Chapter 13
1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there 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. [Rom 13:1-2 ESV]
Give up your guns, pay your taxes to a government that promotes abortion and atheism...they are there because God put them there. We are to be examples of submission, according to this verse, not examples of rebellion. Oppose what you want to oppose so long as you are not breaking the law. If the law goes against you, obey the law. There's no getting around this. If you don't like the government, pray for God to change it. Vote to change it. But do it in submission, within the law.
MSB note says the Greek word used here for "subject" was used for the absolute obedience a soldier owed to his commanding officer. There was only one exception, and that was if the order was in direct opposition to the word. If the government orders you to abort your baby, you can say no. Like that.
Beginning in 12:9, Paul begins to talk about Christian behavior. First there is the long list, itemized in the text and summarized above into four categories. Then he turns to the government. This letter is to those living in Rome, which was not a great place for Christians at this time. Yet they were living in the seat of what was essentially the "world government" of that day. The government was very corrupt, very anti-Christian, very power-oriented. But Paul told them to submit without hesitation to that government in non-Biblical matters, without exception.
2022 - This verse:
7 Pay 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. [Rom 13:7 ESV].
Look at how far Paul goes with this. He doesn't say pay taxes if they are fair, but pay them if you owe them. Revenue is translated custom in the KJV, and "fees" in the NLT. Then the last two - paying respect and honor where it is due. Surely Paul means that we are to respect authority - respect the position - even if we don't much care for the person. Paul was writing this to the Christians in Rome in about AD 56. Nero became emperor in AD 54, and I see no way around the fact that Paul is saying Nero should be respected and honored BECAUSE he is emperor. Just look back to vs 2 in this same chapter: 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. [Rom 13:2 ESV]. God put Nero in office as surely as he put Trump and then Biden in office. Doesn't this mean that sharing cartoons or memes derogatory to either of them "will incur judgment"? If we are Christians, we need to stop behaving as if we have a pass to ignore this one. We don't! And then look how Paul ends this chapter. Love your neighbor. He says to focus on that. I think he is redirecting the Roman Christians from Nero bashing to neighbor helping. The world changes from the neighborhood to the statehouse, NOT the other way around!
Possible FB post...but that last needs rewording.
Then beginning in 13:8, he says to love your neighbor, as a summary instruction for the last five commandments. If you love your neighbor, then you fulfill the law.
Paul closes the chapter by imparting a sense of urgency to these instructions, noting that things of the flesh are transient and with salvation (rapture) imminent, there is no time for those things.
This is the last verse of the chapter:
14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. [Rom 13:14 ESV]
Back to the theme - the theme of the book of Romans, but to my mind, a theme pushed to the front of Paul's thinking by the circumstances in the place from which he wrote. The Corinthians were carnal. They were about the flesh. And for that reason, Paul wants to preempt any incursion of this debasing philosophy in the church at Rome.
(((2021 - So...a FB post on 2/4 about blinded Israel as an explanation for blinded people. Then, Rom. 12:14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 as a way to get along in the world despite mistreatment, persecution, rancor towards us. And then Rom 13:1-7, Do what the law requires no matter who represents the law!!! Is it a coincidence that all these things are lined up this way???)))