16 Bible Verses about Government

Then to the angel of the church at Laodicea write thus: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the origin of God's creation. I know your doings, you are neither cold nor hot ??would you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I am going to spit you out of my mouth. read more.
You declare, 'I am rich, I am well off, I lack nothing!' ??not knowing you are a miserable creature, pitiful, poor, blind, naked. I advise you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich, white raiment to clothe you and prevent the shame of your nakedness from being seen, and salve to rub on your eyes, that you may see. I reprove and discipline those whom I love; so be in warm earnest and repent. Lo, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and sup with him, and he with me. 'The conqueror I will allow to sit beside me on my throne, as I myself have conquered and sat down beside my Father on his throne.'

All I endure is for the sake of the elect, to let them obtain their share of the salvation of Christ Jesus and also of eternal glory. It is a sure word, that "If we have died with him, we shall live with him, if we endure, then we shall reign with him, if we disown him, then he shall disown us,

The Son of man moves to his end indeed as it has been decreed, but woe to the man by whom he is betrayed!" And they began to discuss among themselves which of them could possibly be going to do such a thing. A quarrel also rose among them as to which of them could be considered the greatest. read more.
But Jesus said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles rule over them, and their authorities take the name of 'Benefactor': not so with you. He who is greatest among you must be like the youngest, and he who is chief like a servant. Which is the greatest, guest or servant? Is it not the guest? But I am among you as a servant. It is you who have stood by me through my trials; so, even as my Father has assigned me royal power, I assign you the right of eating and drinking at my table in my Realm and of sitting on thrones to rule the twelve tribes of Israel.

Then to the angel of the church at Thyatira write thus: ??These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes flash like fire and whose feet glow like bronze. I know your doings, your love and loyalty and service and patient endurance; I know you are doing more than you did at first. Still I have this against you: you are tolerating that Jezebel of a woman who styles herself a prophetess and seduces my servants by teaching them to give way to sexual vice and to eat food which has been sacrificed to idols. read more.
I have given her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual vice. Lo, I will lay her on a sickbed, and bring her paramours into sore distress, if they do not repent of her practices; and her children I will exterminate. So shall all the churches know that I am the searcher of the inmost heart; I will requite each of you according to what you have done. But for the rest of you at Thyatira, for all who do not hold these tenets, for those who have not (in their phrase) 'fathomed the deep mysteries of Satan' ??for you this is my word: I impose no fresh burden on you; only hold to what you have, till such time as I come. 'And the conqueror, he who till the end lays to heart what I enjoin, I will give him authority over the nations ??27 aye, he will shepherd them with an iron flail, shattering them like a potter's jars ??as I myself have received authority from my Father; also I will grant him to see the Morning-star.'

They retorted, "And so you would teach us ??you, born in utter depravity!" Then they expelled him.

And he proceeded to teach them that the Son of man had to endure great suffering, to be rejected by the elders and the high priests and the scribes, to be killed and after three days to rise again;

When morning came, all the high priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus, so as to have him put to death. After binding him, they led him off and handed him over to Pontius Pilate the governor.

When he entered the temple, the high priests and elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, "What authority have you for acting in this way? Who gave you this authority?"

Immediately morning came, the high priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and all the Sanhedrin, and after binding Jesus they led him off and handed him over to Pilate.

Then the high priests and the elders of the people met in the palace of the high priest who was called Caiaphas and took counsel together to get hold of Jesus by craft and have him put to death. "Only," they said, "it must not be during the festival, in case of a riot among the people."

and if anyone is hungry let him eat at home. You must not gather, only to incur condemnation. I will give you my instructions upon the other matters when I come.

The apostles and the presbyters met to investigate this question,

The holy Spirit and we have decided not to impose any extra burden on you, apart from these essential requirements:

(if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how is he to look after the church of God?);

Never censure an older man harshly; appeal to him as a father. Treat younger men like brothers,

Jesus answered, "If anyone loves me he will obey my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and take up our abode with him. He who does not love me does not obey my word; and what you hear me say is not my word but the word of the Father who sent me. I have told you all this while I am still with you, read more.
but the Helper, the holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and recall to you everything I have said. Peace I leave to you, my peace I give to you; I give it not as the world gives its 'Peace!' Let not your hearts be disquieted or timid. You heard me tell you I was going away and coming back to you; if you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father ??for the Father is greater than I am. I tell you this now, before it occurs, so that, when it does occur, you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the Prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me;

Even if my gospel is veiled, it is only veiled in the case of the perishing; there the god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers, to prevent them seeing the light thrown by the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God.

Yet ??I am telling you the truth ??my going is for your good. If I do not depart, the Helper will not come to you; whereas if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world, convincing men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in me; read more.
of righteousness, because I go to the Father and you see me no more; of judgment, because the Prince of this world has been judged.

We do discuss 'wisdom' with those who are mature; only it is not the wisdom of this world or of the dethroned Powers who rule this world, it is the mysterious Wisdom of God that we discuss, that hidden wisdom which God decreed from all eternity for our glory. None of the Powers of this world understands it (if they had, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory).

Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judaea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, Philip his brother tetrarch of the country of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysias tetrarch of Abilene,

Five days later down came the high priest Ananias with some elders and a barrister called Tertullus. They laid information before the governor against Paul.

After binding him, they led him off and handed him over to Pontius Pilate the governor.

After a first and a second warning have no more to do with a factious person;

I appeal to you myself by the gentleness and consideration of Christ ??the Paul who is 'humble enough to your face when he is with you, but outspoken enough when he gets away from you.'

I have consigned that individual to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, in order that his spirit may be saved on the Day of the Lord Jesus.

I warned you already, on my second visit, and I warn you now before I come, both you who sinned some time ago and the rest of you as well, that I will spare no one if I come back.

Then I saw a great white throne, and One who was seated thereon; from his presence earth and sky fled, no more to be found.

But I tell you, you must not swear any oath, neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God,

Then the seventh angel blew; and loud voices followed in heaven, crying, "The rule of the world has passed to our Lord and his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever." Then the four and twenty Presbyters who are seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshipped God, saying, "We thank thee, Lord God almighty, who art and wast, that thou hast assumed thy great power and begun to reign;

If you remit the sins of any, they are remitted: if you retain them, they are retained."

I will give you the keys of the Realm of heaven; whatever you prohibit on earth will be prohibited in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven."

I tell you truly, Whatever you prohibit on earth will be prohibited in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.

As they travelled on from town to town, they handed over to the people the resolutions which the apostles and the presbyters in Jerusalem had decided were to be obeyed;

Obey your leaders, submit to them; for they are alive to the interests of your souls, as men who will have to account for their trust. Let their work be a joy to them and not a grief ??which would be a loss to yourselves.

Remind them to be submissive to their rulers and authorities; they must obey, they must be ready for any good work,

Every subject must obey the government-authorities, for no authority exists apart from God; the existing authorities have been constituted by God. Hence anyone who resists authority is opposing the divine order, and the opposition will bring judgment on themselves. Magistrates are no terror to an honest man, though they are to a bad man. If you want to avoid being alarmed at the government-authorities, lead an honest life and you will be commended for it; read more.
the magistrate is God's servant for your benefit. But if you do wrong, you may well be alarmed; a magistrate does not wield the power of the sword for nothing, he is God's servant for the infliction of divine vengeance upon evil-doers. You must be obedient, therefore, not only to avoid the divine vengeance but as a matter of conscience, for the same reason as you pay taxes ??since magistrates are God's officers, bent upon the maintenance of order and authority. Pay them all their respective dues, tribute to one, taxes to another, respect to this man, honour to that.

Tell us, then, what you think about this. Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?" But Jesus detected their malice. He said, "Why do you tempt me, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for taxes." So they brought him a shilling. read more.
Then Jesus said to them, "Whose likeness, whose inscription is this?" "Caesar's," they said. Then he told them, "Give Caesar what belongs to Caesar, give God what belongs to God."

"Well then," he said to them, "give Caesar what belongs to Caesar, give God what belongs to God."

Submit for the Lord's sake to any human authority; submit to the emperor as supreme, and to governors as deputed by him for the punishment of wrongdoers and the encouragement of honest people ??15 for it is the will of God that by your honest lives you should silence the ignorant charges of foolish persons. Live like free men, only do not make your freedom a pretext for misconduct; live like servants of God. read more.
Do honour to all, love the brotherhood, reverence God, honour the emperor.

Then one of the twelve called Judas Iscariot went and said to the high priests, "What will you give me for betraying him to you?" And they weighed out for him thirty silver pieces.

Then Judas his betrayer saw he was condemned, and repented; he brought back the thirty silver pieces to the high priests and elders, saying, "I did wrong in betraying innocent blood." "What does that matter to us?" they said, "it is your affair, not ours!"

Now in those days an edict was issued by Caesar Augustus for a census of the whole world.

Submit for the Lord's sake to any human authority; submit to the emperor as supreme, and to governors as deputed by him for the punishment of wrongdoers and the encouragement of honest people ??15 for it is the will of God that by your honest lives you should silence the ignorant charges of foolish persons.

Every subject must obey the government-authorities, for no authority exists apart from God; the existing authorities have been constituted by God. Hence anyone who resists authority is opposing the divine order, and the opposition will bring judgment on themselves. Magistrates are no terror to an honest man, though they are to a bad man. If you want to avoid being alarmed at the government-authorities, lead an honest life and you will be commended for it; read more.
the magistrate is God's servant for your benefit. But if you do wrong, you may well be alarmed; a magistrate does not wield the power of the sword for nothing, he is God's servant for the infliction of divine vengeance upon evil-doers. You must be obedient, therefore, not only to avoid the divine vengeance but as a matter of conscience, for the same reason as you pay taxes ??since magistrates are God's officers, bent upon the maintenance of order and authority. Pay them all their respective dues, tribute to one, taxes to another, respect to this man, honour to that.

Now when Pilate saw that instead of him doing any good a riot was rising, he took some water and washed his hands in presence of the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of this good man's blood. It is your affair!"

This made Pilate anxious to release him, but the Jews yelled, "If you release him, you are no friend of Caesar's! Anyone who makes himself a king is against Caesar!" On hearing this, Pilate brought Jesus out and seated him on the tribunal at a spot called the 'mosaic pavement' ??the Hebrew name is Gabbatha (it was the day of Preparation for the passover, about noon). "There is your king!" he said to the Jews. read more.
Then they yelled, "Off with him! Off with him! Crucify him!" "Crucify your king?" said Pilate. The high priests retorted, "We have no king but Caesar!" Then Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus,

After deposing him, he raised up David to be their king, to whom he bore this testimony that 'In David, the son of Jessai, I have found a man after my own heart, who will obey all my will.'

"Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? They do not wash their hands when they take their food."

You hypocrites! Isaiah made a grand prophecy about you when he said, This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me: vain is their worship of me, for the doctrines they teach are but human precepts."

Now the Pharisees gathered to meet him, with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem. They noticed that some of his disciples ate their food with 'common' (that is, unwashed) hands. (The Pharisees and all the Jews decline to eat till they wash their hands up to the wrist, in obedience to the tradition of the elders;

Do honour to all, love the brotherhood, reverence God, honour the emperor.

so the king at once sent one of the guard with orders to bring his head. The man went and beheaded him in the prison, brought his head on a dish, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother.

(though at the same time he hoped Paul would give him a bribe). So he did send for him pretty frequently and conversed with him.