Personal Greetings

16 I commendc to you our sister Phoebe, a deacona,b of the church in Cenchreae.d 2 I ask you to receive her in the Lorde in a way worthy of his peoplef and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been the benefactor of many people, including me.

3 Greet Priscillac and Aquila,g my co-workersh in Christ Jesus.i 4 They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.

5 Greet also the church that meets at their house.j

Greet my dear friend Epenetus, who was the first convertk to Christ in the province of Asia.l

6 Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you.

7 Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jewsm who have been in prison with me.n They are outstanding amongd the apostles, and they were in Christo before I was.

8 Greet Ampliatus, my dear friend in the Lord.

9 Greet Urbanus, our co-worker in Christ,p and my dear friend Stachys.

10 Greet Apelles, whose fidelity to Christ has stood the test.q

Greet those who belong to the householdr of Aristobulus.

11 Greet Herodion, my fellow Jew.s

Greet those in the householdt of Narcissus who are in the Lord.

12 Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, those women who work hard in the Lord.

Greet my dear friend Persis, another woman who has worked very hard in the Lord.

13 Greet Rufus,u chosenv in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me, too.

14 Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas and the other brothers and sisters with them.

15 Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas and all the Lord’s peoplew who are with them.x

16 Greet one another with a holy kiss.y

All the churches of Christ send greetings.

17 I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned.z Keep away from them.a 18 For such people are not serving our Lord Christ,b but their own appetites.c By smooth talk and flattery they deceived the minds of naive people. 19 Everyone has hearde about your obedience, so I rejoice because of you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.f

20 The God of peaceg will soon crushh Satani under your feet.

The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.j

21 Timothy,k my co-worker, sends his greetings to you, as do Lucius,l Jasonm and Sosipater, my fellow Jews.n

22 I, Tertius, who wrote down this letter, greet you in the Lord.

23 Gaius,o whose hospitality I and the whole church here enjoy, sends you his greetings.

Erastus,p who is the city’s director of public works, and our brother Quartus send you their greetings. [24]e

25 Now to him who is ableq to establish you in accordance with my gospel,r the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mysterys hidden for long ages past, 26 but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writingst by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes fromf faithu—27 to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.v

The Weak and the Strong

14 Accept the one whose faith is weak,l without quarreling over disputable matters. 2 One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.m 3 The one who eats everything must not treat with contemptn the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judgeo the one who does, for God has accepted them. 4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant?p To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

5 One person considers one day more sacred than another;q another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. 6 Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God;r and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives for ourselves alone,s and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.t 9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to lifeu so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.v

10 You, then, why do you judge your brother or sistera? Or why do you treat them with contempt?w For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.x 11 It is written:

“ ‘As surely as I live,’y says the Lord,

‘every knee will bow before me;

every tongue will acknowledge God.’ ”b z

12 So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.a

13 Therefore let us stop passing judgmentb on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.c 14 I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself.d But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean.e 15 If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love.f Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died.g 16 Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil.h 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking,i but of righteousness, peacej and joy in the Holy Spirit,k 18 because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.l

19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peacem and to mutual edification.n 20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food.o All food is clean,p but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble.q 21 It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall.r

22 So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemns himself by what he approves. 23 But whoever has doubtst is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.c

15 We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weaku and not to please ourselves. 2 Each of us should please our neighbors for their good,v to build them up.w 3 For even Christ did not please himselfx but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.”a y 4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us,z so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.

5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of minda toward each other that Christ Jesus had, 6 so that with one mind and one voice you may glorifyb the God and Fatherc of our Lord Jesus Christ.

7 Accept one another,d then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. 8 For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jewsb e on behalf of God’s truth, so that the promisesf made to the patriarchs might be confirmed 9 and, moreover, that the Gentilesg might glorify Godh for his mercy. As it is written:

“Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles;

I will sing the praises of your name.”c i

10 Again, it says,

“Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people.”d j

11 And again,

“Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles;

let all the peoples extol him.”e k

12 And again, Isaiah says,

“The Root of Jessel will spring up,

one who will arise to rule over the nations;

in him the Gentiles will hope.”f m

13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peacen as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.o

Paul the Minister to the Gentiles

14 I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness,p filled with knowledgeq and competent to instruct one another. 15 Yet I have written you quite boldly on some points to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave mer 16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles.s He gave me the priestly duty of …