When we begin to read this chapter of Romans, we need to undergo a slight shift in our worldly perspectives. It’s a shift based on Paul’s understanding of just when Jesus would be returning to earth. His view was what we usually call imminent eschatology, which means that he believed that Jesus’ Second Coming would occur not simply within his lifespan but could occur at any day or time, imminently. From our perspective nearly two thousand years later, this worldview can be a bit more challenging for us to understand as Christians have been looking toward this same event for that entire time.
What Paul’s eschatological worldview specifically means for us as we read this chapter is that Paul generally did not see a need for changes to occur on a larger societal scale because Jesus was going to return any day, and He would fix everything. It’s also important for us to remember that at the time Paul was writing this letter, John had not yet written Revelation, which is the larger eschatological view through which most Christians look at Scripture and the world as a whole.
Keep all of that in mind as you read Paul’s call for the Roman Christians to be subject to the governing authorities, which in this case specifically meant the Roman emperor, though it should be noted that to be subject in this case means that Christians should follow the law of the authorities while not engaging in active participation in the Imperial Cult. While Paul wrote to the Romans, Emperor Nero had sought, successfully, to be worshipped as a living deity for all of the Empire.
While Paul encouraged the Roman Christians to be subject to the governing authorities, they were still to be separate, to be holy when compared to the Roman cult. His words echoed those of Jesus when he wrote that the commandment aimed at interpersonal relationships could be summed up by “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” As Christians, they were (and we still are) to show our holiness not through acts of outward righteousness, which usually appears to those around us as self-righteousness, but through our love for one another.
Paul concludes this chapter with a clear demonstration of his imminent eschatology, reminding the Roman Christians that “the day is at hand,” which meant that their former way of life, which did not promote loving their neighbor as themselves, were not the way they should now live.