What Does the Bible Say About Talking Back To Authorities?

Ephesians 6:1 ESV / 24 helpful votes

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

Romans 13:1 ESV / 11 helpful votes

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

Hebrews 13:17 ESV / 10 helpful votes

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

Romans 14:16 ESV / 8 helpful votes

So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil.

Romans 13:1-14 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. ...

Romans 13:1-2 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

James 1:22 ESV / 6 helpful votes

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

John 17:17 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

John 14:26 ESV / 6 helpful votes

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

Matthew 6:33 ESV / 6 helpful votes

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

1 Peter 2:13-17 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

1 Peter 1:13 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

1 Timothy 2:1-2 ESV / 5 helpful votes

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

Romans 13:1-4 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.

Matthew 22:21 ESV / 5 helpful votes

They said, “Caesar's.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.”

Genesis 1:1 ESV / 5 helpful votes

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Revelation 17:2 ESV / 4 helpful votes

With whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.”

1 Thessalonians 1:4 ESV / 4 helpful votes

For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you,

Colossians 2:13 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,

Colossians 1:16 ESV / 4 helpful votes

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

2 Corinthians 4:4 ESV / 4 helpful votes

In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Romans 13:2 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

John 14:6 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 8:44 ESV / 4 helpful votes

You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

John 3:16-17 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

John 1:1 ESV / 4 helpful votes

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Luke 22:44 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Luke 16:19-31 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. ...

Matthew 28:19 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

Matthew 24:3 ESV / 4 helpful votes

As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

Matthew 18:18 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Ezekiel 18:4 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.

Genesis 2:24 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Genesis 1:27 ESV / 4 helpful votes

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Revelation 12:3 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems.

Revelation 5:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?”

Revelation 1:8 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Revelation 1:1-20 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood ...

2 Peter 1:20 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation.

1 Peter 2:13-14 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.

1 Peter 1:10 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully,

Hebrews 1:3 ESV / 3 helpful votes

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

Ephesians 1:11 ESV / 3 helpful votes

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,

1 Corinthians 6:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases?

Romans 13:1-7 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. ...

Acts 4:19 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge,

Acts 1:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes

In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach,

John 14:25 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you.

Matthew 24:36 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.

Matthew 24:1-51 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. But he answered them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. ...

Matthew 18:15-17 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

Ezekiel 8:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Then I looked, and behold, a form that had the appearance of a man. Below what appeared to be his waist was fire, and above his waist was something like the appearance of brightness, like gleaming metal.

Isaiah 44:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Thus says the Lord who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you: Fear not, O Jacob my servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen.

Isaiah 11:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

Exodus 21:20-21 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“When a man strikes his slave, male or female, with a rod and the slave dies under his hand, he shall be avenged. But if the slave survives a day or two, he is not to be avenged, for the slave is his money.

Exodus 20:13 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“You shall not murder.

Acts 4:24 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them,

John 14:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

John 1:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

1 Samuel 2:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes

He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and on them he has set the world.

61 Bible Verses about Talking Back To Authorities

Ephesians 6:1 ESV / 24 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 13:1 ESV / 11 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Hebrews 13:17 ESV / 10 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 14:16 ESV / 8 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 13:1-14 ESV / 7 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 13:1-2 ESV / 7 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

James 1:22 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 17:17 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 14:26 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 6:33 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Peter 2:13-17 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Peter 1:13 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Timothy 2:1-2 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 13:1-4 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 22:21 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 1:1 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Revelation 17:2 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Thessalonians 1:4 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Colossians 2:13 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Colossians 1:16 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Corinthians 4:4 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 13:2 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 14:6 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 8:44 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 3:16-17 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 1:1 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 22:44 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 16:19-31 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 28:19 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 24:3 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 18:18 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ezekiel 18:4 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 2:24 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 1:27 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Revelation 12:3 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Revelation 5:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Revelation 1:8 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Revelation 1:1-20 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Peter 1:20 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Peter 2:13-14 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Peter 1:10 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Hebrews 1:3 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ephesians 1:11 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 6:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 13:1-7 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Acts 4:19 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Acts 1:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 14:25 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 24:36 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 24:1-51 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 18:15-17 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ezekiel 8:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Isaiah 44:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Isaiah 11:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Exodus 21:20-21 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Exodus 20:13 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Acts 4:24 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 14:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 1:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 1:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Samuel 2:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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