Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme;
Every ordinance of man - `every human institution' (Alford); х Ktisei (G2937)] 'every human creation.' For though of divine appointment, yet in the mode and exercise of authority, earthly governors are human institutions, being of men, and in relation to men. The apostle speaks as one raised above human things. But lest they should think themselves raised by faith above human authorities, he tells them, submit yourselves for the sake of Christ, who desires you to be subject, and once was subject to earthly rulers Himself, though having all things subject to Him, and whose honour is at stake in you, His earthly representatives (cf. Romans 13:5).
King. The Roman emperor was 'supreme' in the Roman provinces to which this letter was addressed. Jewish zealots refused obedience. 'If "the king" command one thing, and the "governor sent by him" another, we ought rather to obey the superior' (Augustine in Grotius). Scripture prescribes nothing upon forms of government, but subjects Christians to that everywhere subsisting, without entering into the question of right (thus the Roman emperors had by force seized supreme authority, and Rome had, by unjustifiable means, made herself mistress of Asia): because the de facto governors have not been made by chance, but by the providence of God.