1 Let every 1person be 2asubject to the authorities over him, for bthere is no authority except 3from God, and those which exist are 4ordained by God.
2 So then he who resists the authority opposes God’s ordination, and those who oppose will receive 1judgment to themselves.
3 For the arulers are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil. Do you want to have no fear of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from him;
4 For he is a 1servant of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, fear; he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is a 1servant of God, an avenger for wrath to him who practices evil.
5 Therefore it is necessary to be subject, not only because of wrath but also because of conscience.
6 For because of this you also pay taxes; for they are God’s 1officers, attending constantly to this very thing.
7 aRender to all the things due: tax to whom tax is due, custom to whom custom is due, fear to whom fear is due, honor to whom honor is due.
8 Owe nothing to anyone except to alove one another; for he who 1loves the other has bfulfilled the law.
9 For, a“You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this word, namely, b“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
10 aLove does not work evil to his neighbor; therefore love is the bfulfillment of the law.
11 And this, knowing the atime, that it is already the hour for you to be braised from sleep; for now is our 1salvation cnearer than when we believed.
12 The 1night is far advanced, and the aday has drawn near. Let us therefore cast off the bworks of darkness, and let us put on the cweapons of light.
13 Let us walk becomingly as in the aday; not in breveling and cdrunkenness, not in fornication and licentiousness, not in dstrife and ejealousy.
14 But 1aput on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no 2provision for the bflesh to fulfill its lusts.
CHAPTER 14
1 1Now him who is aweak in faith 2breceive, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his 3considerations.
2 One believes that he may eat all things, but he who is weak aeats vegetables.
3 He who eats, let him 1not despise him who does not eat; and he who does not eat, let him 1not judge him who eats, for 2God has received him.
4 Who are you who judge another’s household servant? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will be made to stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
5 One judges one aday above another; another judges every day alike. Let each be fully bpersuaded in his own mind.
6 He who regards that day, regards it to the Lord; and he who eats, aeats to the Lord, for he gives bthanks to God; and he who does not eat, does not eat to the Lord, and he gives thanks to God.
7 For none of us alives to himself, and none dies to himself;
8 For whether we live, we alive to the Lord, and whether we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore whether we live or we die, we are the bLord’s.
9 For Christ adied and lived again for this, that He might be bLord both of the dead and of the living.