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Rom.13:1. Let every soul be submissive to the higher authorities; Having offered his listeners sufficient instructions regarding morality and taught them to be favorable even to their enemies, he also offers a real exhortation, teaching every soul, even a priest, even a monk, even an apostle, to obey his superiors; for this submission does not undermine piety. And the apostle offers this exhortation with the purpose of showing that the Gospel does not teach treason or disobedience to superiors, but a noble way of thinking and obedience. for there is no power except from God; the existing authorities have been established by God. What are you saying? Is every boss really appointed by God? “That’s not what I’m saying,” he answers. Now I have a word not about each boss individually, but about the bosses themselves. That there are principalities, that some are in charge and others are subordinate, and that there is no confusion between higher and lower, this I call a matter of the wisdom of God. For he did not say: there is no leader, but “there is no authority except from God.” Therefore, I say, he talks about the subject itself, about the authorities. Similarly, when the wise man says: “A wise woman is from the Lord” (Prov. 19:14), he does not say that God unites everyone who enters into marriage, but that marriage is established by God. So, all powers, no matter what you take into consideration, whether father over son, husband over wife, or all others, even those that exist between animals, for example, between bees, cranes, fish, are all established by God. Rom.13:2. Therefore, he who resists authority resists God's institution. And those who resist will bring condemnation upon themselves. So that believers cannot say: you humiliate us by subjecting us to the rulers of those who are destined to receive the Kingdom of Heaven, shows that he who obeys the rulers obeys God, or, what is much more terrible, he who disobeys the rulers resists God, who established the rulers, and the one who resists will be punished by both God and people. He inspired the latter by saying: “those who resist will bring condemnation upon themselves.” Rom.13:3. For those in authority are not a terror to good deeds, but to evil deeds. Do you want to not be afraid of power? Do good and you will receive praise from her. What are you afraid and terrified of? Does your boss scold you if you do good? Is he terrible for you if you are jealous of virtue? On the contrary, if you do good, then the boss is appointed to praise you. He is so far from making you afraid that he even praises you. Rom.13:4. for the ruler is God's servant, for your good. He, he says, cooperates with the will of God. For example: God advises you to be chaste: and the boss also prescribes laws. God admonishes you not to be covetous and a thief: and the ruler has been appointed judge over the same. Consequently, he is our helper in good deeds if we devote ourselves to him. If you do evil, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain: This means that it is not the boss who produces fear in us, but our vices, because of which the boss’s sword, that is, the power to punish. The ruler, he says, does not gird himself with a sword in vain, but in order to punish the wicked. he is God's servant, an avenger to punish those who do evil. When a leader praises virtue, he fulfills the will of God; and when he uses the sword, there is a servant of God who protects virtue and drives away vice. Many do good not so much out of fear of God as out of fear of their superiors. Therefore, when a leader protects virtue and punishes vice, then he is God’s servant. Rom.13:5. And therefore one must obey not only out of fear of punishment, but also out of conscience. It is necessary for you, he says, to obey not only so as not to experience the wrath of both God and your superior, as if you were disobedient, and not be subjected to unbearable punishment, but also because not to turn out to be unscrupulous and ungrateful to your benefactor. Great benefits are delivered to the rulers of states. They support our well-being, and if it weren’t for them, everything would have been overthrown long ago because the strongest would have swallowed up the weakest. So, let your own conscience, he says, convince you to honor those who bring you so many benefits. Rom.13:6. This is why you pay taxes, You say, you yourself testify that the boss does you good because you give him a reward, obviously, as someone who cares about you. We would not have paid taxes in the first place if we had not known that we were benefiting from the authorities, whose passersby tirelessly watch in our place, and we are free from the hassle of this. for they are God's servants, constantly occupied with this. Therefore, God wants us to pay taxes to His servants. God wants civil society to be peaceful, to live virtuously, and to suppress vice; and this is where the leaders serve the will of God, zealously caring for general peace, making tireless efforts to ensure that we spend our lives in peace and quiet. If someone uses authority for evil, this does not say anything against the benefit of the authority itself. Rom.13:7. So give everyone their due: give to whom, give; to whom quitrent, quitrent; to whom fear, fear; to whom honor, honor. Gratitude to your superiors, he says, is your inevitable duty. Give tribute to everyone to whom various commands have been entrusted: to whom a tax is due, that is, a poll tax, give the tax to him, and to whom a quitrent, that is, a contribution for the land, is due, give the quitrent to him. But don't just give us money. Give also fear, that is, respect, reverence and excellent honor. Therefore he adds: “to whom is honor, honor.” There are two types of fear. The only fear that criminals fear is the fear that comes from a bad conscience: this fear was rejected by the apostle even before. The other fear is that which those who love their beloved have, that is, the highest degree of respect, as it is said: “there is no poverty among those who fear Him” (Ps. 33:10) and: “the fear of the Lord is pure and endures forever” (Ps. 19:10). There is, of course, reverence here. Rom.13:8. Do not owe anyone anything except mutual love. Other debts, he says, should be repaid. But don’t ever want to repay love, but always have it as a constant debt. If you always show your neighbor the affection of a lover, then do not imagine that therefore tomorrow you must neglect him: on the contrary, always think that you have a duty to love your neighbor. For he who loves another has fulfilled the law. Rom.13:9. For the commandments: do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not covet someone else’s, and all the others are contained in this word: love your neighbor as yourself. He who loves his neighbor fulfills the law. Therefore, everyone should love his neighbor because he receives so many benefits from him and from love for him that he fulfills the whole law. He didn’t say: it is supplemented, but “concluded,” that is, this commandment briefly contains the entire composition of the commandments. For the beginning and end of virtue is love. Further, the law requires love to the highest degree. “Love,” he says, “your neighbor as yourself,” but our Lord demands more, inspiring us to love our neighbor more than ourselves; for he teaches him to lay down his life for a friend (John 15:13). Rom.13:10. Love does not harm one's neighbor; So love is the fulfillment of the law. Shows that love has both perfections. When he says that “love does no harm to one’s neighbor,” he means that it is abstinence from evil, and with the words “love is the fulfillment of the law” he indicates that it is doing good. So, love fulfills in us the virtue indicated by the law in its entirety. Rom.13:11. Do this, knowing the time that the hour has already come for us to awaken from sleep. You should, he says, highly value love, and through it all other virtues. That's how it is now. The day of resurrection is near, judgment is near, and we must awaken from the sleep of negligence and be ready for deeds worthy of resurrection. For salvation is closer to us now than when we believed. Probably, at the beginning, after their conversion, they were the most zealous, and then, over time, they cooled down. Therefore he says: now we are closer to the future century; for he means “salvation”, calling it so from its best side, because for sinners it is not salvation, but destruction. As we approach the future life, we must intensify our attention. This is what is shown below. Rom.13:12. The night has passed (προέκοψεν) and the day has approached: That is, the night will end soon. For example: suppose that the night consists of twelve hours. When ten hours have passed, we say that the night is ending (προέκοψεν), instead of: passed, close to the end. He calls the present age night, because in it many are in darkness and everyone’s life is covered in darkness; and he calls the future age day, both because of the lordship of the righteous, and because then the secrets of all will be revealed. In the Gospel, the present age is called day because during it one must do something, and the future age is called night because then no one can do it (John 9:4). Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and put on the weapons of light. He called sinful actions deeds, as something difficult, associated with great inconveniences, subject to thousands of dangers even in the present century; and he called virtuous actions weapons of light: for they provide those who have them with security as weapons, and make them bright as weapons of light. With the words “let us reject” and “let us put on”, he showed the convenience of both, that is, both removal from evil deeds and turning to virtue. Just as it is not difficult to put aside clothing and put on another, so it is possible to move away from vice and embrace virtue. Rom.13:13. As in the daytime, we will behave decently, Above he said: “the day has come,” but now he shows that it is already coming, and teaches us to behave decently in it. The deanery attracts those who greatly respected the glory of the people; and he did not say: behave, but “let us behave,” making his exhortation bearable. For nothing is so ugly as sin, and nothing brings beauty so much as virtue. without indulging in feasting or drunkenness, He forbids not drinking, but drinking without measure; not drinking wine, but drunkenness. “Feasting” is a state of being drunk, combined with grievances, which is also called rioting while drunk. neither voluptuousness nor debauchery, Having spoken before about drunkenness, now he speaks about the evil that results from it; for debauchery comes from drunkenness, and here it is not communication with women that is cut off, but fornication. Having extinguished the evil that comes from lust, he now suppresses the evil that comes from anger. For nothing kindles lust and inflames anger more than drunkenness and disorderly behavior in a drunken state. From envy comes zeal or quarrel, because one who envies another even ends up in quarrels. Therefore, having removed the quarrel, it goes back to its beginning - envy. He mentions quarrel and envy along with debauchery because from the latter comes fighting and the transformation of houses. Rom.13:14. but put on our Lord Jesus Christ, Having taken off our sinful clothes, he finally adorns us, no longer clothing us in the weapons of light, but, what can be more terrifying, making the Lord Himself our robe. He who is clothed in this garment has every virtue. and do not turn cares for the flesh into lusts. Does not prohibit caring for the body, but “lust”. Take care, he says, of the body for health, and not for lewdness. For it would be no care if you kindled a flame and lit up the furnace to your own detriment. Try only to have a healthy body, and do not worry about anything beyond that, and do not kindle the lust of the body, but turn all your attention to the spiritual. You might be interested in: