¹³ No slave can serve two masters, for a slave will either hate the one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”^[a](A)

¹⁵ Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world,^{(A) 16} for all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches—comes not from the Father but from the world.

⁴ Adulterers!^[a] Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.^(A)

²⁶ “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.^(A)

Serving Two Masters

²⁴ “No one can serve two masters, for a slave will either hate the one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.^[a](A)

⁵ For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit^[a] set their minds on the things of the Spirit.^{[b](A) 6} To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit^[c] is life and peace.^{(B) 7} For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed, it cannot,^{(C) 8} and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

¹⁵ Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living, but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”^(A)

²³ Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.^(A)

⁹ And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth^[a] so that when it is gone they may welcome you into the eternal homes.^[b](A)

¹⁶ Do you not know that, if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?^{(A) 17} But thanks be to God that you who were slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted^{(B) 18} and that you, having been set free from sin, have become enslaved to righteousness.^{(C) 19} I am speaking in human terms because of your limitations.^[a] For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and lawlessness, leading to even more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, leading to sanctification.^(D)