Romans 13:1 isn't about blindly obeying government, if that were the case then we ought to have not resisted Hitler, and we ought to support abortion (because it's legal according to our government). The words "governing authorities" are more accurately translated to "higher powers", and these powers are appointed by God to be ministers of God. Ministers of God, does that sound like most politician to you? That's because it's not. Paul is saying that God institutes the true authority that we are to obey. Don't let an evil government use this scripture to convince you that you are to blindly obey them. You have a higher power to obey, if you read this passage in the KJV it reads much clearer, and you can see that it is talking about power established by God versus power established by man. Man's established power may very well be in defiance to God's will, and therefore we must disobey it. For example if the government were to pass some law that required you to give up some inalienable right, such as the right of the Christian to share the Gospel of Jesus, then this law must disobeyed because it goes against the actual power established by God. Remember Paul would end up living under house arrest by the Roman government, and for an admitted non-crime (according to King Agrippa in Acts 26:32). The accepted history is that Paul would later go on to be beheaded by the Roman government. Do you think he was advocating that they were right in doing this? That he was to come to end of their sword because what he did was evil? No. Paul is trying to show us how to determine where real authority lies. In verse 3 he says that "rulers are not a terror to good works but to evil". Now, we know what good and evil works are, so if there was someone promoting evil, then obviously by Biblical standards that person is not a ruler. So think of all the evil that is promoted in politics, those that promote this evil are not rulers, are not to be obeyed, and are to be resisted. Period, this is what the Bible says. We are to resist evil, in James 4:7 it says to resist the devil and he will flee from you. The real lesson here is not to resist those in authority who are promoting good, but instead submit to them. These people may or may not be part of your government, they may be elders in your church, your pastor, or other leaders in your life, they are the authorities that God has placed over you that are ministers of God for your good.

Remember, resistance to authority is a SPIRITUAL battle. We are to pray for those in authority over us, whether by God's authority OR man's. We are to encourage and support them where their laws promote good works, and we are to resist them by non-compliance and protest when their laws are immoral. However, if we must resort to physical acts of violence, then we have lost the spiritual battle. Ephesians 6:12 comes to mind doesn't it? "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places."

In the instance of Nazi Germany. The Church was actually using Romans 13 to compel their people to submit to the reign of Hitler. The spiritual battle was lost. Even pacifist Detrick Bonhoeffer realized that violence was warranted at this point in order to end Hitler's reign of evil, however he did this as a man defeated as one who had lost the spiritual battle: "He did not justify his action but accepted that he was taking guilt upon himself as he wrote "when a man takes guilt upon himself in responsibility, he imputes his guilt to himself and no one else. He answers for it...Before other men he is justified by dire necessity; before himself he is acquitted by his conscience, but before God he hopes only for grace.(source)" The rise of Hitler was a failure of the church to recognize God's established authority. It's very possible that Hilter could have been stopped simply by the church submitting to the ultimate authority of God, instead of man.

Pray for people in positions of power, whether Godly or not, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you God's established authority, support rulers that promote good works, and resist those that promote evil.

Romans 13:1-7