Love Your Enemies

^43 (A)“You have heard that it was said, ^(B)‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I say to you, ^(C)Love your enemies and ^(D)pray for those who persecute you, ^45 (E)so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and ^(F)sends rain on the just and on the unjust. ^46 (G)For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? ⁴⁷ And if you greet only your brothers,^[a] what more are you doing than others? Do not even ^(H)the Gentiles do the same? ^48 (I)You therefore must be ^(J)perfect, ^(K)as your heavenly Father is perfect.

¹¹ Beloved, I urge you ^(A)as sojourners and exiles ^(B)to abstain from the passions of the flesh, ^(C)which wage war against your soul. ^12 (D)Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, ^(E)they may see your good deeds and glorify God on ^(F)the day of visitation.

Submission to Authority

^13 (G)Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution,^[a] whether it be to the emperor^[b] as supreme, ¹⁴ or to governors as sent by him ^(H)to punish those who do evil and ^(I)to praise those who do good. ¹⁵ For this is the will of God, ^(J)that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. ^16 (K)Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but ^(L)living as servants^[c] of God. ^17 (M)Honor everyone. ^(N)Love the brotherhood. ^(O)Fear God. Honor the emperor.

^18 (P)Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. ¹⁹ For this is a gracious thing, when, ^(Q)mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. ²⁰ For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But ^(R)if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. ²¹ For ^(S)to this you have been called, ^(T)because Christ also suffered for you, ^(U)leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. ^22 (V)He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. ^23 (W)When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, ^(X)but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. ^24 (Y)He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we ^(Z)might die to sin and ^(AA)live to righteousness. ^(AB)By his wounds you have been healed. ²⁵ For ^(AC)you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to ^(AD)the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

²⁰ “I do not ^(A)ask for these only, but also for those ^(B)who will believe in me through their word, ^21 (C)that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that ^(D)they also may be in ^(E)us, so that the world ^(F)may believe that you have sent me. ^22 (G)The glory that you have given me ^(H)I have given to them, ^(I)that they may be one even as we are one, ^23 (J)I in them and you in me, ^(K)that they may become perfectly one, ^(L)so that the world may know that you sent me and ^(M)loved them even as ^(N)you loved me.