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Romans 13 |
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Let every soul be in subjection to the higher authorities, for
there is no authority except from God, and those who exist are
ordained by God.
Therefore he who resists the authority, withstands the ordinance
of God; and those who withstand will receive to themselves
judgment.
For rulers are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil.
Do you desire to have no fear of the authority? Do that which is
good, and you will have praise from the same,
for he is a servant of God to you for good. But if you do that
which is evil, be afraid, for he doesn’t bear the sword in vain;
for he is a servant of God, an avenger for wrath to him who does
evil.
Therefore you need to be in subjection, not only because of the
wrath, but also for conscience’ sake.
For this reason you also pay taxes, for they are servants of
God’s service, attending continually on this very thing.
Give therefore to everyone what you owe: taxes to whom taxes are
due; customs to whom customs; respect to whom respect; honor to
whom honor.
Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who
loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You
shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not give
false testimony,” “You shall not covet,”**
and whatever other commandments there are, are all summed up in
this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”*
Love doesn’t harm a neighbor. Love therefore is the fulfillment
of the law.
Do this, knowing the time, that it is already time for you to
awaken out of sleep, for salvation is now nearer to us than when
we first believed.
The night is far gone, and the day is near. Let’s therefore
throw off the works of darkness, and let’s put on the armor of
light.
Let us walk properly, as in the day; not in reveling and
drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and lustful acts, and not
in strife and jealousy.
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the
flesh, for its lusts.
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13:9 TR adds “You
shall not give false testimony,”
13:9 Exodus
20:13-15,17; Deuteronomy 5:17-19,21
13:9 Leviticus
19:18
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Romans 14 |
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Now accept one who is weak in faith, but not for disputes over
opinions.
One man has faith to eat all things, but he who is weak eats
only vegetables.
Don’t let him who eats despise him who doesn’t eat. Don’t let
him who doesn’t eat judge him who eats, for God has accepted
him.
Who are you who judge another’s servant? To his own lord he
stands or falls. Yes, he will be made to stand, for God has
power to make him stand.
One man esteems one day as more important. Another esteems every
day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind.
He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who
does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He
who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks. He who
doesn’t eat, to the Lord he doesn’t eat, and gives God thanks.
For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself.
For if we live, we live to the Lord. Or if we die, we die to the
Lord. If therefore we live or die, we are the Lord’s.
For to this end Christ died, rose, and lived again, that he
might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you
despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment
seat of Christ.
For it is written,
- “‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘to me every knee will bow.
- Every tongue will confess to God.’”*
So then each one of us will give account of himself to God.
Therefore let’s not judge one another any more, but judge this
rather, that no man put a stumbling block in his brother’s way,
or an occasion for falling.
I know, and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is
unclean of itself; except that to him who considers anything to
be unclean, to him it is unclean.
Yet if because of food your brother is grieved, you walk no
longer in love. Don’t destroy with your food him for whom Christ
died.
Then don’t let your good be slandered,
for the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but
righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God
and approved by men.
So then, let us follow after things which make for peace, and
things by which we may build one another up.
Don’t overthrow God’s work for food’s sake. All things indeed
are clean, however it is evil for that man who creates a
stumbling block by eating.
It is good to not eat meat, drink wine, nor do anything by which
your brother stumbles, is offended, or is made weak.
Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he
who doesn’t judge himself in that which he approves.
But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because it isn’t of
faith; and whatever is not of faith is sin.
Now to him who is able to establish you
according to my Good News and the preaching of Jesus Christ,
according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept
secret through long ages,
but now is revealed, and by the Scriptures of the prophets,
according to the commandment of the eternal God, is made known
for obedience of faith to all the nations;
to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory
forever! Amen.*
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14:11 Isaiah
45:23
14:24-26 TR places
verses 24-26 after Romans 16:24 as verses 25-27.
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Romans 15 |
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Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of the weak,
and not to please ourselves.
Let each one of us please his neighbor for that which is good,
to be building him up.
For even Christ didn’t please himself. But, as it is written,
“The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”*
For whatever things were written before were written for our
learning, that through patience and through encouragement of the
Scriptures we might have hope.
Now the God of patience and of encouragement grant you to be of
the same mind one with another according to Christ Jesus,
that with one accord you may with one mouth glorify the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore accept one another, even as Christ also accepted
you, to the glory of God.
Now I say that Christ has been made a servant of the
circumcision for the truth of God, that he might confirm the
promises given to the fathers,
and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is
written,
- “Therefore will I give praise to you among the Gentiles,
- and sing to your name.”*
Again he says,
- “Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people.”*
Again,
- “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles!
- Let all the peoples praise him.”*
Again, Isaiah says,
- “There will be the root of Jesse,
- he who arises to rule over the Gentiles;
- in him the Gentiles will hope.”*
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in
believing, that you may abound in hope, in the power of the Holy
Spirit.
I myself am also persuaded about you, my brothers,
that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all
knowledge, able also to admonish others.
But I write the more boldly to you in part, as reminding you,
because of the grace that was given to me by God,
that I should be a servant of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles,
serving as a priest the Good News of God, that the offering up
of the Gentiles might be made acceptable, sanctified by the Holy
Spirit.
I have therefore my boasting in Christ Jesus in things
pertaining to God.
For I will not dare to speak of any things except those which
Christ worked through me, for the obedience of the Gentiles, by
word and deed,
in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of God’s Spirit;
so that from Jerusalem, and around as far as to Illyricum, I
have fully preached the Good News of Christ;
yes, making it my aim to preach the Good News, not where Christ
was already named, that I might not build on another’s
foundation.
But, as it is written,
- “They will see, to whom no news of him came.
- They who haven’t heard will understand.”*
Therefore also I was hindered these many times from coming to
you,
but now, no longer having any place in these regions, and having
these many years a longing to come to you,
whenever I journey to Spain, I will come to you. For I hope to
see you on my journey, and to be helped on my way there by you,
if first I may enjoy your company for a while.
But now, I say, I am going to Jerusalem, serving the saints.
For it has been the good pleasure of Macedonia and Achaia to
make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who
are at Jerusalem.
Yes, it has been their good pleasure, and they are their
debtors. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their
spiritual things, they owe it to them also to serve them in
fleshly things.
When therefore I have accomplished this, and have sealed to them
this fruit, I will go on by way of you to Spain.
I know that, when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of
the blessing of the Good News of Christ.
Now I beg you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the
love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your
prayers to God for me,
that I may be delivered from those who are disobedient in Judea,
and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be acceptable
to the saints;
that I may come to you in joy through the will of God, and
together with you, find rest.
Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.
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15:3 Psalm 69:9
15:7 TR reads
“us” instead of “you”
15:9 2 Samuel
22:50; Psalm 18:49
15:10
Deuteronomy 32:43
15:11 Psalm
117:1
15:12 Isaiah
11:10
15:14 The word
for “brothers” here and where context allows may also be correctly
translated “brothers and sisters” or “siblings.”
15:21 Isaiah
52:15
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Romans 16 |
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I commend to you Phoebe, our sister, who is a servant of the assembly that is at Cenchreae,
that you receive her in the Lord, in a way worthy of the saints,
and that you assist her in whatever matter she may need from
you, for she herself also has been a helper of many, and of my
own self.
Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus,
who for my life, laid down their own necks; to whom not only I
give thanks, but also all the assemblies of the Gentiles.
Greet the assembly that is in their house. Greet Epaenetus, my
beloved, who is the first fruits of Achaia to Christ.
Greet Mary, who labored much for us.
Greet Andronicus and Junia, my relatives and my fellow
prisoners, who are notable among the apostles, who also were in
Christ before me.
Greet Amplias, my beloved in the Lord.
Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and Stachys, my
beloved.
Greet Apelles, the approved in Christ. Greet those who are of
the household of Aristobulus.
Greet Herodion, my kinsman. Greet them of the household of
Narcissus, who are in the Lord.
Greet Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who labor in the Lord. Greet
Persis, the beloved, who labored much in the Lord.
Greet Rufus, the chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine.
Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the
brothers who are with them.
Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas,
and all the saints who are with them.
Greet one another with a holy kiss. The assemblies of Christ
greet you.
Now I beg you, brothers, look out for those who are causing the
divisions and occasions of stumbling, contrary to the doctrine
which you learned, and turn away from them.
For those who are such don’t serve our Lord, Jesus Christ, but
their own belly; and by their smooth and flattering speech, they
deceive the hearts of the innocent.
For your obedience has become known to all. I rejoice therefore
over you. But I desire to have you wise in that which is good,
but innocent in that which is evil.
And the God of peace will quickly crush Satan under your feet.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you, as do Lucius, Jason, and
Sosipater, my relatives.
I, Tertius, who write the letter, greet you in the Lord.
Gaius, my host and host of the whole assembly, greets you.
Erastus, the treasurer of the city, greets you, as does Quartus,
the brother.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all! Amen.
*
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16:1 or, deacon
16:14 The word
for “brothers” here and where context allows may also be correctly
translated “brothers and sisters” or “siblings.”
16:25 TR places
Romans 14:24-26 at the end of Romans instead of at the end of chapter
14, and numbers these verses 16:25-27.
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