Lesson 29: Submission to Authorities – 13:1-7
 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.
3 For 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 will receive his approval,
4 for he 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, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.
5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience.
6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing.
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.

Our verses today surprise many believers because they think it is God’s call for us to change our world for the better. Many of us live in countries where Jesus is not honored, and some of us even live in countries where Jesus is hated and those who follow Him are killed for doing so.

But if we read history, these words were written through a man who was living in a time and in a country where believers were being killed for the entertainment of those who watched. The leader of Rome at this time was a man who was insane. And yet, these words were God’s command to believers living under such rule.


How can it be that God would appoint such a leadership and ask us to be subject and obedient to it? God has His plan (Isaiah 46:9-10) and it will be carried out just as He planned it. We cannot see His entire plan, so we must simply follow Him by faith. We who believe in Him are citizens of a greater kingdom (Philippians 3:20) and our final allegiance is to Him rather than to any earthly kingdom or government. But since we are ambassadors for Him (2 Corinthians 5:20) it is our duty to be His faithful representative to this earthly place where we live.

If we do as our King has asked and follow the law of love (we will learn more of this in our next study as well as in Romans 14) no one will ever be able to justly accuse us of doing wrong. This law of love is described in 1 Corinthians 13. These verses simply mean we should be the best citizens of our country possible.

Please remember also that Jesus is not telling us that we are to follow everything our government tells us; we cannot disobey God to obey them if the two do not agree. But if we must disobey men to obey God, then we are not to complain about the results of our disobedience to man’s laws (see the disciples’ response in Acts 5:17-42).

*What does this lesson mean to you where you live today?