Romans 13–14

Submission to the Authorities

13Let every person ^pbe subject to the governing authorities. For ^qthere is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. ²Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. ³For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you ^rwill receive his approval, ⁴for ^she is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, ^tan avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. ⁵Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also ^ufor the sake of conscience. ⁶For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. ^7vPay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

Fulfilling the Law Through Love

^8wOwe no one anything, except to love each other, for ^xthe one who loves another has fulfilled the law. ⁹For the commandments, ^y“You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: ^z“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore ^alove is the fulfilling of the law.

¹¹Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you ^bto wake from sleep. ^cFor salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. ^12dThe night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us ^ecast off ^fthe works of darkness and ^gput on the armor of light. ^13hLet us walk properly as in the daytime, ⁱnot in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, ^jnot in quarreling and jealousy. ¹⁴But ^kput on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, ^lto gratify its desires.

Do Not Pass Judgment on One Another

14As for ^mthe one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. ²ⁿOne person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. ³Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and ^olet not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. ^4pWho are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master¹ that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

^5qOne person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. ^rEach one should be fully convinced in his own mind. ⁶The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since ^she gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. ⁷For ^tnone of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. ⁸For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, ^uwhether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. ⁹For to this end Christ ^vdied and lived again, that he might be Lord both ^wof the dead and of the living.

¹⁰Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For ^wwe will all stand before ^xthe judgment seat of God; ¹¹for it is written,

^y“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,

and every tongue shall confess² to God.”

¹²So then ^zeach of us will give an account of himself to God.

Do Not Cause Another to Stumble

^13aTherefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide ^bnever to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. ¹⁴I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus ^cthat nothing is unclean in itself, ^dbut it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. ¹⁵For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, ^eyou are no longer walking in love. ^fBy what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. ^16gSo do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. ^17hFor the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but ⁱof righteousness and ^jpeace and joy in the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸Whoever thus serves Christ is ^kacceptable to God and approved by men. ¹⁹So then let us ^lpursue what makes for peace and for ^mmutual upbuilding.

²⁰ⁿDo not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. ^oEverything is indeed clean, but ^pit is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. ^21qIt is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.^{3 22}The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. ^rBlessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. ²³But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.⁴