“For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.”
This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. — Telos (tax, toll, revenue) payment to the leitourgoi (public ministers, servants) who proskartereō (persist in, devote themselves to) tēi leitourgiai (the public service) is obedience rendered. Taxes fund the protective and judicial functions of government. This is not tribute to an alien power but support for God's ordained servants.
Church Fathers on Romans 13:6
“For, for this cause pay ye tribute also; for they are God's ministers, attending continually on this very thing.” Without going one by one into the benefits done to states by the rulers, as that of good order and peace, the other services, as regarding the soldiery, and those over the public business, he shows the whole of this by a single case. For that you are benefited by him, he means, you bear witness yourself, by paying him a salary. Observe the wisdom and judgment of…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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