12Therefore I exhort you, brothers, through the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service. ²And do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may approve what is the good and well-pleasing and perfect will of God.

A Variety of Gifts in the Body of Christ

³For by the grace given to me I say to everyone who is among you not to think more highly of yourself than what one ought to think, but to think sensibly^a, as God has apportioned a measure of faith to each one. ⁴For just as in one body we have many members, but all the members do not have the same function, ⁵in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ, and individually^b members of one another, ⁶but having different gifts according to the grace given to us: if it is prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; ⁷if it is service, by service; if it is one who teaches, by teaching; ⁸if it is one who exhorts, by exhortation; one who gives, with sincerity; one who leads, with diligence; one who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

Living in Love

⁹Love must be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; be attached to what is good, ¹⁰being devoted to one another in brotherly love, esteeming one another more highly in honor, ¹¹not lagging in diligence, being enthusiastic in spirit, serving the Lord, ¹²rejoicing in hope, enduring in affliction, being devoted to prayer, ¹³contributing to the needs of the saints, pursuing hospitality.

¹⁴Bless those who persecute,^c bless and do not curse them. ¹⁵Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. ¹⁶Think the same thing toward one another; do not think arrogantly^d, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own sight^e. ¹⁷Pay back no one evil for evil. Take thought for what is good in the sight of all people. ¹⁸If it is possible on your part, be at peace with all people. ¹⁹Do not take revenge yourselves, dear friends, but give place to God’s wrath, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,”^f says the Lord. ²⁰But “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by^* doing this, you will heap up coals of fire upon his head.”^g ²¹Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

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Footnotes

aLiterally “so as to be sensible”
bLiterally “with respect to one”
cSome manuscripts have “who persecute you”
dLiterally “think not the arrogant”
eLiterally “in the sight of yourselves”
fA quotation from Deut 32:35
*Here “by” is supplied as a component of the participle (“doing”) which is understood as means
gA quotation from Prov 25:21–22