Commentary on Romans 13.1–14.22

“Be subject to all higher authorities; for there is no authority except from God.” Since he commanded that the law of heavenly justice be followed, lest he seem to set aside this present justice, he commends it; since unless this is observed, that cannot be kept; for this is like a tutor, which instructs children so that they can follow the way of the better justice. For mercy cannot be credited to anyone unless he has justice. So, to confirm the right and the fear of the natural law, he testifies that God is its author, and that those who administer it hold an ordinance of God. Therefore he added: “And those that exist have been ordained by God”; so that no one may think them to be despised as human inventions; for they see that divine right has been assigned to human authorities. He, then, is subject to authority who, out of the fear of God, abstains from what it forbids.

“So whoever resists authority resists the ordinance of God.” This is against those who are strong through power, or who do not believe they can be caught by anyone, and therefore think they mock the law; he shows them that it is the law of God, and that those who escape for a time by some arrangement will not escape the judgment of God. “And those who resist acquire condemnation for themselves.” It is plain that each one will be either justified or condemned by his works. For those who hear the law and sin are without excuse.

“For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil.” By rulers he means those kings who are created to correct life and forbid adversities, having the image of God, so that the rest may be under one. “Do you wish not to fear the authority? Do good, and you will have praise from it.” Praise from authority arises when someone is found innocent.

“For he is God’s minister to you for good.” It is plain that rulers have been given so that evil may not be done. “But if you do evil, fear; for he does not bear the sword without cause.” That is, he threatens so that, if he is despised, he may punish. “For he is God’s minister, an avenger for wrath on the one who does evil.” Since God has established a future judgment and wills that no one perish, he has ordained rulers in this world, so that, terror being interposed, they may be like tutors to all, teaching them what to keep, lest they fall into the punishment of the future judgment.

“And therefore be subject, not only because of wrath, but also because of conscience.” He rightly says that they ought to be subject not only because of wrath, that is, present punishment (for wrath gives birth to vengeance), but also because of the future judgment; because if they escape here, punishment awaits them there, where they will be punished with their very conscience accusing them.

“For this reason you also pay tributes; for they are ministers of God, serving to this very end.” He says that tributes, or what are called fiscal dues, are paid so that they may show subjection, by which they know that they are not free but live under authority, which is from God; for they are subject to their prince, who acts in the place of God, as to God, as the prophet Daniel says: “For the kingdom is God’s,” he says, “and he will give it to whom he wills” (Dan 4:17). Hence the Lord too says: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s” (Matt 22:21). To him, then, they are to be subject as to God, and the proof of this subjection is when they pay him tributes. (Verse 7.) “Render, then, to all what is owed.” He wants debts paid by all; because the powerful too are debtors to their inferiors, to answer their merits. “To whom tribute, tribute; to whom revenue, revenue.” First he commands that the things owed to royal power be paid, because in these there is the greater cause or necessity. “To whom fear, fear.” Fear is to be shown to authority, because fear prevents sin; then to a parent or an earthly master, so that he may give thanks for a Christian son or slave. “To whom honour, honour.” This honour can also concern those who seem exalted in the world; so that, seeing the humility of the servants of Christ, they may praise rather than censure the gospel discipline.

“Owe no one anything, except to love one another.” He wants us to have peace with all, if possible, but love with the brothers, and this while keeping honour. He calls them debtors for this reason, that it is fitting and owed to bow to a person who is worthy of honour, whether present or future. For one bows to him from whom one has received honour; therefore one is called a debtor. For if you do not do this to your prince, you are proud; for a person is to be honoured either for merits or for age. “For whoever loves his neighbour has fulfilled the law.” He who loves his neighbour fulfils the law given by Moses; for the commandment of the new law is to love even enemies. (Verse 9.) “For: You shall not commit adultery, you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not covet.” Moses received this written from God for the renewal of the natural law. “And if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this word: You shall love your neighbour as yourself”; this is written in Leviticus (Lev 19:18). While the commandments above remain, then, he signifies that the law is fulfilled in love, as he said: even if there are other commandments, of which he is now silent, love satisfies for all the commandments. For if the human race had loved itself from the beginning, there would be no iniquity on earth; for the source of injustice is discord. And therefore love of iniquity is iniquity; for what is evil to the evil is good to the good.

“Love of neighbour does no evil; for love is the fullness of the law.” It does no evil, because love is good, nor can that sin which is the perfection of the law. Through the words of the law he wants to reach the gospel sense. For he mentions what is highest in the law in order to join the gospel to it, showing that they are of the sense of one author. But because in the time of Christ something had to be added, he commanded that not only neighbours but enemies be loved. Hence it is added: “Love is the fullness of the law”; so that it is righteousness to love one’s neighbour, but abundant and perfect righteousness to love even enemies. And what else is it to love an enemy than to wish him to cease from hatred, and to seek nothing harsh against him? This is to love him, to wish for him the things by which he may have God propitious; this is heavenly righteousness, this makes us like God the Father, who bestows yearly gifts on those who do not worship him. For the Lord too, placed on the cross, prays for his enemies (Luke 23:34), to show the fullness of righteousness he had taught.

“And this, knowing the time, that the hour is now for us to rise from sleep.” He says it is the time in which we ought to advance to merit. This is to rise from sleep: to work good as in the day, that is, openly; for unlawful things are done at night, that is, in hiding. For now, placed in manifestation, that is, in the knowledge of God, recognizing what we ought to follow, we ought to take pains so that, living purely, we may come to the promised reward, sleep, that is, ignorance or negligence, being shaken off. “For our salvation is nearer now than when we believed.” It is plain that those who live well after the washing and are zealous for love are not far from the merit of the promised resurrection. For the good life of a Christian is the sign of future salvation.

“The night has gone before, but the day has drawn near.” By night he signified the old man, who has been renewed through baptism. He says that this has gone before as the night, and that the day has drawn near, by whose light the truth has appeared to us, so that we may know what we ought to do. For before, not knowing Christ, we were in darkness; but when we learned, light arose in us; for we passed from the false to the true. “Let us cast off, then, the works of darkness, and put on the arms of light.” The works of darkness are the carnal life, which is led by worldly enticements: this is worthy of darkness, as the Lord says: “Take him; and, binding his hands and feet, cast him into the outer darkness” (Matt 22:13). And to put on the arms of light is good deeds; because as evil acts are assigned to darkness, since they are done secretly by those who do evil, so those who do well act openly, because they are not afraid but rejoice. Good acts, then, are the arms of light, fighting against the darkness, which is the vices of the flesh.

“Let us walk honestly, as in the day.” It is true; so that, since sin is not committed publicly, we may act as one acts in public; for nothing is so public as truth. “Not in revels and drunkenness.” Revels are dissolute banquets, which are celebrated either by everyone’s contribution or given in turn by companions, so that no one there is ashamed to say or do anything shameful, because each presumes it is his own banquet. For people are usually restrained by shame at another’s table; but here they gather for this, that foul things may be done with abundance of wine, and the various pleasure of lust may be roused. Therefore he commands that banquets of this kind be avoided. “Not in beds and impurities.” After the dissolute banquet and drunkenness he added this, the impurity that follows, that is, intercourse; for this is the belch of that wantonness. “Not in strife and jealousy.” He rightly warns that they be restrained from these; because all strife and jealousy gives birth to enmity, which he calls darkness, because they cannot come to the reward of light. (Verse 14.) “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in its desires.” He forbids provision for the flesh, that is, pleasure; so that everything forbidden by the law may not be desired, or certainly, if desired, may be overcome. For these are the works of the flesh; so that, stripped of them, they may put on the Lord Jesus Christ, that is, renewed through Christ, may hold themselves back from these evils. For he has put on Christ who has separated himself from all error and shamefulness; lest he be found at the wedding feast without the new garment and, shamefully cast out, be delivered to darkness (Matt 22:11–13). Otherwise they have not put on Jesus Christ the Lord, over whose new garment they put on old rags; for those who have put off the old man must remain in newness of life.

(Verse 1.) “Receive the one who is weak in faith, not for disputes about opinions.” Since those who had brought the Romans to the name of Christ were from the Jews, with the law mixed in, as I mentioned at the beginning of the letter, it seemed to some that forbidden meat ought not to be eaten; but to some who followed Christ without the law it seemed lawful to eat, contrary to the law. And because of this there were disputes among them, which the apostle, zealous for concord and salvation, removes by divine argument, showing that eating neither profits one before God nor does not eating harm. He calls weak the one who fears to eat because the Jews were forbidden. He wants this one, then, to be left to his own judgment, lest, taking offence, he withdraw from love, which is as it were the mother of souls, with disturbance of mind; since Christians ought to be peaceable and quiet.

“For one believes he may eat all things.” This one, from confidence in what he has read, does not doubt that all things given for human use are to be eaten. For he reads in Genesis that all the things which God created are very good (Gen 1:31); therefore nothing is to be rejected, because neither Enoch, who first pleased God, nor Noah, who alone was found righteous in the flood, nor Abraham the friend of God, nor Isaac, nor Jacob, righteous men and friends of God, among whom was also Lot, nor the other righteous, are read to have abstained from these. “But the one who is weak, let him eat vegetables.” So, since he thinks this, let him eat vegetables; therefore he is not to be persuaded to eat meat, lest he eat with scruple and seem to sin, because he does not keep his purpose.

“So let the one who eats not despise the one who does not eat; and let the one who does not eat not judge the one who eats.” Because to eat or not to eat is a matter of the will; and therefore no question should arise from it. For all things were made for this, to be subject to the will, because they are subject to human dominion. “For God has received him.” He was received by God when he was called to grace.

“Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls.” It is plain that a servant ought not to judge the will of a fellow servant, to whom the law has not been handed down in this respect; for God, whose servant he is, is judge of the conscience with which he eats or does not eat. “But he will stand, for God is able to make him stand.” He will stand, he says, to his master, because he will be neither guilty if he eats nor blameworthy if he does not eat; provided he does this from devotion, not avoiding this food as if it were contrary.

“For one judges one day above another”: that is, it pleases someone to eat on alternate days. For there are some who have resolved that meat is not to be eaten on the fourth day of the week; there are some who do so on sabbaths; and again some who eat from Easter to Pentecost. “Another judges every day.” This one judges every day who never eats. “Let each abound in his own sense”: that is, let each be left to his own counsel.

“The one who regards the day regards it to the Lord.” It is true, because one who is always abstinent thinks he pleases God. “And the one who eats eats to the Lord.” He eats to the Lord, because he gives thanks to the Creator. “And the one who does not eat does not eat to the Lord, and gives thanks to God.” He gives thanks when he confesses that it is God’s creature and created good, but holds himself aloof from it, not condemning it.

“For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself.” Someone would live to himself if he did not live under the law; but one who is governed by the bridle of the law certainly does not live to himself, but to God who gave the law, so as to live according to his will. And one who dies likewise dies to God, by whose judgment he will be either crowned or condemned.

“For whether we live, we live to the Lord; or whether we die, we die to the Lord.” The sense is the same. “Whether, then, we live or die, we are the Lord’s.” It is true that we are all the Lord’s, as servants in the condition and under the dominion of the Redeemer, and that each is dealt with according to his merit.

“For to this end Christ died and rose again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.” Through Christ the Lord the creation was made, which through sin was estranged from its Author and made captive; and God the Father, lest his work perish, sending his Son from heaven to earth, taught it what to do to escape the hands of the pirates. For this reason he also allowed himself to be killed by enemies, so that, descending to the underworld, because he had been killed innocent, he might make sin guilty, so that it would lose those whom it held in the underworld. Since, then, he showed the living the way of salvation and offered himself for them, and freed the dead from the underworld, he is Lord of both the living and the dead; for out of the lost he has restored them again as servants for himself.

“But you, why do you judge your brother in not eating? Or you, why do you despise your brother in eating? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.” He teaches that one ought not to judge in this matter, both because it is not contained in the law, and moreover since we await God as judge.

“For it is written: As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God” (Isa 45:23). This is written in Isaiah, because every tongue will confess to God in faith in Christ. For since, having been killed, he rose again as the future judge, rightly he says, “As I live, says the Lord”; and not only do I live, but I will also judge; and my enemies will be amazed at me and bend the knee, recognizing me as God from God.

“So each of us will give account of himself to God.” Since, he says, we are to give account for ourselves, let us not condemn one another in this matter which has been written about above.

“Let us, then, no longer judge one another”: that is, knowing this, let us cease from discord. “But judge this rather, not to put a stumbling block or scandal before a brother.” He warns that one should judge in what profits, what can also be defended by the authority of the law; and let no scandal be made for any of the brothers, whether he eats meat or does not eat.

“I know and am confident in the Lord that nothing is common through him.” It is plain that by the kindness of the Saviour all things are clean, who, rescuing people from under the yoke of the law and justifying them, restored the state of former liberty, so that they are worthy to use the whole creation, as the saints of old did. But for those who are still under the law, it is not permitted to use or eat what the law forbids, because they spurn the pardon given. For things are unclean not according to their nature, but when they are eaten against the edict. Indeed the law says: “They shall be unclean to you,” and so on (Lev 11:4). “And plainly, to one who thinks something is common, to him it is common.” Whether one who has become a Christian from the Jews, or a believing gentile, thinks that something of this kind should be avoided, he is the one whom above he calls weak; for he is weak by doubting. To him what he thinks should not be eaten is unclean; and because he does this not from superstition but from fear, he is to be left to his own judgment.

“For if your brother is grieved because of food, you are no longer walking according to love.” In another letter he says: “Food for the belly and the belly for food; and God will destroy both it and them” (1 Cor 6:13). Since no one either pleases or displeases God by food, he therefore warns that love is to be pursued, by which God deigned to free us; for he says thus: “But God, because of his great love, had mercy on us” (Eph 2:4). One who is mindful of this benefit, then, cultivates love and puts nothing before it, but passes over even the greatest things which he knows do not secure the promise with God. “Do not by your food destroy him for whom Christ died.” How much a brother’s salvation is worth is known from the death of Christ. So one who knows how much it cost ought to strengthen him, not scandalize him, so as to make a scruple for him out of a trifling thing; and he who perhaps ate simply, secure in his conscience, begins to hesitate whether meat should be eaten or not. But when controversies come, he will begin, in his confusion, to sin against God’s creature, and it will be to the injury of the Creator, which will lead to the perdition of the one who doubts.

“Let not our good, then, be blasphemed.” That is, the Lord’s teaching, since it is good and saving, ought not to be blasphemed through a trifling thing; and it is blasphemed when there is doubt about God’s creature. It can also be understood thus, that our good is blasphemed because one who has good works, if he is rebuked in another very small matter, darkens that good of his, and his good begins to be blasphemed through his evil, as is written in Ezekiel: “The righteousness of the righteous will not profit him if he goes astray” (Ezek 33:12). It is as if someone handsome perhaps has some blemish on his forehead, or a broken nose, by which his appearance is disfigured. And therefore he warns that those things are to be pursued which do not take away favour from the rest of one’s good.

“For the kingdom of God is not food and drink.” It is plain that no one pleases or displeases God through food. “But righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” He says that those enter the kingdom of God who follow righteousness, but have Christian peace, which the Lord gave, saying: “My peace I give you, peace I leave you” (John 14:27); from which arises joy in the Holy Spirit. But dispute has not joy but anger; therefore the Holy Spirit does not look there, because he rejoices only in the peaceable. For as he is saddened by us, so he rejoices in us. (Verse 18.) “For whoever serves Christ in this pleases God and is approved by people.” Since Christ redeemed us, therefore he says: whoever in this serves Christ as Redeemer pleases God. Why? Because he himself sent Christ to redeem the human race, as the Lord himself says: “Whoever does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent him” (John 5:23). Whoever pleases God, then, is approved by people. How? For he has received the gift by which he appears worthy of God. (Verse 19.) “So let us pursue the things of peace, and keep for one another the things of edification.” Since dispute gives birth to discord, so that we may be peaceable he teaches us to withdraw from contention about eating or not eating. He exhorts us to follow the way of edification, so that we may discuss in peace the things by which we may edify one another, turning away from those which are fruitless and rather harmful. For discussion can profit, for it rouses the mind, provided the desire to win is despised; for this is what gives birth to strife.

“Do not for the sake of food destroy the work of God.” Man is the work of God by creation, and again is the work of God when he is renewed by regeneration. And food is the work of God, but man is not for food, but food for man; there is, then, a great difference; therefore, he says, do not dissolve this work of God, which is excellent, for the sake of what is most lowly. This is to be zealous for the brother’s salvation, not to take care of food so as to grieve a brother. For he makes the benefit of God void who, through dispute, provokes again to sin a brother freed from sin, … the works of Christ, which he did to free man from sin. “All things indeed are clean.” It is true and plain that all things are clean, since in Genesis we read that all things which God made are very good (Gen 1:31). “But it is evil for the man who eats with offence.” Though by nature all things are good and clean, yet they become unclean for those who doubt; and it will be a stumbling block for one who, while he doubts, nevertheless eats with an unclean conscience; because he does what he thinks unprofitable for himself. Therefore no one is to be contradicted about what he follows in this matter.

“It is good not to eat meat and not to drink wine.” Though the question concerned meat alone, he added drink too; to comfort those who abstain from these, since it is lawful both to eat meat and to drink wine. So that they might not be saddened by those who use these things, he gave them the comfort of breathing again, so that they might rest in their own will, and the dispute through which discord arises might cease. For since it is not hidden that it is good to eat meat and drink wine, and on the other hand they learn that it is good not to eat meat and not to drink wine, no one quarrels. For the creation has been given for use to those who wish; yet no necessity has been imposed either on one who wishes or on one who does not. “Nor in anything by which your brother stumbles, or is scandalized, or is made weak.” He says the same, that a question should not be raised for a brother who has set his weak mind on eating, lest, disturbed, he stumble, not knowing what to hold.

“You have faith; keep it to yourself before God.” That is, you who sit secure, because God’s creature is good, need not judge another; because it is more that you have peace with your brother; for this is profitable before God; for in food there is profit for the flesh, but in peace both for flesh and soul; and therefore one must cease from disputes of this kind; let each remain in the purpose of his heart. “Blessed is he who does not judge himself in what he approves.” He considers that each one is to be condemned by his own judgment who does what he says he ought not to do, and that one blessed who does nothing other than what he approves as profitable for himself. (Verse 23.) “But whoever discerns, if he eats, is condemned.” It is true that one who judges that he should not eat, and eats, is condemned; for he condemns himself when he does what he asserts is unprofitable for himself. “Because not from faith.” Certainly he does not eat from faith who denies he should eat, and eats. “But everything that is not from faith is sin.” Rightly he calls sin what is done otherwise than is approved. Since the Romans had been led into the law, as I mentioned at the beginning of the letter, but when those came who believed more rightly, questions were raised about eating meat or not eating it; and the party of these which said it was to be eaten and not disapproved seemed better, because all things are very clean; he calls weak those who denied it should be eaten, whether from the Jews or from the gentiles, and says they are to be left to the purpose of their heart. For neither does eating harm nor not eating profit with God; lest, constrained for any reason, they should offend by eating, though with scruple.