Verse 1
1. Every soul A term of solemn universality; every human being needs the government and should obey it.
Higher powers The apostle uses the abstract, and not the concrete. It is the government that is of God, not necessarily the particular governor.
No power but of God Nor is it said that there is no usurper who is of the devil. But as government is ordained of God, so every admitted government must be attributed to God.
It has often been the case in human history that conscientious Christians have been doubtful what, or which, is the true government, the government entitled to their Christian obedience. When the popish tyrant, James II., was driven from the throne of England, and a constitutional sovereign substituted in his place, a large class of conscientious thinkers continued for near half a century sincerely to believe that James and his heirs were their true and lawful sovereigns. So believing, they thought it their duty to withhold their allegiance from the reigning authority. They believed that there is no power but of God; but they also believed that the new king was, in the apostle’s sense, not a power.
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