I rejoice in the Lord with all my heart; my soul exults in my God. For he has clothed me in garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of saving justice, like a bridegroom adorned with a garland or a bride bedecked with her jewels.
“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are beneficial. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not allow myself to be dominated by anything.
Thus says the Lord of hosts: Render fair judgments, and show kindness and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the alien, or the poor. Do not plot evil in your heart against one another.
But even so the Lord is waiting to be gracious to you, and he will rise up to grant you his compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.
Do not envy a violent man or choose to emulate any of his ways. For the perverse man is an abomination to the Lord whose friendship is bestowed only upon the upright.
Then Peter addressed them: “I now understand how true it is that God has no favorites, but that in every nation all those who fear God and do what is right are acceptable to him.”
But the one who did not know those wishes, and who acted in such a manner as to deserve a beating, will be beaten less severely. Much will be demanded of a person to whom much has been given, and even more will be asked of a person to whom more has been entrusted.
We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners, yet we know that a man is justified not by the works of the Law but through faith in Jesus Christ. So we too came to believe in Christ Jesus so that we might be justified by faith in him and not by the works of the Law, for no one will be justified by the works of the Law.