Romans 12:1–16:27
12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge youaq to present your bodies as a living sacrifice,ar holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.A 2 Do not be conformeda to this age,b but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,c so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect willd of God.
3 For by the gracee given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think.f Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faithg to each one. 4 Now as we have many parts in one body,h and all the parts do not have the same function, 5 in the same way we who are manyi are one body in Christj and individually members of one another. 6 According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts:k If prophecy,l use it according to the proportion of one’s* faith; 7 if service,m use it in service; if teaching,n in teaching; 8 if exhorting,o in exhortation; giving, with generosity;p leading,q with diligence; showing mercy, with cheerfulness.r
9 Let love be without hypocrisy.s Detest evil;t cling to what is good. 10 Love one another deeply as brothers and sisters.u Take the lead in honoring one another.v 11 Do not lack diligence in zeal; be fervent in the Spirit;C,w serve the Lord.x 12 Rejoice in hope;y be patient in affliction;z be persistent in prayer.aa 13 Share with the saints in their needs;ab pursue hospitality.ac 14 Bless those who persecute you;ad bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice;ae weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another.af Do not be proud;ag instead, associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own estimation.ah 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil.ai Give careful thought to do what is honorableaj in everyone’s eyes. 18 If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.ak 19 Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for God’s wrath, because it is written, Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay,D,al says the Lord. 20 But
If your enemy is hungry, feed him.am
If he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
For in so doing
you will be heaping fiery coals on his head.E,an
21 Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.
A CHRISTIAN’S DUTIES TO THE STATE
13 Let everyone submit to the governing authorities,ao since there is no authority except from God,ap and the authorities that exist are instituted by God. 2 So then, the one who resists the authority is opposing God’s command, and those who oppose it will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers are not a terroraq to good conduct, but to bad. Do you want to be unafraid of the one in authority? Do what is good, and you will have its approval. 4 For it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, because it does not carry the sword for no reason. For it is God’s servant, an avengerar that brings wrath on the one who does wrong. 5 Therefore, you must submit, not only because of wrath but also because of your conscience.as 6 And for this reason you pay taxes, since the authorities are God’s servants, continually attending to these tasks.F 7 Pay your obligationsat to everyone: taxes to those you owe taxes,au tolls to those you owe tolls, respect to those you owe respect,av and honor to those you owe honor.
8 Do not owe anyone anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.aw 9 The commandments, Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal;G do not covet;H,ax and any other commandment, are summed up by this commandment: Love your neighbor as yourself.I,ay 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Love, therefore, is the fulfillment of the law.
11 Besides this, since you know the time, it is already the houraz for youJ to wake up from sleep,ba because now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.bb 12 The night is nearly over, and the day is near;bc so let us discard the deeds of darknessbd and put on the armor of light.be 13 Let us walk with decency,bf as in the daytime: not in carousing and drunkenness;a not in sexual impurity and promiscuity; not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ,b and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires.c
14 Welcomed anyone who is weak in faith,e but don’t argue about disputed matters. 2 One person believes he may eat anything,f while one who is weak eats only vegetables. 3 One who eats must not look down on one who does not eat,g and one who does not eat must not judge one who does,h because God has accepted him.i 4 Who are you to judgej another’s household servant? Before his own Lord he stands or falls. And he will stand, because the Lord is ableA to make him stand.
5 One person judges one day to be more important than another day.k Someone else judges every day to be the same. Let each one be fully convinced in his own mind.l 6 Whoever observes the day, observes it for the honor of the Lord.B Whoever eats, eats for the Lord, since he gives thanks to God;m and whoever does not eat, it is for the Lord that he does not eat it, and he gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives for himself, and no one dies for himself.n 8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.o 9 Christ died and returned to lifep for this: that he might be Lord over both the dead and the living.q 10 But you, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.C,r 11 For it is written,
As I live, says the Lord,
every knee will bow to me,s
and every tongue will give praise to God.D,t
12 So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.u
13 Therefore, let us no longer judge one another.v Instead decide never to put a stumbling block or pitfall in the way of your brother or sister.w 14 I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself.x Still, to someone who considers a thing to be unclean, to that one it is unclean.y 15 For if your brother or sister is hurt by what you eat, you are no longer walking according to love.z Do not destroy, by what you eat, someone for whom Christ died.aa 16 Therefore, do not let your good be slandered,ab 17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking,ac but righteousness, peace, and joyad in the Holy Spirit. 18 Whoever serves Christae in this way is acceptable to God and receives human approval.af
19 So then, let us pursue what promotes peaceag and what builds up one another.ah 20 Do not tear down God’s work because of food. Everything is clean, but it is wrong to make someone fall by what he eats.ai 21 It is a good thing not to eat meat, or drink wine, or do anything that makes your brother or sister stumble.E 22 Whatever you believe about these things, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves.aj 23 But whoever doubts stands condemned if he eats,ak because his eating is not from faith,F and everything that is not from faith is sin.
PLEASING OTHERS, NOT OURSELVES
15 Now we who are strong have an obligation to bear the weaknesses of those without strength,al and not to please ourselves. 2 Each one of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.am 3 For even Christ did not please himself.an On the contrary, as it is written, The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.G,ao 4 For whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction,ap so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the Scriptures. 5 Now may the God who givesH endurance and encouragementaq grant you to live in harmony with one another,ar according to Christ Jesus, 6 so that you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christas with one mind and one voice.
7 Therefore welcome one another,at just as* Christ also welcomed you, to the glory of God. 8 For I say that Christ became a servant of the circumcisedI on behalf of God’s truth,au to confirm the promises to the fathers,av 9 and so that Gentilesaw may glorify God for his mercy.a As it is written,
Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles,
and I will sing praise to your name.A,b
10 Again it says, Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people!B,c 11 And again,
Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles;
let all the peoples praise him!C,d
The root of Jessee will appear,
the one who rises to rule the Gentiles;
the Gentiles will hope in him.D,f
13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believeg so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.h
14 My brothers and sisters, I myself am convinced about you that you also are full of goodness,i filled with all knowledge,j and able to instruct one another. 15 Nevertheless, I have written to remind you more boldly on some pointsE because of the grace given me by Godk 16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles,l serving as a priest of the gospel of God.m God’s purpose is that the Gentiles may be an acceptable offering,n sanctified by the Holy Spirit. 17 Therefore I have reason to boast in Christ Jesuso regarding what pertains to God.p 18 For I would not dare say anything except what Christ has accomplished through meq by word and deed for the obedience of the Gentiles, 19 by the power of miraculous signs and wonders,r and by the power of God’s Spirit. As a result, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ from Jerusalems all the way around to Illyricum.F,t 20 My aim is to preach the gospel where Christ has not been named,u so that I will not build on someone else’s foundation,v 21 but, as it is written,
Those who were not told about him will see,