Romans 13:2 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Whosoever therefore resisteth the power Or the authority, of which the magistrate is possessed; resisteth the ordinance of God God's appointment for the preservation of order and of the public peace. And they that resist Who withstand so wise and beneficial an institution; shall receive to themselves damnation Or condemnation and punishment, not only from the civil powers they injure, but from the supreme sovereign, whose laws they break, and whose order they endeavour to reverse. “As the precept in the foregoing verse, and the declarations in this, are general, they must be interpreted according to the nature of the subjects to which they are applied. Wherefore, since the power of which the apostle speaks in both verses is the form of government, and not the rulers of the country, the subjection enjoined in the first verse is not an unlimited passive obedience to rulers in things sinful, but an obedience to the wholesome laws, enacted for the good of the community by common consent, or by those who, according to the constitution of the state, have the power of enacting laws. To these good laws the people are to give obedience, without examining by what title the magistrates, who execute these laws, hold their power; and even without considering whether the religion professed by the magistrates be true or false. For the same reason the opposition to, and resistance of the power, forbidden in Romans 13:2, is an opposition to, and resistance of the established government, by disobeying the wholesome laws of the state; or by attempting to overturn the government from a factious disposition, or from ill-will to the persons in power, or from an ambitious desire to possess the government ourselves. These precepts, therefore, do not enjoin obedience to the magistrates in things sinful, but in things not sinful; and more especially in things morally good, and which tend to the welfare of the state; besides, as in the following verses, the apostle hath shown, from the nature and end of their office, that the duty of rulers is to promote the happiness of the people, it is plain from the apostle himself, that they who refuse to do things sinful, or even things inconsistent with the fundamental laws of the state, do not resist the ordinance of God, although these things should be commanded by a lawful magistrate, because in commanding them he exceeds his power. And opposition to a ruler who endeavours utterly to subvert the constitution, or to enslave a free people, is warranted not only by right reason, but by the gospel, which teaches that rulers are the servants of God for good to the people, and are supported by God only in the just execution of their office.”