Single lesson
Romans 13: Submission to Authorities
Romans 13:1–7; Romans 13:8–10; Romans 13:11–14
Romans 13:1–14 gives three linked instructions: be in subjection to authorities, love your neighbour, and live properly because the day is near. Because verse 13 names adult kinds of wrongdoing, this lesson is set for older students.
Before you teach
Romans 13 first speaks about higher authorities, judgment, conscience, taxes, respect and honour. It then says the continuing debt is love, because love fulfils the law and does not harm a neighbour. The passage closes with urgency: awaken, throw off deeds of darkness, walk properly, and put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Students will be able to identify the three units in Romans 13:1–14 and explain in writing how submission, neighbour-love and proper conduct connect in this passage.
Welcome: Spot the three movements in Romans 13
5 minIntroduce the passage as one chapter with three connected parts. Ask students to listen for repeated commands and images as the text is read: be in subjection, give what you owe, love one another, awaken, throw off, walk properly, and put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Tell them they will map how these ideas develop across the chapter.
Romans 13:1, Romans 13:7, Romans 13:8, Romans 13:11, Romans 13:12, Romans 13:13, Romans 13:14
Read and explain: Authorities, conscience and what is owed
10 minRead Romans 13:1–7 aloud. Explain that the passage says authority exists under God and that resisting authority resists what God has ordained. Notice the reasons given for subjection: rulers praise good, punish evil, and conscience matters as well as fear of wrath. Finish by listing the practical commands to pay what is owed, including taxes, customs, respect and honour.
Romans 13:1, Romans 13:2, Romans 13:3, Romans 13:4, Romans 13:5, Romans 13:6, Romans 13:7
Discuss: Love as the summary of the commandments
8 minRead Romans 13:8–10. Have students identify the transition from owing taxes and respect to the continuing obligation to love one another. Point out that Romans 13 names several commandments and says they are summed up in loving your neighbour as yourself. Keep the class anchored to the plain statement in verse 10: love does not harm a neighbour.
Romans 13:8, Romans 13:9, Romans 13:10
Respond to the text: Wake up, walk properly, put on Christ
10 minRead Romans 13:11–14 carefully. Explain the contrasts in the passage between awakening and sleep, darkness and light, and improper conduct and proper conduct. State plainly and respectfully that verse 13 names reveling, drunkenness, sexual promiscuity, lustful acts, strife and jealousy as conduct to reject. Then note the positive commands: throw off deeds of darkness, put on the armour of light, walk properly, and put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 13:11, Romans 13:12, Romans 13:13, Romans 13:14
Closing: Write one connected application statement
7 minAsk students to write a brief, non-personal sentence beginning, ‘Because Romans 13 teaches...’ They should connect one idea from each section of the chapter, such as respect and honour, neighbour-love, and proper conduct. Invite volunteers to read their sentence if they wish, without requiring anyone to share personal situations. End by reviewing the chapter’s three-part flow in order.
Romans 13:7, Romans 13:10, Romans 13:13, Romans 13:14
Questions to explore
According to Romans 13:5–7, what reasons and examples does Romans 13 give for being in subjection to authorities?
Look for both the inward reason in verse 5 and the outward examples in verses 6–7, including what is owed and the attitudes named there.
Romans 13:5, Romans 13:6, Romans 13:7
How do Romans 13:8–10 connect love with the commandments listed there?
Trace the wording from owing love, to the listed commandments, to the summary statement that love does not harm a neighbour.
Romans 13:8, Romans 13:9, Romans 13:10
What contrasts does Romans 13:11–14 use, and what kinds of conduct does it say to reject and to pursue?
Notice the paired images of sleep and awakening, darkness and light, then list the behaviours named in verse 13 and the commands in verses 12 and 14.
Romans 13:11, Romans 13:12, Romans 13:13, Romans 13:14
Make, think or respond
Romans 13 Three-Part Sort
What you’ll need
- Paper
- Pens or pencils
- Three small sheets or sections of paper
- Bible
Try it together
- Write three headings on separate sheets: ‘Authorities’, ‘Love’, and ‘Proper conduct’.
- Ask students to read Romans 13:1–14 and list words or short phrases from the passage under the heading where they belong, such as ‘taxes’, ‘love your neighbour’, ‘armour of light’, or ‘walk properly’.
- Have students draw arrows or write one sentence showing how the three sections connect across the chapter.
- Invite pairs to compare their sorting and revise their connection sentence so it matches the wording of the passage.
This activity keeps students working directly with Romans 13 by tracing its three linked units and showing how the passage moves from subjection, to love, to proper conduct.
Adapt for your group
- For younger teens or mixed reading levels, pre-write several exact phrases from the passage on the board and let students place them under the three headings before writing the connection sentence.
- For older or more confident students, ask them to add the verse numbers beside each phrase and write a two-sentence explanation of why Romans 13:11 begins with ‘Do this’.
An optional closing prayer
You may pray: ‘Lord, help us give what is owed, love our neighbours, and walk properly. Please help us put on the Lord Jesus Christ in the way we live. Amen.’
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
Romans 13
1 Let every soul be in subjection to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those who exist are ordained by God.
2 Therefore he who resists the authority withstands the ordinance of God; and those who withstand will receive to themselves judgment.
3 For rulers are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil. Do you desire to have no fear of the authority? Do that which is good, and you will have praise from the authority,
4 for he is a servant of God to you for good. But if you do that which is evil, be afraid, for he doesn’t bear the sword in vain; for he is a servant of God, an avenger for wrath to him who does evil.
5 Therefore you need to be in subjection, not only because of the wrath, but also for conscience’ sake.
6 For this reason you also pay taxes, for they are servants of God’s service, continually doing this very thing.
7 Therefore give everyone what you owe: if you owe taxes, pay taxes; if customs, then customs; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.
8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other commandments there are, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
10 Love doesn’t harm a neighbor. Love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.
11 Do this, knowing the time, that it is already time for you to awaken out of sleep, for salvation is now nearer to us than when we first believed.
12 The night is far gone, and the day is near. Let’s therefore throw off the deeds of darkness, and let’s put on the armor of light.
13 Let’s walk properly, as in the day; not in reveling and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and lustful acts, and not in strife and jealousy.
14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, for its lusts.
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.