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“I Exhort You, Therefore, Brothers and Sisters, in View of God’s Great Mercy”
1 I exhort you, therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s great mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable in the sight of God—the kind of priestly duty befitting your new nature.
2 Don’t let yourselves be conformed to the standards of this evil age, but allow yourselves to be transformed through the renewing of your minds, so that you may be able to discern what God’s will is, that is, the good and pleasing and blameless course he desires.
3 Indeed, I say, by the authority of the gift entrusted to me, to every one of you: Don’t have a prideful and self-exalting attitude, but have a humble attitude and a sober estimate of yourselves, each person according to the amount of faith God has given him.
4 Just as in one body we have many parts, you see, and these parts, all of them, have different functions,
5 so we, although many, are a single body in union with the Messiah, and individual parts joined to one another,
6 having, moreover, according to the enablement entrusted to us, different gifts. If someone’s gift is prophecy, he should use it with all the faith he has.
7 If it is serving, then he should serve. If it is teaching, he should teach.
8 If it is encouraging and strengthening others, then he should encourage and strengthen. If someone’s gift is sharing, he should do it generously. If it is leading, he should lead with diligence. If it is performing acts of mercy and compassion, he should do so cheerfully.
9 As for love, love one another sincerely, loathing what is evil, holding fast to what is good;
10 in affection, one another loving like family; in showing honor and respect, one another outdoing;
11 in showing goodwill and concern, not reluctant; in spirit,+ fervent; to the Lord, rendering total service;
12 in hope, rejoicing; amidst trials and suffering, enduring; in prayer, persisting;
13 toward the needs of the Lord’s holy people+, sharing; to fellow believers who are traveling, opening your homes.
14 Bless those who persecute you; keep blessing and don’t curse.
15 Rejoice with those who are rejoicing, weep with those who are weeping.
16 Have the same humble attitude toward one another, relating to each other not with an attitude that is self-exalting and full of pride, but lowering yourselves to accommodate those of low status and influence. Don’t rely on your own so-called wisdom.
17 Repay absolutely no one evil for evil. Take pains to do what is honorable in the eyes of all people.
18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, maintain peace with everyone.
19 Don’t avenge yourselves, dear friends, but leave the punishing to God, as it is written:
“It is to me that vengeance belongs;
I am the one who will repay,”+ says the Lord.
20 Instead,
“If ˢyour enemy is hungry, give him something to eat;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink;
for by showing him such kindness ˢyou will cause his conscience to burn with contrition.”+
21 Don’t allow yourself to be overcome by evil, but overcome evil by doing what is good.