Freedom for Service.* 13For you were called for freedom, brothers.j But do not use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh; rather, serve* one another through love. 14For the whole lawk is fulfilled in one statement, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”* 15But if you go on biting and devouring one another, beware that you are not consumed by one another.
45Then one of the scholars of the law* said to him in reply, “Teacher, by saying this you are insulting us too.”z 46And he said, “Woe also to you scholars of the law! You impose on people burdens hard to carry, but you yourselves do not lift one finger to touch them. 47a Woe to you! You build the memorials of the prophets whom your ancestors killed. 48Consequently, you bear witness and give consent to the deeds of your ancestors, for they killed them and you do the building. 49b Therefore, the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles;* some of them they will kill and persecute’ 50in order that this generation might be charged with the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world, 51from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah* who died between the altar and the temple building. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be charged with their blood!c 52Woe to you, scholars of the law! You have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourselves did not enter and you stopped those trying to enter.”d 53When he left, the scribes and Pharisees began to act with hostility toward him and to interrogate him about many things,e 54for they were plotting to catch him at something he might say.f