Being Subject to Authorities

¹³Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God.²Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgement.³For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you wish to have no fear of the authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive its approval;⁴for it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do what is wrong, you should be afraid, for the authority does not bear the sword in vain! It is the servant of God to execute wrath on the wrongdoer.⁵Therefore one must be subject, not only because of wrath but also because of conscience.⁶For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, busy with this very thing.⁷Pay to all what is due to them—taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honour to whom honour is due.

Love for One Another

⁸ Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.⁹The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet’; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’¹⁰Love does no wrong to a neighbour; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

Jesus Stills a Storm

³⁵ On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’³⁶And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him.³⁷A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped.³⁸But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’³⁹He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm.⁴⁰He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’⁴¹And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’