Romans 13

Koinonia Ministries

As an expression of love, Christians should submit to government because God appoints them to execute His judgements of morality within the human political sphere. While they should look kindly upon what is good, God has equipped them to exact punishment on those who do evil in society. For sake of God and conscience, we must pay what is owed and respect those in authority. One debt that never expires, however, is love for each other. If we perfect our love for God and neighbor, we will fulfill mosaic (and therefore civil) law precisely in the way we should. As we draw ever nearer to the end of this age and the concomitant return of Christ, we must live as those who belong to the next age, not the present one. Practically, that manifests as avoiding the drunken party lifestyle, sexual immorality, and social sins. Generally, instead of giving into our mortal/fleshly desires, we must look more and more like the Jesus to whom we already belong.