12 Christian brothers, I ask you from my heart to give your bodies to God because of His loving-kindness to us. Let your bodies be a living and holy gift given to God. He is pleased with this kind of gift. This is the true worship that you should give Him. 2 Do not act like the sinful people of the world. Let God change your life. First of all, let Him give you a new mind. Then you will know what God wants you to do. And the things you do will be good and pleasing and perfect.
3 God has given me His loving-favor. This helps me write these things to you. I ask each one of you not to think more of himself than he should think. Instead, think in the right way toward yourself by the faith God has given you. 4 Our bodies are made up of many parts. None of these parts have the same use. 5 There are many people who belong to Christ. And yet, we are one body which is Christ’s. We are all different but we depend on each other. 6 We all have different gifts that God has given to us by His loving-favor. We are to use them. If someone has the gift of preaching the Good News, he should preach. He should use the faith God has given him. 7 If someone has the gift of helping others, then he should help. If someone has the gift of teaching, he should teach. 8 If someone has the gift of speaking words of comfort and help, he should speak. If someone has the gift of sharing what he has, he should give from a willing heart. If someone has the gift of leading other people, he should lead them. If someone has the gift of showing kindness to others, he should be happy as he does it.
9 Be sure your love is true love. Hate what is sinful. Hold on to whatever is good. 10 Love each other as Christian brothers. Show respect for each other. 11 Do not be lazy but always work hard. Work for the Lord with a heart full of love for Him. 12 Be happy in your hope. Do not give up when trouble comes. Do not let anything stop you from praying. 13 Share what you have with Christian brothers who are in need. Give meals and a place to stay to those who need it. 14 Pray and give thanks for those who make trouble for you. Yes, pray for them instead of talking against them. 15 Be happy with those who are happy. Be sad with those who are sad. 16 Live in peace with each other. Do not act or think with pride. Be happy to be with poor people. Keep yourself from thinking you are so wise. 17 When someone does something bad to you, do not pay him back with something bad. Try to do what all men know is right and good. 18 As much as you can, live in peace with all men. 19 Christian brothers, never pay back someone for the bad he has done to you. Let the anger of God take care of the other person. The Holy Writings say, “I will pay back to them what they should get, says the Lord.” (A) 20 “If the one who hates you is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him water. If you do that, you will be making him more ashamed of himself.” (B) 21 Do not let sin have power over you. Let good have power over sin!
Cross references
- Romans 12:19 : Deuteronomy 32:35
- Romans 12:20 : Proverbs 25:21–22
