Paul’s second reason follows from his first. God has put authorities in place ‘to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right’ (1 Pet. 2:14). That is their mandate from God. It follows that, ‘rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong.’ The consequence (again very obvious) is that if I don’t want to be frightened by authority, I ought to do right. Paul expands his reason in two directions by repeating the words ‘he is God’s servant’. Positively, ‘he is