¹Every person should obey the government in power. No government would exist if it hadn’t been established by God. The governments which exist have been put in place by God. ²Therefore, whoever resists the government opposes what God has established. Those who resist will bring punishment on themselves.

³People who do what is right don’t have to be afraid of the government. But people who do what is wrong should be afraid of it. Would you like to live without being afraid of the government? Do what is right, and it will praise you. ⁴The government is God’s servant working for your good.

But if you do what is wrong, you should be afraid. The government has the right to carry out the death sentence. It is God’s servant, an avenger to execute God’s anger on anyone who does what is wrong. ⁵Therefore, it is necessary for you to obey, not only because you’re afraid of God’s anger but also because of your own conscience.

⁶That is also why you pay your taxes. People in the government are God’s servants while they do the work he has given them. ⁷Pay everyone whatever you owe them. If you owe taxes, pay them. If you owe tolls, pay them. If you owe someone respect, respect that person. If you owe someone honor, honor that person.

Love One Another

⁸Pay your debts as they come due. However, one debt you can never finish paying is the debt of love that you owe each other. The one who loves another person has fulfilled Moses’ Teachings. ⁹The commandments, “Never commit adultery; never murder; never steal; never have wrong desires,” and every other commandment are summed up in this statement: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” ¹⁰Love never does anything that is harmful to a neighbor. Therefore, love fulfills Moses’ Teachings.

¹¹You know the times ⸤in which we are living⸥. It’s time for you to wake up. Our salvation is nearer now than when we first became believers. ¹²The night is almost over, and the day is near. So we should get rid of the things that belong to the dark and take up the weapons that belong to the light. ¹³We should live decently, as people who live in the light of day. Wild parties, drunkenness, sexual immorality, promiscuity, rivalry, and jealousy cannot be part of our lives. ¹⁴Instead, live like the Lord Jesus Christ did, and forget about satisfying the desires of your corrupt nature.

14TH CHAPTER

How to Treat Christians Who Are Weak in Faith

¹Welcome people who are weak in faith, but don’t get into an argument over differences of opinion. ²Some people believe that they can eat all kinds of food. Other people with weak faith believe that they can eat only vegetables. ³People who eat all foods should not despise people who eat only vegetables. In the same way, the vegetarians should not criticize people who eat all foods, because God has accepted those people. ⁴Who are you to criticize someone else’s servant? The Lord will determine whether his servant has been successful. The servant will be successful because the Lord makes him successful.

⁵One person decides that one day is holier than another. Another person decides that all days are the same. Every person must make his own decision. ⁶When people observe a special day, they observe it to honor the Lord. When people eat all kinds of foods, they honor the Lord as they eat, since they give thanks to God. Vegetarians also honor the Lord when they eat, and they, too, give thanks to God. ⁷It’s clear that we don’t live to honor ourselves, and we don’t die to honor ourselves. ⁸If we live, we honor the Lord, and if we die, we honor the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. ⁹For this reason Christ died and came back to life so that he would be the Lord of both the living and the dead.

¹⁰Why do you criticize or despise other Christians? Everyone will stand in front of God to be judged. ¹¹Scripture says,

“As certainly as I live, says the Lord,

everyone will worship me,

and everyone will praise God.”

¹²All of us will have to give an account of ourselves to God.

¹³So let’s stop criticizing each other. Instead, you should decide never to do anything that would make other Christians have doubts or lose their faith.

¹⁴The Lord Jesus has given me the knowledge and conviction that no food is unacceptable in and of itself. But it is unacceptable to a person who thinks it is. ¹⁵So if what you eat hurts another Christian, you are no longer living by love. Don’t destroy anyone by what you eat. Christ died for that person. ¹⁶Don’t allow anyone to say that what you consider good is evil.

¹⁷God’s kingdom does not consist of what a person eats or drinks. Rather, God’s kingdom consists of God’s approval and peace, as well as the joy that the Holy Spirit gives. ¹⁸The person who serves Christ with this in mind is pleasing to God and respected by people.

¹⁹So let’s pursue those things which bring peace and which are good for each other. ²⁰Don’t ruin God’s work because of what you eat. All food is acceptable, but it’s wrong for a person to eat something if it causes someone else to have doubts. ²¹The right thing to do is to avoid eating meat, drinking wine, or doing anything else that causes another Christian to have doubts. ²²So whatever you believe about these things, keep it between yourself and God. The person who does what he knows is right shouldn’t feel guilty. He is blessed. ²³But if a person has doubts and still eats, he is condemned because he didn’t act in faith. Anything that is not done in faith is sin.

15TH CHAPTER

¹So those of us who have a strong ⸤faith⸥ must be patient with the weaknesses of those whose ⸤faith⸥ is not so strong. We must not think only of ourselves. ²We should all be concerned about our neighbor and the good things that will build his faith. ³Christ did not think only of himself. Rather, as Scripture says, “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.”

God Gives Us Unity

⁴Everything written long ago was written to teach us so that we would have confidence through the endurance and encouragement which the Scriptures give us. ⁵May God, who gives you this endurance and encouragement, allow you to live in harmony with each other by following the example of Christ Jesus. ⁶Then, having the same goal, you will praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁷Therefore, accept each other in the same way that Christ accepted you. He did this to bring glory to God. ⁸Let me explain. Christ became a servant for the Jewish people to reveal God’s truth. As a result, he fulfilled God’s promise to the ancestors of the Jewish people. ⁹People who are not Jewish praise God for his mercy as well. This is what the Scriptures say,

“That is why I will give thanks to you among the nations

and I will sing praises to your name.”

¹⁰And Scripture says again,

“You nations, be happy together with his people!”

¹¹And again,

“Praise the Lord, all you nations!

Praise him, all you people of the world!”

¹²Again, Isaiah says,

“There will be a root from Jesse.

He will rise to rule the nations,

and he will give the nations hope.”

¹³May God, the source of hope, fill you with joy and peace through your faith in him. Then you will overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Paul’s Desire to Tell the Good News to the World

¹⁴I’m convinced, brothers and sisters, that you, too, are filled with goodness. I’m also convinced that you have all the knowledge you need and that you are able to instruct each other. ¹⁵However, I’ve written you a letter, parts of which are rather bold, as a reminder to you. I’m doing this because God gave me the gift ¹⁶to be a servant of Christ Jesus to people who are not Jewish. I serve as a priest by spreading the Good News of God. I do this in order that I might bring the nations to God as an acceptable offering, made holy by the Holy Spirit. ¹⁷So Christ Jesus gives me the right to brag about what I’m doing for God. ¹⁸I’m bold enough to tell you only what Christ has done through me to bring people who are not Jewish to obedience. By what I have said and done, ¹⁹by the power of miraculous and amazing signs, and by the power of God’s Spirit, I have finished spreading the Good News about Christ from Jerusalem to Illyricum.

²⁰My goal was to spread the Good News where the name of Christ was not known. I didn’t want to build on a foundation which others had laid. ²¹As Scripture says,

“Those who were never told about him will see,

and those who never heard will understand.”

²²This is what has so often kept me from visiting you. ²³But now I have no new opportunities for work in this region. For many years I have wanted to visit you. ²⁴Now I am on my way to Spain, so I hope to see you when I come your way. After I have enjoyed your company for a while, I hope that you will support my trip to Spain.

²⁵Right now I’m going to Jerusalem to bring help to the Christians there. ²⁶Because the believers in Macedonia and Greece owe a debt to the Christians in Jerusalem, they have decided to take up a collection for the poor among the Christians in Jerusalem. ²⁷These Macedonians and Greeks have shared the spiritual wealth of the Christians in Jerusalem. So they are obligated to use their earthly wealth to help them.

²⁸When the collection is completed and I have officially turned the money over to the Christians in Jerusalem, I will visit you on my way to Spain. ²⁹I know that when I come to you I will bring the full blessing of Christ.

³⁰Brothers and sisters, I encourage you through our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love that the Spirit creates, to join me in my struggle. Pray to God for me ³¹that I will be rescued from those people in Judea who refuse to believe. Pray that God’s people in Jerusalem will accept the help I bring. ³²Also pray that by the will of God I may come to you with joy and be refreshed when I am with you.

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

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