Romans 13: Politics, Orgies, and the Weight of Love
There are some chapters of scripture that feel clean and easy to process. Romans 13 was not one of those chapters for me.
This video started with exhaustion. Not the dramatic kind — just the very human kind. The kind where life has been heavy for a few weeks, and your body can feel it before your mind fully catches up.
And honestly, I almost skipped filming this altogether.
But sometimes the moments when I least want to sit with scripture are the moments I probably need it most.
So here we are.
Watch the full video here:
Romans 13 |Politics, Orgies, & Love
Sitting With Romans 13
This chapter took me somewhere I did not expect.
The “sex scripture” verses in Romans 13 are technically verses 9 and 13–14, but before I could even get there, my body got stuck on the beginning of the chapter — the section about submitting to governing authorities.
And maybe that makes sense.
Because whether you’re deeply political or not, it feels impossible right now to avoid questions about authority, injustice, power, and what we owe the systems around us.
Romans 13 says things like:
“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities…”
And immediately I felt tension.
Because what happens when authority becomes harmful?
What happens when people in power are doing wrong?
What’s the balance between respecting authority and refusing to become passive toward injustice?
Those are not abstract questions anymore. They feel deeply current.
One thing that stood out while researching different interpretations is that scripture itself contains examples of both submission and resistance. There are moments where people obey authority, and moments where people resist it because conscience, justice, or God required it.
And maybe that’s why this passage feels so complicated.
Not because the Bible is inconsistent, but because life is.
One phrase that really stuck with me was the distinction between respecting authority and absolutizing authority.
That word hit me hard.
Because many theologians argue that governments may have legitimate roles, but they are not ultimate. God is.
Which creates this tension:
order matters,
peace matters,
but justice matters too.
And honestly? I didn’t walk away with a clean answer.
Just a lot to sit with.
“That’s Not What This Channel Is About…”
At one point in the video I literally had to stop and try to regulate myself because I could feel how heavy the topic had become in my body.
That’s something I’m noticing more lately:
sometimes scripture doesn’t just challenge your thoughts — it challenges your nervous system.
I kept trying to move back toward the “actual” topic of the video:
sex, love, relationships, intimacy.
But maybe all of it is connected more than we realize.
Because Romans 13 ultimately keeps returning to one central theme:
“Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
And maybe that’s the real anchor of the chapter.
The Ancient Meaning of “Orgies”
Yes, we really went from politics… to orgies.
Romans 13:13 says:
“Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness…”
But something important came up while researching this passage:
the ancient meaning of the word translated as “orgies” is broader than how we typically use the word today.
The Greek word komos referred more generally to:
drunken revelry,
chaotic partying,
excess,
loss of restraint,
intoxicated celebrations,
and sometimes sexuality within that environment.
In other words, Paul may not have simply been condemning “group sex” in the modern sense.
He may have been criticizing an entire lifestyle built around excess, impulsivity, indulgence, and disordered living.
And honestly, that context matters.
Because scripture is often flattened into modern assumptions without considering the actual world these passages were written in.
One thing I found especially interesting was that Paul consistently places sexual behavior alongside things like greed, envy, arrogance, drunkenness, exploitation, and lack of love.
Which suggests his framework is broader than simply “policing sex.”
It’s about what kinds of desires shape us.
“Sexual Behavior Shapes the Soul”
This was the sentence that completely stopped me in my tracks:
“Sexual behavior is believed to shape the soul, character, and relationship to God.”
I genuinely had to pause after reading that.
Because whether you agree with it fully or not… that statement carries weight.
And suddenly I understood more clearly why so many Christians approach sexuality with such seriousness.
If someone truly believes sexuality affects:
the soul,
character,
intimacy with God,
spiritual formation,
…then of course these conversations feel emotionally loaded.
That doesn’t automatically answer every question about sexuality.
But it does explain why these debates often feel much deeper than “rules.”
I don’t think I’ve fully processed that thought yet.
Honestly, I probably won’t for a while.
So… What Is Love?
Eventually the video circled back to what may actually be the biggest question underneath all of this:
What is love?
Because so many disagreements — about relationships, sex, marriage, ethics, faith — ultimately come back to differing definitions of love.
Is love:
a feeling?
a choice?
sacrifice?
commitment?
safety?
desire?
care?
justice?
covenant?
emotional attachment?
spiritual growth?
The answer seems to be… somehow all of them.
One thing that became very clear while researching biblical love is that scripture rarely treats love as only emotion.
Biblical love is usually tied to:
faithfulness,
action,
sacrifice,
care,
justice,
endurance,
commitment,
protection of the vulnerable.
Which honestly makes biblical love feel both beautiful and demanding.
And maybe that’s why the concept of love feels so difficult sometimes.
Because we all experience it differently.
For me, when I imagine what love would feel like at its core, I think of:
safety,
acceptance,
being cared for.
That’s what my nervous system seems to crave most deeply.
But someone else might define love entirely differently.
And maybe that’s part of the human experience:
trying to understand each other through completely different emotional languages.
Final Thoughts
This chapter felt messy.
Not in a bad way.
Just… deeply human.
We went from:
political authority,
to injustice,
to orgies,
to the soul,
to love,
to God,
to the nervous system,
to what it means to live ethically at all.
And honestly, maybe that’s exactly what scripture study is supposed to look like sometimes.
Not polished certainty.
But wrestling.
Romans 13 didn’t leave me with answers nearly as much as it left me with questions.
Especially this one:
What kind of life produces love instead of harm?
That’s the question I keep returning to.
And maybe that’s the question underneath everything else too.