Paul’s command to “be subject to the governing authorities” unsettles us for good reason. History has shown that rulers can commit horrific injustice. Jewish memory itself includes revolt against tyranny, such as the Maccabean resistance to Antiochus Epiphanes. So what is Paul doing here?

He writes under Roman occupation, shaped by messianic hope. Many expected God’s anointed one to overthrow political oppressors. Yet Jesus entered Jerusalem not on a warhorse, but on a donkey. His kingdom was not seized by force but revealed through suffering love.

Romans 13 is not a naïve endorsement of every regime. Nor is it passive resignation. It is a reframing of where the true struggle lies. The deepest battle is not against flesh and blood but within the human heart — the pull toward retaliation, domination, and fear. If followers of Jesus mirror the violence they oppose, they forfeit the message they carry.

Submission here is strategic. It recognises that earthly power is temporary and limited. Paying taxes and giving what is owed is not worship; it is refusing to make politics ultimate. Jesus dismissed Herod’s supposed power and refused the devil’s offer of worldly kingdoms. Authority is real, but it is not final.

At the same time, this teaching does not excuse injustice. Some suffer terribly under corrupt systems. The question becomes: how do we resist without becoming what we oppose? Paul’s answer lies just before this passage: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Lasting change does not begin with overthrow but with transformation. Seeds planted in mercy, courage, and enemy-love eventually undermine oppressive systems from within. These are acts of quiet resistance, and through them, empires will fall. 

Hearts changed by the Spirit endure. To submit is to align with God’s larger purposes, trusting that love outlasts power and that what is rooted in violence will eventually collapse under its own weight. 

Adapted from the Liberated Life Bible Commentary: Romans.

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