Romans 13-14

Romans 13

¹Let every soul be in subjection to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those who exist are ordained by God.

²Therefore he who resists the authority withstands the ordinance of God; and those who withstand will receive to themselves judgment.

³For rulers are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil. Do you desire to have no fear of the authority? Do that which is good, and you will have praise from the authority,

⁴for he is a servant of God to you for good. But if you do that which is evil, be afraid, for he doesn’t bear the sword in vain; for he is a servant of God, an avenger for wrath to him who does evil.

⁵Therefore you need to be in subjection, not only because of the wrath, but also for conscience’ sake.

⁶For this reason you also pay taxes, for they are servants of God’s service, continually doing this very thing.

⁷Therefore give everyone what you owe: if you owe taxes, pay taxes; if customs, then customs; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

⁸Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

⁹For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other commandments there are, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

¹⁰Love doesn’t harm a neighbor. Love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.

¹¹Do this, knowing the time, that it is already time for you to awaken out of sleep, for salvation is now nearer to us than when we first believed.

¹²The night is far gone, and the day is near. Let’s therefore throw off the deeds of darkness, and let’s put on the armor of light.

¹³Let’s walk properly, as in the day; not in reveling and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and lustful acts, and not in strife and jealousy.

¹⁴But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, for its lusts.

Romans 14

¹Now accept one who is weak in faith, but not for disputes over opinions.

²One man has faith to eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables.

³Don’t let him who eats despise him who doesn’t eat. Don’t let him who doesn’t eat judge him who eats, for God has accepted him.

⁴Who are you who judge another’s servant? To his own lord he stands or falls. Yes, he will be made to stand, for God has power to make him stand.

⁵One man esteems one day as more important. Another esteems every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind.

⁶He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks. He who doesn’t eat, to the Lord he doesn’t eat, and gives God thanks.

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

⁸For if we live, we live to the Lord. Or if we die, we die to the Lord. If therefore we live or die, we are the Lord’s.

⁹For to this end Christ died, rose, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

¹⁰But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

¹¹For it is written, “‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘to me every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess to God.’”

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

¹³Therefore let’s not judge one another any more, but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block in his brother’s way, or an occasion for falling.

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

¹⁵Yet if because of food your brother is grieved, you walk no longer in love. Don’t destroy with your food him for whom Christ died.

¹⁶Then don’t let your good be slandered,

¹⁷for God’s Kingdom is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men.

¹⁹So then, let’s follow after things which make for peace, and things by which we may build one another up.

²⁰Don’t overthrow God’s work for food’s sake. All things indeed are clean, however it is evil for that man who creates a stumbling block by eating.

²¹It is good to not eat meat, drink wine, nor do anything by which your brother stumbles, is offended, or is made weak.

²²Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who doesn’t judge himself in that which he approves.

²³But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because it isn’t of faith; and whatever is not of faith is sin.

²⁴Now to him who is able to establish you according to my Good News and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret through long ages,

²⁵but now is revealed, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, is made known for obedience of faith to all the nations;

²⁶to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever! Amen.