---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Romans 13"
description: "CHAPTER 13   :-. SAME SUBJECT
CONTINUED—POLITICAL
AND SOCIAL
RELATIONS—MOTIVES. 1, 2. Let every soul—every man
of you be subject unto the higher
powers—or"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/romans/13"
---

CHAPTER 13

. SAME SUBJECT
CONTINUED—POLITICAL
AND SOCIAL
RELATIONS—MOTIVES.

**1, 2. Let every soul**—every man
of you
**be subject unto the higher
powers**—or, "submit himself to the authorities that are
above him."
**For there is no power**—"no
authority"
**but of God: the powers that
be are ordained of God**—"have been ordained of God."

**2. Whosoever therefore resisteth the
power**—"So that he that setteth himself against the
authority."
**resisteth the ordinance of
God; and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation**—or,
"condemnation," according to the old sense of that word;
that is, not from the magistrate, but from God, whose authority in
the magistrate's is resisted.

**3, 4. For rulers are not a terror to
good works**—"to the good work," as the true reading
appears to be
**but to the evil.**

**4. he beareth not the sword in
vain**—that is, the symbol of the magistrate's authority to
punish.

**5. Wherefore ye must needs be
subject, not only for wrath**—for fear of the magistrate's
vengeance.
**but also for conscience'
sake**—from reverence for God's authority. It is of *Magistracy
in general,* considered as a divine ordinance, that this is
spoken: and the statement applies equally to all forms of government,
from an unchecked despotism—such as flourished when this was
written, under the Emperor Nero—to a pure democracy. The
inalienable right of all subjects to endeavor to alter or improve the
form of government under which they live is left untouched here. But
since Christians were constantly charged with turning the world
upside down, and since there certainly were elements enough in
Christianity of moral and social revolution to give plausibility to
the charge, and tempt noble spirits, crushed under misgovernment, to
take redress into their own hands, it was of special importance that
the pacific, submissive, loyal spirit of those Christians who resided
at the great seat of political power, should furnish a visible
refutation of this charge.

**6, 7. For, for this cause pay
ye**—rather, "ye pay"
**tribute also**—that is,
"This is the reason why ye pay the contributions requisite for
maintaining the civil government."
**for they are God's ministers,
attending continually upon this very thing**—"to this very
thing."

**7. Render therefore to all their
dues**—From magistrates the apostle now comes to other officials,
and from them to men related to us by whatever tie.
**tribute**—land tax.
**custom**—mercantile tax.
**fear**—reverence for
superiors.
**honour**—the respect due
to persons of distinction.

**8. Owe no man anything, but to love
one another**—"Acquit yourselves of all obligations except
love, which is a debt that must remain ever due" [HODGE].
**for he that loveth another
hath fulfilled the law**—for the law itself is but love in
manifold action, regarded as matter of duty.

**9. For this,** &c.—better
thus: "For the [commandments], Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt
not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not covet, and
whatever other commandment [there may be], it is summed up," &c.
(The clause, "Thou shalt not bear false witness," is
wanting in all the most ancient manuscripts). The apostle refers here
only to the second table of the law, as love to our neighbor is what
he is treating of.

**10. Love worketh no ill to his**—or,
"one's"
**neighbour; therefore,**
&c.—As love, from its very nature, studies and delights to
please its objects, its very existence is an effectual security
against our wilfully injuring him. Next follow some general motives
to the faithful discharge of all these duties.

**11. And that**—rather, "And
this [do]"
**knowing the time, that now it
is high time**—literally, "the hour has already come."
**to awake out of sleep**—of
stupid, fatal indifference to eternal things.
**for now is our
salvation**—rather, "the salvation," or simply
"salvation."
**nearer than when we**—first
**believed**—This is in the
line of all our Lord's teaching, which represents the decisive day of
Christ's second appearing as at hand, to keep believers ever in the
attitude of wakeful expectancy, but without reference to the
*chronological* nearness or distance of that event.

**12. The night**—of evil
**is far spent, the day**—of
consummated triumph over it
**is at hand: let us therefore
cast off**—as a dress
**the works of darkness**—all
works holding of the kingdom and period of darkness, with which, as
followers of the risen Saviour, our connection has been dissolved.
**and let us put on the armour
of light**—described at length in .

**13. Let us walk
honestly**—"becomingly," "seemingly"
**as in the day**—"Men
choose the night for their revels, but our night is past, for we are
all the children of the light and of the day (): let us therefore only do what is fit to be exposed to the
light of such a day."
**not in rioting and
drunkenness**—varied forms of intemperance; denoting revels in
general, usually ending in intoxication.
**not in chambering and
wantonness**—varied forms of impurity; the one pointing to
definite acts, the other more general.
**not in strife and
envying**—varied forms of that venomous feeling between man and
man which reverses the law of love.

**14. But**—to sum up all in one
word.
**put ye on the Lord Jesus
Christ**—in such wise that Christ only may be seen in you (see
[2 Corinthians 3:3](../../../kjv/2-corinthians/3/3); [Galatians 3:27](../../../kjv/galatians/3/27);
[Ephesians 4:24](../../../kjv/ephesians/4/24)).
**and make no provision**—"take
no forethought."
**for the flesh, to fulfil the
lust*****thereof*******—"Direct none of your
attention to the cravings of your corrupt nature, how you may provide
for their gratification."
*Note,* (1) How gloriously
adapted is Christianity for human society in all conditions! As it
makes war directly against no specific forms of government, so it
directly recommends none. While its holy and benign principles secure
the ultimate abolition of all iniquitous government, the reverence
which it teaches for magistracy, under whatever form, as a divine
institution, secures the loyalty and peaceableness of its disciples,
amid all the turbulence and distractions of civil society, and makes
it the highest interest of all states to welcome it within their
pale, as in this as well as every other sense—"the salt of the
earth, the light of the world" ([Ephesians 4:24](../../../kjv/ephesians/4/24)). (2) Christianity is the grand specific for the
purification and elevation of all the social relations; inspiring a
readiness to discharge all obligations, and most of all, implanting
in its disciples that love which secures all men against injury from
them, inasmuch as it is the fulfilling of the law ([Ephesians 4:24](../../../kjv/ephesians/4/24)). (3) The rapid march of the kingdom of God, the advanced
stage of it at which we have arrived, and the ever-nearing approach
of the perfect day—nearer to every believer the longer he
lives—should quicken all the children of light to redeem the time,
and, seeing that they look for such things, to be diligent, that they
may be found of Him in peace, without spot and blameless ([Ephesians 4:24](../../../kjv/ephesians/4/24)). (4) In virtue of "the expulsive power of a new and
more powerful affection," the great secret of persevering
holiness in all manner of conversation will be found to be "Christ
IN US, the hope of glory"
([Colossians 1:27](../../../kjv/colossians/1/27)), and Christ ON
US, as the character in which alone we shall be able to shine
before men ([2 Corinthians 3:8](../../../kjv/2-corinthians/3/8)) ([2 Corinthians 3:8](../../../kjv/2-corinthians/3/8)).

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