Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme;
Ver. 13. Submit to every ordinance] That is, although the ordinance or government in the manner of its constitution be from man, yet because of the necessity of its institution it is from God; submit to it, though of man, for the Lord's sake. (Fuller's Answer to Dr Fern.) For although it is called here man's creature or ordinance, either in respect of man the subject, by whom it is exercised, or man the object, about whom it is conversant, or of man the end, to whose emolument it tendeth; yet it is still the gift and institution of God, the primary author and provident ordaiuer. A Deo sane est sive iubente, sive sinente, Of God it is surely, either so commanding or so suffering it to be, saith Augustine (contra Faust. Man xxii. 7.).