‘Submitting to’ and ‘subjecting to’ authority: A comparative study of Romans 13:1 and 1Peter 2:13

Jonathan E. T. Kuwornu-Adjaottor

Department of Religious Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.

E-mail: jettete@yahoo.com, jkadjaottor@gmail.com; Tel.: +233 (0) 244 564 079, +233 (0) 208 093 350

Accepted 28 November, 2012

Abstract

A cursory reading of Romans 13:1 and 1Peter 2:13 shows that they are talking about the same issue – recognizing, showing honour and respect for people in authority. However, a deeper study of the texts shows that even though they talk about the same issue, the contexts in which they were written differ, thus a study of the contexts gives deeper insights that help to understand the texts. The study is limited in the sense that the chosen texts are not full pericopies (full units of discussion) – Romans 13:1-7 and 1Peter 2:13-17. The study which focuses on the initial verses of the pericopies aims at studying the phrases “submission to” and “subjecting to“ authority, to find out whether they are the same. The study found that in the case of Romans 13:1, the grammar shows that the people were to submit to authority voluntarily, but in 1Peter 2:13 the people were forced by circumstances to submit to authority. This study is significance in that it has inescapable implication for political education, especially Christian state-relations.

Keywords: Ambiguities in the bible, biblical studies, biblical interpretation, submission to authority, subjecting to authority, Romans 13:1, 1Peter 2:13.