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Chapter 10JonasInstReg.1.10

CAPUT VIII. Quod potestati regali, quae nonnisi a Deo ordinata est, humiliter atque fideliter cuncti parere debeant.

The Duty of Obedience to Royal Power

Subjects must obey royal power as ordained by God, offering faithful support for the king's soul and the kingdom's welfare, thereby fulfilling divine command and loyalty.

It is clear that royal power ought to provide for everyone subject to it according to the order of equity; and for that reason every subject must obey that same power faithfully, usefully, and obediently, because whoever resists power ordained by God resists God's ordinance itself, as the Apostle teaches.✦ For just as subjects want the king to help them piously and justly, so they in turn — first and especially for securing the salvation of his soul, and then more generally for ordering and administering the honor and welfare of the kingdom according to God's will — ought to give him timely support without pretense and without taking it back.1 When they do this, they clearly prove both that they are fulfilling the divine command and that they are keeping the loyalty they owe the king.

Scriptural Witness to Obedience

The Gospel, Peter, and Paul all command submission to civil authorities as a divine ordinance, citing Matthew 22:21, 1 Peter 2:13-17, Romans 13:1-2, and Titus 3:1.

That subjects ought to render this kind of obedience to royal power is openly attested both by the legal precepts and by the Lord in the Gospel, who warns, saying: "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's" (Matt. 22:21). Peter also says: "Therefore be subject to every human authority for God's sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors as sent by him" (1 Pet.2 2:13). And not long after: "Fear God; honor the king" (ibid. , v.✦ 17). The apostle Paul also agrees on the same point when he says: Let every soul be subject to the higher authorities.✦ For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been established by God.✦ Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God (Rom.✦ 13:1)—and the rest of what the apostolic teaching goes on to say about this kind of authority. He also writes to Titus: Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities (Tit.✦ 3:1).

Prayer for Kings and the Common Good

Believers are urged to pray for all in authority, following Paul's instruction and Jeremiah's example, and to support the king for mutual salvation and the eternal kingdom.

Likewise, writing to Timothy, he shows how highly he values the king's cause and salvation: So I urge first of all that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and for all who hold high office, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and purity. For this is good and acceptable before God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:1).3 For if Jeremiah, the prophet of God, urges prayer for the life of the idol-worshiping king Nebuchadnezzar, how much more should every order humbly plead with God for the salvation of Christian kings! So then, let it be said briefly from the divine authorities how royal power is to be obeyed, and how care is to be taken for its salvation. Therefore every faithful person must give appropriate help to such a great power—for his own salvation and for the honor of the kingdom according to God's will—as a member helps the head; and he should seek more in the king the common good, benefit, and honor of the realm than the profits of the world; so that, supporting one another by these most beneficial aids, they may together deserve to enjoy the eternal kingdom as the blessed.4

Read the original Latin

Constat regalem potestatem omnibus sibi subjectis secundum aequitatis ordinem consultum ferre debere; et idcirco oportet ut omnes subjecti fideliter, et utiliter, atque obedienter eidem pareant potestati; quoniam qui potestati a Deo ordinatae resistit, Dei utique ordinationi, juxta Apostoli documentum, resistit. Sicut enim subjecti a rege sibi volunt pie et juste opitulari, ita specialiter ei primum ad salutem animae suae procurandam, deinde generaliter ad honestatem et utilitatem regni secundum Dei voluntatem disponendam atque administrandam, indissimulanter atque irretractabiliter solatium opportunum debent exhibere. Quod cum faciunt, et divinum praeceptum adimplere, et fidem regi debitam evidenter probantur conservare. Hujuscemodi ergo obsequium a subjectis regiae potestati impendi debere, et legalia praecepta aperte testantur, et Dominus in Evangelio admonet, dicens: Reddite quae sunt Caesaris Caesari, et quae sunt Dei Deo (Matth. XXII, 21) . Petrus quoque ait: Subjecti igitur estote omni creaturae propter Deum, sive regi quasi praecellenti, sive ducibus tanquam ab eo missis (I Petr. II, 13) . Et non post multa: Deum timete, regem honorificate (Ibid.

, v. 17) . Paulus etiam apostolus in idipsum concordans ait: Omnis anima potestatibus sublimioribus subdita sit. Non est enim potestas nisi a Deo: quae autem sunt, a Deo ordinatae sunt. Itaque qui resistit potestati, Dei ordinationi resistit (Rom. XIII, 1) , et caetera, quae de hujusmodi potestate apostolicus sermo exsequitur. Idem etiam scribit ad Titum: Admone illos principibus et potestatibus subditos esse (Tit. III, 1) .

Item ad Timotheum, quanti pendat causam et salutem regis, demonstrat ita scribendo: Obsecro igitur primo omnium fieri obsecrationes, orationes, postulationes, gratiarum actiones, pro omnibus hominibus, pro regibus et omnibus qui in sublimitate sunt, ut quietam et tranquillam vitam agamus, in omni pietate et castitate. Hoc enim bonum est et acceptum coram Salvatore nostro Deo, qui omnes homines vult salvos fieri, et ad agnitionem veritatis venire (I Tim. II, 1) . Si enim Jeremias propheta Dei pro vita idololatrae regis Nabuchodonosor orare admonet, quanto magis pro salute Christianorum regum ab omnibus ordinibus Deo est humiliter supplicandum! Qualiter igitur regiae potestati parendum, qualiter ejus saluti consulendum est, breviter ex auctoritatibus divinis dictum sit. Quapropter necesse est ut unusquisque fidelis tantae potestati ad salutem propriam, et ad honorem regni secundum Dei voluntatem, ut pote membrum capiti, opem congruam ferat; plusque in illo generalem profectum, et utilitatem, atque honorem regni, quam lucra quaerat mundi; quatenus his saluberrimis opitulationibus sibi vicissim suffragantes, aeterno regno pariter mereantur perfrui felices.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Rom.13.1 — Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except by God, and the authorities that exist have been appointed by God.
  2. ↩1Pet.2.17 — Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
  3. ↩Rom.13.1 — Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except by God, and the authorities that exist have been appointed by God.
  4. ↩Rom.13.1 — Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except by God, and the authorities that exist have been appointed by God.
  5. ↩Rom.13.1;Rom.13.2 — Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except by God, and the authorities that exist have been appointed by God. Rom.13.2 — Therefore the one who resists the authority has opposed the ordinance of God, and those who have opposed will receive judgment on themselves.
  6. ↩Titus.3.1 — Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩indissimulanter atque irretractabiliter rendered as 'without pretense and without taking it back' to keep the pair concrete: open, non-dissembling aid that is not later withdrawn.
  2. 2 ↩omni creaturae rendered as 'every human authority' following the sense of 1 Pet 2:13 (Vulgate often has humanae creaturae); 'creature' here means created human institution, not living beings in general.
  3. 3 ↩Citation fragment closes the 1 Timothy quotation as II, 1, though the quoted wording spans 1 Tim 2:1-4; medieval practice often cites by opening verse.
  4. 4 ↩ut pote membrum capiti: body/head analogy for subject to king; rendered as 'as a member helps the head'.

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