(1 Peter 2:13–20)
1
Every believer must obey the government officials. Remember that God is the only one who gives officials their authority. Furthermore, those officials that exist are ones who have been appointed by God.
2
So whoever resists the officials is resisting what God has established. Furthermore, those who resist officials will cause the officials to punish them.
3
I say this, because rulers do not cause people who do good deeds to be afraid. Instead, they cause people who do evil to be afraid. So if any of you do good, they will praise you instead of punishing you!
4
All officials exist in order to serve God, in order that they may help each of you. If any of you does what is evil, of course you should be afraid of them. The officials exist to serve God by punishing those who do evil.
5
So, it is necessary for you to obey the officials, not only because they will punish you if you disobey them, but also because you know within yourselves that you should be subject to them!
6
It is for this reason that you also pay taxes, because the officials are ones who serve God as they continually do their work.
7
Give to all the officials what you are supposed to give to them! Pay taxes to those who require that you pay taxes. Pay duties on goods to those who require that you pay those duties. Respect those whom you ought to respect. Honor those whom you ought to honor.
Love Fulfills the Law
(Leviticus 19:9–18)
8
Pay all of your debts when you are supposed to pay them. The only thing that is like a debt that you should never stop paying is to love one another. Whoever loves others has fulfilled all that God requires in his law.
9
There are many things that God has commanded in his law, such as do not commit adultery, do not murder anyone, do not steal, and do not desire anything that belongs to someone else. But we can sum up the meaning of all the law in this sentence: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”
10
If you love everyone around you, you will harm no one. So whoever loves others fulfills all that God’s law requires.
The Day Is Near
11
Do what I have just told you, especially since you know how important is the time in which we are now living. You know that it is time for you to be fully alert and active, like people who have awakened from sleeping, because the time when Messiah will finally deliver us from this world’s sin and sorrow is near. That time is closer now than when we first believed in Messiah.
12
Our time to live in this world is almost ended, like a night that is nearly ended. The time when Messiah will return is near. So we must stop doing the wicked deeds that people like to do at night, and we must be doing the things that will help us resist evil, as soldiers who put on their armor in the daytime get ready to resist their enemies.
13
We must behave properly, as though the time when Messiah will return were already here. We must not get drunk and do evil things with others. We must not commit any kind of sexual immorality or wild sensual behavior. We must not quarrel. We must not be jealous of other people.
14
On the contrary, we should be like the Lord Jesus Christ so that others will see what he is like. You should stop wanting to do the things that your old evil nature wants to do.
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