What Does Romans 13:5 Mean in the King James?
Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Submission here answers two witnesses at once: the consequence outside you and the conscience that knows within.
THE MEANING
The verse places you under authority with both consequence and conscience in view. Wrath names the cost imposed from outside; conscience names the inward knowing that bears witness to your conduct.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that you are accountable only when someone can punish you.
THE ROOT
συνείδησις
syneidēsis
GROWS FROM
ειδ-
eid-
To know or perceive; σύν (syn, “with”) joins that knowing into “knowing with.”
The Greek word carries the sense of an inward co-knowing, not merely a passing feeling. That gives conscience the weight of a witness within you, alongside the outward consequence named in the verse.
ALSO GROWS
oida: Know, perceive
οἶδα
This is the knowing at the heart of the word for conscience.
synoida: Know with; be conscious of
σύνοιδα
This related form makes the “knowing with” in συνείδησις visible.
ὑποτάσσεσθαι
hypotassesthai
GROWS FROM
ταγ-/ταξ- (tag-/tax-)
To arrange or set in order; ὑπό- (hypo-, “under”) gives the compound the sense of arranging under.
The verb carries an image of being placed within an order. That gives “subject” a relational texture: the verse describes a stance toward authority, while conscience supplies an inward reason for it.
ALSO GROWS
tassō: Arrange, set in order, appoint
τάσσω
This is the verb family’s basic image of placing things in an order.
taxis: Order, arrangement
τάξις
The related noun makes the ordering sense behind “subject” easier to see.
hypotassō: Arrange under, submit
ὑποτάσσω
This is the verb used in the verse, applying that order to one’s relation to authority.
THE PATTERN
Accountability reaches the inward witness as well as the visible consequence.
For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men.THE THREAD
Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)Romans 2:15 uses the same Greek word, συνείδησις (syneidēsis), and describes conscience as bearing witness. It opens Romans 13:5 by showing what the inward witness does: it testifies to conduct alongside the consequences imposed from outside.
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