Every soul is to submit to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except of God, and the ones that exist have been instituted by God.
So then, the one who resists the authority, sets himself against what God has instituted, and those who set themselves against it will bring judgment on themselves.
For rulers are not a cause of fear for good conduct, but for wrong. Do you want to have no fear of the one in authority? Do what is good and you will have his approval,
for he is God’s servant to you for good. But if you do what is wrong, be afraid, for he does not carry the sword for no reason, for he is God’s servant, an agent of punishment to bring wrath upon the one who practices that which is wrong.
Therefore it is necessary to submit, not only because of the wrath, but also because of your conscience.
This is also why you pay taxes, for they are God’s public servants, busy with these tasks.
Pay to everyone what is owed to them: tax to whom tax is due, revenue to whom revenue, respect to whom respect, honor to whom honor.
Fulfilling the Law Through Love
Do not keep on owing anyone anything, except your debt to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
For this: Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not covet, and if there is any other commandment—it is summed up in this word, namely, Love your neighbor as yourself.
Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.
Besides this, you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake up from sleep, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.
The night is far advanced and the day is near, therefore let us put off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.
Let us walk with decency, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in illicit sex and unrestrained behavior, not in strife and jealousy.
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think ahead about the flesh—how to fulfillits lusts.