Submission to the Authorities
1 Let every person be subject uto the governing authorities. For vthere is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an wavenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of xconscience. 6 For because of this you also ypay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, zhonor to whom honor is owed.
Fulfilling the Law Through Love
8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for athe one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, b“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: c“You shall dlove your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the efulfilling of the law.
11 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to fwake from sleep. For gsalvation is hnearer to us now than when we first believed. 12 iThe night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the jworks of darkness and kput on the armor of light. 13 lLet us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 But mput on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its ndesires.
Do Not Pass Judgment on One Another
1 As for the one who is oweak in faith, welcome him, but not to pquarrel over opinions. 2 qOne person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. 3 Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and rlet not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. 4 sWho are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master1 that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
5 tOne person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, usince he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For vnone of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. 8 For if we live, wwe 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. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord xboth of the dead and of the living.
10 yWhy do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the zjudgment seat of God; 11 for it is written,
a“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall confess2 to God.”
12 So then each of us will bgive an account of himself to God.
Do Not Cause Another to Stumble
13 Therefore clet us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a dstumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. 14 I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that enothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean ffor anyone who thinks it unclean. 15 For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are gno longer walking in love. hBy what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. 16 So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. 17 For ithe kingdom of God is jnot a matter of eating and drinking kbut of righteousness and lpeace and mjoy in the Holy Spirit. 18 Whoever thus serves Christ is nacceptable to God and approved by men. 19 So then let us opursue what makes for peace and for mutual pupbuilding.
20 Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. qEverything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. 21 It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.3 22 The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. 23 But rwhoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. sFor whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.4
Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
1 O Lord, you have dsearched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 eYou search out my path and my lying down
and are facquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6 gSuch knowledge is htoo wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
7 iWhere shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I jflee from your presence?
8 kIf I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I lmake my bed in Sheol, myou are there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, n“Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
12 oeven the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
13 For pyou formed my inward parts;
you qknitted me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.1
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in ryour book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
sHow vast is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.
19 Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!
O men of blood, depart from me!
20 They speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies ttake your name in vain.2
21 uDo I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22 I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!
vTry me and know my thoughts!3
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
