Therefore subject yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether to the king, as supreme;
Or unto governors, as sent by him ...  Actually in Rome at the time of Peter's writing, the emperor was the only actual ruler, the many governors of the provinces being no more than deputies whose authority and tenure were subject absolutely to the whim of the current Caesar.  Among such governors mentioned in the New Testament were Pilate, Felix, and Festus.