What Does Romans 13:2 Mean?
So whoever sets himself against the authority of God stands against the arrangement of God, and those who have stood against will take a verdict upon themselves.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.THE KEY
The same Greek root is hidden in “resisteth” and “ordinance”: one is setting oneself against an order, and the other names that order.
THE MEANING
The verse places authority under God’s ordering, so resisting it also resists that ordering. The resister receives judgment, and the consequence falls back upon the one resisting.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that resistance to authority is only a dispute between people; it treats the act as reaching into one’s relation to God’s ordering and carrying judgment upon the resister.
THE ROOT
ἀντιτασσόμενος
antitassomenos
GROWS FROM
τάσσω
tassō
To arrange, place, or appoint.
The verb translated “resisteth” is ἀντιτασσόμενος (antitassomenos, “setting oneself against”), built from the root for arranging or placing. “Ordinance” is διαταγή (diatagē, “arrangement” or “order”), from that same root family: the verse links resistance with opposition to an ordering.
ALSO GROWS
tassō: To arrange, put in place, or appoint.
τάσσω
This is the root within antitassomenos; the anti- prefix gives the sense of setting oneself against.
diatagē: An arrangement, order, or ordinance.
διαταγή
This is the word translated “ordinance” here, exposing the shared root beneath the act of resisting and the order being resisted.
κρίμα
krima
GROWS FROM
κρίνω
krinō
To distinguish, decide, or judge.
“a verdict” in this verse is krima. The Greek noun κρίμα (krima, “judgment” or “verdict”) presents the consequence as something the resister receives. Its word family connects that consequence to judging and to the one who judges.
ALSO GROWS
krinō: To judge, decide, or distinguish.
κρίνω
This verb is the root behind the judgment the resister receives.
kritēs: A judge, one who decides.
κριτής
This related word makes the judicial shape of κρίμα visible: the consequence is a judgment rendered.
THE PATTERN
Authority’s place and exercise remain within God’s ordering, so resistance carries consequence beyond a human dispute.
By me kings reign, and rulers carve out alignment.And he changes the times and the seasons. He removes kings and raises up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those who know understanding.Jesus answered, You would have no authority at all against me, unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you has a greater shortcoming.THE THREAD
Let every living soul place itself under the authorities that hold above. For there is no authority except under God, and the ones that are have been arranged under God.In verse 1, “ordained” renders τεταγμέναι (tetagmenai, “placed” or “appointed”), a form from τάσσω (tassō, “arrange” or “place”), the same root carried by “resisteth” and “ordinance” in verse 2. The shared root makes the pair read as opposition to a placement or order, not merely conflict with a person.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us