Romans 13–15

Being Subject to Authorities

¹³Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God.^{* 2}Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. ³For rulers are not a terror to good conduct but to bad. Do you wish to have no fear of the authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive its approval,^{* 4}for it is God’s agent for your good. But if you do what is wrong, you should be afraid, for the authority^e does not bear the sword in vain! It is the agent of God to execute wrath on the wrongdoer. ⁵Therefore one must be subject, not only because of wrath but also because of conscience.^{* 6}For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s agents, busy with this very thing. ⁷Pay to all what is due them: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.

Love for One Another

⁸Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.^{* 9}The commandments, “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, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”^{* 10}Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.^*

An Urgent Appeal

¹¹Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is already the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers;^{* 12}the night is far gone; the day is near. Let us then throw off^f the works of darkness and put on the armor of light;^{* 13}let us walk decently as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in illicit sex and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy.^{* 14}Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.^*

Do Not Judge Another

¹⁴Welcome those who are weak in faith^g but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions.^{* 2}Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables.^{* 3}Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat, for God has welcomed them. ⁴Who are you to pass judgment on slaves of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord^h is able to make them stand.

⁵Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. ⁶Those who observe the day, observe it for the Lord. Also those who eat, eat for the Lord, since they give thanks to God, while those who abstain, abstain for the Lord and give thanks to God.^*

⁷For we do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves.^{* 8}If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. ⁹For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.^*

¹⁰Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.^{i* 11}For it is written,

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

and every tongue shall give praise to^j God.”^*

¹²So then, each one of us will be held accountable.^k*

Do Not Make Another Stumble

¹³Let us therefore no longer pass judgment on one another, but resolve instead never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother or sister.^{* 14}I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who considers it unclean.^{* 15}If your brother or sister is distressed by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. Do not let what you eat cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died. ¹⁶So do not let your good be slandered. ¹⁷For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.^{* 18}The one who serves Christ in this way is acceptable to God and has human approval.^{* 19}Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.^{* 20}Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong to make someone stumble by what you eat; ²¹it is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that makes your brother or sister stumble.^{l* 22}Hold the conviction that you have as your own before God. Blessed are those who do not condemn themselves because of what they approve. ²³But those who have doubts are condemned if they eat because they do not act from faith,^m for whatever does not proceed from faithⁿ is sin.^o

Please Others, Not Yourselves

¹⁵We who are strong ought to put up with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.^{* 2}Each of us must please our neighbor for the good purpose of building up the neighbor.^{* 3}For Christ did not please himself, but, as it is written, “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” ⁴For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.^{* 5}May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus,^{* 6}so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Gospel for Jews and Gentiles Alike

⁷Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. ⁸For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the ancestors^{* 9}and that the gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,

“Therefore I will confess you among the gentiles

and sing praises to your name”;^*

¹⁰and again he says,

“Rejoice, O gentiles, with his people”;

¹¹and again,

“Praise the Lord, all you gentiles,

and let all the peoples praise him”;

¹²and again Isaiah says,

“The root of Jesse shall come,

the one who rises to rule the gentiles;

in him the gentiles shall hope.”^*

¹³May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.^*

Paul’s Reason for Writing So Boldly

¹⁴I myself feel confident about you, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another.^{* 15}Nevertheless, on some points I have written to you rather boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God^{* 16}to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.^{* 17}In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to boast of my work for God. ¹⁸For I will not be so bold as to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to win obedience from the gentiles, by word and deed, ¹⁹by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit,^p so that from Jerusalem and as far around as Illyricum I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.^{* 20}Thus I make it my ambition to proclaim the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, so that I do not build on someone else’s foundation,^{* 21}but as it is written,

“Those who have never been told of him shall see,

and those who have never heard of him shall understand.”^*

Paul’s Plan to Visit Rome

²²This is the reason that I have so often been hindered from coming to you. ²³But now, with no further place for me in these regions, I desire, as I have for many years, to come to you^{* 24}when I go to Spain. For I do hope to see you on my journey and to be sent on by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a little while. ²⁵At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem in a ministry to the saints,^{* 26}for Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to share their resources with the poor among the saints at Jerusalem.^{* 27}They were pleased to do this, and indeed they owe it to them, for if the gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material things.^{* 28}So, when I have completed this and have delivered to them what has been collected,^q I will set out by way of you to Spain, ²⁹and I know that when I come to you I will come in the fullness of the blessing^r of Christ.

³⁰I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in earnest prayer to God on my behalf,^{* 31}that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea and that my ministry^s to Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, ³²so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company.^{* 33}The God of peace be with all of you.^t Amen.^*