Romans 13

Submission to the Authorities

13Let every person ^pbe subject to the governing authorities. For ^qthere is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. ²Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. ³For 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 ^rwill receive his approval, ⁴for ^she 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, ^tan avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. ⁵Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also ^ufor the sake of conscience. ⁶For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. ^7vPay 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.

Fulfilling the Law Through Love

^8wOwe no one anything, except to love each other, for ^xthe one who loves another has fulfilled the law. ⁹For the commandments, ^y“You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: ^z“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore ^alove is the fulfilling of the law.

¹¹Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you ^bto wake from sleep. ^cFor salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. ^12dThe night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us ^ecast off ^fthe works of darkness and ^gput on the armor of light. ^13hLet us walk properly as in the daytime, ⁱnot in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, ^jnot in quarreling and jealousy. ¹⁴But ^kput on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, ^lto gratify its desires.