Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
Parallel translations
- WEB Therefore he who resists the authority, withstands the ordinance of God; and those who withstand will receive to themselves judgment.
- BSB Consequently, whoever resists authority is opposing what God has set in place, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.
- NKJV Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.
- NASB Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.
- NLT So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
To resist legitimate authority is to resist God's ordinance and incur judgment.
Overview
Building on verse 1, Paul warns that rebellion against rightful authority is, in principle, rebellion against the God who established it, bringing deserved judgment. The point is the God-given role of government, not the endorsement of every act a ruler commits. It calls believers to respect the institution of civil order as part of submission to God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- 1 Pet 2:13Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme;
- Titus 3:1Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,
- Rom 13:5Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.
- Jas 3:1My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.
- Luke 20:47Which devour widows’ houses, and for a shew make long prayers: the same shall receive greater damnation.
- Mark 12:40Which devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation.
- Matt 23:13But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
- Jer 23:8–17But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.
- Jer 44:14–17So that none of the remnant of Judah, which are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall escape or remain, that they should return into the land of Judah, to the which they have a desire to return to dwell there: for none shall return but such as shall escape.
- Isa 58:2Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 13:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.