The Letter of Paul to the Romans, chapters 12 - 16
12 THEREFORE, MY BROTHERS, I implore you by God's mercy to offer
your very selves to him: a living sacrifice, dedicated and fit for his
acceptance, the worship offered by mind and heart. Adapt yourselves no
longer to the pattern of this present world, but let your minds be remade
and your whole nature thus transformed. Then you will be able to discern
the will of God, and to know what is good, acceptable, and perfect.
In virtue of the gift that God in his grace has given me I say to everyone
among you: do not be conceited or think too highly of yourself; but think
your way to a sober estimate based on the measure of faith that God has dealt
to each of you. For just as in a single human body there are many limbs and
organs, all with different functions, so all of us, united with Christ, form
one body, serving individually as limbs and organs to one another.
The gifts we possess differ as they are allotted to us by God's grace,
and must be exercised accordingly: the gift of inspired utterance, for
example, in proportion to man's faith; or the gift of administration, in
administration. A teacher should employ his gift in teaching, and one who
has the gift of stirring speech should use it to stir his hearers. If you give to
charity, give with all your heart; if you are a leader, exert yourself to lead;
if you are helping others in distress, do it cheerfully.
Love in all sincerity, loathing evil and clinging to the good. Let love for
our brotherhood breed warmth of mutual affection. Give pride of place
to one another in esteem.
With unflagging energy, in ardour of spirit, serve the Lord.
Let hope keep you joyful; in trouble stand firm; persist in prayer.
Contribute to the needs of God's people, and practice hospitality.
Call down blessings on your persecutors — blessings, not curses.
With the joyful be joyful, and mourn with the mourners.
Care as much about each other as about yourselves. Do not be haughty,
but go about with humble folk. Do not keep thinking how wise you are.
Never pay back evil for evil. Let your aims be such as all men count
honourable. If possible so far as it lies with you, live at peace with all men.
My dear friends, do not seek revenge, but leave a place for divine retribu-
tion; for there is a text which reads, 'Justice is mine, says the Lord, I will
repay.' But there is another text: 'If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he
is thirsty, give him a drink; by doing this you will heap live coals on his
head.' Do not let evil conquer you, but use good to defeat evil.
13 Every person must submit to the supreme authorities. There is no
authority but by act of God, and the existing authorities are instituted by
him; consequently anyone who rebels against authority is resisting a divine
institution, and those who so resist have themselves to thank for the
punishment they will receive. For government, a terror to crime, has no
terrors for good behaviour. You wish to have no fear of the authorities?
Then continue to do right and you will have their approval, for they are
God's agents working for your good. But if you are doing wrong, then you
will have cause to fear them; it is not for nothing that they hold the power
of the sword, for they are God's agents of punishment, for retribution on
the offender. That is why you are obliged to submit. It is an obligation
imposed not merely by fear of retribution but by conscience. That is also
why you pay taxes. The authorities are in God's service and to these duties
they devote their energies.
Discharge your obligations to all men; pay tax and toll, reverence and
respect, to those to whom they are due. Leave no claim outstanding against
you, except that of mutual love. He who loves his neighbour has satisfied
every claim of the law. For the commandments, 'Thou shalt not commit
adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not covet',
and any other commandment there may be, are all summed up in the one
rule, 'Love your neighbour as yourself.' Love cannot wrong a neighbour;
therefore the whole law is summed up in love.
In all this, remember how critical the moment is. It is time for you to
wake out of sleep, for deliverance is nearer to us now than it was when first
we believed. It is far on in the night; day is near. Let us therefore throw off
the deeds of darkness and put on our armour as soldiers of the light. Let us
behave with decency as befits the day: no revelling or drunkenness, no
debauchery or vice, no quarrels or jealousies! Let Christ Jesus himself be
the armour that you were; give no more thought to satisfying the bodily
appetites.
14 IF A MAN IS WEAK in his faith you must accept him without attempting
to settle doubtful points. For instance, one man will have faith enough to
eat all kinds of food, while a weaker man eats only vegetables. The man who
eats must not hold in contempt the man who does not, and he who does
not eat must not pass judgement on the one who does; for God has accepted
him. Who are you to pass judgement on someone else's servant? Whether
he stands or falls is his own Master's business; and stand he will, because
his Master has power to enable him to stand.
Again this man regards one day more highly than another, while that
man regards all days alike. On such a point everyone should have reached
conviction in his own mind. He who respects the day has the Lord in mind
in doing so, and he who eats meat has the Lord in mind when he eats, since
he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains has the Lord in mind no less,
since he too gives thanks to God.
For no one of us lives, and equally no one of us dies, for himself alone.
If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. Whether
therefore we live or die, we belong to the Lord. This is why Christ died
and came to life again, to establish his lordship over dead and living. You,
sir, why did you pass judgement on your brother? And you, sir, why do you
hold your brother in contempt? We shall all stand before God's tribunal.
For Scripture says, 'As I live, says the Lord, to me every knee shall bow and
every tongue acknowledge God.' So, you see, each of us will have to answer
for himself.
Let us therefore cease judging one another, but rather make this simple
judgement: that no obstacles or stumbling-block be placed in a brother's
way. I am absolutely convinced, as a Christian, that nothing is impure in
itself; only, if man considers a particular thing impure, then to him it is
impure. If your brother is outraged by what you eat, then your conduct is
no longer guided by love. Do not by your eating bring disaster to a man for
whom Christ died! What for you is a good thing must not become an occa-
sion for slanderous talk; for the kingdom of God is not eating and drink-
ing, but justice, peace, and joy, inspired by the Holy Spirit. He who thus
shows himself a servant of Christ is acceptable to God and approved
by men.
Let us then pursue the things that make for peace and build up the
common life. Do not ruin the work of God for the sake of food. Everything
is pure in itself, but anything is bad for the man who by his eating causes
another to fall. It is a fine thing to abstain from eating meat or drinking
wine, or doing anything which causes your brother's downfall. If you have
a clear conviction, apply it to yourself in the sight of God. Happy is the
man who can make his decision with a clear conscience! But a man who
has doubts is guilty if he eats, because his action does not arise from his
conviction, and anything which does not arise from conviction is sin.
15 Those of us who have a robust conscience must accept as our own burden
the tender scruples of weaker men, and not consider ourselves. Each of us
must consider his neighbour and think what is for his good and will build
up the common life. For Christ too did not consider himself, but might
have said, in the words of Scripture, 'The reproaches of those who re-
proached thee fell upon me.' For all the ancient scriptures were written
for our own instruction, in order that through the encouragement they give
us we may maintain our hope with fortitude. And may God, the source of
all fortitude and all encouragement, grant that you may agree with one
another after the manner of Christ Jesus, so that with one mind and one
voice you may praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In a word, accept one another as Jesus accepted us, to the glory of God.
I mean that Christ became a servant of the Jewish people to maintain the
truth of God by making good his promises to the patriarchs, and at the
same time to give the Gentiles cause to glorify God for his mercy. As
Scripture says, 'There I will praise thee among the Gentiles and sing
hymns to thy name'; and again, 'Gentiles, make merry together with his
own people'; and yet again, 'All Gentiles, praise the Lord; let all peoples
praise him.' Once again, Isaiah says, 'There shall be the Scion of Jesse,
the one raised up to govern the Gentiles; on him the shall set their
hope.' And may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace by your
faith in him, until, by the power of the Holy Spirit, you overflow with hope
MY FRIENDS, I have no doubt in my own mind that you yourselves are
quite full of goodness and equipped with knowledge of every kind, well
able to give advice to one another; nevertheless I have written to refresh
your memory, and written somewhat boldly at times, in virtue of the gift
I have from God. His grace has made me a minister of Christ Jesus to the
Gentile; my priestly service is the preaching of the gospel of God, and
it falls to me to offer the Gentiles to him as an acceptable sacrifice, con-
secrated by the Holy Spirit.
Thus in the fellowship f Christ Jesus I have ground for pride in the
service of God. I will venture to speak of those things alone in which I have
been Christ's instrument to bring the Gentiles into his allegiance, by word
and deed, by the force of miraculous signs and by the power of the Holy
Spirit. As a result I have completed the preaching of the gospel of Christ
from Jerusalem as far round as Illyricum. It is my ambition to bring the
Gospel to places where the very name of Christ has not been heard, for I
do not want to build on another man's foundation; but, as Scripture says,
'They who had no news of him shall see,
and they who never heard of him shall understand.'
That is why I have been prevented all this time from coming to you.
But now I have no further scope in these parts, and I have been longing for
many years to visit you on my way to Spain; for I hope to see you as I
travel through, and to be sent there with your support after having enjoyed
your company for a while. But at the moment I am on my way to Jerusalem,
on an errand to God's people there. For Macedonia and Achaia have
resolved to raise a common fund for the benefit of the poor among God's
people at Jerusalem. They have resolved to do so, and indeed they are under
an obligation to them. For if the Jewish Christians shared their spiritual
treasures with the Gentiles, the Gentiles have a clear duty to contribute to
their material needs. So when I have finished this business and delivered
the proceeds under my own seal. I shall set out for Spain by way of your
city, and I am sure that when I arrive I shall come to you with a full
measure of the blessing of Christ.
I implore you by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love that the Spirit
inspires, be my allies in the fight; pray to God for me that I may be saved
from unbelievers in Judaea and that my errand to Jerusalem may find
acceptance with God's people, so that by his will O may come to you in a
happy frame of mind and enjoy a time of rest with you. The God of peace
be with you all. Amen.
16 I COMMEND YOU TO PHOEBE, a fellow-Christian who holds office in the
congregation at Cenchreae. Give her, in the fellowship of the Lord, a
welcome worthy of God's people, and stand by her in any business in
which she may need your help, for she has herself been a good friend to
many, including myself.
Give my greetings to Prisca and Aquila, my fellow-workers in Christ
Jesus. They risked their necks to save my life, and not I alone but all the
gentile congregations are grateful to them. Greet also the congregation at
their house.
Give my greetings to my dear friend Epaenetus, the first convert to
Christ in Asia, and to Mary, who toiled hard for you. Greet Andronicus
and Junias my fellow-countrymen and comrades in captivity. They are
eminent among the apostles, and they were Christians before I was.
Greetings to Ampliatus, my dear friend in the fellowship of the Lord, to
Urban my comrade in Christ, and to my dear Stachys. My greetings to
Apelles, well proved in Christ's service, to the household of Aristobulus,
and my countryman Herodion, and to those of the household of Narcissus
who are in the Lord's fellowship. Greet Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who
toil in the Lord's service, and dear Persis who has toiled in his service so
long. Give my greetings to Rufus, an outstanding follower of the Lord,
and to his mother, whom I call mother too. Greet Asyncritus, Plegon,
Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and all friends in their company. Greet
Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all God's
people associated with them.
Greet one another with the kiss of peace. All Christ's congregations
send you their greetings.
I implore you, my friends, keep your eye on those who stir up quarrels
and lead others astray, contrary to the teachings you received. Avoid them,
for such people are servants not of Christ our Lord but of their own
appetites, and they seduce the minds of innocent people with smooth and
specious words. The fame of your obedience has spread everywhere. This
makes me happy about you; yet I should wish you to be experts in goodness
but simpletons in evil; and the God of peace will soon crush Satan beneath
your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
Greetings to you from my colleague Timothy, and from Lucius, Jason,
and Sosipater my fellow-countrymen. (I Tertius, who took this letter
down, add my Christian greetings.) Greetings also from gaius, my host
and host of the whole congregation, and from Erastus, treasurer of this
city, and our brother Quartus.
TO HIM who has power to make your standing sure, according to the
Gospel I brought you and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to
the revelation of that divine secret kept in silence for long ages but now
disclosed, and through prophetic scriptures by eternal God's command
made known to all nations, to bring them to faith and obedience — to God
who alone is wise, through Jesus Christ, be glory for endless ages! Amen.
The New English Bible (with Apocrypha)
Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, 1970
Posted Dec 24, 2018, 7:26 PM UTC
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