Romans 13
The Christian is called to submit to the governing authorities, for no authority exists except by God's ordination, and those that exist have been instituted by God—the ruler is God's servant for good, the bearer of the sword who carries out God's wrath upon the evildoer. Paul establishes the legitimacy of civil authority yet grounds it in divine delegation, implying both obedience and accountability to a higher norm. Taxes must be paid, tribute rendered, honor and respect given to whom they are due; yet the debt of love transcends all human obligations—owe nothing except to love one another, for the one who loves the other has fulfilled the law. The commandments (do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not covet) are summed up in the single word: love your neighbor as yourself (Lev 19:18), the fulfillment of the law in its totality. The urgency of the eschatological hour infuses the chapter: salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed; the night is almost gone, the day is near, and therefore the Christian must put off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light, put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh—a realized eschatology where the already of Christ's coming and the not-yet of the final consummation create the tension within which ethics must be lived.