Magistrate

Magistrate in the biblical text translates several Hebrew and Greek terms for public civil officials invested with judicial and governmental authority. In the Old Testament, the appointment of judges and officers (shoterim) by Moses at Jethro's advice (Exodus 18:13–26; Deuteronomy 1:16–17) established a tiered judicial system to adjudicate disputes according to God's law. These officials were commanded to judge righteously without partiality, taking no bribes. The Mosaic legal system placed the authority of magistrates within the framework of divine law rather than royal prerogative.

In the New Testament, magistrates appear most prominently in Paul's encounters with Roman officials: the praetors (strategoi) at Philippi who had Paul and Silas beaten and imprisoned (Acts 16:20–38), and before whom the jailer brought Paul after the earthquake. Titus 3:1 instructs Christians to be subject to rulers and authorities, and Luke 12:58 uses the magistrate as an image for God in the parable of settling with one's adversary. Paul's most extended treatment of civil authority in Romans 13:1–7 grounds the obligation of submission to magistrates in the principle that governing authorities are God's servants for the administration of justice.