"Let every person be subject to the governing authorities." Romans 13 has been quoted to defend the American Revolution's opponents, the Fugitive Slave Act, and apartheid, and in 2018 to defend separating families at the border. So what did Paul actually mean?
In this episode, Dennis Kramer goes back to Nero's Rome to read Romans 13 in its setting, alongside the verses around it that often get left out. We look at the data on how Americans think about authority, Scripture, and law today, trace how the chapter has been used and misused through history, and hear the strongest case from each side.
0:00 Cold Open
1:32 Introducing the Host
2:17 Welcome
3:34 Rome, Around AD 57
6:05 Reading the Whole Passage
10:43 By the Numbers
14:16 Romans 13 on Trial
18:37 The Case Each Side Makes
20:44 Closing
23 min