Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.
The apostle Paul wrote this letter to the Christian community living in Rome around 57 AD. At the time, some Christians may have questioned whether they truly owed anything to an unjust pagan empire — after all, their ultimate citizenship was in heaven. Paul does not entertain that logic. He lays out a plain principle: pay what you actually owe. Taxes and revenue referred to money owed to governing authorities, which was a real and contested issue for Roman-era believers. But then Paul extends the same principle to something less tangible — respect and honor. These are treated not as optional expressions of generosity but as genuine debts owed to people in various roles and relationships. The verse treats human obligation as real, not negotiable.
Father, help me see the debts I carry toward the people around me — not just financial ones, but the respect and honor I sometimes withhold because I feel they have not earned it. Make me someone who pays what they owe generously and without keeping score. Remind me that honoring others is not weakness — it is faithfulness. Amen.
Nobody likes being called a debtor. The word carries weight — it implies obligation, and obligation implies you do not always get to choose. But Paul is doing something quietly radical here: he is placing respect and honor in the same category as taxes. You can rationalize avoiding both. You can construct reasons why a particular authority does not deserve what you owe. But Paul says the ledger exists regardless. Living in community — whether in a city, a family, a workplace, or a church — means you are always in relationship with what you owe the people around you. Think about who you consistently underpay in terms of respect or honor. Maybe it is someone in authority you quietly resent. Maybe it is a parent whose sacrifices you have never properly named out loud. Maybe it is the colleague who deserves credit they never seem to receive. The verse does not say honor people when they have earned it or respect authority only when it deserves respect. It says you owe it. That is a harder standard than most of us are comfortable with. And it is worth asking honestly: am I paying my debts — not just the financial ones, but the ones I carry toward the people in my life?
Paul lists taxes, revenue, respect, and honor as things we can owe to others. How does treating respect and honor as debts — rather than optional choices — change how you think about giving them?
Is there someone in your life right now to whom you owe more honor or respect than you have been giving? What has made it difficult to give it?
Some Christians throughout history have used faith as a reason to disengage from civic life entirely. Others have been deeply involved citizens. Where do you land on that tension, and how does this verse shape your thinking?
When someone consistently withholds honor or respect from the people around them, what effect does that tend to have on those relationships over time?
Who is one specific person you could more intentionally honor this week — and what would that look like in practice, not just in sentiment?
Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it.
Proverbs 3:27
For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
1 Timothy 2:2
Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.
1 Peter 2:17
Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
Romans 13:8
Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.
1 Peter 2:18
Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,
Titus 3:1
They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.
Matthew 22:21
Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme;
1 Peter 2:13
Pay to all what is due: tax to whom tax is due, customs to whom customs, respect to whom respect, honor to whom honor.
AMP
Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
ESV
Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax [is due]; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.
NASB
Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.
NIV
Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.
NKJV
Give to everyone what you owe them: Pay your taxes and government fees to those who collect them, and give respect and honor to those who are in authority.
NLT
Fulfill your obligations as a citizen. Pay your taxes, pay your bills, respect your leaders.
MSG