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Rom 13:1. Πᾶσα, every) The apostle writes at very great length to the Romans, whose city was the seat of empire, on the subject of the magistracy, and this circumstance has all the force of a public apology for the Christian religion. This, too, may have been the reason why Paul, in this long epistle, used only once, and that too not until after this apology, the phrase, the kingdom of God, on other occasions so customary with him; Rom 14:17, for, instead of the kingdom, he calls it the glory; comp., however, Act 28:31, note. Every individual should be under the authority of the magistrate, and be liable to suffer punishment, if he has done evil, Rom 13:4.-ψυχὴ, soul) He had said that their bodies ought to be presented to God, ch. Rom 12:1, presupposing that the souls would be; now he wishes souls to be subject to the magistrate. It is the soul, which does either good or evil, ch. Rom 2:9, and those in authority are a terror to the evil work, i.e. to the evil doer.-A man’s high rank does not exempt him from obedience.-ἐξουσίαις ὑπερεχούσαις) ἐξουσία from εἰμὶ, ὑπερέχω from ἔχω; being is before having: ὑπερεχούσαις contains the aetiology [end. Be subject to the powers because they are ὑπερέχουσαι: the cause or reason], 1Pe 2:13, Fr. Souverain, Sovereign.-ὑποτασσέσθω) The antithesis to this is ἀντιταοσόμενος, Rom 13:2. The Conjugates are τεταγμένοι, διαταγή. Let him be subject, an admonition especially necessary to the Jews.-ἐξουσία, power) ἐξουσία, denotes the office of the magistrate in the abstract; αἱ δὲ ἐξουσίαι, Rom 13:2, those in authority in the concrete, therefore δὲ is interposed, ἐπιτατικὸν [forming an Epitasis, i.e. an emphatic addition to explain or augment the force of the previous enunciation.-Appen.]. The former is more readily acknowledged to be from God than the latter. The apostle makes an affirmation respecting both. All are from God, who has instituted all powers in general, and has constituted each in particular, by His providence,-εἰ μὴ ἀπὸ) See Appendix. crit. Ed. ii. ad h. v.[133]
[133] G Orig. D corrected later, read ἀπὸ. But AB read ὑπὸ. Vulg. fg and Iren. have the transl. Lat. a.-ED.
Jerome omits from αἱ δε to εἰσίν. But ABD(Λ)G Vulg. Memph. fg Versions, Iren. 280, 321, retain the clause, omitting, however, ἐξουσίαι: which word is retained by Orig. and both the Syr. Versions and Rec Text.-ED.