Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks

Respecting Authority

13 Let every person submit himself to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist are put in place by God. ^{[a] 2} So whoever opposes the authority has resisted God’s direction, and those who have resisted will bring judgment on themselves. ³ For leaders cause no fear for good behavior, but for bad. Now if you do not want to fear the authority, do what is good and you will get his approval— ⁴ for he is God’s servant to you for your good. But if you do evil, be afraid—for he does not carry the sword for no reason; for he is God’s servant, an avenger who inflicts punishment on the evildoer. ⁵ Therefore it is necessary to be in submission—not only because of punishment but also because of conscience. ⁶ For this reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, attending diligently to this very thing. ⁷ Pay to everyone what is due them—tribute to whom tribute is due; tax to whom tax is due; respect to whom respect is due; honor to whom honor is due.

⁸ Owe no one anything except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the Torah. ⁹ For the commandments—“You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet,”^[b] and any other commandment—are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ^{[c] 10} Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fullness of the Torah.

¹¹ Besides this, you know the time—that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first came to trust. ¹² The night is almost gone and the day is near, so let us put off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. ¹³ Let us walk properly as in the day—not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and envy. ¹⁴ Instead, put on the Lord Messiah Yeshua, and stop making provision for the flesh—for its cravings.

Unity in Community

14 Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of disputes about opinions. ² One person has faith to eat anything, but the weak eats only vegetables. ³ Don’t let the one who eats disparage the one who does not eat, and don’t let the one who does not eat judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him. ⁴ Who are you to judge another’s servant? Before his own master he stands or falls. Yes, he shall stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

⁵ One person esteems one day over another while another judges every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. ⁶ The one who observes that day does so to the Lord. The one who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and the one who abstains, abstains to the Lord, and he gives thanks 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. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. ⁹ For this reason Messiah died and lived again, so that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

¹⁰ But you, why do you judge your brother?^[d] Or you too, why do you look down on your brother? For we all will stand before the judgment seat of God. ^{[e] 11} For it is written,

¹² So then each one of us shall give account of himself to God.

¹³ Therefore let us not judge one another from now on, but rather decide this—not to put a stumbling block or a trap in the way of a brother. ¹⁴ I know, and am persuaded in the Lord Yeshua, that nothing is unholy in itself; but it is unholy for the one who considers it unholy. ^{[g] 15} For if your brother is grieved on account of food, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy by your food the one for whom Messiah died. ¹⁶ Therefore do not let what is good for you be spoken of as evil— ¹⁷ for the kingdom of God is not about eating and drinking, but righteousness and shalom and joy in the Ruach ha-Kodesh. ¹⁸ For the one who serves Messiah in this manner is pleasing to God and approved by men.

¹⁹ So then let us pursue what makes for shalom and for the building up of one another. ^{[h] 20} Stop tearing down the work of God for the sake of food. Indeed all things are clean, but wrong for the man who by eating causes stumbling. ²¹ It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything by which your brother stumbles. ²² The faith you have, keep it to yourself before God. How fortunate is the one who does not condemn himself for what he approves. ²³ But the one who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because it is not of faith. And whatever is not of faith is sin.