Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks

Obedience to the Governing Authorities

13 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except by God, and those that exist are put in place by God. ² So then, the one who resists authority resists the ordinance which is from God, and those who resist will receive condemnation on themselves. ³ For rulers are not a cause of terror for a good deed, but for bad conduct. So do you want not to be afraid of authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from it, ⁴ for it is God’s servant to you for what is good. But if you do what is bad, be afraid, because it does not bear the sword to no purpose. For it is God’s servant, the one who avenges for punishment on the one who does what is bad. ⁵ Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath but also because of conscience. ⁶ For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities^[a] are servants of God, busily engaged in this very thing. ⁷ Pay to everyone what is owed: pay taxes to whom taxes are due; pay customs duties to whom customs duties are due; pay respect to whom respect is due; pay honor to whom honor is due.^[b]

Love Fulfills the Law

⁸ Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another, for the one who loves someone else has fulfilled the law. ⁹ For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, you shall not commit murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet,”^[c] and if there is any other commandment, are summed up in this statement: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”^{[d] 10} Love does not commit evil against a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

¹¹ And do this because you^[e] know the time, that it is already the hour for you to wake up from sleep. For our salvation is nearer now than when we believed. ¹² The night is far gone, and the day has drawn near. Therefore let us throw off^[f] the deeds of darkness and put on the weapons of light. ¹³ Let us live decently, as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and licentiousness, not in strife and jealousy. ¹⁴ But put on the Lord Jesus Christ and do not make provision for the desires of the flesh.

Do Not Pass Judgment on One Another

14 Now receive the one who is weak in faith, but not for quarrels about opinions. ² One believes he may eat all things, but the one who is weak eats only vegetables. ³ The one who eats must not despise the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat must not judge the one who eats, because God has accepted him. ⁴ Who are you, who passes judgment on the domestic slave belonging to someone else? To his own master he stands or falls, and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

⁵ One person^[g] prefers one day over another day, and another person regards every day alike. Each one must be fully convinced in his own mind. ⁶ The one who is intent on the day is intent on it for the Lord, and the one who eats eats for the Lord, because he is thankful to God, and the one who does not eat does not eat for the Lord, and he is thankful to God. ⁷ For none of us lives for himself and none dies for himself. ⁸ For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. ⁹ For Christ died and became alive again for this reason, in order that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

¹⁰ But why do you judge your brother? Or also, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. ¹¹ For it is written,

¹² So^[i] each one of us will give an account concerning himself.^[j]

¹³ Therefore, let us no longer pass judgment on one another, but rather decide this: not to place a cause for stumbling or a temptation before a brother. ¹⁴ I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean of itself, except to the one who considers something to be unclean; to that person it is unclean. ¹⁵ For if because of food, your brother is grieved, you are no longer living according to love. Do not destroy by your food that person for whom Christ died. ¹⁶ Therefore do not let your good be slandered. ¹⁷ For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸ For the one who serves Christ in this way is well-pleasing to God and approved by people.

¹⁹ So then, let us pursue what promotes peace^[k] and what edifies one another^[l]. ²⁰ Do not destroy the work of God on account of food. All things are clean, but it is wrong for the person who eats and stumbles in the process^[m]. ²¹ It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine or to do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is weakened.^{[n] 22} The faith that you have, have with respect to yourself before God. Blessed is the one who does not pass judgment on himself by what he approves. ²³ But the one who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not do so from faith, and everything that is not from faith is sin.