Romans 13:6-7 (English Standard Version)
For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 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.
Jesus did not dodge the issues of His day, so why should we?
The simple answer is loving our enemies. The hard answer is our enemies don’t want us to love them. That should never stop us from looking at what Jesus did and understand why He said what He said to those standing in front of Him at that time in history.
Rome conquered their world by force. They installed tetrarchs over regions that answered to Rome. They had governors that passed judgment over those authorities. Everyone was answerable to Rome.
Jesus was bringing a new Kingdom that had nothing to do with politics but addressed how to live a life pleasing to God. The object of this exercise is living in the world but not of the world.
Fulfilling the Law Through Love
Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
In the very next verse Jesus puts it as plainly as He could that the law isn’t worldly because in worldly terms we owe everyone something. The Kingdom of God is not of this world and has its own standards.
Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
It is a mistake to think that God changed His mind, changed His plans. He did not. His Old Covenant Laws are still in effect. They just don’t apply to those of us that have died with Christ.
Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
That is a Kingdom concept not a worldly concept. Perhaps it would be easier to understand if we thought of ourselves as having dual citizenship. We are subject to the authority of both. We may not like worldly authority, but what we do in response to our intellect and emotions should take into account what our King on the Throne tells us.