Romans 13:1 says, “Let every person be subject to the authorities over them. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are appointed by God.” A natural character is a rebellious character, but a transformed character is submissive. Subjecting ourselves to the authorities appointed by God requires a certain amount of transformation. Sisters, if you want to submit to your husbands, you need transformation. If we are submissive to God’s appointed authorities, it is an indicator that we have a certain amount of transformation, because our natural character and disposition are rebellious. We were born rebellious, and our natural response to authority is to say, “No.” Thus, subjection to authority requires transformation from the growth in life. “Therefore he who resists the authority opposes what God has appointed, and those who oppose will receive to themselves judgment” (v. 2). It is not good to resist authority. Either the judgment will descend upon you from the authority or it will come to you directly from God.
In verse 5 Paul says that “it is necessary to be subject, not only because of wrath, but also because of conscience.” Because of conscience, we need to learn, by being transformed, to be subject to authorities.
Furthermore, we need to pay taxes and to render revenue to whom they are due. We also must render fear and honor to whom they are due. To render tax, fear, and honor to whom they are due indicates that we are subject to authority.
“Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet, and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this word, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does not work evil to his neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” The commandment to love sums up all the other commandments. We need the Holy Spirit to work in us and to give us an amount of transformation in life that we may practice love toward all men. Love is the expression of life. It is not just an outward behavior, but an expression of the inward life. Simply trying to love without the supply of life does not work. In order to love people and spontaneously fulfill the commandments, we need the life supply and the transformation in life. Our natural life is not a life of God’s love. We need to be transformed in life that we may have God’s nature of love to love people. If we are careless in loving others, we do not need transformation in life. But if we are going to practice love toward all men, we need to be transformed in life.
Now we come to transformation in waging the warfare, meaning spiritual warfare. Verse 11 says, “And this, knowing the time, that now is the hour for you to be raised out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we believed.” Salvation here means salvation in the last stage, which is the redemption of our body. Salvation encompasses our spirit, soul, and body. In the first stage of salvation, the Lord regenerates our spirit; in the second stage, He transforms our soul; and in the third stage, which is the last, at the time of His return He will transfigure our vile body into a glorious one (Phil. 3:21). When verse 11 says that our salvation is nearer than when we believed, it is referring to the third stage of salvation, the transfiguration of our body. In other words, this refers to the redemption of our body, or, to use another term, the full sonship revealed in 8:19, 21, and 23.
We need to realize that now is the time to wake up from sleep. Although night is the time for sleep, “the night is far advanced” (13:12). So, we should wake up, be watchful, and sleep no more.