Romans 13:7

Romans 13:7, in plain English

Give what you owe to different people: taxes to the tax collector, fees to whoever collects them, respect where it's due, and honor where it's deserved.

Why it's here

Paul is being specific and practical. There are different kinds of payments and different kinds of respect. Don't cheat on taxes, but also recognize that different authorities and people deserve different kinds of honor. He's creating categories so you don't just lump everything together as 'obedience.'

Who's speaking

Paul

Where it sits in the story

This shows that Christian ethics isn't one-size-fits-all. You have different obligations to different people based on their role and relationship to you. It's practical wisdom applied to real life.

The scholarly reading

Render to civil authorities everything they are due—taxes, revenue, and the respect and honor befitting their office—as a matter of just obligation.

Language and setting

Paul employs a triadic structure: taxes (phoros), revenue (telos), respect (phobos), and honor (timē). The doubling of financial obligations followed by two dimensions of deference creates a comprehensive obligation. Phobos (fear/respect) and timē (honor) were political virtues in Greco-Roman ethics, understood as appropriate responses to legitimate authority. Notably, Paul distinguishes between the financial and the relational dimensions of obligation—you owe money and deference, not worship or absolute obedience in matters of conscience. This verse has anchored Christian teaching on civic responsibility from Augustine onward, though interpreters debate its limits when authority becomes tyrannical.

Voice

Paul the apostle

Significance

This verse concludes Paul's sustained argument on civic obligation (13:1-7). It then pivots, as verse 8 begins with a 'but,' to the higher law of love—suggesting that all these specific obligations find their fulfillment in the commandment to love the neighbor.

5Therefore it is necessary to submit to authority, not only to avoid punishment, but also as a matter of conscience.

6This is also why you pay taxes. For the authorities are God’s servants, who devote themselves to their work.

7Pay everyone what you owe him: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.

8Be indebted to no one, except to one another in love. For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

9The commandments “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and any other commandments, are summed up in this one decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Read all of Romans 13 — Obey governing authorities, pay your debts, and put on the armor of light. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here.