This is not an attempt to compare the readings of Romans in either Clement or Marcion but rather to demonstrate (a) where the references occur and (b) whether or not general similarities exist between the two traditions. Please remember, these represent ALL the known references to Romans associated with each author in the surviving Patristic literature. If you want to see the original quotes, please go to the previous post.
black italics = Clement of Alexandria
red text = Marcion
red italics = Clement and Marcion
1
1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God—
2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures
3 regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David,
4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.
5 Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake.
6 And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.
7 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world.
9 God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you
10 in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.
11 I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong—
12 that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.
13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.
14 I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish.
15 That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: to the Jew, and to the Gentile.
17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness,
19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.
20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for corruptible man
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.
27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.
29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,
30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents;
31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.
32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
2
1 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.
2 Now we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth
3 So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment?
4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.
6 God “will repay each person according to what they have done.”
7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.
8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.
9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile;
10 but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
11 For God does not show favoritism.
12 As many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law; and as many as have sinned in the Law shall be judged by the Law.
13 For not the hearers of the Law are just before God, but the doers of the Law shall be justified.
14 Indeed, when For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things of the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves
15 They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.
16 This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Christ, as my gospel declares
17 Behold, you who are called a Jew and rest in the law, and make your boast in God
18 if you know God's will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law;
19 if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark,
20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—
21 you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal?
22 You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?
23 You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?
24 As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”
25 Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you are a breaker the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.
26 So then, if those who are not circumcised keep the law’s requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised?
27 The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.
28 He is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh
29 No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.
3
1 What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision?
2 Much in every way! First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God.
3 What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness?
4 Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.”
5 But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous, who taketh vengeance?
6 God forbid!
7 Someone might argue, “If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?”
8 We are slanderously charged by some people with saying that we are to do evil things so that good consequences may follow. No! Such a view is justly condemned
9 What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.
10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one;
11 there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
13 “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.”“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”
14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 Destruction and misery are in their ways,
17 and the way of peace have they not known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes. Professing themselves wise, they became fools.
19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, and brought the whole world under accusation, and stopped every mouth, so that no man might glory because of it, but that grace might be reserved for the glory of Christ
20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; For by the law is the knowledge of sin.
21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested,
22 even the righteousness of God by the faith of Jesus Christ upon all that believe; for there is no difference
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—
26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith.
28 For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.
29 Is He the God of the Jews only, and not also of the Gentiles? Yes, also of the Gentiles:
30 if indeed He is one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.
31 Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.
4
1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter?
2 But Abraham was not justified by works, but by faith. If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God.
3 And to Abraham, on believing, righteousness was reckoned
4
15 because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression
20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,
5
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.
3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.
5 and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit that is given to us.
6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!
10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
12 Therefore as sin entered the world through one human being, and death penetrated to all human beings through sin in that all sinned,
13 till the law sin was in the world
14 For death held dominion from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression,
15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!
16 Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.
17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!
18 Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people.
19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
20 The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more,
21 that, as sin has reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness unto life eternal, through Jesus Christ our Lord
6
1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?
2 By no means! We are dead to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
6 Our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin—
3. Don't you know that all who were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death?
7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
9 For we know but now Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.
10 for, in regards to his death, he died to sin, once for all, but in regards to life, he lives to God.
11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.
13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.
14 Sin shall have no authority over you; for you are not subject to sin but to grace.
15 Well then! Shall we sin because we are no longer under Law but under grace? God forbid!
16
17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance.
18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
19
20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from righteousness.
21 ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things in which ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
22 But now, being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
23 For the wages of sin is death: but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord
7
1 Do you not know, brothers and sisters—
2 For example, by law But the woman who is under an husband, is bound to her living husband; but if he shall have died, she has been emancipated from the law of the husband.
3 Doubtless, then, the husband living, she will be thought to commit adultery if she shall have been joined to a second husband. If, however, the husband shall have died, she has been freed from (his) law, (so) that she is not an adulteress if made (wife) to another husband
4 And so, my brethren, you too be made dead to the law through the body of Christ, that ye may be made (subject) to another, the one who was raised from the dead, that we may bear fruit to God.
5 For when you were in the flesh, the passions of sin did work in you which used to be efficiently caused through the law, bearing fruit to death;
6 but now you have been emancipated from the law, being dead (to that) in which you used to be held, unto the serving of God in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of letter
7 What shall we say? Is the Law sin? Of course not. But I did not know sin except through the Law. I did not know lust, except that the Law said, ‘You shall not lust.’
8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of lust. Without the law sin was death.
9
10
11
12 So then, the law is holy, and its commandment just and good.
13 Did that which is good become death to me? By no means! But sin that it appear sin working death in me, through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am of the flesh sold under sin.
15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.
17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin lodges in me.
20 Now if I act contrary to my will, the effect is not mine but the effect of sin lodging in me
24 What a wretched man I am. Who will rescue me from this body which is doomed to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my flesh a slave to the law of sin.
8
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
2 the Law of the Spirit has freed me from the Law of sin and death through Christ Jesus
3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering and so he condemned sin in the flesh,
4 so that the Law’s ordinance might find fulfillment in us, whose lives are governed by the Spirit not by the flesh
11 And if the Spirit of the one who raised Christ from the dead lodges in you, and he will give life even to your mortal bodies through his indwelling Spirit.
5 The mind of the flesh is death, since those whose lives are governed by the flesh follow the flesh in their objectives; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.
7 and the mind of the flesh is hostility to God, for it is not subject to God’s Law, nor can it do so.
8 And they that are in the flesh cannot please God
9 but you are not living by the flesh but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God is dwelling in you. Anyone without Christ’s Spirit is not of him.
10 But if Christ is in you, then your body is a dead thing because of sin, but the Spirit is life through righteousness
12 So, brothers, we are in debt. Not to the flesh, to follow it in our lives;
13 for if you follow the flesh in the way you live, you are on the way to death. But if by the Spirit you put to death the practices of the body, you will live.
14 For all who are guided by God’s Spirit are sons of God
15 You have not received a spirit of slavery to drive you once again towards fear. You have received a Spirit that makes us sons and enables us to cry out, ‘Abba,’ ‘Father.’
16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, If we suffer with Him, that we also may be glorified together as fellow-heirs of Christ.
18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us.
19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.
20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope
21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.
24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.
27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to the purpose.
29 For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren.
30 And whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified
31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.
34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through Him that loved us.
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
39 neither height nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord
9
1 I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience also bearing witness with me (συνμαρτυρούσης μοι) through the Holy Spirit—
31 but the people of Israel, who pursued the law of righteousness (νόμον δικαιοσύνης), have not attained that law.
32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.
33 As it is written: “See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”
10
1 Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.
2 For I can testify (μαρτυρῶ) about them that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
3 For, being ignorant of God’s righteousness (τοῦ θεοῦ δικαιοσύνην), and seeking to establish their own (καὶ τὴν ἰδίαν), they have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God.
4 For Christ is the fulfillment of the law for righteousness for everyone who believes.
10 With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 Wherefore the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed;
9 that is, the word of faith which we preach: for if thou confess the word with thy mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in thy heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him,
13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
16 But not all the Israelites accepted the good news.“Lord, who hath believed our report?” Isaiah says.
17 For “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God,” saith the apostle. “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?
14 And how shall they believe on Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
15 And how shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those that publish glad tidings of good things.”
18 But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did: “Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”
19 Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says, “I will make you envious by those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.”
20 And Isaiah boldly says, “I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.”
21 But concerning Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.”
11
1 I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.
2 God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel:
3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”?
4 And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
5 So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.
6 And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
7 What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened,
8 as it is written: “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that could not see and ears that could not hear, to this very day.”
9 And David says:“May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them
10 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.”
11 Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, but through their transgression salvation is come to the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy
12 But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!
22 But behold the goodness and severity of God: on them that fell, severity; but upon thee, goodness, if thou continue in His goodness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.
23 And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.
24 After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!
25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in,
26 and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
27 And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”
28 As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs,
29 for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.
30 Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience,
31 so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now[h] receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you.
32 For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?
33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
35 “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?”
36 of whom are all things, and by whom are all things, and for whom are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
12
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
2 Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed in the renewal of the mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.
4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function,
5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith;
7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach;
8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness.
9 Let your love be without dissimulation. and abhorring what is evil, let us become attached to what is good,
10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love, in honour preferring one another.
11 Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.
12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer. .
13 Given to hospitality; communicating to the necessities of the saints.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.
16 Live in harmony with one another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.
17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.
19 Do not take revenge,
18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, living peaceably with all men.
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
13
9 This,“Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal; and if there be any other commandment, it is comprehended in the word, Thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself
10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
11 For blessed are those that have seen the Lord for it is high time to awake out of sleep. For now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armour of light.
13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.
14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.
14
1 Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters.
2 One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, now the weak eateth herbs.
3 if anyone refrains from eating, he is not to denigrate one who eats. If anyone eats, he is not to judge one who abstains, since God has accepted him
4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.
5 One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind.
6 Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, and giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks
7 For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone.
8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.
10 You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.
11 It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’”
12 So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.
13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.
14 I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean.
15 if for the sake of meat our brother be made sad, or shocked, or made weak, or caused to stumble, we are not walking in the love of God. For the sake of meat thou causest him to perish for whose sake Christ died.
16 Let not, then, your good be evil spoken of;
17 for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
18 because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.
19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.
20 Destroy not the work of God for the sake of meat.
21It is good to refrain from eating meat and drinking wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall.
22 So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves.
23
15
1 We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.
2 Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up.
3 For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.”
4 For what things the Scripture (ἐγράφη) speaks was written for our instruction, that we, through patience and the comfort (τῆς παρακλήσεως) of the Scriptures, might have the hope of comfort (παρακλήσεως).
5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had,
6 so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
7 Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.
8 For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, so that the promises made to the patriarchs might be confirmed
9 and, moreover, that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written: “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing the praises of your name.”
10 Again, it says, “Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people.”
11 And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles; let all the peoples extol him.”
12 And again, Isaiah says, “The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; in him the Gentiles will hope.”
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
14 I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are saturated with goodness, filled with all knowledge and competent to instruct one another.
15 Yet I have written you quite boldly on some points to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me
16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the nations. He gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
17 Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God.
18 For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not wrought by me by word and deed in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done—
19 by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.
20 It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.
21 Rather, as it is written: “Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.”
22 This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you.
23 But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions, and since I have been longing for many years to visit you,
24 I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to see you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while.
25 Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the Lord’s people there.
26 For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the Lord’s people in Jerusalem.
27 They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings.
28 So after I have completed this task and have made sure that they have received this contribution, I will go to Spain and visit you on the way.
29 For I know, that when I come to you, I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of Christ (ἐν πληρώματι εὐλογίας Χριστοῦ ἐλεύσομαι).
30 I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.
31 Pray that I may be kept safe from the unbelievers in Judea and that the contribution I take to Jerusalem may be favorably received by the Lord’s people there,
32 so that I may come to you with joy, by God’s will, and in your company be refreshed.
33 The God of peace be with you all. Amen.
16
1 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchreae.
2 I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of his people and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been the benefactor of many people, including me.
3 Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus.
4 They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.
5 Greet also the church that meets at their house. Greet my dear friend Epenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia.
6 Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you.
7 Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among[d] the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.
8 Greet Ampliatus, my dear friend in the Lord.
9 Greet Urbanus, our co-worker in Christ, and my dear friend Stachys.
10 Greet Apelles, whose fidelity to Christ has stood the test. Greet those who belong to the household of Aristobulus.
11 Greet Herodion, my fellow Jew. Greet those in the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord.
12 Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, those women who work hard in the Lord. Greet my dear friend Persis, another woman who has worked very hard in the Lord.
13 Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me, too.
14 Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas and the other brothers and sisters with them.
15 Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas and all the Lord’s people who are with them.
16 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ send greetings.
17 I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them.
18 For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. who by good words and fair speeches lead astray the hearts of the simple, and, while offering them blessings, lead them astray.
19 Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I rejoice because of you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.
20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
21 Timothy, my co-worker, sends his greetings to you, as do Lucius, Jason and Sosipater, my fellow Jews.
22 I, Tertius, who wrote down this letter, greet you in the Lord.
23 Gaius, whose hospitality I and the whole church here enjoy, sends you his greetings. Erastus, who is the city’s director of public works, and our brother Quartus send you their greetings.
25 Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past,
26 but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come For the obedience of the faith among all nations,—
27 being made known to the only wise God through Jesus Christ! Amen.
dating back to conversations with his grandfather, Gaston Frank. "He said we represent one of the last descendants of the Frankist Jewish faith in the world," he muses. "I grew up thinking that our family was something like the Last of the Mohicans."