On Not Loving the World

¹⁵ Do not love the world or anything in the world.^(A) If anyone loves the world, love for the Father^[a] is not in them.^{(B) 16} For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh,^(C) the lust of the eyes,^(D) and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. ¹⁷ The world and its desires pass away,^(E) but whoever does the will of God^(F) lives forever.

Warnings Against Denying the Son

¹⁸ Dear children, this is the last hour;^(G) and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming,^(H) even now many antichrists have come.^(I) This is how we know it is the last hour.

Submit Yourselves to God

4 What causes fights and quarrels^(A) among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle^(B) within you? ² You desire but do not have, so you kill.^(C) You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. ³ When you ask, you do not receive,^(D) because you ask with wrong motives,^(E) that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

⁴ You adulterous^(F) people,^[a] don’t you know that friendship with the world^(G) means enmity against God?^(H) Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.^{(I) 5} Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us^[b]?^{(J) 6} But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

⁷ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil,^(L) and he will flee from you. ⁸ Come near to God and he will come near to you.^(M) Wash your hands,^(N) you sinners, and purify your hearts,^(O) you double-minded.^{(P) 9} Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.^{(Q) 10} Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.^(R)

¹¹ Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another.^(S) Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister^[d] or judges them^(T) speaks against the law^(U) and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it,^(V) but sitting in judgment on it. ¹² There is only one Lawgiver and Judge,^(W) the one who is able to save and destroy.^(X) But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?^(Y)

The Weak and the Strong

14 Accept the one whose faith is weak,^(A) without quarreling over disputable matters. ² One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.^{(B) 3} The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt^(C) the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge^(D) the one who does, for God has accepted them. ⁴ Who are you to judge someone else’s servant?^(E) To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

⁵ One person considers one day more sacred than another;^(F) another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. ⁶ Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God;^(G) and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. ⁷ For none of us lives for ourselves alone,^(H) and none of us dies for ourselves alone. ⁸ If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.^{(I) 9} For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life^(J) so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.^(K)

¹⁰ You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister^[a]? Or why do you treat them with contempt?^(L) For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.^{(M) 11} It is written:

¹² So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.^(P)

¹³ Therefore let us stop passing judgment^(Q) on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.^{(R) 14} I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself.^(S) But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean.^{(T) 15} If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love.^(U) Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died.^{(V) 16} Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil.^{(W) 17} For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking,^(X) but of righteousness, peace^(Y) and joy in the Holy Spirit,^{(Z) 18} because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.^(AA)

¹⁹ Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace^(AB) and to mutual edification.^{(AC) 20} Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food.^(AD) All food is clean,^(AE) but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble.^{(AF) 21} It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall.^(AG)

²² So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn^(AH) himself by what he approves. ²³ But whoever has doubts^(AI) is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.^[c]

Living as Those Made Alive in Christ

3 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ,^(A) set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.^{(B) 2} Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.^{(C) 3} For you died,^(D) and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ, who is your^[a] life,^(E) appears,^(F) then you also will appear with him in glory.^(G)

⁵ Put to death,^(H) therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature:^(I) sexual immorality,^(J) impurity, lust, evil desires and greed,^(K) which is idolatry.^{(L) 6} Because of these, the wrath of God^(M) is coming.^{[b] 7} You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.^{(N) 8} But now you must also rid yourselves^(O) of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander,^(P) and filthy language from your lips.^{(Q) 9} Do not lie to each other,^(R) since you have taken off your old self^(S) with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self,^(T) which is being renewed^(U) in knowledge in the image of its Creator.^{(V) 11} Here there is no Gentile or Jew,^(W) circumcised or uncircumcised,^(X) barbarian, Scythian, slave or free,^(Y) but Christ is all,^(Z) and is in all.