New Testament Plan

¹Let everyone submit to the governing authorities, since there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are instituted by God.

²So then, the one who resists the authority is opposing God’s command, and those who oppose it will bring judgment on themselves.

³For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have its approval.

⁴For it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, because it does not carry the sword for no reason. For it is God’s servant, an avenger that brings wrath on the one who does wrong.

⁵Therefore, you must submit, not only because of wrath but also because of your conscience.

⁶And for this reason you pay taxes, since the authorities are God’s servants, continually attending to these tasks.

⁷Pay your obligations to everyone: taxes to those you owe taxes, tolls to those you owe tolls, respect to those you owe respect, and honor to those you owe honor.

⁸Do not owe anyone anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

⁹The commandments, Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do not covet; and any other commandment, are summed up by this commandment: Love your neighbor as yourself.

¹⁰Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Love, therefore, is the fulfillment of the law.

¹¹Besides this, since you know the time, it is already the hour for you to wake up from sleep, because now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.

¹²The night is nearly over, and the day is near; so let us discard the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

¹³Let us walk with decency, as in the daytime: not in carousing and drunkenness; not in sexual impurity and promiscuity; not in quarreling and jealousy.

¹⁴But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and don’t make plans to gratify the desires of the flesh.

¹Accept anyone who is weak in faith, but don’t argue about disputed matters.

²One person believes he may eat anything, while one who is weak eats only vegetables.

³One who eats must not look down on one who does not eat, and one who does not eat must not judge one who does, because God has accepted him.

⁴Who are you to judge another’s household servant? Before his own Lord he stands or falls. And he will stand, because the Lord is able to make him stand.

⁵One person judges one day to be more important than another day. Someone else judges every day to be the same. Let each one be fully convinced in his own mind.

⁶Whoever observes the day, observes it for the honor of the Lord. Whoever eats, eats for the Lord, since he gives thanks to God; and whoever does not eat, it is for the Lord that he does not eat it, and he gives thanks to God.

⁷For none of us lives for himself, and no one dies for himself.

⁸If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

⁹Christ died and returned to life for this: that he might be Lord over both the dead and the living.

¹⁰But you, why do you judge 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.

¹¹For it is written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to me, and every tongue will give praise to God.

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

¹³Therefore, let us no longer judge one another. Instead decide never to put a stumbling block or pitfall in the way of your brother or sister.

¹⁴I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. Still, to someone who considers a thing to be unclean, to that one it is unclean.

¹⁵For if your brother or sister is hurt by what you eat, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy, by what you eat, someone for whom Christ died.

¹⁶Therefore, do not let your good be slandered,

¹⁷for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸Whoever serves Christ in this way is acceptable to God and receives human approval.

¹⁹So then, let us pursue what promotes peace and what builds up one another.

²⁰Do not tear down God’s work because of food. Everything is clean, but it is wrong to make someone fall by what he eats.

²¹It is a good thing not to eat meat, or drink wine, or do anything that makes your brother or sister stumble.

²²Whatever you believe about these things, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves.

²³But whoever doubts stands condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith, and everything that is not from faith is sin.

¹Now we who are strong have an obligation to bear the weaknesses of those without strength, and not to please ourselves.

²Each one of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.

³For even Christ did not please himself. On the contrary, as it is written, The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.

⁴For whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the Scriptures.

⁵Now may the God who gives endurance and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, according to Christ Jesus,

⁶so that you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with one mind and one voice.

⁷Therefore accept one another, just as Christ also accepted you, to the glory of God.

⁸For I say that Christ became a servant of the circumcised on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises to the fathers,

⁹and so that Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and I will sing praise to your name.

¹⁰Again it says, Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people!

¹¹And again, Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles; let all the peoples praise him!

¹²And again, Isaiah says, The root of Jesse will appear, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles; the Gentiles will hope in him.

¹³Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

¹⁴My brothers and sisters, I myself am convinced about you that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another.

¹⁵Nevertheless, I have written to remind you more boldly on some points because of the grace given me by God

¹⁶to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, serving as a priest of the gospel of God. My purpose is that the Gentiles may be an acceptable offering, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

¹⁷Therefore I have reason to boast in Christ Jesus regarding what pertains to God.

¹⁸For I would not dare say anything except what Christ has accomplished through me by word and deed for the obedience of the Gentiles,

¹⁹by the power of miraculous signs and wonders, and by the power of God’s Spirit. As a result, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum.

²⁰My aim is to preach the gospel where Christ has not been named, so that I will not build on someone else’s foundation,

²¹but, as it is written, Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.

²²That is why I have been prevented many times from coming to you.

²³But now I no longer have any work to do in these regions, and I have strongly desired for many years to come to you

²⁴whenever I travel to Spain. For I hope to see you when I pass through and to be assisted by you for my journey there, once I have first enjoyed your company for a while.

²⁵Right now I am traveling to Jerusalem to serve the saints,

²⁶because Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.

²⁷Yes, they were pleased, and indeed are indebted to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual benefits, then they are obligated to minister to them in material needs.

²⁸So when I have finished this and safely delivered the funds to them, I will visit you on the way to Spain.

²⁹I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.

³⁰Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, through our Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in fervent prayers to God on my behalf.

³¹Pray that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea, that my ministry to Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints,

³²and that, by God’s will, I may come to you with joy and be refreshed together with you.

³³May the God of peace be with all of you. Amen.