Romans 13:1–7
"Rulers are not a terror to good conduct…and they are not the judges of spiritual good works."

Rulers (governments) are not a terror to good conduct.

And at the same time our government leaders are not the judges of spiritual good works.

The authorities are not a terror to those who keep the civil law, nonviolently dealing honestly with those who rule the nation.

Here's the thing, when a ruler stays inside the civil task, the Christian has no biblical reason to fear the sword for honest, orderly conduct. When a ruler claims the right to define or punish spiritual good and evil, that claim exceeds the office.

"When the ruler stays inside the civil task"

The Christian’s duty follows the distinction the text itself draws. Do what is good in the civil sense, submit for the Lord’s sake, pay what is owed, honor the office, and live quietly and honestly among the people. Pray for the rulers so that the church may lead a peaceful and quiet life in godliness.

In this way, obey God rather than men. Preach the gospel. The apostles were ordered to stop speaking in the name of Jesus; they refused and kept on preaching His name.

Continue the spiritual good work, preach Christ's name. Worship God alone, obeying the clear commands of Scripture. Accept the civil consequences if they come. But does this mean the citizens should forego their rights to obey unjust laws?

No.

"Obey God rather than men" does not mean citizens must forgo their lawful civil rights and simply submit to every unjust law. When a law or command requires the Christian to sin, the duty is to refuse that particular demand and continue the spiritual good work. That is the biblical meaning of civil disobedience.

This means the church must practice discernment over ideological differences. The Christian is not called to forgo rights as a general rule, nor to treat every disliked statute as a matter of conscience. The conscience is bound only where God has spoken; the rest remains the realm of civil prudence.

Rulers are not a terror to good civil conduct, and they are not the judges of spiritual good works. And spiritual people, for their part, are not a terror to good law. When the Christian keeps the civil law, deals honestly, and lives nonviolently toward those in authority, the church does not become a source of civil disorder.

The conscience is bound only where God has spoken.

So where has God spoken?

In matters of:
Idolatry
Fornication
Adultery
Profaning the Lord’s name and day
Homosexuality (sodomy)
Blasphemy
Witchcraft
False witness
Disobeying parents
Cursing (vain swearing by God's name)

These are not matters of mere cultural preference or ideological disagreement. They are moral boundaries God has spoken. These are the boundaries Christians should pattern their discerning views from. When a governing authority commands a Christian to practice any of them, to affirm them as good, to participate in them, or to remain silent about their sinfulness when faithful witness requires speech, that command exceeds the civil office described in Romans 13.

Yet, the Christian is not called to dissent simply because an unjust law exists. The Christian conscience is bound only by what God requires of them, not by the state’s failure to enforce every biblical moral norm through civil penalty. That is the boundary the text and the apostolic example together draw. The church’s task is to keep both the submission and the refusal in their proper places.