Romans 13–14

Obedience to the Governing Authorities

13Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except by God, and those that exist are put in place by God. ²So then, the one who resists authority resists the ordinance which is from God, and those who resist will receive condemnation on themselves. ³For rulers are not a cause of terror for a good deed, but for bad conduct. So do you want not to be afraid of authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from it, ⁴for it is God’s servant to you for what is good. But if you do what is bad, be afraid, because it does not bear the sword to no purpose. For it is God’s servant, the one who avenges for punishment on the one who does what is bad. ⁵Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath but also because of conscience. ⁶For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities^a are servants of God, busily engaged in this very thing. ⁷Pay to everyone what is owed: pay taxes to whom taxes are due; pay customs duties to whom customs duties are due; pay respect to whom respect is due; pay honor to whom honor is due.^b

Love Fulfills the Law

⁸Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another, for the one who loves someone else has fulfilled the law. ⁹For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, you shall not commit murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet,”^c and if there is any other commandment, are summed up in this statement: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”^{d 10}Love does not commit evil against a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

¹¹And do this because you^* know the time, that it is already the hour for you to wake up from sleep. For our salvation is nearer now than when we believed. ¹²The night is far gone, and the day has drawn near. Therefore let us throw off^e the deeds of darkness and put on the weapons of light. ¹³Let us live decently, as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and licentiousness, not in strife and jealousy. ¹⁴But put on the Lord Jesus Christ and do not make provision for the desires of the flesh.

Do Not Pass Judgment on One Another

14Now receive the one who is weak in faith, but not for quarrels about opinions. ²One believes he may eat all things, but the one who is weak eats only vegetables. ³The one who eats must not despise the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat must not judge the one who eats, because God has accepted him. ⁴Who are you, who passes judgment on the domestic slave belonging to someone else? To his own master he stands or falls, and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

⁵One person^a prefers one day over another day, and another person regards every day alike. Each one must be fully convinced in his own mind. ⁶The one who is intent on the day is intent on it for the Lord, and the one who eats eats for the Lord, because he is thankful to God, and the one who does not eat does not eat for the Lord, and he is thankful to God. ⁷For none of us lives for himself and none dies for himself. ⁸For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. ⁹For Christ died and became alive again for this reason, in order that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

¹⁰But why do you judge your brother? Or also, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. ¹¹For it is written,

“As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to me,

and every tongue will praise God.”^b

¹²So^c each one of us will give an account concerning himself.^d

¹³Therefore, let us no longer pass judgment on one another, but rather decide this: not to place a cause for stumbling or a temptation before a brother. ¹⁴I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean of itself, except to the one who considers something to be unclean; to that person it is unclean. ¹⁵For if because of food, your brother is grieved, you are no longer living according to love. Do not destroy by your food that person for whom Christ died. ¹⁶Therefore do not let your good be slandered. ¹⁷For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸For the one who serves Christ in this way is well-pleasing to God and approved by people.

¹⁹So then, let us pursue what promotes peace^e and what edifies one another^f. ²⁰Do not destroy the work of God on account of food. All things are clean, but it is wrong for the person who eats and stumbles in the process^g. ²¹It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine or to do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is weakened.^{h 22}The faith that you have, have with respect to yourself before God. Blessed is the one who does not pass judgment on himself by what he approves. ²³But the one who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not do so from faith, and everything that is not from faith is sin.