Advice on Daily Life

12 I entreat you, then, friends, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, for this is your rational worship. 2 Do not conform to the fashion of this world; but be transformed by the complete change that has come over your minds, so that you may discern what God’s will is – all that is good, acceptable, and perfect.

3 In fulfilment of the charge with which I have been entrusted, I tell every one of you not to think more highly of themselves than they ought to think, but to think until they learn to think soberly – in accordance with the measure of faith that God has allotted to each. 4 For, just as in the human body there is a union of many parts, and each part has its own function, 5 so we, by our union in Christ, many though we are, form but one body, and individually we are related one to another as its parts. 6 Since our gifts differ in accordance with the particular charge entrusted to us, if our gift is to preach, let our preaching correspond to our faith; 7 if it is to minister to others, let us devote ourselves to our ministry; the teacher to their teaching, 8 the counselor to their counsel. Let the person who gives in charity do so with a generous heart; let the person who is in authority exercise due diligence; let the person who shows kindness do so in a cheerful spirit. 9 Let your love be sincere. Hate the wrong; cling to the right. 10 In the love of the community of the Lord’s followers, be affectionate to one another; in showing respect, set an example of deference to one another; 11 never flagging in zeal; fervent in spirit; serving the Master; 12 rejoicing in your hope; steadfast under persecution; persevering in prayer; 13 relieving the wants of Christ’s people; devoted to hospitality. 14 Bless your persecutors – bless and never curse. 15 Rejoice with those who are rejoicing, and weep with those who are weeping. 16 Let the same spirit of sympathy animate you all, not a spirit of pride; enjoy the company of ordinary people. Do not think too highly of yourselves. 17 Never return injury for injury. Aim at doing what everyone will recognise as honourable. 18 If it is possible, as far as rests with you, live peaceably with everyone. 19 Never avenge yourselves, dear friends, but make way for the wrath of God; for scripture declares – “‘It is for me to avenge, I will requite,’ says the Lord.” 20 Rather – “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him to drink. By doing this you will heap coals of fire on his head.” 21 Never be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.

13 Let everyone obey the supreme authorities. For no authority exists except by the will of God, and the existing authorities have been appointed by God. 2 Therefore the one who sets themself against the authorities is resisting God’s appointment, and those who resist will bring a judgment on themselves. 3 A good action has nothing to fear from rulers; a bad action has. Do you want to have no reason to fear the authorities? Then do what is good, and you will win their praise. 4 For they are God’s servants appointed for your good. But, if you do what is wrong, you may well be afraid; for the sword they carry is not without meaning! They are God’s servants to inflict his punishments on those who do wrong. 5 You are bound, therefore, to obey, not only through fear of God’s punishments, but also as a matter of conscience. 6 This, too, is the reason for your paying taxes; for the officials are God’s officers, devoting themselves to this special work. 7 In all cases pay what is due from you – tribute where tribute is due, taxes where taxes are due, respect where respect is due, and honour where honour is due.

8 Owe nothing to anyone except love; for they who love their neighbour have satisfied the Law. 9 The commandments, “You must not commit adultery, you must not kill, you must not steal, you must not covet,” and whatever other commandment there is, are all summed up in the words – “You must love your neighbour as you love yourself.” 10 Love never wrongs a neighbour. Therefore love fully satisfies the Law. 11 This I say, because you know the crisis that we have reached, for the time has already come for you to rouse yourselves from sleep; our salvation is nearer now than when we accepted the faith.

12 The night is almost gone; the day is near. Therefore let us be done with the deeds of darkness, and arm ourselves with the weapons of light. 13 Being in the light of day, let us live becomingly, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lust and licentiousness, not in quarrelling and jealousy. 14 No! Arm yourselves with the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, and spend no thought on your earthly nature, to satisfy its cravings.

14 As for those whose faith is weak, always receive them as friends, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on their scruples. 2 One person’s faith permits them to eat food of all kinds, while another whose faith is weak eats only vegetable food. 3 The person who eats meat must not despise the person who abstains from it; nor must the person who abstains from eating meat pass judgment on the one who eats it, for God himself has received them. 4 Who are you, that you should pass judgment on the servant of another? Their standing or falling concerns their own master. And stand they will, for their Master can enable them to stand. 5 Again, one person considers some days to be more sacred than others, while another considers all days to be alike. Everyone ought to be fully convinced in their own mind. 6 The person who observes a day, observes it to the Master’s honour. They, again, who eat meat eat it to the Master’s honour, for they give thanks to God; while the person who abstains from it abstains from it to the Master’s honour, and also gives thanks to God. 7 There is not one of us whose life concerns ourselves alone, and not one of us whose death concerns ourself alone; 8 for, if we live, our life is for the Master, and, if we die, our death is for the Master. Whether, then, we live or die we belong to the Master. 9 The purpose for which Christ died and came back to life was this – that he might be Lord over both the dead and the living. 10 I would ask the one “Why do you judge other followers of the Lord?” And I would ask the other “Why do you despise them?” For we will all stand before the court of God. 11 For scripture says – “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bend before me and every tongue will praise God.’ ” 12 So, then, each one of us will have to render account of himself to God.

13 Let us, then, cease to judge one another. Rather let this be your resolve – never to place a stumbling-block or an obstacle in the way of a fellow follower of the Lord. 14 Through my union with the Lord Jesus, I know and am persuaded that nothing is defiling in itself. A thing is “defiling” only to the person who holds it to be so. 15 If, for the sake of what you eat, you wound your fellow follower’s feelings, your life has ceased to be ruled by love. Do not, by what you eat, ruin someone for whom Christ died! 16 Do not let what is right for you become a matter of reproach. 17 For the kingdom of God does not consist of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and gladness through the presence of the Holy Spirit. 18 The person who serves the Christ in this way pleases God, and wins the approval of their fellows. 19 Therefore our efforts should be directed towards all that makes for peace and the mutual building up of character. 20 Do not undo God’s work for the sake of what you eat. Though everything is “clean,” yet, if a person eats so as to put a stumbling-block in the way of others, they do wrong. 21 The right course is to abstain from meat or wine or, indeed, anything that is a stumbling-block to your fellow follower of the Lord. 22 As for yourself – keep this conviction of yours to yourself, as in the presence of God. Happy the person who never has to condemn themselves in regard to something they think right! 23 The person, however, who has misgivings stands condemned if they still eat, because their doing so is not the result of faith. And anything not done as the result of faith is a sin.

15 We, the strong, ought to take on our own shoulders the weaknesses of those who are not strong, and not merely to please ourselves. 2 Let each of us please our neighbour for our neighbour’s good, to help in the building up of their character. 3 Even the Christ did not please himself! On the contrary, as scripture says of him – “The reproaches of those who were reproaching you fell upon me.” 4 Whatever was written in the scriptures in days gone by was written for our instruction, so that, through patient endurance, and through the encouragement drawn from the scriptures, we might hold fast to our hope. 5 And may God, the giver of this patience and this encouragement, grant you to be united in sympathy in Christ, 6 so that with one heart and one voice you may praise the God and Father of Jesus Christ, our Lord. 7 Therefore always receive one another as friends, just as the Christ himself received us, to the glory of God. 8 For I tell you that Christ, in vindication of God’s truthfulness, has become a minister of the covenant of circumcision, so that he may fulfil the promises made to our ancestors, 9 and that the Gentiles also may praise God for his mercy. As scripture says – “Therefore will I make acknowledgment to you among the Gentiles and sing in honour of your name.” 10 And again it says – “Rejoice, you Gentiles, with God’s people.” 11 And yet again – “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all Peoples sing his praises.” 12 Again, Isaiah says – “There will be a Scion of the house of Jesse, One who is to arise to rule the Gentiles; on him will the Gentiles rest their hopes.” 13 May God, who inspires our hope, grant you perfect happiness and peace in your faith, until you are filled with this hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

14 I am persuaded, my friends – yes, I Paul, with regard to you – that you are yourselves full of kindness, furnished with all Christian learning, and well able to give advice to one another. 15 But in parts of this letter I have expressed myself somewhat boldly – by way of refreshing your memories – 16 because of the charge with which God has entrusted me, that I should be an assistant of Christ Jesus to go to the Gentiles – that I should act as a priest of God’s good news, so that the offering up of the Gentiles may be an acceptable sacrifice, consecrated by the Holy Spirit. 17 It is, then, through my union with Christ Jesus that I have a proud confidence in my work for God. 18 For I will not dare to speak of anything but what Christ has done through me to win the obedience of the Gentiles – 19 by my words and actions, through the power displayed in signs and marvels, and through the power of the Holy Spirit. And so, starting from Jerusalem and going as far as Illyria, I have told in full the good news of the Christ; 20 yet always with the ambition to tell the good news where Christ’s name had not previously been heard, so as to avoid building on another’s foundations. 21 But as scripture says – “They to whom he had never been proclaimed will see; and they who have never heard will understand!”