Romans 13:7 Explained in Context

Selected verse

Verse 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.

King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions

Quick Meaning

This verse directs payment of taxes, revenue, respect, and honor according to what is actually due.

Read It With

Romans 13:1–7

Read Romans 13:7 with 13:1–7. This verse directs payment of taxes, revenue, respect, and honor according to what is actually due. The complete unit establishes: Paul calls Roman believers to ordered civic subjection, taxes, and honor while defining authority by a servant-for-good function under God.

Why This Verse Appears Here

The civic case follows enemy-love and precedes love's fulfillment of law; it is not a blank check detached from those controls. Within that movement, this verse directs payment of taxes, revenue, respect, and honor according to what is actually due.

Follow the Context

Every person is told to be subject to governing authorities under God's ordering.
Authority is described as servant for good and wrath against wrongdoing.
Conscience supports paying taxes and giving each authority what is due.

What This Verse Is Not Saying

The command does not authorize political absolutism, tyranny, genocide, slavery, abuse, or obedience to commands that require evil.

What Remains True

This verse directs payment of taxes, revenue, respect, and honor according to what is actually due. This supports the unit's enduring claim: Paul calls Roman believers to ordered civic subjection, taxes, and honor while defining authority by a servant-for-good function under God.

How It Can Shape Life

For Romans 13:7, preserve this contribution in practice: directs payment of taxes, revenue, respect, and honor according to what is actually due. Pay lawful dues and pursue public good while testing authority by justice, love, conscience, and protection from harm.

Teach It Back

Explain Romans 13:7 inside Romans 13:1–7, including its role, the surrounding movement, one material uncertainty, and one use the unit rejects.

Explain the verse in context

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Continue in Context

The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.

Read Romans 13:1–7 — Civil Authority Is Accountable to Its God-Given Good-Serving Function

Sources used for this Verse Lens

How certain is this explanation? probable

Where care is needed

Interpreters debate circumstantial or universal scope, submission versus obedience, interpolation, anti-imperial undertones, taxes, sword, and resistance to unjust rule. The passage addresses government but never says rulers are morally infallible.

These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.

Biblical text

King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006

eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society

USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.

Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.

Exact location: Romans 13:1–7, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus

Open source ↗

Greek textual evidence

The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition

Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos

Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010

Supports: Greek wording, clause relationships, and base text for original-language discussion.

Exact location: Faithlife SBLGNT repository, data/sblgnt/text/Rom.txt, 13:1–7

Open the Romans Greek text file ↗

Translation and textual notes

NET Bible - Romans with translators' and textual notes

Biblical Studies Press

Biblical Studies Press, 2005-2026 online edition

Supports: Verse-level syntax, KJV-era wording, material variants, and interpretive alternatives.

Exact location: NET Bible official Romans chapter print view, 13:1–7, translation and attached translator, study, and textual notes

Open NET Romans 13 notes

modern open commentary

Romans

Donny Ray Mathis II

The Gospel Coalition Bible Commentary, 2023

Supports: Complete evangelical Protestant whole-letter exposition, historical setting, argument flow, and theological synthesis.

Exact location: Mathis, 'Romans,' introduction and commentary section covering 13:1–7, with bibliography and endnotes

Open source ↗

modern catholic translation notes

The Letter to the Romans: introduction and chapter notes

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2010-2026 online edition

Supports: Catholic exegetical orientation, salvation-history frame, concise verse notes, and faith-new-life synthesis.

Exact location: USCCB, Romans introduction and chapter notes covering 13:1–7

Open source ↗

modern jewish annotated new testament

Romans introduction and annotations in The Jewish Annotated New Testament

Mark D. Nanos; edited by Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler

Oxford University Press, 2011

Supports: Jewish historical context, Paul-within-Judaism alternatives, diatribe restraint, and anti-supersessionist controls.

Exact location: Nanos, Jewish Annotated New Testament, first edition print pp. 253-286, introduction and annotations on 13:1–7

Open source ↗

peer reviewed rhetorical exegetical article

From Submission to Love: Understanding the Motivations in Romans 13:1-10

Juan Manuel Granados Rojas, S.J.

Isidorianum 33.2, 2024

Supports: Romans 13:1-10 readings and the rhetorical controls of doing good, avoiding harm, conscience, and love.

Exact location: Granados Rojas, 'From Submission to Love,' Isidorianum 33.2 (2024), journal pp. 207-233

Open source ↗

Lexical and grammatical evidence

STEP Bible Data

Tyndale House Cambridge

Tyndale House Cambridge, repository snapshot verified 2026

Supports: Independent morphology, form, and lexical-range cross-check for material Greek claims.

Exact location: STEP Bible Data repository, Greek morphology and lexical records for Romans 13:1–7

Open source ↗

Open the complete thought-unit research record