“For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.”
My Notes
What Does Romans 13:6 Mean?
"They are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing." Paul describes governing authorities as God's ministers (leitourgoi — public servants, liturgical servants). The same word used for priests serving in the Temple is applied to tax collectors and government officials. Civil servants are God's servants — whether they know it or not.
The phrase "attending continually" (proskarterountes) means persisting, devoting themselves, being constant in. Government officials continually attend to their function. The governing work is ongoing, not occasional. The bureaucratic machinery that collects taxes and maintains order is, in Paul's theology, a continuous expression of God's ordained function.
This verse concludes Paul's instruction to pay taxes (verse 6-7): pay because the officials are doing God's work. The tax isn't just a political obligation — it's a theological one. Supporting the governing authorities is supporting the function God ordained them to perform.
Reflection Questions
- 1.How does calling government officials 'God's ministers' change your view of civil servants?
- 2.Can you support the function of governance while critiquing its practitioners?
- 3.What does using priestly language for government work teach about the sacred-secular divide?
- 4.How does Paul's instruction under Nero challenge selective obedience based on political preference?
Devotional
Government officials are God's ministers. The tax collector is doing God's work. The bureaucrat is serving God's purpose. Paul uses priestly language — the same word for Temple servants — for civil servants. The sacred and the secular share a vocabulary.
This is one of the most challenging statements in Romans because it requires you to see government as God's instrument — even imperfect, even corrupt, even when you disagree with its policies. Paul writes this under Nero's Rome. Not a Christian government. Not a just government. A pagan empire that would eventually kill Paul himself. And Paul calls its officials God's ministers.
The application is practical: pay your taxes. Support the governing function. Not because the government is perfect but because the function of governance is ordained by God. The officials 'attend continually' to maintaining order, administering justice, and providing public services. That attending serves God's purposes whether the attendants recognize it or not.
The priestly language elevates civil service to sacred service. The person processing your tax return is, in a real theological sense, performing a liturgical function. The public servant maintaining infrastructure is attending to God's ordained work. The vocabulary refuses to separate sacred from secular.
This doesn't mean government is always right or always just. It means the function of governance is divine in origin, even when the practitioners are human in execution. You support the function even when you critique the practitioner.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
For, for this cause pay you tribute also,.... To show that we are subject to the higher powers, and as a proof and…
For this cause - Because they are appointed by God; for the sake of conscience, and in order to secure the execution of…
For this cause pay ye tribute also - Because civil government is an order of God, and the ministers of state must be at…
We are here taught how to conduct ourselves towards magistrates, and those that are in authority over us, called here…
The passage assumes, of course, that where human law, or its minister, contradicts Divine precepts, (as when a Christian…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture