New Testament Commentary - Romans 13

by Don R. Hender

Scriptural Text [& Editorial]	Commentary & Explanation	Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
CHAPTER 13 Paul counsels: Be subject unto God's ministers; keep the commandments; love one another; righteousness leads to salvation.
The Order of God The Order of God and of Heaven is the Patriarchal Order of the Priesthood of God. It comes from Father to Son and this is the Order by which Jehovah, who is Jesus, received his Priesthood, Power and Authority under the Ordination of God the Father, the Father of Spirits.
1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers^a. For there is no power but of God^b: the powers that be are ordained of God^c. 2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. They that Resist Lucifer was he who we have recored who was the first to 'resist' God and he did so in the First Estate. His Progress is therefore damned. In his case he will never progress beyond being a personage of spirit and he would never obtain that Celestial Glory of God the Father of Spirits. There are many scriptures of the restoration and of the Bible which speak of this 'resistance' of Lucifer and those who followed after him. God the Father held judgment against Lucifer (See Commentary on Zechariah 3, the Judgment Council). And so it is that all who so resist the Plan of Eternal Progress, the Plan of Happiness, The Plan of Salvation, The Plan of Exaltation, The Plan of God; they are damned as to their own eternal progression and suffer the damnation of never coming to their full potential of becoming even as God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ are.	1^a every soul be subject unto the higher powers Now of course the 'higher powers' are those powers of God. Even Jesus Christ, who is also a living soul, is so subject unto the powers of God. He is subject to the powers of his Father, who is our Father. This is the patriarchal order. While Jesus is the same as Jehovah, the Ministering God of the Old Testament, it ought to well established just what the relationship between Jesus and God the Father is. God the Father stands as a Celestial God of the Eternities. Jesus was ordained, anointed and consecrated to be the Acting or Ministering God of this Second Estate. This Second Estate is a temporal mortal estate and only those who do pertain unto it may minister unto it (D&C 130:5). Thus God the Father elected, selected and established his Firstborn Son in the spirit, Jehovah who is Jesus Christ, to act in the stead of the Father (Lev. 16:32) in all things pertaining unto this the Second Estate. Thus did Jesus Christ, as Jehovah, the God of the Old Testament and the Creation of Heaven and Earth so act under the direction and by the authority of God the Father in so performing the Creation of all things (John 1:1-4). 1^b there is no power but of God Jehovah, who is Jesus the Son, received his power of God the Father. He received his 'divinity' from the Father. And he received the 'fulness' of the Father, that is he received the full portion of the Father's power, authority an also 'Godhood', which he with the Holy Ghost with the Father, stands as a part of, the Godhood or Godhead of God. To this end was Jehovah so selected by the Father, that the Father, through him, might administer the needs of His children of the Second Estate. He so selected one from among us, even Immanuel, God with or from among us, that we might have the powers of God governing and ministering to the Second Estate, the creation of the temporal world. 1^c powers that be are ordained of God It is only by and through the proper 'ordination' of God that men, even unto Jehovah, who is Jesus Christ, himself acts in the name of God and by the power of God. Jesus even as Jehovah did derive all his power and authority from his Father and our Father, God the Father of Spirits. And he did so by the proper ordinance of ordination to be the Ministering and Acting God of this Second Estate, for an in behalf of God the Father, acting in the stead of the Father in all things even with the power of and as though he was the same as the Father under the direction of the Father. They being one in mind and though and action in administration unto the needs of the children of God pertaining unto this Second Estate.
3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: 4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
5 Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. 6 For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.
7 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour. 8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. 9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet^a; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.^b	9^a Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet Of the last five commandments of Moses' ten, Paul varies their order, placing not to commit sexual sin before murder. Perhaps this is due to who Paul is teaching, the gentiles who may well have had greater problems with all types of sexual sins more than they had had with killing. Remember, other than having a military army, Roman and the Romans were the most highly civilized of nations and murder would not have been as common among the city people as would be their extremely wicked worship of their pagan God of the various sexual rituals being practiced among them. This also appears to be the order and the further expounding of which Paul lists these items in Romans chapter 1:24-29 as well. There Paul speaks of all the ilicite sexual sins committed outside of their proper place as in the marriage covenant between that man and the woman as set out by God from the Beginning. 9^b Thou shalt love they neighbour as thyself In relationship to the two great commandments, the second which deals with man's treatments of each other is the second, the first being that Lover of God and the first five commandments.
10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. 11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. 14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.