is to render it impossible to defraud in matters of purity, of life, of property. Thus, as the apostle declares, "Love, therefore, is the fulfilment of the law."
Thus ends the section dealing specifically with the requirement of the Christian's submission to God, personal humility in love, relative submission to love. These are the true credentials of the life abandoned to God in spirit, soul, and body.
The apostle then declared what is the perpetual incentive to realization of the abandonment of life, in both its inner and its outward manifestations. Darkness is everywhere. The children of the Lord are to walk as in the day, even though as yet the night is round about them. They already feel the breath of the morning moving through the darkness, and, casting off the garments of the night, they are to clothe themselves with the armor of light and watch for the first gleam of the breaking dawn.