Show Your Brother His Sin

¹⁵ “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his sin just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have regained your brother. ¹⁶ But if he will not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that ‘every matter^[a] may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’^{[b] 17} If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And, if he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as an unbeliever or a tax collector. ¹⁸ Amen I tell you: Whatever you bind on earth will be^[c] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. ¹⁹ Amen I tell you again: If two of you on earth agree to ask for anything, it will be done for them by my Father who is in heaven. ²⁰ In fact where two or three have gathered together in my name, there I am among them.”

Governments Are Established by God

13 Everyone must submit to the governing authorities. For no authority exists except by God, and the authorities that do exist have been established by God. ² Therefore the one who rebels against the authority is opposing God’s institution, and those who oppose will bring judgment on themselves.

³ For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to evil. Would you like to have no fear of the one in authority? Do what is good, and you will receive praise from him, ⁴ because he is God’s servant for your benefit. But if you do wrong, be afraid, because he does not carry the sword without reason. He is God’s servant, a punisher to bring wrath on the wrongdoer. ⁵ Therefore it is necessary to submit, not only because of wrath, but also because of conscience.

⁶ For this reason you also pay taxes, because the authorities are God’s ministers, who are employed to do this very thing. ⁷ Pay what you owe to all of them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, and honor to whom honor is owed.

Love One Another

⁸ Do not owe anyone anything except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. ⁹ For the commandments—do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal,^[a] do not covet^[b] (and if there is any other commandment)—are summed up in this statement: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”^{[c] 10} Love does no harm to a neighbor, so love is the fulfillment of the law.