Romans 14-16

Romans 14

¹Now him that is weak in the faith receive, not to the determining of questions of reasoning.

²One man is assured that he may eat all things; but the weak eats herbs.

³Let not him that eats make little of him that eats not; and let not him that eats not judge him that eats: for God has received him.

⁴Who art *thou* that judgest the servant of another? to his own master he stands or falls. And he shall be made to stand; for the Lord is able to make him stand.

⁵One man esteems day more than day; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully persuaded in his own mind.

⁶He that regards the day, regards it to the Lord. And he that eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he that does not eat, it is to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks.

⁷For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself.

⁸For both if we should live, it is to the Lord we live; and if we should die, it is to the Lord we die: both if we should live then, and if we should die, we are the Lord's.

⁹For to this end Christ has died and lived again, that he might rule over both dead and living.

¹⁰But thou, why judgest thou thy brother? or again, thou, why dost thou make little of thy brother? for we shall all be placed before the judgment-seat of God.

¹¹For it is written, *I* live, saith the Lord, that to me shall bow every knee, and every tongue shall confess to God.

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

¹³Let us no longer therefore judge one another; but judge ye this rather, not to put a stumbling-block or a fall-trap before his brother.

¹⁴I know, and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean of itself; except to him who reckons anything to be unclean, to that man it is unclean.

¹⁵For if on account of meat thy brother is grieved, thou walkest no longer according to love. Destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ has died.

¹⁶Let not then your good be evil spoken of;

¹⁷for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸For he that in this serves the Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men.

¹⁹So then let us pursue the things which tend to peace, and things whereby one shall build up another.

²⁰For the sake of meat do not destroy the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil to that man who eats while stumbling in doing so.

²¹It is right not to eat meat, nor drink wine, nor do anything in which thy brother stumbles, or is offended, or is weak.

²²Hast *thou* faith? have it to thyself before God. Blessed is he who does not judge himself in what he allows.

²³But he that doubts, if he eat, is condemned; because it is not of faith; but whatever is not of faith is sin.

Romans 15

¹But *we* ought, we that are strong, to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.

²Let each one of us please his neighbour with a view to what is good, to edification.

³For the Christ also did not please himself; but according as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproach thee have fallen upon me.

⁴For as many things as have been written before have been written for our instruction, that through endurance and through encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.

⁵Now the God of endurance and of encouragement give to you to be like-minded one toward another, according to Christ Jesus;

⁶that ye may with one accord, with one mouth, glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁷Wherefore receive ye one another, according as the Christ also has received you to the glory of God.

⁸For I say that Jesus Christ became a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises of the fathers;

⁹and that the nations should glorify God for mercy; according as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the nations, and will sing to thy name.

¹⁰And again he says, Rejoice, nations, with his people.

¹¹And again, Praise the Lord, all ye nations, and let all the peoples laud him.

¹²And again, Esaias says, There shall be the root of Jesse, and one that arises, to rule over the nations: in him shall the nations hope.

¹³Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that ye should abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

¹⁴But I am persuaded, my brethren, I myself also, concerning you, that yourselves also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.

¹⁵But I have written to you the more boldly, brethren, in part, as putting you in mind, because of the grace given to me by God,

¹⁶for me to be minister of Christ Jesus to the nations, carrying on as a sacrificial service the message of glad tidings of God, in order that the offering up of the nations might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

¹⁷I have therefore whereof to boast in Christ Jesus in the things which pertain to God.

¹⁸For I will not dare to speak anything of the things which Christ has not wrought by me, for the obedience of the nations, by word and deed,

¹⁹in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit of God; so that I, from Jerusalem, and in a circuit round to Illyricum, have fully preached the glad tidings of the Christ;

²⁰and so aiming to announce the glad tidings, not where Christ has been named, that I might not build upon another's foundation;

²¹but according as it is written, To whom there was nothing told concerning him, they shall see; and they that have not heard shall understand.

²²Wherefore also I have been often hindered from coming to you.

²³But now, having no longer place in these regions, and having great desire to come to you these many years,

²⁴whenever I should go to Spain; (for I hope to see you as I go through, and by you to be set forward thither, if first I shall have been in part filled with your company;)

²⁵but now I go to Jerusalem, ministering to the saints;

²⁶for Macedonia and Achaia have been well pleased to make a certain contribution for the poor of the saints who are in Jerusalem.

²⁷They have been well pleased indeed, and they are their debtors; for if the nations have participated in their spiritual things, they ought also in fleshly to minister to them.

²⁸Having finished this therefore, and having sealed to them this fruit, I will set off by you into Spain.

²⁹But I know that, coming to you, I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of Christ.

³⁰But I beseech you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in prayers for me to God;

³¹that I may be saved from those that do not believe in Judaea; and that my ministry which I have for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints;

³²in order that I may come to you in joy by God's will, and that I may be refreshed with you.

³³And the God of peace be with you all. Amen.

Romans 16

¹But I commend to you Phoebe, our sister, who is minister of the assembly which is in Cenchrea;

²that ye may receive her in the Lord worthily of saints, and that ye may assist her in whatever matter she has need of you; for *she* also has been a helper of many, and of myself.

³Salute Prisca and Aquila, my fellow-workmen in Christ Jesus,

⁴(who for my life staked their own neck; to whom not *I* only am thankful, but also all the assemblies of the nations,)

⁵and the assembly at their house. Salute Epaenetus, my beloved, who is the first-fruits of Asia for Christ.

⁶Salute Maria, who laboured much for you.

⁷Salute Andronicus and Junias, my kinsmen and fellow-captives, who are of note among the apostles; who were also in Christ before me.

⁸Salute Amplias, my beloved in the Lord.

⁹Salute Urbanus, our fellow-workman in Christ, and Stachys, my beloved.

¹⁰Salute Apelles, approved in Christ. Salute those who belong to Aristobulus.

¹¹Salute Herodion, my kinsman. Salute those who belong to Narcissus, who are in the Lord.

¹²Salute Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who labour in the Lord. Salute Persis, the beloved, who has laboured much in the Lord.

¹³Salute Rufus, chosen in the Lord; and his mother and mine.

¹⁴Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brethren with them.

¹⁵Salute Philologus, and Julia, Nereus, and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints with them.

¹⁶Salute one another with a holy kiss. All the assemblies of Christ salute you.

¹⁷But I beseech you, brethren, to consider those who create divisions and occasions of falling, contrary to the doctrine which *ye* have learnt, and turn away from them.

¹⁸For such serve not our Lord Christ, but their own belly, and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.

¹⁹For your obedience has reached to all. I rejoice therefore as it regards you; but I wish you to be wise as to that which is good, and simple as to evil.

²⁰But the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

²¹Timotheus, my fellow-workman, and Lucius, and Jason, and Sosipater, my kinsmen, salute you.

²²I Tertius, who have written this epistle, salute you in the Lord.

²³Gaius, my host and of the whole assembly, salutes you. Erastus, the steward of the city, salutes you, and the brother Quartus.

²⁴The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

²⁵Now to him that is able to establish you, according to my glad tidings and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, as to which silence has been kept in the times of the ages,

²⁶but which has now been made manifest, and by prophetic scriptures, according to commandment of the eternal God, made known for obedience of faith to all the nations --

²⁷the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever. Amen.