# verses

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Then Peter began to speak. »I clearly see,« he said, »that God makes no distinctions between one man and another;


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The Message which He sent to the descendants of Israel, when He announced the Good News of peace through Jesus Christ –He is Lord of all– that Message you cannot but know;


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the story, I mean, which has spread through the length and breadth of Judaea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism which John proclaimed.


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It tells how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, so that He went about everywhere doing acts of kindness, and curing all who were being continually oppressed by the Devil–for God was with Jesus.


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»And we are witnesses as to all that He did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. But they even put Him to death, by crucifixion.«


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not to all the people, but to witnesses –men previously chosen by God– namely, to us, who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead.


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And He has commanded us to preach to the people and solemnly declare that this is He who has been appointed by God to be the Judge of the living and the dead.


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To Him all the Prophets bear witness, and testify that through His name all who believe in Him receive the forgiveness of their sins.«


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While Peter was speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all who were listening to the Message.


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And all the Jewish believers who had come with Peter were astonished that on the Gentiles also the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out.


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»Can any one forbid the use of water, and object to these persons being baptized–men who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did?«


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And he directed that they should be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they begged him to remain with them for a time.


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Now the Apostles, and the brethren in various parts of Judaea, heard that the Gentiles also had received God's Message;


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»While I was in the town of Jaffa, offering prayer,« he said, »in a trance I saw a vision. There descended what seemed to be an enormous sail, being let down from the sky by ropes at the four corners, and it came close to me.


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Fixing my eyes on it, I examined it closely, and saw various kinds of quadrupeds, wild beasts, reptiles and birds.


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»But a voice answered, speaking a second time from the sky,« `What God has purified, you must not regard as unholy.'


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»Now at that very moment three men came to the house where we were, having been sent from Caesarea to find me.«


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And the Spirit told me to accompany them without any misgivings. There also went with me these six brethren who are now present, and we reached the Centurion's house.


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Then he described to us how he had seen the angel come and enter his house and say, »`Send to Jaffa and fetch Simon, surnamed Peter.


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»And,« said Peter, »no sooner had I begun to speak than the Holy Spirit fell upon them, just as He fell upon us at the first.


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Then I remembered the Lord's words, how He used to say, »`John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit.'


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»If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we first believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, why, who was I to be able to thwart God?«


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This statement of Peter's silenced his opponents. They extolled the goodness of God, and said, »So, then, to the Gentiles also God has given the repentance which leads to Life.«


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Those, however, who had been driven in various directions by the persecution which broke out on account of Stephen made their way to Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, delivering the Message to none but Jews.


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But some of them were Cyprians and Cyrenaeans, who, on coming to Antioch, spoke to the Greeks also and told them the Good News concerning the Lord Jesus.


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The power of the Lord was with them, and there were a vast number who believed and turned to the Lord.


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When tidings of this reached the ears of the Church in Jerusalem, they sent Barnabas as far as Antioch.


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On getting there he was delighted to see the grace which God had bestowed; and he encouraged them all to remain, with fixed resolve, faithful to the Lord.


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For he was a good man, and was full of the Holy Spirit and of faith; and the number of believers in the Lord greatly increased.


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He succeeded, and brought him to Antioch; and for a whole year they attended the meetings of the Church, and taught a large number of people. And it was in Antioch that the disciples first received the name of `Christians.'


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one of whom, named Agabus, being instructed by the Spirit, publicly predicted the speedy coming of a great famine throughout the world. (It came in the reign of Claudius.)


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So the disciples decided to send relief, every one in proportion to his means, to the brethren living in Judaea.


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Now, about that time, King Herod arrested certain members of the Church, in order to ill-treat them;


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Finding that this gratified the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also; these being the days of Unleavened Bread.


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He had him arrested and lodged in jail, handing him over to the care of sixteen soldiers; and intended after the Passover to bring him out again to the people.


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So Peter was kept in prison; but long and fervent prayer was offered to God by the Church on his behalf.


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Now when Herod was on the point of taking him out of prison, that very night Peter was asleep between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards were on duty outside the door.


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Suddenly an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the cell; and, striking Peter on the side, he woke him and said, »Rise quickly.« Instantly the chains dropped off his wrists.


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»Fasten your girdle,« said the angel, »and tie on your sandals.« He did so. Then the angel said, »Throw your cloak round you, and follow me.«


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So Peter went out, following him, yet could not believe that what the angel was doing was real, but supposed that he saw a vision.


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And passing through the first ward and the second, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. This opened to them of itself; and, going out, they passed on through one of the streets, and then suddenly the angel left him.


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Peter coming to himself said, »Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel and has rescued me from the power of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were anticipating.«


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So, after thinking things over, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John surnamed Mark, where a large number of people were assembled, praying.


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and recognizing Peter's voice, for very joy she did not open the door, but ran in and told them that Peter was standing there.


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»You are mad,« they said. But she strenuously maintained that it was true. »It is his guardian angel,« they said.


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Meanwhile Peter went on knocking, until at last they opened the door and saw that it was really he, and were filled with amazement.


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But he motioned with his hand for silence, and then described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. »Tell all this to James and the brethren,« he added. Then he left them, and went to another place.


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When morning came, there was no little commotion among the soldiers, as to what could possibly have become of Peter.


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And when Herod had had him searched for and could not find him, after sharply questioning the guards he ordered them away to execution. He then went down from Judaea to Caesarea and remained there.


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Now the people of Tyre and Sidon had incurred Herod's violent displeasure. So they sent a large deputation to wait on him; and having secured the good will of Blastus, his treasurer, they begged the king to be friendly with them again, because their country was dependent on his for its food supply.


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So, on an appointed day, Herod, having arrayed himself in royal robes, took his seat on the tribunal, and was haranguing them;


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Instantly an angel of the Lord struck him, because he had not given the glory to God, and being eaten up by worms, he died.


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And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, having discharged their mission, and they brought with them John, surnamed Mark.


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Now there were in Antioch, in the Church there –as Prophets and teachers– barnabas, Symeon surnamed `the black,' Lucius the Cyrenaean, Manaen (who was Herod the Tetrarch's foster-brother), and Saul.


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While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, »Set apart for Me, now at once, Barnabas and Saul, for the work to which I have called them.«


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They therefore, being thus sent out by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleuceia, and from there sailed to Cyprus.


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Having reached Salamis, they began to announce God's Message in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John as their assistant.


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When they had gone through the whole length of the island as far as Paphos, they there met with a Jewish magician and false prophet, Bar-Jesus by name,


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who was a friend of the Proconsul Sergius Paulus. The Proconsul was a man of keen intelligence. He sent for Barnabas and Saul, and asked to be told God's Message.


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But Elymas (or `the Magician,' for such is the meaning of the name) opposed them, and tried to prevent the Proconsul from accepting the faith.


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Then Saul, who is also called Paul, was filled with the Holy Spirit, and, fixing his eyes on Elymas,


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said, »You who are full of every kind of craftiness and unscrupulous cunning –you son of the Devil and foe to all that is right– will you never cease to misrepresent the straight paths of the Lord?


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The Lord's hand is now upon you, and you will be blind for a time and unable to see the light of day.« Instantly there fell upon him a mist and a darkness, and, as he walked about, he begged people to lead him by the hand.


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Then the Proconsul, seeing what had happened, believed, being struck with amazement at the teaching of the Lord.


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From Paphos, Paul and his party put out to sea and sailed to Perga in Pamphylia. John, however, left them and returned to Jerusalem.


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But they themselves, passing through from Perga, came to Antioch in Pisidia. Here, on the Sabbath day, they went into the synagogue and sat down.


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After the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the Wardens of the synagogue sent word to them. »Brethren,« they said, »if you have anything encouraging to say to the people, speak.«


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So Paul rose, and motioning with his hand for silence, said, »Israelites, and you others who fear God, pay attention to me.


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The God of this people of Israel chose our forefathers, and made the people great during their stay in Egypt, until with wondrous power He brought them out from that land.


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Then, after overthrowing seven nations in the land of Canaan, He divided that country among them as their inheritance for about four hundred and fifty years;


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Next they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a Benjamite, who reigned forty years.


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After removing him, He raised up David to be their king, to whom He also bore witness when He said, »`I have found David the son of Jesse, a man I love, who will obey all My commands.'


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»It is from among David's descendants that God, in fulfilment of His promise, has raised up a Saviour for Israel, even Jesus.«


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Before the coming of Jesus, John had proclaimed to all the people of Israel a baptism of repentance.


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But John, towards the end of his career, repeatedly asked the people, »`What do you suppose me to be? I am not the Christ. But there is One coming after me whose sandal I am not worthy to unfasten.'


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»Brethren, descendants of the family of Abraham, and all among you who fear God, to us has this Message of salvation been sent.«


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For the people of Jerusalem and their rulers, by the judgement they pronounced on Jesus, have actually fulfilled the predictions of the Prophets which are read Sabbath after Sabbath, through ignorance of those predictions and of Him.


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and when they had carried out everything which had been written about Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb.


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And, after a few days, He appeared to the people who had gone up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem and are now witnesses concerning Him to the Jews.


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that God has amply fulfilled it to our children in raising up Jesus; as it is also written in the second Psalm, <i>`Thou art My Son: to-day I have become Thy Father.'</i>


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And as to His having raised Him from among the dead, never again to be in the position of one soon to return to decay, He speaks thus: <i>`I will give you the holy and trustworthy promises made to David.'</i>


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Because in another Psalm also He says, <i>`Thou wilt not give up Thy Holy One to undergo decay.'</i>


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For David, after having been useful to his own generation in accordance with God's purpose, did fall asleep, was gathered to his forefathers, and did undergo decay.


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and in Him every believer is absolved from all offences, from which you could not be absolved under the Law of Moses.«


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<i>`Behold, you despisers, be astonished and perish, because I am carrying on a work in your time–a work which you will utterly refuse to believe, though it be fully declared to you.'«</i>


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As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people earnestly begged to have all this repeated to them on the following Sabbath.


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And, when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and of the devout converts from heathenism continued with Paul and Barnabas, who talked to them and urged them to hold fast to the grace of God.


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On the next Sabbath almost the whole population of the city came together to hear the Lord's Message.


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Then, throwing off all reserve, Paul and Barnabas said, »We were bound to proclaim God's Message to you first. But since you spurn it and judge yourselves to be unworthy of the Life of the Ages–well, we turn to the Gentiles.


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For such is the Lord's command to us. <i>»`I have placed Thee,'</i> He says of Christ, <i>`as a light to the Gentiles, in order that Thou mayest be a Saviour as far as the remotest parts of the earth.'«</i>


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The Gentiles listened with delight and extolled the Lord's Message; and all who were pre-destined to the Life of the Ages believed.


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But the Jews influenced the gentlewomen of rank who worshipped with them, and also the leading men in the city, and stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of the district.


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At Iconium the Apostles went together to the Jewish synagogue and preached, with the result that a great number both of Jews and Greeks believed.


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But the Jews who had refused obedience stirred up the Gentiles and embittered their minds against the brethren.


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Yet Paul and Barnabas remained there for a considerable time, speaking freely and relying on the Lord, while He bore witness to the Message of His grace by permitting signs and marvels to be done by them.


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At length the people of the city split into parties, some siding with the Jews and some with the Apostles.


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And when a hostile movement was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with the sanction of their magistrates, to maltreat and stone them,


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the Apostles, having become aware of it, made their escape into the Lycaonian towns of Lystra and Derbe, and the neighbouring country.


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Now a man who had no power in his feet used to sit in the streets of Lystra. He had been lame from his birth and had never walked.


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After this man had listened to one of Paul's sermons, the Apostle, looking steadily at him and perceiving that he had faith to be cured,


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So he sprang up and began to walk about. Then the crowds, seeing what Paul had done, rent the air with their shouts in the Lycaonian language, saying, »The gods have assumed human form and have come down to us.«


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And the priest of Zeus –the temple of Zeus being at the entrance to the city– brought bullocks and garlands to the gates, and in company with the crowd was intending to offer sacrifices to them.


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But the Apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of it; and tearing their clothes they rushed out into the middle of the crowd, exclaiming, »Sirs, why are you doing all this?


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We also are but men, with natures kindred to your own; and we bring you the Good News that you are to turn from these unreal things, to worship the ever-living God, the Creator of earth and sky and sea and of everything that is in them.


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and yet by His beneficence He has not left His existence unattested–His beneficence, I mean, in sending you rain from Heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and joyfulness.«


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Even with words like these they had difficulty in preventing the thronging crowd from offering sacrifices to them.


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But now a party of Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and, having won over the crowd, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the town, believing him to be dead.


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When, however, the disciples had collected round him, he rose and went back into the town. The next day he went with Barnabas to Derbe;


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and, after proclaiming the Good News to the people there and gaining a large number of converts, they retraced their steps to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch.


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Everywhere they strengthened the disciples by encouraging them to hold fast to the faith, and warned them saying, »It is through many afflictions that we must make our way into the Kingdom of God.«


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And in every Church, after prayer and fasting, they selected Elders by show of hands, and commended them to the Lord on whom their faith rested.


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Thence they sailed to Antioch, where they had previously been commended to the grace of God in connexion with the work which they had now completed.


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Upon their arrival they called the Church together and proceeded to report in detail all that God, working with them, had done, and how He had opened for the Gentiles the door of faith.


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But certain persons who had come down from Judaea tried to convince the brethren, saying, »Unless you are circumcised in accordance with the Mosaic custom, you cannot be saved.«


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Between these new comers and Paul and Barnabas there was no little disagreement and controversy, until at last it was decided that Paul and Barnabas and some other brethren should go up to consult the Apostles and Elders in Jerusalem on this matter.


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So they set out, being accompanied for a short distance by some other members of the Church; and as they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told the whole story of the conversion of the Gentiles and inspired all the brethren with great joy.


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Upon their arrival in Jerusalem they were cordially received by the Church, the Apostles, and the Elders; and they reported in detail all that God, working with them, had done.


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But certain men who had belonged to the sect of the Pharisees but were now believers, stood up in the assembly, and said, »Yes, Gentile believers ought to be circumcised and be ordered to keep the Law of Moses.«


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and after there had been a long discussion Peter rose to his feet. »It is within your own knowledge,« he said, »that God originally made choice among you that from my lips the Gentiles were to hear the Message of the Good News, and believe.


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And God, who knows all hearts, gave His testimony in their favour by bestowing the Holy Spirit on them just as He did on us;


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Now, therefore, why try an experiment upon God, by laying on the necks of these disciples a yoke which neither our forefathers nor we have been able to bear?


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On the contrary, we believe that it is by the grace of the Lord Jesus that we, as well as they, shall be saved.«


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Then the whole assembly remained silent while they listened to the statement made by Paul and Barnabas as to all the signs and marvels that God had done among the Gentiles through their instrumentality.


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Symeon has related how God first looked graciously on the Gentiles to take from among them a People to be called by His name.


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`»Afterwards I will return, and will rebuild David's fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will set it up again;


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In order that the rest of mankind may earnestly seek the Lord–even all the nations which are called by My name,«


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»My judgement, therefore, is against inflicting unexpected annoyance on those of the Gentiles who are turning to God.


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Yet let us send them written instructions to abstain from things polluted by connexion with idolatry, from fornication, from meat killed by strangling, and from blood.


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For Moses from the earliest times has had his preachers in every town, being read, as he is, Sabbath after Sabbath, in the various synagogues.«


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Thereupon it was decided by the Apostles and Elders, with the approval of the whole Church, to choose suitable persons from among themselves and send them to Antioch, with Paul and Barnabas. Judas, called Bar-sabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren, were selected,


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and they took with them the following letter: »The Apostles and the elder brethren send greeting to the Gentile brethren throughout Antioch, Syria and Cilicia.


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As we have been informed that certain persons who have gone out from among us have disturbed you by their teaching and have unsettled your minds, without having received any such instructions from us;


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we have unanimously decided to select certain men and send them to you in company with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul,


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We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who are themselves bringing you the same message by word of mouth.


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For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no burden heavier than these necessary requirements–


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You must abstain from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from fornication. Keep yourselves clear of these things, and it will be well with you. Farewell.«


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They, therefore, having been solemnly sent, came down to Antioch, where they called together the whole assembly and delivered the letter.


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And Judas and Silas, being themselves also Prophets, gave them a long and encouraging talk, and strengthened them in the faith.


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After spending some time there they received an affectionate farewell from the brethren to return to those who had sent them.


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But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, teaching and, in company with many others, telling the Good News of the Lord's Message.


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After a while Paul said to Barnabas, »Suppose we now revisit the brethren in the various towns in which we have made known the Lord's Message–to see whether they are prospering!«


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while Paul deemed it undesirable to have as their companion one who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone on with them to the work.


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So there arose a serious disagreement between them, which resulted in their parting from one another, Barnabas taking Mark and setting sail for Cyprus.


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But Paul chose Silas as his travelling companion; and set out, after being commended by the brethren to the grace of the Lord;


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He also came to Derbe and to Lystra. At Lystra he found a disciple, Timothy by name–the son of a Christian Jewess, though he had a Greek father.


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and Paul desiring that he should accompany him on his journey, took him and circumcised him on account of the Jews in those parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.


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As they journeyed on from town to town, they handed to the brethren for their observance the decisions which had been arrived at by the Apostles and Elders in Jerusalem.


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Then Paul and his companions passed through Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to proclaim the Message in the province of Asia.


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When they reached the frontier of Mysia, they were about to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not permit this.


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Here, one night, Paul saw a vision. There was a Macedonian who was standing, entreating him and saying, »Come over into Macedonia and help us.«


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So when he had seen the vision, we immediately looked out for an opportunity of passing on into Macedonia, confidently inferring that God had called us to proclaim the Good News to the people there.


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Accordingly we put out to sea from Troas, and ran a straight course to Samothrace. The next day we came to Neapolis,


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and thence to Philippi, which is a city in Macedonia, the first in its district, a Roman colony. And there we stayed some little time.


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On the Sabbath we went beyond the city gate to the riverside, where we had reason to believe that there was a place for prayer; and sitting down we talked with the women who had come together.


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Among our hearers was one named Lydia, a dealer in purple goods. She belonged to the city of Thyateira, and was a worshipper of the true God. The Lord opened her heart, so that she gave attention to what Paul was saying.


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When she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, »If in your judgement I am a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house.« And she made us go there.


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One day, as we were on our way to the place of prayer, a slave girl met us who claimed to be inspired and was accustomed to bring her owners large profits by telling fortunes.


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She kept following close behind Paul and the rest of us, crying aloud, »These men are the bondservants of the Most High God, and are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.«


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This she persisted in for a considerable time, until Paul, wearied out, turned round and said to the spirit, »I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.« And it came out immediately.


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But when her owners saw that their hopes of gain were gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them off to the magistrates in the public square.


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Then they brought them before the praetors. »These men,« they said, »are creating a great disturbance in our city.


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They are Jews, and are teaching customs which we, as Romans, are not permitted to adopt or practise.«


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The crowd, too, joined in the outcry against them, till at length the praetors ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods;


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He, having received an order like that, lodged them in the inner prison, and secured their feet in the stocks.


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About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them,


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when suddenly there was such a violent shock of earthquake that the prison shook to its foundations. Instantly the doors all flew open, and the chains fell off from every prisoner.


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Starting up from sleep and seeing the doors of the jail wide open, the jailer drew his sword and was on the point of killing himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.


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Then he took them, even at that time of night, washed their wounds, and he and all his household were immediately baptized;


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and bringing the Apostles up into his house, he spread a meal for them, and was filled with gladness, with his whole household, his faith resting on God.


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So the jailer brought Paul word, saying, »The praetors have sent orders for you to be released. Now therefore you can go, and proceed on your way in peace.«


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But Paul said to them, »After cruelly beating us in public, without trial, Roman citizens though we are, they have thrown us into prison, and are they now going to send us away privately? No, indeed! Let them come in person and fetch us out.«


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This answer the lictors took back to the praetors, who were alarmed when they were told that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens.


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Then Paul and Silas, having come out of the prison, went to Lydia's house; and, after seeing the brethren and encouraging them, they left Philippi.


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Then, passing through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they went to Thessalonica. Here there was a synagogue of the Jews.


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Paul –following his usual custom– betook himself to it, and for three successive Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures,


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which he clearly explained, pointing out that it had been necessary for the Christ to suffer and rise again from the dead, and insisting, »The Jesus whom I am announcing to you is the Christ.«


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Some of the people were won over, and attached themselves to Paul and Silas, including many God-fearing Greeks and not a few gentlewomen of high rank.


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But the jealousy of the Jews was aroused, and, calling to their aid some ill-conditioned and idle fellows, they got together a riotous mob and filled the city with uproar. They then attacked the house of Jason and searched for Paul and Silas, to bring them out before the assembly of people.


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But, failing to find them, they dragged Jason and some of the other brethren before the magistrates of the city, loudly accusing them. »These men,« they said, »who have raised a tumult throughout the Empire, have come here also.


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Jason has received them into his house; and they all set Caesar's authority at defiance, declaring that there is another Emperor– one called Jesus.«


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Great was the excitement among the crowd, and among the magistrates of the city, when they heard these charges.


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The brethren at once sent Paul and Silas away by night to Beroea, and they, on their arrival, went to the synagogue of the Jews.


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The Jews at Beroea were of a nobler disposition than those in Thessalonica, for they very readily received the Message, and day after day searched the Scriptures to see whether it was as Paul stated.


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As the result many of them became believers, and so did not a few of the Greeks–gentlewomen of good position, and men.


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As soon, however, as the Jews of Thessalonica learnt that God's Message had been proclaimed by Paul at Beroea, they came there also, and incited the mob to a riot.


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Those who were caring for Paul's safety went with him as far as Athens, and then left him, taking a message from him to Silas and Timothy, asking them to join him as speedily as possible.


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While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was stirred within him when he noticed that the city was full of idols.


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So he had discussions in the synagogue with the Jews and the other worshippers, and in the market place, day after day, with those whom he happened to meet.


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A few of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also encountered him. Some of them asked, »What has this beggarly babbler to say?«»His business,« said others, »seems to be to cry up some foreign gods.« This was because he had been telling the Good News of Jesus and the Resurrection.


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Then they took him and brought him up to the Areopagus, asking him, »May we be told what this new teaching of yours is?


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For the things you are saying sound strange to us. We should therefore like to be told exactly what they mean.«


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(For all the Athenians and their foreign visitors used to devote their whole leisure to telling or hearing about something new.)


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So Paul, taking his stand in the centre of the Areopagus, spoke as follows: »Men of Athens, I perceive that you are in every respect remarkably religious.


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For as I passed along and observed the things you worship, I found also an altar bearing the inscription, `TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' »The Being, therefore, whom you, without knowing Him, revere, Him I now proclaim to you.


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GOD who made the universe and everything in it–He, being Lord of Heaven and earth, does not dwell in sanctuaries built by men.


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Nor is He ministered to by human hands, as though He needed anything–but He Himself gives to all men life and breath and all things.


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He caused to spring from one forefather people of every race, for them to live on the whole surface of the earth, and marked out for them an appointed span of life and the boundaries of their homes;


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that they might seek God, if perhaps they could grope for Him and find Him. Yes, though He is not far from any one of us.


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For it is in closest union with Him that we live and move and have our being; as in fact some of the poets in repute among yourselves have said, `For we are also His offspring.'


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Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that His nature resembles gold or silver or marble, or anything sculptured by the art and inventive faculty of man.


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Those times of ignorance God viewed with indulgence. But now He commands all men everywhere to repent,


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seeing that He has appointed a day on which, before long, He will judge the world in righteousness, through the instrumentality of a man whom He has pre-destined to this work, and has made the fact certain to every one by raising Him from the dead.«


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When they heard Paul speak of a resurrection of dead men, some began to scoff. But others said, »We will hear you again on that subject.«


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A few, however, attached themselves to him and believed, among them being Dionysius a member of the Council, a gentlewoman named Damaris, and some others.


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Here he found a Jew, a native of Pontus, of the name of Aquila. He and his wife Priscilla had recently come from Italy because of Claudius's edict expelling all the Jews from Rome. So Paul paid them a visit;


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But, Sabbath after Sabbath, he preached in the synagogue and tried to win over both Jews and Greeks.


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Now at the time when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul was preaching fervently and was solemnly telling the Jews that Jesus is the Christ.


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But upon their opposing him with abusive language, he shook his clothes by way of protest, and said to them, »Your ruin will be upon your own heads. I am not responsible: in future I will go among the Gentiles.«


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So he left the place and went to the house of a person called Titius Justus, a worshipper of the true God. His house was next door to the synagogue.


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And Crispus, the Warden of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, and so did all his household; and from time to time many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and received baptism.


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And, in a vision by night, the Lord said to Paul, »Dismiss your fears: go on speaking, and do not give up.


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I am with you, and no one shall attack you to injure you; for I have very many people in this city.«


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But when Gallio became Proconsul of Greece, the Jews with one accord made a dead set at Paul, and brought him before the court.


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But, when Paul was about to begin his defence, Gallio said to the Jews, »If it had been some wrongful act or piece of cunning knavery I might reasonably have listened to you Jews.


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But since these are questions about words and names and your Law, you yourselves must see to them. I refuse to be a judge in such matters.«


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Then the people all set upon Sosthenes, the Warden of the synagogue, and beat him severely in front of the court. Gallio did not concern himself in the least about this.


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After remaining a considerable time longer in Corinth, Paul took leave of the brethren and set sail for Syria; and Priscilla and Aquila were with him. He had shaved his head at Cenchreae, because he was bound by a vow.


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They put in at Ephesus, and there Paul left his companions behind. As for himself, he went to the synagogue and had a discussion with the Jews.


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but took leave of them with the promise, »I will return to you, God willing.« So he set sail from Ephesus.


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Landing at Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem and inquired after the welfare of the Church, and then went down to Antioch.


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After spending some time in Antioch, Paul set out on a tour, visiting the whole of Galatia and Phrygia in order, and strengthening all the disciples.


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Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos came to Ephesus. He was a native of Alexandria, a man of great learning and well versed in the Scriptures.


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He had been instructed by word of mouth in the way of the Lord, and, being full of burning zeal, he used to speak and teach accurately the facts about Jesus, though he knew of no baptism but John's.


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He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, and Priscilla and Aquila, after hearing him, took him home and explained God's way to him more accurately.


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Then, as he had made up his mind to cross over into Greece, the brethren wrote to the disciples in Corinth begging them to give him a kindly welcome. Upon his arrival he rendered valuable help to those who through grace had believed;


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for he powerfully and in public overcame the Jews in argument, proving to them from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.


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During the stay of Apollos in Corinth, Paul, after passing through the inland districts, came to Ephesus, where he found a few disciples.


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»Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you first believed?« he asked them. »No,« they replied, »we did not even hear that there is a Holy Spirit.«


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»John,« he said, »administered a baptism of repentance, bidding the people believe on One who was to come after him; namely, on Jesus.«


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and when Paul laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began to speak in tongues and to prophesy.


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Afterwards he went into the synagogue. There for three months he continued to preach fearlessly, explaining in words which carried conviction the truths which concern the Kingdom of God.


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But some grew obstinate in unbelief and spoke evil of the new faith before all the congregation. So Paul left them, and, taking with him those who were disciples, held discussions daily in Tyrannus's lecture-hall.


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This went on for two years, so that all the inhabitants of the province of Asia, Jews as well as Greeks, heard the Lord's Message.


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Towels or aprons, for instance, which Paul had handled used to be carried to the sick, and they recovered from their ailments, or the evil spirits left them.


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But there were also some wandering Jewish exorcists who undertook to invoke the name of Jesus over those who had the evil spirits, saying, »I command you by that Jesus whom Paul preaches.«


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And the man in whom the evil spirit was sprang on two of them, over-mastered them both, and treated them with such violence, that they fled from the house stripped of their clothes and wounded.


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All the people of Ephesus, Jews as well as Greeks, came to know of this. There was widespread terror, and they began to hold the name of the Lord Jesus in high honour.


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and not a few of those who had practised magical arts brought their books together and burnt them in the presence of all. The total value was reckoned and found to be 50,000 silver coins.


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When matters had reached this point, Paul decided in his own mind to travel through Macedonia and Greece, and go to Jerusalem. »After that,« he said, »I must also see Rome.«


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But he sent two of his assistants, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he himself remained for a while in Roman Asia.


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There was a certain Demetrius, a silversmith, who made miniature silver sanctuaries of Diana, a business which brought great gain to the mechanics in his employ.


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He called his workmen together, and others who were engaged in similar trades, and said to them, »You men well know that our prosperity depends on this business of ours;


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and you see and hear that, not in Ephesus only but throughout almost the whole province of Asia, this fellow Paul has led away a vast number of people by inducing them to believe that they are not gods at all that are made by men's hands.


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There is danger, therefore, not only that this our trade will become of no account, but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana will fall into utter disrepute, and that before long she will be actually deposed from her majestic rank–she who is now worshipped by the whole province of Asia; nay, by the whole world.«


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After listening to this harangue, they became furiously angry and kept calling out, »Great is the Ephesian Diana!«


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The riot and uproar spread through the whole city, till at last with one accord they rushed into the Theatre, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, two Macedonians who were fellow travellers with Paul.


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Then Paul would have liked to go in and address the people, but the disciples would not let him do so.


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A few of the public officials, too, who were friendly to him, sent repeated messages entreating him not to venture into the Theatre.


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The people, meanwhile, kept shouting, some one thing and some another; for the assembly was all uproar and confusion, and the greater part had no idea why they had come together.


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Then some of the people crowded round Alexander, whom the Jews had pushed forward; and Alexander, motioning with his hand to get silence, was prepared to make a defence to the people.


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No sooner, however, did they see that he was a Jew, than there arose from them all one roar of shouting, lasting about two hours. »Great is the Ephesian Diana,« they said.


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At length the Recorder quieted them down. »Men of Ephesus,« he said, »who is there of all mankind that needs to be told that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Diana and of the image which fell down from Zeus?


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These facts, then, being unquestioned, it becomes you to maintain your self-control and not act recklessly.


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For you have brought these men here, who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess.


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If, however, Demetrius and the mechanics who support his contention have a grievance against any one, there are Assize-days and there are Proconsuls: let the persons interested accuse one another.


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For in connexion with to-day's proceedings there is danger of our being charged with attempted insurrection, there having been no real reason for this riot; nor shall we be able to justify the behaviour of this disorderly mob.«


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When the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples; and, after speaking words of encouragement to them, he took his leave, and started for Macedonia.


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Passing through those districts he encouraged the disciples in frequent addresses, and then came into Greece, and spent three months there.


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The Jews having planned to waylay him whenever he might be on the point of taking ship for Syria, he decided to travel back by way of Macedonia.


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He was accompanied as far as the province of Asia by Sopater the Beroean, the son of Pyrrhus; by the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; by Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy; and by the Asians, Tychicus and Trophimus.


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But we ourselves sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and five days later joined them in the Troad, where we remained for a week.


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On the first day of the week, when we had met to break bread, Paul, who was going away the next morning, was preaching to them, and prolonged his discourse till midnight.


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and a youth of the name of Eutychus was sitting at the window. This lad, gradually sinking into deep sleep while Paul preached at unusual length, overcome at last by sleep, fell from the second floor and was taken up dead.


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Paul, however, went down, threw himself upon him, and folding him in his arms said, »Do not be alarmed; his life is still in him.«


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Then he went upstairs again, broke bread, and took some food; and after a long conversation which was continued till daybreak, at last he parted from them.


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The rest of us had already gone on board a ship, and now we set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul on board there; for so he had arranged, he himself intending to go by land.


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Sailing from there, we arrived the next day off Chios. On the next we touched at Samos; and on the day following reached Miletus.


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For Paul's plan was to sail past Ephesus, so as not to spend much time in the province of Asia; since he was very desirous of being in Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of the Harvest Festival.


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Upon their arrival he said to them, »You Elders well know, from the first day of my setting foot in the province of Asia, the kind of life I lived among you the whole time,


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serving the Lord in all humility, and with tears, and amid trials which came upon me through the plotting of the Jews–


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and that I never shrank from declaring to you anything that was profitable, or from teaching you in public and in your homes,


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and urging upon both Jews and Greeks the necessity of turning to God and of believing in Jesus our Lord.


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»And now, impelled by a sense of duty, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there,


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except that the Holy Spirit, at town after town, testifies to me that imprisonment and suffering are awaiting me.«


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But even the sacrifice of my life I count as nothing, if only I may perfect my earthly course, and be faithful to the duty which the Lord Jesus has entrusted to me of proclaiming, as of supreme importance, the Good News of God's grace.


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»And now, I know that none of you among whom I have gone in and out proclaiming the coming of the Kingdom will any longer see my face.«


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»Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has placed you to take the oversight for Him and act as shepherds to the Church of God, which He has bought with His own blood.«


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and that from among your own selves men will rise up who will seek with their perverse talk to draw away the disciples after them.


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Therefore be on the alert; and remember that, night and day, for three years, I never ceased admonishing every one, even with tears.


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»And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace. He is able to build you up and to give you your inheritance among His people.«


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You yourselves know that these hands of mine have provided for my own necessities and for the people with me.


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In all things I have set you an example, showing you that, by working as I do, you ought to help the weak, and to bear in mind the words of the Lord Jesus, how He Himself said, »`It is more blessed to give than to receive.'«


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grieved above all things at his having told them that after that day they were no longer to see his face. And they went with him to the ship.


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When, at last, we had torn ourselves away and had set sail, we ran in a straight course to Cos; the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara.


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After sighting Cyprus and leaving that island on our left, we continued our voyage to Syria and put in at Tyre; for there the ship was to unload her cargo.


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Having searched for the disciples and found them, we stayed at Tyre for seven days; and, taught by the Spirit, they repeatedly urged Paul not to proceed to Jerusalem.


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When, however, our time was up, we left and went on our way, all the disciples and their wives and children coming to see us off. Then, after kneeling down on the beach and praying,


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As for us, our voyage was over when having sailed from Tyre we reached Ptolemais. here we inquired after the welfare of the brethren, and remained a day with them.


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On the morrow we left Ptolemais and went on to Caesarea, where we came to the house of Philip the Evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him.


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When he arrived he took Paul's loincloth, and bound his own feet and arms with it, and said, »Thus says the Holy Spirit, `So will the Jews in Jerusalem bind the owner of this loincloth, and will hand him over to the Gentiles.'«


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As soon as we heard these words, both we and the brethren at Caesarea entreated Paul not to go up to Jerusalem.


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His reply was, »What can you mean by thus breaking my heart with your grief? Why, as for me, I am ready not only to go to Jerusalem and be put in chains, but even to die there for the sake of the Lord Jesus.«


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So when he was not to be dissuaded, we ceased remonstrating with him and said, »The Lord's will be done!«


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Some of the disciples from Caesarea also joined our party, and brought with them Mnason, a Cyprian, one of the early disciples, at whose house we were to lodge.


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On the following day we went with Paul to call on James, and all the Elders of the Church came also.


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After exchanging friendly greetings, Paul told in detail all that God had done among the Gentiles through his instrumentality.


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And they, when they had heard his statement, gave the glory to God. Then they said, »You see, brother, how many tens of thousands of Jews there are among those who have accepted the faith, and they are all zealous upholders of the Law.


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Now what they have been repeatedly told about you is that you teach all the Jews among the Gentiles to abandon Moses, and that you forbid them to circumcise their children or observe old-established customs.


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Associate with these men and purify yourself with them, and pay their expenses so that they can shave their heads. Then everybody will know that there is no truth in these stories about you, but that in your own actions you yourself scrupulously obey the Law.


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But as for the Gentiles who have accepted the faith, we have communicated to them our decision that they are carefully to abstain from anything sacrificed to an idol, from blood, from what is strangled, and from fornication.«


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So Paul associated with the men; and the next day, having purified himself with them, he went into the Temple, giving every one to understand that the days of their purification were finished, and there he remained until the sacrifice for each of them was offered.


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But, when the seven days were nearly over, the Jews from the province of Asia, having seen Paul in the Temple, set about rousing the fury of all the people against him.


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They laid hands on him, crying out, »Men of Israel, help! help! This is the man who goes everywhere preaching to everybody against the Jewish people and the Law and this place. And besides, he has even brought Gentiles into the Temple and has desecrated this holy place.«


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(For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, and imagined that Paul had brought him into the Temple.)


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The excitement spread through the whole city, and the people rushed in crowds to the Temple, and there laid hold of Paul and began to drag him out; and the Temple gates were immediately closed.


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But while they were trying to kill Paul, word was taken up to the Tribune in command of the battalion, that all Jerusalem was in a ferment.


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He instantly sent for a few soldiers and their officers, and came down among the people with all speed. At the sight of the Tribune and the troops they ceased beating Paul.


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Then the Tribune, making his way to him, arrested him, and, having ordered him to be secured with two chains, proceeded to ask who he was and what he had been doing.


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Some of the crowd shouted one accusation against Paul and some another, until, as the uproar made it impossible for the truth to be ascertained with certainty, the Tribune ordered him to be brought into the barracks.


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When Paul was going up the steps, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob;


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When he was about to be taken into the barracks, Paul said to the Tribune, »May I speak to you?«»Do you know Greek?« the Tribune asked.


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»Are you not the Egyptian who some years ago excited the riot of the 4,000 cut-throats, and led them out into the Desert?«


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»I am a Jew,« replied Paul, »belonging to Tarsus in Cilicia, and am a citizen of no unimportant city. Give me leave, I pray you, to speak to the people.«


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So with his permission Paul stood on the steps and motioned with his hand to the people to be quiet; and when there was perfect silence he addressed them in Hebrew.


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»I am a Jew, born at Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city. I was carefully trained at the feet of Gamaliel in the Law of our forefathers, and, like all of you to-day, was zealous for God.«


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I persecuted to death this new faith, continually binding both men and women and throwing them into prison;


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as the High Priest also and all the Elders can bear me witness. It was, too, from them that I received letters to the brethren in Damascus, and I was already on my way to Damascus, intending to bring those also who had fled there, in chains to Jerusalem, to be punished.


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»But on my way, when I was now not far from Damascus, about noon a sudden blaze of light from Heaven shone round me.


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»`Who art thou, Lord?' I asked.« `I am Jesus, the Nazarene,' He replied, `whom you are persecuting.'


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»Now the men who were with me, though they saw the light, did not hear the words of Him who spoke to me.«


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And I asked, »`What am I to do, Lord?' «And the Lord said to me, »`Rise, and go into Damascus. There you shall be told of all that has been appointed for you to do.'


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»And as I could not see because the light had been so dazzling, those who were with me had to lead me by the arm, and so I came to Damascus.«


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»And a certain Ananias, a pious man who obeyed the Law and bore a good character with all the Jews of the city,


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came to me and standing at my side said, »`Brother Saul, recover your sight.'« I instantly regained my sight and looked up at him.


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Then he said, `The God of our forefathers has appointed you to know His will, and to see the righteous One and hear Him speak.


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I saw Jesus, and He said to me, »`Make haste and leave Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me.'


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»`Lord,' I replied, `they themselves well know how active I was in imprisoning, and in flogging in synagogue after synagogue those who believe in Thee;«


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and when they were shedding the blood of Stephen, Thy witness, I was standing by, fully approving of it, and I held the clothes of those who were killing him.'


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Until they heard this last statement the people listened to Paul, but now with a roar of disapproval they cried out, »Away with such a fellow from the earth! He ought not to be allowed to live.«


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And when they continued their furious shouts, throwing their clothes into the air and flinging dust about,


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the Tribune ordered him to be brought into the barracks, and be examined by flogging, in order to ascertain the reason why they thus cried out against him.


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But, when they had tied him up with the straps, Paul said to the Captain who stood by, »Does the Law permit you to flog a Roman citizen–and one too who is uncondemned?«


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On hearing this question, the Captain went to report the matter to the Tribune. »What are you intending to do?« he said. »This man is a Roman citizen.«


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So the men who had been on the point of putting him under torture immediately left him. And the Tribune, too, was frightened when he learnt that Paul was a Roman citizen, for he had had him bound.


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The next day, wishing to know exactly what charge was being brought against him by the Jews, the Tribune ordered his chains to be removed; and, having sent word to the High Priests and all the Sanhedrin to assemble, he brought Paul down and made him stand before them.


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Then Paul, fixing a steady gaze on the Sanhedrin, said, »Brethren, it is with a perfectly clear conscience that I have discharged my duties before God up to this day.«


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On hearing this the High Priest Ananias ordered those who were standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth.


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»Before long,« exclaimed Paul, »God will strike you, you white-washed wall! Are you sitting there to judge me in accordance with the Law, and do you yourself actually break the Law by ordering me to be struck?«


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»I did not know, brethren,« replied Paul, »that he was the High Priest; for it is written, <i>`Thou shalt not speak evil of a ruler of Thy people.'«</i>


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Noticing, however, that the Sanhedrin consisted partly of Sadducees and partly of Pharisees, he called out loudly among them, »Brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of Pharisees. It is because of my hope of a resurrection of the dead that I am on my trial.«


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These words of his caused an angry dispute between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly took different sides.


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For the Sadducees maintain that there is no resurrection, and neither angel nor spirit; but the Pharisees acknowledge the existence of both.


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So there arose a great uproar; and some of the Scribes belonging to the sect of the Pharisees sprang to their feet and fiercely contended, saying, »We find no harm in the man. What if a spirit has spoken to him, or an angel–!«


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But when the struggle was becoming violent, the Tribune, fearing that Paul would be torn to pieces by the people, ordered the troops to go down and take him from among them by force and bring him into the barracks.


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The following night the Lord came and stood at Paul's side, and said, »Be of good courage, for as you have borne faithful witness about me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness in Rome.«


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Now, when daylight came, the Jews formed a conspiracy and solemnly swore not to eat or drink till they had killed Paul.


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They went to the High Priests and Elders and said to them, »We have bound ourselves under a heavy curse to take no food till we have killed Paul.


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Now therefore you and the Sanhedrin should make representations to the Tribune for him to bring him down to you, under the impression that you intend to inquire more minutely about him; and we are prepared to assassinate him before he comes near the place.«


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But Paul's sister's son heard of the intended attack upon him. So he came and went into the barracks and told Paul about it;


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and Paul called one of the Captains and said, »Take this young man to the Tribune, for he has information to give him.«


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So he took him and brought him to the Tribune, and said, »Paul, the prisoner, called me to him and begged me to bring this youth to you, because he has something to say to you.«


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Then the Tribune, taking him by the arm, withdrew out of the hearing of others and asked him, »What have you to tell me?«


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»The Jews,« he replied, »have agreed to request you to bring Paul down to the Sanhedrin to-morrow for the purpose of making yourself more accurately acquainted with the case.


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I beg you not to comply; for more than forty men among them are lying in wait for him, who have solemnly vowed that they will neither eat nor drink till they have assassinated him; and even now they are ready, in anticipation of receiving that promise of you.«


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So the Tribune sent the youth home, cautioning him. »Do not let any one know that you have given me this information,« he said.


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Then, calling to him two of the Captains, he gave his orders. »Get ready two hundred men,« he said, »to march to Caesarea, with seventy cavalry and two hundred light infantry, starting at nine o'clock to-night.«


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He further told them to provide horses to mount Paul on, so as to bring him safely to Felix the Governor.


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This man Paul had been seized by the Jews, and they were on the point of killing him, when I came upon them with the troops and rescued him, for I had been informed that he was a Roman citizen.


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And, wishing to know with certainty the offense of which they were accusing him, I brought him down into their Sanhedrin,


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and I discovered that the charge had to do with questions of their Law, but that he was accused of nothing for which he deserves death or imprisonment.


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But now that I have received information of an intended attack upon him, I immediately send him to you, directing his accusers also to state before you the case they have against him.«


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So, in obedience to their orders, the soldiers took Paul and brought him by night as far as Antipatris.


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and, the cavalry having reached Caesarea and delivered the letter to the Governor, they brought Paul also to him.


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he said, »I will hear all you have to say, when your accusers also have come.« And he ordered him to be detained in custody in Herod's Palace.


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Five days after this, Ananias the High Priest came down to Caesarea with a number of Elders and a pleader called Tertullus. They stated to the Governor the case against Paul.


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So Paul was sent for, and Tertullus began to impeach him as follows:»Indebted as we are,« he said, »to you, most noble Felix, for the perfect peace which we enjoy, and for reforms which your wisdom has introduced to this nation,


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But –not to detain you too long– I beg you in your forbearance to listen to a brief statement from us.


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For we have found this man Paul a source of mischief and a disturber of the peace among all the Jews throughout the Empire, and a ringleader in the heresy of the Nazarenes.


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You, however, by examining him, will yourself be able to learn the truth as to all this which we allege against him.«


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Then, at a sign from the Governor, Paul answered, »Knowing, Sir, that for many years you have administered justice to this nation, I cheerfully make my defence.


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For you have it in your power to ascertain that it is not more than twelve days ago that I went up to worship in Jerusalem;


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and that neither in the Temple nor in the synagogues, nor anywhere in the city, did they find me disputing with any opponent or collecting a crowd about me.


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But this I confess to you–that in the way which they style a heresy, I worship the God of our forefathers, believing everything that is taught in the Law or is written in the Prophets,


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and having a hope directed towards God, which my accusers themselves also entertain, that before long there will be a resurrection both of the righteous and the unrighteous.


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»Now after an interval of several years I came to bring alms to my nation, and to offer sacrifices.«


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While I was busy about these, they found me in the Temple purified, with no crowd around me and no uproar; but there were certain Jews from the province of Asia.


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They ought to have been here before you, and to have been my prosecutors, if they have any charge to bring against me.


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Or let these men themselves say what misdemeanour they found me guilty of when I stood before the Sanhedrin,


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unless it was in that one expression which I made use of when I shouted out as I stood among them, »`The resurrection of the dead is the thing about which I am on my trial before you to-day.'«


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At this point Felix, who was fairly well informed about the new faith, adjourned the trial, saying to the Jews, »When the Tribune Lysias comes down, I will enter carefully into the matter.«


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And he gave orders to the Captain that Paul was to be kept in custody, but be treated with indulgence, and that his personal friends were not to be prevented from showing him kindness.


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Not long after this, Felix came with Drusilla his wife, a Jewess, and sending for Paul, listened to him as he spoke about faith in Christ Jesus.


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But when he dealt with the subjects of justice, self-control, and the judgement which was soon to come, Felix became alarmed and said, »For the present leave me, and when I can find a convenient opportunity I will send for you.«


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At the same time he hoped that Paul would give him money; and for this reason he sent for him the oftener to converse with him.


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But after the lapse of fully two years Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus; and being desirous of gratifying the Jews, Felix left Paul still in prison.


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Festus, having entered on his duties as governor of the province, two days later went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem.


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The High Priests and the leading men among the Jews immediately made representations to him against Paul, and begged him–


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asking it as a favour, to Paul's prejudice–to have him brought to Jerusalem. They were planning an ambush to kill him on the way.


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Festus, however, replied that Paul was in custody in Caesarea, and that he was himself going there very soon.


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»Therefore let those of you,« he said, »who can come, go down with me, and impeach the man, if there is anything amiss in him.«


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After a stay of eight or ten days in Jerusalem –not more– he went down to Caesarea; and the next day, taking his seat on the tribunal, he ordered Paul to be brought in.


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Upon Paul's arrival, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood round him, and brought many grave charges against him which they were unable to substantiate.


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But, in reply, Paul said, »Neither against the Jewish Law, nor against the Temple, nor against Caesar, have I committed any offence whatever.«


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Then Festus, being anxious to gratify the Jews, asked Paul, »Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem, and there stand your trial before me on these charges?«


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»I am standing before Caesar's tribunal,« replied Paul, »where alone I ought to be tried. The Jews have no real ground of complaint against me, as in fact you yourself are beginning to see more clearly.


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If, however, I have done wrong and have committed any offence for which I deserve to die, I do not ask to be excused that penalty. But if there is no truth in what these men allege against me, no one has the right to give me up to them as a favour. I appeal to Caesar.«


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Then, after conferring with the Council, Festus replied, »To Caesar you have appealed: to Caesar you shall go.«


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A short time after this, Agrippa the king and Bernice came to Caesarea to pay a complimentary visit to Festus;


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and, during their rather long stay, Festus laid Paul's case before the king. »There is a man here,« he said, »whom Felix left a prisoner,


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about whom, when I went to Jerusalem, the High Priests and the Elders of the Jews made representations to me, begging that sentence might be pronounced against him.


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My reply was that it is not the custom among the Romans to give up any one for punishment before the accused has had his accusers face to face, and has had an opportunity of defending himself against the charge which has been brought against him.


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»When, therefore, a number of them came here, the next day I took my seat on the tribunal, without any loss of time, and ordered the man to be brought in.«


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But, when his accusers stood up, they did not charge him with the misdemeanours of which I had been suspecting him.


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But they quarrelled with him about certain matters connected with their own religion, and about one Jesus who had died, but –so Paul persistently maintained– is now alive.


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I was at a loss how to investigate such questions, and asked Paul whether he would care to go to Jerusalem and there stand his trial on these matters.


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But when Paul appealed to have his case kept for the Emperor's decision, I ordered him to be kept in prison until I could send him up to Caesar.«


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»I should like to hear the man myself,« said Agrippa. »to-morrow,« replied Festus, »you shall.« Accordingly, the next day, Agrippa and Bernice came in state


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and took their seats in the Judgement Hall, attended by the Tribunes and the men of high rank in the city; and, at the command of Festus, Paul was brought in.


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Then Festus said, »King Agrippa and all who are present with us, you see here the man about whom the whole nation of the Jews made suit to me, both in Jerusalem and here, crying out that he ought not to live any longer.


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I could not discover that he had done anything for which he deserved to die; but as he has himself appealed to the Emperor, I have decided to send him to Rome.


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I have nothing very definite, however, to tell our Sovereign about him. So I have brought the man before you all –and especially before you, King Agrippa– that after he has been examined I may find something which I can put into writing.


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For, when sending a prisoner to Rome, it seems to me to be absurd not to state the charges against him.«


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Then Agrippa said to Paul, »You have permission to speak about yourself.« So Paul, with outstretched arm, proceeded to make his defence.


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»As regards all the accusations brought against me by the Jews,« he said, »I think myself fortunate, King Agrippa, in being about to defend myself to-day before you,


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who are so familiar with all the customs and speculations that prevail among the Jews; and for this reason, I pray you, give me a patient hearing.


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»The kind of life I have lived from my youth upwards, as exemplified in my early days among my nation and in Jerusalem, is known to all the Jews.«


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For they all know me of old –if they would but testify to the fact– how, being an adherent of the strictest sect of our religion, my life was that of a Pharisee.


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And now I stand here impeached because of my hope in the fulfilment of the promise made by God to our forefathers–


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the promise which our twelve tribes, worshipping day and night with intense devotedness, hope to have made good to them. It is on the subject of this hope, Sir, that I am accused by the Jews.


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»I myself, however, thought it a duty to do many things in hostility to the name of Jesus, the Nazarene.«


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And that was how I acted in Jerusalem. Armed with authority received from the High Priests I shut up many of God's people in various prisons, and when they were about to be put to death I gave my vote against them.


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In all the synagogues also I punished them many a time, and tried to make them blaspheme; and in my wild fury I chased them even to foreign towns.


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»While thus engaged, I was travelling one day to Damascus armed with authority and a commission from the High Priests,


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and on the journey, at noon, Sir, I saw a light from Heaven –brighter than the brightness of the sun– shining around me and around those who were travelling with me.«


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We all fell to the ground; and I heard a voice which said to me in Hebrew, »`Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? You are finding it painful to kick against the ox-goad.'


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`But rise, and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for the very purpose of appointing you My servant and My witness both as to the things you have already seen and as to those in which I will appear to you.


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I will save you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I send you to open their eyes,


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that they may turn from darkness to light and from the obedience to Satan to God, in order to receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified through faith in Me.'


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but I proceeded to preach first to the people in Damascus, and then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judaea, and to the Gentiles, that they must repent and turn to God, and live lives consistent with such repentance.


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Having, however, obtained the help which is from God, I have stood firm until now, and have solemnly exhorted rich and poor alike, saying nothing except what the Prophets and Moses predicted as soon to happen,


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since the Christ was to be a suffering Christ, and by coming back from the dead was then to be the first to proclaim a message of light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.«


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As Paul thus made his defence, Festus exclaimed in a loud voice, »You are raving mad, Paul; and great learning is driving you mad.«


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For the King, to whom I speak freely, knows about these matters. I am not to be persuaded that any detail of them has escaped his notice; for these things have not been done in a corner.


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»My prayer to God, whether briefly or at length,« replied Paul, »would be that not only you but all who are my hearers to-day, might become such as I am–except these chains.«


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and, having withdrawn, they talked to one another and said, »This man is doing nothing for which he deserves death or imprisonment.«


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Now when it was decided that we should sail for Italy, they handed over Paul and a few other prisoners into the custody of Julius, a Captain of the Augustan battalion;


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and going on board a ship of Adramyttium which was about to sail to the ports of the province of Asia, we put to sea; Aristarchus, the Macedonian, from Thessalonica, forming one of our party.


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The next day we put in at Sidon. There Julius treated Paul with thoughtful kindness and allowed him to visit his friends and profit by their generous care.


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and, sailing the whole length of the sea that lies off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we reached Myra in Lycia.


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It took several days of slow sailing for us to come with difficulty off Cnidus; from which point, as the wind did not allow us to get on in the direct course, we ran under the lee of Crete by Salmone.


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Then, coasting along with difficulty, we reached a place called `Fair Havens,' near the town of Lasea.


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Our voyage thus far had occupied a considerable time, and the navigation being now unsafe and the Fast also already over, Paul warned them.


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»Sirs,« he said, »I perceive that before long the voyage will be attended with danger and heavy loss, not only to the cargo and the ship but to our own lives also.«


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and as the harbour was inconvenient for wintering in, the majority were in favour of putting out to sea, to try whether they could get to Phoenix –a harbour on the coast of Crete facing north-east and south-east– to winter there.


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And a light breeze from the south sprang up, so that they supposed they were now sure of their purpose. So weighing anchor they ran along the coast of Crete, hugging the shore.


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But it was not long before a furious north-east wind, coming down from the mountains, burst upon us and carried the ship out of her course.


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Then we ran under the lee of a little island called Cauda, where we managed with great difficulty to secure the boat;


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and, after hoisting it on board, they used frapping-cables to undergird the ship, and, as they were afraid of being driven on the Syrtis quicksands, they lowered the gear and lay to.


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Then, when for several days neither sun nor stars were seen and the terrific gale still harassed us, the last ray of hope was now vanishing.


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When for a long time they had taken but little food, Paul, standing up among them, said, »Sirs, you ought to have listened to me and not have sailed from Crete. You would then have escaped this suffering and loss.


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For there stood by my side, last night, an angel of the God to whom I belong, and whom also I worship,


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and he said, »`Dismiss all fear, Paul, for you must stand before Caesar; and God has granted you the lives of all who are sailing with you.'


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»Therefore, Sirs, take courage; for I believe God, and am convinced that things will happen exactly as I have been told.


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It was now the fourteenth night, and we were drifting through the Sea of Adria, when, about midnight, the sailors suspected that land was close at hand.


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So they hove the lead and found twenty fathoms of water; and after a short time they hove again and found fifteen fathoms.


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Then for fear of possibly running on rocks, they threw out four anchors from the stern and waited impatiently for daylight.


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The sailors, however, wanted to make their escape from the ship, and had lowered the boat into the sea, pretending that they were going to lay out anchors from the bow.


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But Paul, addressing Julius and the soldiers, said, »Your lives will be sacrificed, unless these men remain on board.«


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And continually, up till daybreak, Paul kept urging all on board to take some food. »This is the fourteenth day,« he said, »that you have been anxiously waiting for the storm to cease, and have fasted, eating little or nothing.


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I therefore strongly advise you to take some food. This is essential for your safety. For not a hair will perish from the head of any one of you.«


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Having said this he took some bread, and, after giving thanks to God for it before them all, he broke it in pieces and began to eat it.


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When daylight came, they tried in vain to recognise the coast. But an inlet with a sandy beach attracted their attention, and now their object was, if possible, to run the ship aground in this inlet.


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So they cut away the anchors and left them in the sea, unloosing at the same time the bands which secured the paddle-rudders. Then, hoisting the foresail to the wind, they made for the beach.


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But coming to a place where two seas met, they stranded the ship, and her bow sticking fast remained immovable, while the stern began to go to pieces under the heavy hammering of the sea.


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Now the soldiers recommended that the prisoners should be killed, for fear some one of them might swim ashore and effect his escape.


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But their Captain, bent on securing Paul's safety, kept them from their purpose and gave orders that those who could swim should first jump overboard and get to land;


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and that the rest should follow, some on planks, and others on various things from the ship. In this way they all got safely to land.


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The strange-speaking natives showed us remarkable kindness, for they lighted a fire and made us all welcome because of the pelting rain and the cold.


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Now, when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and had thrown them on the fire, a viper, driven by the heat, came out and fastened itself on his hand.


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When the natives saw the creature hanging to his hand, they said to one another, »Beyond doubt this man is a murderer, for, though saved from the sea, unerring Justice does not permit him to live.«


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They expected him soon to swell with inflammation or suddenly fall down dead; but, after waiting a long time and seeing no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.


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Now in the same part of the island there were estates belonging to the Governor, whose name was Publius. He welcomed us to his house, and for three days generously made us his guests.


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It happened, however, that his father was lying ill of dysentery aggravated by attacks of fever; so Paul went to see him, and, after praying, laid his hands on him and cured him.


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Three months passed before we set sail in an Alexandrian vessel, called the `Twin Brothers,' which had wintered at the island.


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From there we came round and reached Rhegium; and a day later, a south wind sprang up which brought us by the evening of the next day to Puteoli.


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Meanwhile the brethren there, hearing of our movements, came as far as the Market of Appius and the Three Huts to meet us; and when Paul saw them he thanked God and felt encouraged.


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After one complete day he invited the leading men among the Jews to meet him; and, when they were come together, he said to them, »As for me, brethren, although I had done nothing prejudicial to our people or contrary to the customs of our forefathers, I was handed over as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the power of the Romans.


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They, after they had sharply questioned me, were willing to set me at liberty, because they found no offence in me for which I deserve to die.


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But, at last, the opposition of the Jews compelled me to appeal to Caesar; not however that I had any charge to bring against my nation.


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For these reasons, then, I have invited you here, that I might see you and speak to you; for it is for the sake of Him who is the hope of Israel that this chain hangs upon me.«


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»For our part,« they replied, »we have not received any letters from Judaea about you, nor have any of our countrymen come here and reported or stated anything to your disadvantage.


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But we should be glad to hear from you what it is that you believe; for as for this sect all we know is that it is everywhere spoken against.«


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So they arranged a day with him and came to him in considerable numbers at the house of the friends who were entertaining him. And then, with solemn earnestness, he explained to them the subject of the Kingdom of God, endeavouring from morning till evening to convince them about Jesus, both from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets.


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Unable to agree among themselves, they at last left him, but not before Paul had spoken a parting word to them, saying, »Right well did the Holy Spirit say to your forefathers through the Prophet Isaiah:


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<i>»`Go to this people and tell them, you will hear and hear, and by no means understand; and will look and look, and by no means see.</i>


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<i>For this people's mind has grown callous, their hearing has become dull, and their eyes they have closed; to prevent their ever seeing with their eyes, or hearing with their ears, or understanding with their minds, and turning back, so that I might cure them.'«</i>


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»Be fully assured, therefore, that this salvation –God's salvation– has now been sent to the Gentiles, and that they, at any rate, will give heed.«


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After this Paul lived for fully two years in a hired house of his own, receiving all who came to see him.


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He announced the coming of the Kingdom of God, and taught concerning the Lord Jesus Christ without let or hindrance.


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Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an Apostle, set apart to proclaim God's Good News,


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but as regards the holiness of His Spirit was decisively proved by His Resurrection to be the Son of God–I mean concerning Jesus Christ our Lord,


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through whom we have received grace and Apostleship in His service in order to win men to obedience to the faith, among all Gentile peoples,


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To all God's loved ones who are in Rome, called to be saints. May grace and peace be granted to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.


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First of all, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for what He has done for all of you; for the report of your faith is spreading through the whole world.


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I call God to witness –to whom I render priestly and spiritual service by telling the Good News about His Son– how unceasingly I make mention of you in His presence,


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always in my prayers entreating that now, at length, if such be His will, the way may by some means be made clear for me to come to you.


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For I am longing to see you, in order to convey to you some spiritual help, so that you may be strengthened;


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in other words that while I am among you we may be mutually encouraged by one another's faith, yours and mine.


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And I desire you to know, brethren, that I have many a time intended to come to you –though until now I have been disappointed– in order that among you also I might gather some fruit from my labours, as I have already done among the rest of the Gentile nations.


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I am already under obligations alike to Greek-speaking races and to others, to cultured and to uncultured people:


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For I am not ashamed of the Good News. It is God's power which is at work for the salvation of every one who believes–the Jew first, and then the Gentile.


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For in the Good News a righteousness which comes from God is being revealed, depending on faith and tending to produce faith; as the Scripture has it, <i>»The righteous man shall live by faith.«</i>


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For God's anger is being revealed from Heaven against all impiety and against the iniquity of men who through iniquity suppress the truth. God is angry:


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because what may be known about Him is plain to their inmost consciousness; for He Himself has made it plain to them.


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For, from the very creation of the world, His invisible perfections –namely His eternal power and divine nature– have been rendered intelligible and clearly visible by His works, so that these men are without excuse.


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For when they had come to know God, they did not give Him glory as God nor render Him thanks, but they became absorbed in useless discussions, and their senseless minds were darkened.


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and, instead of worshipping the imperishable God, they worshipped images resembling perishable man or resembling birds or beasts or reptiles.


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For this reason, in accordance with their own depraved cravings, God gave them up to uncleanness, allowing them to dishonour their bodies among themselves with impurity.


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For they had bartered the reality of God for what is unreal, and had offered divine honours and religious service to created things, rather than to the Creator–He who is for ever blessed. Amen.


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This then is the reason why God gave them up to vile passions. For not only did the women among them exchange the natural use of their bodies for one which is contrary to nature, but the men also,


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in just the same way –neglecting that for which nature intends women– burned with passion towards one another, men practising shameful vice with men, and receiving in their own selves the reward which necessarily followed their misconduct.


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And just as they had refused to continue to have a full knowledge of God, so it was to utterly worthless minds that God gave them up, for them to do things which should not be done.


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Their hearts overflowed with all sorts of dishonesty, mischief, greed, malice. They were full of envy and murder, and were quarrelsome, crafty, and spiteful.


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They were secret backbiters, open slanderers; hateful to God, insolent, haughty, boastful; inventors of new forms of sin, disobedient to parents, destitute of common sense,


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In short, though knowing full well the sentence which God pronounces against actions such as theirs, as things which deserve death, they not only practise them, but even encourage and applaud others who do them.


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You are therefore without excuse, O man, whoever you are who sit in judgement upon others. For when you pass judgement on your fellow man, you condemn yourself; for you who sit in judgement upon others are guilty of the same misdeeds;


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and we know that God's judgement against those who commit such sins is in accordance with the truth.


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And you who pronounce judgement upon those who do such things although your own conduct is the same as theirs–do you imagine that you yourself will escape unpunished when God judges?


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Or is it that you think slightingly of His infinite goodness, forbearance and patience, unaware that the goodness of God is gently drawing you to repentance?


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The fact is that in the stubbornness of your impenitent heart you are treasuring up against yourself anger on the day of Anger–the day when the righteousness of God's judgements will stand revealed.


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to those on the one hand who, by lives of persistent right-doing, are striving for glory, honour and immortality, the Life of the Ages;


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while on the other hand upon the self-willed who disobey the truth and obey unrighteousness will fall anger and fury, affliction and awful distress,


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coming upon the soul of every man and woman who deliberately does wrong–upon the Jew first, and then upon the Gentile;


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whereas glory, honour and peace will be given to every one who does what is good and right–to the Jew first and then to the Gentile.


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For all who have sinned apart from the Law will also perish apart from the Law, and all who have sinned whilst living under the Law, will be judged by the Law.


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It is not those that merely hear the Law read who are righteous in the sight of God, but it is those that obey the Law who will be pronounced righteous.


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For when Gentiles who have no Law obey by natural instinct the commands of the Law, they, without having a Law, are a Law to themselves;


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since they exhibit proof that a knowledge of the conduct which the Law requires is engraven on their hearts, while their consciences also bear witness to the Law, and their thoughts, as if in mutual discussion, accuse them or perhaps maintain their innocence–


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on the day when God will judge the secrets of men's lives by Jesus Christ, as declared in the Good News as I have taught it.


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And since you claim the name of Jew, and find rest and satisfaction in the Law, and make your boast in God,


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and know the supreme will, and can test things that differ –being a man who receives instruction from the Law–


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and have persuaded yourself that, as for you, you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,


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a schoolmaster for the dull and ignorant, a teacher of the young, because in the Law you possess an outline of real knowledge and an outline of the truth:


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you then who teach your fellow man, do you refuse to teach yourself? You who cry out against stealing, are you yourself a thief?


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You who forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? You who loathe idols, do you plunder their temples?


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-For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentile nations because of you,- as Holy Writ declares.


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Circumcision does indeed profit, if you obey the Law; but if you are a Law-breaker, the fact that you have been circumcised counts for nothing.


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In the same way if an uncircumcised man pays attention to the just requirements of the Law, shall not his lack of circumcision be overlooked, and,


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although he is a Gentile by birth, if he scrupulously obeys the Law, shall he not sit in judgement upon you who, possessing, as you do, a written Law and circumcision, are yet a Law-breaker?


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For the true Jew is not the man who is simply a Jew outwardly, and true circumcision is not that which is outward and bodily.


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But the true Jew is one inwardly, and true circumcision is heart-circumcision–not literal, but spiritual; and such people receive praise not from men, but from God.


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The privilege is great from every point of view. First of all, because the Jews were entrusted with God's truth.


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For what if some Jews have proved unfaithful? Shall their faithlessness render God's faithfulness worthless?


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No, indeed; let us hold God to be true, though every man should prove to be false. As it stands written, <i>»That Thou mayest be shown to be just in the sentence Thou pronouncest, and gain Thy cause when Thou contendest.«</i>


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But if our unrighteousness sets God's righteousness in a clearer light, what shall we say? (Is God unrighteous –I speak in our everyday language– when He inflicts punishment?


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If, for instance, a falsehood of mine has made God's truthfulness more conspicuous, redounding to His glory, why am I judged all the same as a sinner?


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And why should we not say –for so they wickedly misrepresent us, and so some charge us with arguing– »Let us do evil that good may come«? The condemnation of those who would so argue is just.


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What then? Are we Jews more highly estimated than they? Not in the least; for we have already charged all Jews and Gentiles alike with being in thraldom to sin.


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All have turned aside from the right path; they have every one of them become corrupt. There is no one who does what is right–no, not so much as one.«


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»Their throats resemble an opened grave; with their tongues they have been talking deceitfully.« »The venom of vipers lies hidden behind their lips.«


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But it cannot be denied that all that the Law says is addressed to those who are living under the Law, in order that every mouth may be stopped, and that the whole world may await sentence from God.


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For on the ground of obedience to Law no man living will be declared righteous before Him. Law simply brings a sure knowledge of sin.


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But now a righteousness coming from God has been brought to light apart from any Law, both Law and Prophets bearing witness to it–


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a righteousness coming from God, which depends on faith in Jesus Christ and extends to all who believe. No distinction is made;


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gaining acquittal from guilt by His free unpurchased grace through the deliverance which is found in Christ Jesus.


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He it is whom God put forward as a Mercy-seat, rendered efficacious through faith in His blood, in order to demonstrate His righteousness – because of the passing over, in God's forbearance, of the sins previously committed–


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with a view to demonstrating, at the present time, His righteousness, that He may be shown to be righteous Himself, and the giver of righteousness to those who believe in Jesus.


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Where then is there room for your boasting? It is for ever shut out. On what principle? On the ground of merit? No, but on the ground of faith.


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For we maintain that it is as the result of faith that a man is held to be righteous, apart from actions done in obedience to Law.


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Is God simply the God of the Jews, and not of the Gentiles also? He is certainly the God of the Gentiles also,


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unless you can deny that it is one and the same God who will pronounce the circumcised to be acquitted on the ground of faith, and the uncircumcised to be acquitted through the same faith.


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For if he was held to be righteous on the ground of his actions, he has something to boast of; but not in the presence of God.


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For what says the Scripture? <i>»And Abraham believed God, and this was placed to his credit as righteousness.«</i>


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whereas in the case of a man who pleads no actions of his own, but simply believes in Him who declares the ungodly free from guilt, his faith is placed to his credit as righteousness.


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In this way David also tells of the blessedness of the man to whose credit God places righteousness, apart from his actions.


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<i>»Blessed,«</i> he says, <i>»are those whose iniquities have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered over.</i>


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This declaration of blessedness, then, does it come simply to the circumcised, or to the uncircumcised as well? For <i>Abraham's faith</i> –so we affirm– <i>was placed to his credit as righteousness.</i>


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What then were the circumstances under which this took place? Was it after he had been circumcised, or before?


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Before, not after. And he received circumcision as a sign, a mark attesting the reality of the faith-righteousness which was his while still uncircumcised, that he might be the forefather of all those who believe even though they are uncircumcised–in order that this righteousness might be placed to their credit;


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and the forefather of the circumcised, namely of those who not merely are circumcised, but also walk in the steps of the faith which our forefather Abraham had while he was as yet uncircumcised.


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Again, the promise that he should inherit the world did not come to Abraham or his posterity conditioned by Law, but by faith-righteousness.


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For if it is the righteous through Law who are heirs, then faith is useless and the promise counts for nothing.


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so that the promise should be made sure to all Abraham's true descendants; not merely to those who are righteous through the Law, but to those who are righteous through a faith like that of Abraham. Thus in the sight of God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and makes reference to things that do not exist, as though they did, Abraham is the forefather of all of us. As it is written, <i>»I have appointed you to be the forefather of many nations.«</i>


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Under utterly hopeless circumstances he hopefully believed, so that he might become the forefather of many nations, in agreement with the words <i>»Equally numerous shall your posterity be.«</i>


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And, without growing weak in faith, he could contemplate his own vital powers which had now decayed –for he was nearly 100 years old– and Sarah's barrenness.


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it was for our sakes too. Faith, before long, will be placed to the credit of us also who are believers in Him who raised Jesus, our Lord, from the dead,


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who was surrendered to death because of the offences we had committed, and was raised to life because of the acquittal secured for us.


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Standing then acquitted as the result of faith, let us enjoy peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,


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through whom also, as the result of faith, we have obtained an introduction into that state of favour with God in which we stand, and we exult in hope of some day sharing in God's glory.


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And not only so: we also exult in our sufferings, knowing as we do, that suffering produces fortitude;


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and that this hope never disappoints, because God's love for us floods our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.


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Why, it is scarcely conceivable that any one would die for a simply just man, although for a good and lovable man perhaps some one, here and there, will have the courage even to lay down his life.


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If therefore we have now been pronounced free from guilt through His blood, much more shall we be delivered from God's anger through Him.


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For if while we were hostile to God we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, it is still more certain that now that we are reconciled, we shall obtain salvation through Christ's life.


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And not only so, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now obtained that reconciliation.


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What follows? This comparison. Through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin death, and so death passed to all mankind in turn, in that all sinned.


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For prior to the Law sin was already in the world; only it is not entered in the account against us when no Law exists.


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Yet Death reigned as king from Adam to Moses even over those who had not sinned, as Adam did, against Law. And in Adam we have a type of Him whose coming was still future.


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But God's free gift immeasurably outweighs the transgression. For if through the transgression of the one individual the mass of mankind have died, infinitely greater is the generosity with which God's grace, and the gift given in His grace which found expression in the one man Jesus Christ, have been bestowed on the mass of mankind.


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And it is not with the gift as it was with the results of one individual's sin; for the judgement which one individual provoked resulted in condemnation, whereas the free gift after a multitude of transgressions results in acquittal.


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For if, through the transgression of the one individual, Death made use of the one individual to seize the sovereignty, all the more shall those who receive God's overflowing grace and gift of righteousness reign as kings in Life through the one individual, Jesus Christ.


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It follows then that just as the result of a single transgression is a condemnation which extends to the whole race, so also the result of a single decree of righteousness is a life-giving acquittal which extends to the whole race.


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For as through the disobedience of the one individual the mass of mankind were constituted sinners, so also through the obedience of the One the mass of mankind will be constituted righteous.


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Now Law was brought in later on, so that transgression might increase. But where sin increased, grace has overflowed;


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in order that as sin has exercised kingly sway in inflicting death, so grace, too, may exercise kingly sway in bestowing a righteousness which results in the Life of the Ages through Jesus Christ our Lord.


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To what conclusion, then, shall we come? Are we to persist in sinning in order that the grace extended to us may be the greater?


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And do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?


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Well, then, we by our baptism were buried with Him in death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from among the dead by the Father's glorious power, we also should live an entirely new life.


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For since we have become one with Him by sharing in His death, we shall also be one with Him by sharing in His resurrection.


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This we know–that our old self was nailed to the cross with Him, in order that our sinful nature might be deprived of its power, so that we should no longer be the slaves of sin;


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Death has no longer any power over Him. For by the death which He died He became, once for all, dead in relation to sin; but by the life which He now lives He is alive in relation to God.


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In the same way you also must regard yourselves as dead in relation to sin, but as alive in relation to God, because you are in Christ Jesus.


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Let not Sin therefore reign as king in your mortal bodies, causing you to be in subjection to their cravings;


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and no longer lend your faculties as unrighteous weapons for Sin to use. On the contrary surrender your very selves to God as living men who have risen from the dead, and surrender your several faculties to God, to be used as weapons to maintain the right.


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Are we therefore to sin because we are no longer under the authority of Law, but under grace? No, indeed!


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Do you not know that if you surrender yourselves as bondservants to obey any one, you become the bondservants of him whom you obey, whether the bondservants of Sin (with death as the result) or of Duty (resulting in righteousness)?


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But thanks be to God that though you were once in thraldom to Sin, you have now yielded a hearty obedience to that system of truth in which you have been instructed.


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your human infirmity leads me to employ these familiar figures–and just as you once surrendered your faculties into bondage to Impurity and ever-increasing disregard of Law, so you must now surrender them into bondage to Righteousness ever advancing towards perfect holiness.


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At that time, then, what benefit did you get from conduct which you now regard with shame? Why, such things finally result in death.


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But now that you have been set free from the tyranny of Sin, and have become the bondservants of God, you have your reward in being made holy, and you have the Life of the Ages as the final result.


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For the wages paid by Sin are death; but God's free gift is the Life of the Ages bestowed upon us in Christ Jesus our Lord.


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Brethren, do you not know –for I am writing to people acquainted with the Law– that it is during our lifetime that we are subject to the Law?


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A wife, for instance, whose husband is living is bound to him by the Law; but if her husband dies the law that bound her to him has now no hold over her.


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This accounts for the fact that if during her husband's life she lives with another man, she will be stigmatized as an adulteress; but that if her husband is dead she is no longer under the old prohibition, and even though she marries again, she is not an adulteress.


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So, my brethren, to you also the Law died through the incarnation of Christ, that you might be wedded to Another, namely to Him who rose from the dead in order that we might yield fruit to God.


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For whilst we were under the thraldom of our earthly natures, sinful passions – made sinful by the Law– were always being aroused to action in our bodily faculties that they might yield fruit to death.


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But seeing that we have died to that which once held us in bondage, the Law has now no hold over us, so that we render a service which, instead of being old and formal, is new and spiritual.


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What follows? Is the Law itself a sinful thing? No, indeed; on the contrary, unless I had been taught by the Law, I should have known nothing of sin as sin. For instance, I should not have known what covetousness is, if the Law had not repeatedly said, <i>»Thou shalt not covet.«</i>


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Sin took advantage of this, and by means of the Commandment stirred up within me every kind of coveting; for apart from Law sin would be dead.


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For sin seized the advantage, and by means of the Commandment it completely deceived me, and also put me to death.


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Did then a thing which is good become death to me? No, indeed, but sin did; so that through its bringing about death by means of what was good, it might be seen in its true light as sin, in order that by means of the Commandment the unspeakable sinfulness of sin might be plainly shown.


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For we know that the Law is a spiritual thing; but I am unspiritual–the slave, bought and sold, of sin.


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For what I do, I do not recognize as my own action. What I desire to do is not what I do, but what I am averse to is what I do.


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For I know that in me, that is, in my lower self, nothing good has its home; for while the will to do right is present with me, the power to carry it out is not.


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For what I do is not the good thing that I desire to do; but the evil thing that I desire not to do, is what I constantly do.


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But if I do that which I desire not to do, it can no longer be said that it is I who do it, but the sin which has its home within me does it.


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I find therefore the law of my nature to be that when I desire to do what is right, evil is lying in ambush for me.


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but I discover within me a different Law at war with the Law of my understanding, and leading me captive to the Law which is everywhere at work in my body–the Law of sin.


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Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!) To sum up then, with my understanding, I –my true self– am in servitude to the Law of God, but with my lower nature I am in servitude to the Law of sin.


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for the Spirit's Law – telling of Life in Christ Jesus– has set me free from the Law that deals only with sin and death.


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For what was impossible to the Law –powerless as it was because it acted through frail humanity– God effected. Sending His own Son in a body like that of sinful human nature and as a sacrifice for sin, He pronounced sentence upon sin in human nature;


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in order that in our case the requirements of the Law might be fully met. For our lives are regulated not by our earthly, but by our spiritual natures.


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For if men are controlled by their earthly natures, they give their minds to earthly things. If they are controlled by their spiritual natures, they give their minds to spiritual things.


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Because for the mind to be given up to earthly things means death; but for it to be given up to spiritual things means Life and peace.


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Abandonment to earthly things is a state of enmity to God. Such a mind does not submit to God's Law, and indeed cannot do so.


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You, however, are not devoted to earthly, but to spiritual things, if the Spirit of God is really dwelling in you; whereas if any man has not the Spirit of Christ, such a one does not belong to Him.


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But if Christ is in you, though your body must die because of sin, yet your spirit has Life because of righteousness.


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And if the Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from the dead is dwelling in you, He who raised up Christ from the dead will give Life also to your mortal bodies because of His Spirit who dwells in you.


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Therefore, brethren, it is not to our lower natures that we are under obligation that we should live by their rule.


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For if you so live, death is near; but if, through being under the sway of the spirit, you are putting your old bodily habits to death, you will live.


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You have not for the second time acquired the consciousness of being –a consciousness which fills you with terror. But you have acquired a deep inward conviction of having been adopted as sons– a conviction which prompts us to cry aloud, »Abba! our Father!«


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The Spirit Himself bears witness, along with our own spirits, to the fact that we are children of God;


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and if children, then heirs too–heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ; if indeed we are sharers in Christ's sufferings, in order that we may also be sharers in His glory.


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Why, what we now suffer I count as nothing in comparison with the glory which is soon to be manifested in us.


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For all creation, gazing eagerly as if with outstretched neck, is waiting and longing to see the manifestation of the sons of God.


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For the Creation fell into subjection to failure and unreality (not of its own choice, but by the will of Him who so subjected it).


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Yet there was always the hope that at last the Creation itself would also be set free from the thraldom of decay so as to enjoy the liberty that will attend the glory of the children of God.


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For we know that the whole of Creation is groaning together in the pains of childbirth until this hour.


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And more than that, we ourselves, though we possess the Spirit as a foretaste and pledge of the glorious future, yet we ourselves inwardly sigh, as we wait and long for open recognition as sons through the deliverance of our bodies.


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It is in hope that we have been saved. But an object of hope is such no longer when it is present to view; for when a man has a thing before his eyes, how can he be said to hope for it?


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In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness; for we do not know what prayers to offer nor in what way to offer them. But the Spirit Himself pleads for us in yearnings that can find no words,


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and the Searcher of hearts knows what the Spirit's meaning is, because His intercessions for God's people are in harmony with God's will.


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Now we know that for those who love God all things are working together for good–for those, I mean, whom with deliberate purpose He has called.


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For those whom He has known beforehand He has also pre-destined to bear the likeness of His Son, that He might be the Eldest in a vast family of brothers;


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and those whom He has pre-destined He also has called; and those whom He has called He has also declared free from guilt; and those whom He has declared free from guilt He has also crowned with glory.


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He who did not withhold even His own Son, but gave Him up for all of us, will He not also with Him freely give us all things?


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Who is there to condemn them? Christ Jesus died, or rather has risen to life again. He is also at the right hand of God, and is interceding for us.


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Who shall separate us from Christ's love? Shall affliction or distress, persecution or hunger, nakedness or danger or the sword?


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As it stands written in the Scripture, <i>»For Thy sake they are, all day long, trying to kill us. We have been looked upon as sheep destined for slaughter.«</i>


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For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither the lower ranks of evil angels nor the higher, neither things present nor things future, nor the forces of nature,


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nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God which rests upon us in Christ Jesus our Lord.


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I am telling you the truth as a Christian man –it is no falsehood, for my conscience enlightened, as it is, by the Holy Spirit adds its testimony to mine–


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For I could pray to be accursed from Christ on behalf of my brethren, my human kinsfolk–for such the Israelites are.


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To them belongs recognition as God's sons, and they have His glorious Presence and the Covenants, and the giving of the Law, and the Temple service, and the ancient Promises.


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To them the Patriarchs belong, and from them in respect of His human lineage came the Christ, who is exalted above all, God blessed throughout the Ages. Amen.


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nor because they are Abraham's true children. But the promise was <i>»Through Isaac shall your posterity be reckoned.«</i>


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In other words, it is not the children by natural descent who count as God's children, but the children made such by the promise are regarded as Abraham's posterity.


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For the words are the language of promise and run thus, <i>»About this time next year I will come, and Sarah shall have a son.«</i>


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Nor is that all: later on there was Rebecca too. She was soon to bear two children to her husband, our forefather Isaac–


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and even then, though they were not then born and had not done anything either good or evil, yet in order that God's electing purpose might not be frustrated, based, as it was, not on their actions but on the will of Him who called them, she was told,


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This agrees with the other Scripture which says, <i>»Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.«</i>


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No, indeed; the solution is found in His words to Moses, <i>»Wherever I show mercy it shall be nothing but mercy, and wherever I show compassion it shall be simply compassion.«</i>


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And from this we learn that everything is dependent not on man's will or endeavour, but upon God who has mercy. For the Scripture said to Pharaoh,


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»It is for this very purpose that I have lifted you so high–that I may make manifest in you My power, and that My name may be proclaimed far and wide in all the earth.«


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This is a proof that wherever He chooses He shows mercy, and wherever he chooses He hardens the heart.


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Nay, but who are you, a mere man, that you should cavil against GOD? <i>Shall the thing moulded say to him who moulded it, »Why have you made me thus?«</i>


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Or has not the potter rightful power over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for more honourable and another for less honourable uses?


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And what if God, while choosing to make manifest the terrors of His anger and to show what is possible with Him, has yet borne with long-forbearing patience with the subjects of His anger who stand ready for destruction,


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in order to make known His infinite goodness towards the subjects of His mercy whom He has prepared beforehand for glory,


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So also in Hosea He says, <i>»I will call that nation My People which was not My People, and I will call her beloved who was not beloved.</i>


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<i>And in the place where it was said to them, `No people of Mine are you,' there shall they be called sons of the everliving God.«</i>


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And Isaiah cries aloud concerning Israel, <i>»Though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sands of the sea, only a remnant of them shall be saved;</i>


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Even as Isaiah says in an earlier place, <i>»Were it not that the Lord, the God of Hosts, had left us some few descendants, we should have become like Sodom, and have come to resemble Gomorrah.«</i>


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To what conclusion does this bring us? Why, that the Gentiles, who were not in pursuit of righteousness, have overtaken it–a righteousness, however, which arises from faith;


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while the descendants of Israel, who were in pursuit of a Law that could give righteousness, have not arrived at one.


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And why? Because they were pursuing a righteousness which should arise not from faith, but from what they regarded as merit. They stuck their foot against the stone which lay in their way;


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in agreement with the statement of Scripture, <i>»See, I am placing on Mount Zion a stone for people to stumble at, and a rock for them to trip over, and yet he whose faith rests upon it shall never have reason to feel ashamed.«</i>


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Brethren, the longing of my heart, and my prayer to God, on behalf of my countrymen is for their salvation.


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Ignorant of the righteousness which God provides and building their hopes upon a righteousness of their own, they have refused submission to God's righteousness.


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Moses says that he whose actions conform to the righteousness required by the Law shall live by that righteousness.


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But the righteousness which is based on faith speaks in a different tone. »Say not in your heart,« it declares, »`Who shall ascend to Heaven?'« –that is, to bring Christ down;


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But what does it say?»The Message is close to you, in your mouth and in your heart;« that is, the Message which we are publishing about the faith–


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that if with your mouth you confess Jesus as Lord and in your heart believe that God brought Him back to life, you shall be saved.


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For with the heart men believe and obtain righteousness, and with the mouth they make confession and obtain salvation.


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Jew and Gentile are on precisely the same footing; for the same Lord is Lord over all, and is infinitely kind to all who call upon Him for deliverance.


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But how are they to call on One in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in One whose voice they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher?


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And how are men to preach unless they have been sent to do so? As it is written, <i>»How beautiful are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good!«</i>


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But, some will say, they have not all hearkened to the Good News. No, for Isaiah asks, <i>»Lord, who has believed the Message they have heard from us?«</i>


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And this proves that faith comes from a Message heard, and that the Message comes through its having been spoken by Christ.


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But, I ask, have they not heard? Yes, indeed: <i>»To the whole world the preachers' voices have sounded forth, and their words to the remotest parts of the earth.«</i>


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But again, did Israel fail to understand? Listen to Moses first. He says, <i>»I will fire you with jealousy against a nation which is no nation, and with fury against a nation devoid of understanding.«</i>


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And Isaiah, with strange boldness, exclaims, <i>»I have been found by those who were not looking for Me, I have revealed Myself to those who were not inquiring of Me.«</i>


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While as to Israel he says, »All day long I have stretched out My arms to a self-willed and fault-finding people.«


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I ask then, Has God cast off His People? No, indeed. Why, I myself am an Israelite, of the posterity of Abraham and of the tribe of Benjamin.


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God has not cast off His People whom He knew beforehand. Or are you ignorant of what Scripture says in speaking of Elijah–how he pleaded with God against Israel, saying,


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<i>»Lord, they have put Thy Prophets to death, and have overthrown Thy altars; and, now that I alone remain, they are thirsting for my blood«?</i>


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But what did God say to him in reply? <i>»I have reserved for Myself 7,000 men who have never bent the knee to Baal.«</i>


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In the same way also at the present time there has come to be a remnant whom God in His grace has selected.


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But if it is in His grace that He has selected them, then His choice is no longer determined by human actions. Otherwise grace would be grace no longer.


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How then does the matter stand? It stands thus. That which Israel are in earnest pursuit of, they have not obtained; but God's chosen servants have obtained it, and the rest have become hardened.


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And so Scripture says, »God has given them a spirit of drowsiness –eyes to see nothing with and ears to hear nothing with– even until now.«


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And David says, <i>»Let their very food become a snare and a trap to them, a stumbling-block and a retribution.</i>


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<i>Let darkness come over their eyes that they may be unable to see, and make Thou their backs continually to stoop.«</i>


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I ask, however, »Have they stumbled so as to be finally ruined?« No, indeed; but by their lapse salvation has come to the Gentiles in order to arouse the jealousy of the descendants of Israel;


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and if their lapse is the enriching of the world, and their overthrow the enriching of the Gentiles, will not still greater good follow their restoration?


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But to you Gentiles I say that, since I am an Apostle specially sent to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry,


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For if their having been cast aside has carried with it the reconciliation of the world, what will their being accepted again be but Life out of death?


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Now if the firstfruits of the dough are holy, so also is the whole mass; and if the root of a tree is holy, so also are the branches.


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And if some of the branches have been pruned away, and you, although you were but a wild olive, have been grafted in among them and have become a sharer with others in the rich sap of the root of the olive tree,


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beware of glorying over the natural branches. Or if you are so glorying, do not forget that it is not you who uphold the root: the root upholds you.


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Do not be puffed up with pride. Tremble rather–for if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you.


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Notice therefore God's kindness and God's severity. On those who have fallen His severity has descended, but upon you His kindness has come, provided that you do not cease to respond to that kindness. Otherwise you will be cut off also.


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Moreover, if they turn from their unbelief, they too will be grafted in. For God is powerful enough to graft them in again;


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and if you were cut from that which by nature is a wild olive and contrary to nature were grafted into the good olive tree, how much more certainly will these natural branches be grafted on their own olive tree?


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For there is a truth, brethren, not revealed hitherto, of which I do not wish to leave you in ignorance, for fear you should attribute superior wisdom to yourselves–the truth, I mean, that partial blindness has fallen upon Israel until the great mass of the Gentiles have come in;


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and so all Israel will be saved. As is declared in Scripture, <i>»From Mount Zion a Deliverer will come: He will remove all ungodliness from Jacob;</i>


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In relation to the Good News, the Jews are God's enemies for your sakes; but in relation to God's choice they are dearly loved for the sake of their forefathers.


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but just as you were formerly disobedient to Him, but now have received mercy at a time when they are disobedient,


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so now they also have been disobedient at a time when you are receiving mercy; so that to them too there may now be mercy.


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Oh, how inexhaustible are God's resources and God's wisdom and God's knowledge! How impossible it is to search into His decrees or trace His footsteps!


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For the universe owes its origin to Him, was created by Him, and has its aim and purpose in Him. To Him be the glory throughout the Ages! Amen.


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I plead with you therefore, brethren, by the compassionsof God, to present all your faculties to Him as a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to Him. This with you will be an act of reasonable worship.


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And do not follow the customs of the present age, but be transformed by the entire renewal of your minds, so that you may learn by experience what God's will is–that will which is good and beautiful and perfect.


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For through the authority graciously given to me I warn every individual among you not to value himself unduly, but to cultivate sobriety of judgement in accordance with the amount of faith which God has allotted to each one.


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For just as there are in the one human body many parts, and these parts have not all the same function;


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so collectively we form one body in Christ, while individually we are linked to one another as its members.


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But since we have special gifts which differ in accordance with the diversified work graciously entrusted to us, if it is prophecy, let the prophet speak in exact proportion to his faith;


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if it is the gift of administration, let the administrator exercise a sound judgement in his duties.


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The teacher must do the same in his teaching; and he who exhorts others, in his exhortation. He who gives should be liberal; he who is in authority should be energetic and alert; and he who succours the afflicted should do it cheerfully.


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As for brotherly love, be affectionate to one another; in matters of worldly honour, yield to one another.


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Have full sympathy with one another. Do not give your mind to high things, but let humble ways content you. <i>Do not be wise in your own conceits.</i>


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Pay back to no man evil for evil. <i>Take thought for what is right and seemly in every one's esteem.</i>


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Do not be revengeful, my dear friends, but give way before anger; for it is written, <i>»`Revenge belongs to Me: I will pay back,'</i> says the Lord.«


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On the contrary, therefore, <i>if your enemy is hungry, give him food; if he is thirsty, quench his thirst. For by doing this you will be heaping burning coals upon his head.</i>


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Let every individual be obedient to those who rule over him; for no one is a ruler except by God's permission, and our present rulers have had their rank and power assigned to them by Him.


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Therefore the man who rebels against his ruler is resisting God's will; and those who thus resist will bring punishment upon themselves.


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For judges and magistrates are to be feared not by right-doers but by wrong-doers. You desire –do you not?– to have no reason to fear your ruler. Well, do the thing that is right, and then he will commend you.


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For he is God's servant for your benefit. But if you do what is wrong, be afraid. He does not wear the sword to no purpose: he is God's servant–an administrator to inflict punishment upon evil-doers.


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Why, this is really the reason you pay taxes; for tax-gatherers are ministers of God, devoting their energies to this very work.


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Pay promptly to all men what is due to them: taxes to those to whom taxes are due, toll to those to whom toll is due, respect to those to whom respect is due, honour to those to whom honour is due.


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Owe nothing to any one except mutual love; for he who loves his fellow man has satisfied the demands of Law.


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For the precepts, <i>»Thou shalt not commit adultery,« »Thou shalt do no murder,«»Thou shalt not steal,«»Thou shalt not covet,«</i> and all other precepts, are summed up in this one command, <i>»Thou shalt love thy fellow man as much as thou lovest thyself.«</i>


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Carry out these injunctions because you know the critical period at which we are living, and that it is now high time, to rouse yourselves from sleep; for salvation is now nearer to us than when we first became believers.


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The night is far advanced, and day is about to dawn. We must therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness, and clothe ourselves with the armour of Light.


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Living as we do in broad daylight, let us conduct ourselves becomingly, not indulging in revelry and drunkenness, nor in lust and debauchery, nor in quarrelling and jealousy.


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On the contrary, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for gratifying your earthly cravings.


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I now pass to another subject. Receive as a friend a man whose faith is weak, but not for the purpose of deciding mere matters of opinion.


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One man's faith allows him to eat anything, while a man of weaker faith eats nothing but vegetables.


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Let not him who eats certain food look down upon him who abstains from it, nor him who abstains from it find fault with him who eats it; for God has received both of them.


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Who are you that you should find fault with the servant of another? Whether he stands or falls is a matter which concerns his own master. But stand he will; for the Master can give him power to stand.


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One man esteems one day more highly than another; another esteems all days alike. Let every one be thoroughly convinced in his own mind.


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He who regards the day as sacred, so regards it for the Master's sake; and he who eats certain food eats it for the Master's sake, for he gives thanks to God; and he who refrains from eating it refrains for the Master's sake, and he also gives thanks to God.


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If we live, we live to the Lord: if we die, we die to the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.


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For this was the purpose of Christ's dying and coming to life–namely that He might be Lord both of the dead and the living.


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But you, why do you find fault with your brother? Or you, why do you look down upon your brother? We shall all stand before God to be judged;


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for it is written, <i>»`As I live,'</i> says the Lord, <i>`to Me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall make confession to God.'«</i>


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Therefore let us no longer judge one another; but, instead of that, you should come to this judgement–that we must not put a stumbling-block in our brother's path, nor anything to trip him up.


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As one who lives in union with the Lord Jesus, I know and am certain that in its own nature no food is `impure'; but if people regard any food as impure, to them it is.


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If your brother is pained by the food you are eating, your conduct is no longer controlled by love. Take care lest, by the food you eat, you lead to ruin a man for whom Christ died.


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For the Kingdom of God does not consist of eating and drinking, but of right conduct, peace and joy, through the Holy Spirit;


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and whoever in this way devotedly serves Christ, God takes pleasure in him, and men highly commend him.


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Do not for food's sake be throwing down God's work. All food is pure; but a man is in the wrong if his food is a snare to others.


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The right course is to forego eating meat or drinking wine or doing anything that tends to your brother's fall.


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As for you and your faith, keep your faith to yourself in the presence of God. The man is to be congratulated who does not pronounce judgement on himself in what his actions sanction.


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But he who has misgivings and yet eats meat is condemned already, because his conduct is not based on faith; for all conduct not based on faith is sinful.


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As for us who are strong, our duty is to bear with the weaknesses of those who are not strong, and not seek our own pleasure.


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Let each of us endeavour to please his fellow Christian, aiming at a blessing calculated to build him up.


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For even the Christ did not seek His own pleasure. His principle was, <i>»The reproaches which they addressed to Thee have fallen on me.«</i>


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For all that was written of old has been written for our instruction, so that we may always have hope through the power of endurance and the encouragement which the Scriptures afford.


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And may God, the giver of power of endurance and of that encouragement, grant you to be in full sympathy with one another in accordance with the example of Christ Jesus,


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so that with oneness both of heart and voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.


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Habitually therefore give one another a friendly reception, just as Christ also has received you, and thus promote the glory of God.


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My meaning is that Christ has become a servant to the people of Israel in vindication of God's truthfulness –in showing how sure are the promises made to our forefathers–


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and that the Gentiles also have glorified God in acknowledgment of His mercy. So it is written, <i>»For this reason I will praise Thee among the Gentiles, and sing psalms in honour of Thy name.«</i>


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And again Isaiah says, <i>»There shall be the Root of Jesse and One who rises up to rule the Gentiles. On Him shall the Gentiles build their hopes.«</i>


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May God, the giver of hope, fill you with continual joy and peace because you trust in Him–so that you may have abundant hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.


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But as to you, brethren, I am convinced –yes, I Paul am convinced– that, even apart from my teaching, you are already full of goodness of heart, and enriched with complete Christian knowledge, and are also competent to instruct one another.


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But I write to you the more boldly –partly as reminding you of what you already know– because of the authority graciously entrusted to me by God,


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that I should be a minister of Christ Jesus among the Gentiles, doing priestly duties in connexion with God's Good News so that the sacrifice –namely the Gentiles– may be acceptable to Him, being (as it is) an offering which the Holy Spirit has made holy.


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For I will not presume to mention any of the results that Christ has brought about by other agency than mine in securing the obedience of the Gentiles by word or deed,


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with power manifested in signs and marvels, and through the power of the Holy Spirit. But –to speak simply of my own labours– beginning in Jerusalem and the outlying districts, I have proclaimed without reserve, even as far as Illyricum, the Good News of the Christ;


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making it my ambition, however, not to tell the Good News where Christ's name was already known, for fear I should be building on another man's foundation.


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But, as Scripture says, <i>»Those shall see, to whom no report about Him has hitherto come, and those who until now have not heard shall understand.«</i>


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But now, as there is no more unoccupied ground in this part of the world, and I have for years past been eager to pay you a visit,


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I hope, as soon as ever I extend my travels into Spain, to see you on my way and be helped forward by you on my journey, when I have first enjoyed being with you for a time.


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for Macedonia and Greece have kindly contributed a certain sum in relief of the poor among God's people, in Jerusalem.


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Yes, they have kindly done this, and, in fact, it was a debt they owed them. For seeing that the Gentiles have been admitted in to partnership with the Jews in their spiritual blessings, they in turn are under an obligation to render sacred service to the Jews in temporal things.


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So after discharging this duty, and making sure that these kind gifts reach those for whom they are intended, I shall start for Spain, passing through Rome on my way there;


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But I entreat you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love which His Spirit inspires, to help me by wrestling in prayer to God on my behalf,


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asking that I may escape unhurt from those in Judaea who are disobedient, and that the service which I am going to Jerusalem to render may be well received by the Church there,


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in order that if God be willing I may come to you with a glad heart, and may enjoy a time of rest with you.


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that you may receive her as a fellow Christian in a manner worthy of God's people, and may assist her in any matter in which she may need help. For she has indeed been a kind friend to many, including myself.


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friends who have endangered their own lives for mine. I am grateful to them, and not I alone, but all the Gentile Churches also.


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Greetings, too, to the Church that meets at their house. Greetings to my dear Epaenetus, who was the earliest convert to Christ in the province of Asia;


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and to Andronicus and Junia, my countrymen, who once shared my imprisonment. They are of note among the Apostles, and are Christians of longer standing than myself.


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Greetings to those Christian workers, Tryphaena and Tryphosa; also to dear Persis, who has laboured strenuously in the Lord's work.


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Greetings to Rufus, who is one of the Lord's chosen people; and to his mother, who has also been a mother to me.


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Greetings to Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and to the brethren associated with them;


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to Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister and Olympas, and to all God's people associated with them.


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But I beseech you, brethren, to keep a watch on those who are causing the divisions among you, and are leading others into sin, in defiance of the instruction which you have received; and habitually to shun them.


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For men of that stamp are not bondservants of Christ our Lord, but are slaves to their own appetites; and by their plausible words and their flattery they utterly deceive the minds of the simple.


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Your fidelity to the truth is everywhere known. I rejoice over you, therefore, but I wish you to be wise as to what is good, and simple-minded as to what is evil.


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And before long, God the giver of peace will crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you!


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Timothy, my fellow worker, sends you greetings, and so do my countrymen Lucius, Jason and Sosipater.


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Gaius, my host, who is also the host of the whole Church, greets you. So do Erastus, the treasurer of the city, and Quartus our brother.


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To Him who has it in His power to make you strong, as declared in the Good News which I am spreading, and the proclamation concerning Jesus Christ, in harmony with the unveiling of the Truth which in the periods of past Ages remained unuttered,


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but has now been brought fully to light, and by the command of the God of the Ages has been made known by the writings of the Prophets among all the Gentiles to win them to obedience to the faith–


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To the Church of God in Corinth, men and women consecrated in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all in every place who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ– their Lord as well as ours.


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so that there is no gift of God in which you consciously come short while patiently waiting for the reappearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,


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who will also keep you stedfast to the very End, so that you will be free from reproach on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.


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God is ever true to His promises, and it was by Him that you were, one and all, called into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord.


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Now I entreat you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to cultivate a spirit of harmony –all of you– and that there be no divisions among you, but rather a perfect union through your having one mind and one judgement.


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For I have been distinctly informed, my brethren, about you by Chloe's people, that there are dissensions among you.


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What I mean is that each of you is a partisan. One man says »I belong to Paul;« another »I belong to Apollos;« a third »I belong to Peter;« a fourth »I belong to Christ.«


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Is the Christ in fragments? Is it Paul who was crucified on your behalf? Or were you baptized to be Paul's adherents?


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Christ did not send me to baptize, but to proclaim the Good News; and not in merely wise words–lest the Cross of Christ should be deprived of its power.


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For the Message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are on the way to perdition, but it is the power of God to those whom He is saving.


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For so it stands written, <i>»I will exhibit the nothingness of the wisdom of the wise, and the intelligence of the intelligent I will bring to nought.«</i>


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Where is your wise man? Where your expounder of the Law? Where your investigator of the questions of this present age? Has not God shown the world's wisdom to be utter foolishness?


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For after the world by its wisdom –as God in His wisdom had ordained– had failed to gain the knowledge of God, God was pleased, by the apparent foolishness of the Message which we preach, to save those who accepted it.


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while we proclaim a Christ who has been crucified–to the Jews a stumbling-block, to Gentiles foolishness,


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but to those who have received the Call, whether Jews or Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.


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Because that which the world deems foolish in God is wiser than men's wisdom, and that which it deems feeble in God is mightier than men's might.


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For consider, brethren, God's call to you. Not many who are wise with merely human wisdom, not many of position and influence, not many of noble birth have been called.


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But God has chosen the things which the world regards as foolish, in order to put its wise men to shame; and God has chosen the things which the world regards as destitute of influence, in order to put its powerful things to shame;


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and the things which the world regards as base, and those which it sets utterly at nought –things that have no existence– God has chosen in order to reduce to nothing things that do exist;


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But you –and it is all God's doing– are in Christ Jesus: He has become for us a wisdom which is from God, consisting of righteousness and sanctification and deliverance;


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And as for myself, brethren, when I came to you, it was not with surpassing power of eloquence or earthly wisdom that I came, announcing to you that which God had commanded me to bear witness to.


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For I determined to be utterly ignorant, when among you, of everything except of Jesus Christ, and of Him as having been crucified.


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And so far as I myself was concerned, I came to you in conscious feebleness and in fear and in deep anxiety.


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And my language and the Message that I proclaimed were not adorned with persuasive words of earthly wisdom, but depended upon truths which the Spirit taught and mightily carried home;


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Yet when we are among mature believers we do speak words of wisdom; a wisdom not belonging, however, to the present age nor to the leaders of the present age who are soon to pass away.


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But in dealing with truths hitherto kept secret we speak of God's wisdom–that hidden wisdom which, before the world began, God pre-destined, so that it should result in glory to us;


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a wisdom which not one of the leaders of the present age possesses, for if they had possessed it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory.


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But –to use the words of Scripture– we speak of <i>things which eye has not seen nor ear heard,</i> and which have never entered the heart of man: <i>all that God has in readiness for them that love Him.</i>


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For us, however, God has drawn aside the veil through the teaching of the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, including the depths of the divine nature.


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For, among human beings, who knows a man's inner thoughts except the man's own spirit within him? In the same way, also, only God's Spirit is acquainted with God's inner thoughts.


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But we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which comes forth from God, that we may know the blessings that have been so freely given to us by God.


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Of these we speak –not in language which man's wisdom teaches us, but in that which the Spirit teaches– adapting, as we do, spiritual words to spiritual truths.


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The unspiritual man rejects the things of the Spirit of God, and cannot attain to the knowledge of them, because they are spiritually judged.


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For <i>who has penetrated the mind of the Lord, and will instruct Him?</i> But we have the mind of Christ.


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And as for myself, brethren, I found it impossible to speak to you as spiritual men. It had to be as to worldlings–mere babes in Christ.


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I fed you with milk and not with solid food, since for this you were not yet strong enough. And even now you are not strong enough:


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you are still unspiritual. For so long as jealousy and strife continue among you, can it be denied that you are unspiritual and are living and acting like mere men of the world?


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For when some one says, »I belong to Paul,« and another says, »I belong to Apollos,« is not this the way men of the world speak?


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What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are just God's servants, through whose efforts, and as the Lord granted power to each, you accepted the faith.


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So that neither the planter nor the waterer is of any importance. God who gives the increase is all in all.


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Now in aim and purpose the planter and the waterer are one; and yet each will receive his own special reward, answering to his own special work.


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In discharge of the task which God graciously entrusted to me, I –like a competent master-builder– have laid a foundation, and others are building upon it. But let every one be careful how and what he builds.


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For no one can lay any other foundation in addition to that which is already laid, namely Jesus Christ.


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And whether the building which any one is erecting on that foundation be of gold or silver or costly stones, of timber or hay or straw–


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the true character of each individual's work will become manifest. For the day of Christ will disclose it, because that day is soon to come upon us clothed in fire, and as for the quality of every one's work– the fire is the thing which will test it.


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If any one's work is burnt up, he will suffer the loss of it; yet he will himself be rescued, but only, as it were, by passing through the fire.


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If any one is marring the Sanctuary of God, him will God mar; for the Sanctuary of God is holy, which you all are.


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Let no one deceive himself. If any man imagines that he is wise, compared with the rest of you, with the wisdom of the present age, let him become »foolish« so that he may be wise.


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This world's wisdom is »foolishness« in God's sight; for it is written, <i>»He snares the wise with their own cunning.«</i>


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For everything belongs to you –be it Paul or Apollos or Peter, the world or life or death, things present or future– everything belongs to you;


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As for us Apostles, let any one take this view of us–we are Christ's officers, and stewards of God's secret truths.


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I however am very little concerned at undergoing your scrutiny, or that of other men; in fact I do not even scrutinize myself.


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Though I am not conscious of having been in any way unfaithful, yet I do not for that reason stand acquitted; but He whose scrutiny I must undergo is the Lord.


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Therefore form no premature judgements, but wait until the Lord returns. He will both bring to light the secrets of darkness and will openly disclose the motives that have been in people's hearts; and then the praise which each man deserves will come to him from God.


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In writing this much, brethren, with special reference to Apollos and myself, I have done so for your sakes, in order to teach you by our example what those words mean, which say, »Nothing beyond what is written!« –so that you may cease to take sides in boastful rivalry, for one teacher against another.


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Why, who gives you your superiority, my brother? Or what have you that you did not receive? And if you really did receive it, why boast as if this were not so?


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Every one of you already has all that heart can desire; already you have grown rich; without waiting for us, you have ascended your thrones! Yes indeed, would to God that you had ascended your thrones, that we also might reign with you!


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God, it seems to me, has exhibited us Apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; for we have come to be a spectacle to all creation–alike to angels and to men.


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We, for Christ's sake, are labeled as »foolish«; you, as Christians, are men of shrewd intelligence. We are mere weaklings: you are strong. You are in high repute: we are outcasts.


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Homes we have none. Wearily we toil, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we bear it patiently;


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when slandered, we try to conciliate. We have come to be regarded as the mere dirt and filth of the world–the refuse of the universe, even to this hour.


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For even if you were to have ten thousand spiritual instructors–for all that you could not have several fathers. It is I who in Christ Jesus became your father through the Good News.


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For this reason I have sent Timothy to you. Spiritually he is my dearly-loved and faithful child. He will remind you of my habits as a Christian teacher–the manner in which I teach everywhere in every Church.


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But, if the Lord is willing, I shall come to you without delay; and then I shall know not the fine speeches of these conceited people, but their power.


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It is actually reported that there is fornication among you, and of a kind unheard of even among the Gentiles–a man has his father's wife!


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And you, instead of mourning and removing from among you the man who has done this deed of shame, are filled with self-complacency!


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I for my part, present with you in spirit although absent in body, have already, as though I were present, judged him who has so acted.


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In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are all assembled and my spirit is with you, together with the power of our Lord Jesus,


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I have handed over such a man to Satan for the destruction of his body, that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord Jesus.


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It is no good thing–this which you make the ground of your boasting. Do you not know that a little yeast corrupts the whole of the dough?


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Get rid of the old yeast so that you may be dough of a new kind; for in fact you are free from corruption. For our Passover Lamb has already been offered in sacrifice–even Christ.


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Therefore let us keep our festival not with old yeast nor with the yeast of what is evil and mischievous, but with bread free from yeast–the bread of transparent sincerity and of truth.


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not that in this world you are to keep wholly aloof from such as they, any more than from people who are avaricious and greedy of gain, or from worshippers of idols. For that would mean that you would be compelled to go out of the world altogether.


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But what I meant was that you were not to associate with any one bearing the name of »brother,« if he was addicted to fornication or avarice or idol-worship or abusive language or hard-drinking or greed of gain. With such a man you ought not even to eat.


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For what business of mine is it to judge outsiders? Is it not for you to judge those who are within the Church


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If one of you has a grievance against an opponent, does he dare to go to law before irreligious men and not before God's people?


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Do you not know that God's people will sit in judgement upon the world? And if you are the court before which the world is to be judged, are you unfit to deal with these petty matters?


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Do you not know that we are to sit in judgement upon angels–to say nothing of things belonging to this life?


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If therefore you have things belonging to this life which need to be decided, is it men who are absolutely nothing in the Church–is it they whom you make your judges?


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I say this to put you to shame. Has it come to this, that there does not exist among you a single wise man competent to decide between a man and his brother,


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To say no more, then, it is altogether a defect in you that you have law-suits with one another. Why not rather endure injustice? Why not rather submit to being defrauded?


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Do you not know that unrighteous men will not inherit God's Kingdom? Cherish no delusion here. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor any who are guilty of unnatural crime,


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nor theives, nor avaricious people, nor any who are addicted to hard drinking, to abusive language or to greed of gain, will inherit God's Kingdom.


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And all this describes what some of you were. But now you have had every stain washed off: now you have been set apart as holy: now you have been pronounced free from guilt; in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and through the Spirit of our God.


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Everything is allowable to me, but not everything is profitable. Everything is allowable to me, but to nothing will I become a slave.


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Food of all kinds is meant for the stomach, and the stomach is meant for food, and God will cause both of them to perish. Yet the body does not exist for the purpose of fornication, but for the Master's service, and the Master exists for the body;


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Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them the members of a prostitute? No, indeed.


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Or do you not know that a man who has to do with a prostitute is one with her in body? For God says, <i>»The two shall become one.«</i>


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Flee from fornication. Any other sin that a human being commits lies outside the body; but he who commits fornication sins against his own body.


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Or do you not know that your bodies are a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is within you–the Spirit whom you have from God?


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And you are not your own, for you have been redeemed at infinite cost. Therefore glorify God in your bodies.


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I now deal with the subjects mentioned in your letter. It is well for a man to abstain altogether from marriage.


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But because there is so much fornication every man should have a wife of his own, and every woman should have a husband.


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A married woman is not mistress of her own person: her husband has certain rights. In the same way a married man is not master of his own person: his wife has certain rights.


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Do not refuse one another, unless perhaps it is just for a time and by mutual consent, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer and may then associate again; lest the Adversary begin to tempt you because of your deficiency in self-control.


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Yet I would that everybody lived as I do; but each of us has his own special gift from God–one in one direction and one in another.


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If, however, they cannot maintain self-control, by all means let them marry; for marriage is better than the fever of passion.


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But to those already married my instructions are –yet not mine, but the Lord's– that a wife is not to leave her husband;


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or if she has already left him, let her either remain as she is or be reconciled to him; and that a husband is not to send away his wife.


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To the rest it is I who speak–not the Lord. If a brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, let him not send her away.


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And a woman who has an unbelieving husband–if he consents to live with her, let her not separate from him.


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For, in such cases, the unbelieving husband has become –and is– holy through union with a Christian woman, and the unbelieving wife is holy through union with a Christian brother. Otherwise your children would be unholy, but in reality they have a place among God's people.


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If, however, the unbeliever is determined to leave, let him or her do so. Under such circumstances the Christian man or woman is no slave; God has called us to live lives of peace.


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For what assurance have you, O woman, as to whether you will save your husband? Or what assurance have you, O man, as to whether you will save your wife?


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Only, whatever be the condition in life which the Lord has assigned to each individual –and whatever the condition in which he was living when God called him– in that let him continue.


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This is what I command in all the Churches. Was any one already circumcised when called? Let him not have recourse to the surgeons. Was any one uncircumcised when called? Let him remain uncircumcised.


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Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing: obedience to God's commandments is everything.


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Were you a slave when God called you? Let not that weigh on your mind. And yet if you can get your freedom, take advantage of the opportunity.


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For a Christian, if he was a slave when called, is the Lord's freed man, and in the same way a free man, if called, becomes the slave of Christ.


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Concerning unmarried women I have no command to give you from the Lord; but I offer you my opinion, which is that of a man who, through the Lord's mercy, is deserving of your confidence.


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I think then that, taking into consideration the distress which is now upon us, it is well for a man to remain as he is.


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Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to get free. Are you free from the marriage bond? Do not seek for a wife.


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Yet if you marry, you have not sinned; and if a maiden marries, she has not sinned. Such people, however, will have outward trouble. But I am for sparing you.


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Yet of this I warn you, brethren: the time has been shortened–so that henceforth those who have wives should be as though they had none,


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those who weep as though they did not weep, those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice, those who buy as though they did not possess,


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and those who use the world as not using it to the full. For the world as it now exists is passing away.


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And I would have you free from worldly anxiety. An unmarried man concerns himself with the Lord's business–how he shall please the Lord;


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There is a difference too between a married and an unmarried woman. She who is unmarried concerns herself with the Lord's business –that she may be holy both in body and spirit; but the married woman concerns herself with the business of the world– how she shall please her husband.


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Thus much I say in your own interest; not to lay a trap for you, but to help towards what is becoming, and enable you to wait on the Lord without distraction.


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If, however, a father thinks he is acting unbecomingly towards his still unmarried daughter if she be past the bloom of her youth, and so the matter is urgent, let him do what she desires; he commits no sin; she and her suitor should be allowed to marry.


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But if a father stands firm in his resolve, being free from all external constraint and having a legal right to act as he pleases, and in his own mind has come to the decision to keep his daughter unmarried, he will do well.


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So that he who gives his daughter in marriage does well, and yet he who does not give her in marriage will do better.


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A woman is bound to her husband during the whole period that he lives; but if her husband dies, she is at liberty to marry whom she will, provided that he is a Christian.


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But in my judgement, her state is a more enviable one if she remains as she is; and I also think that I have the Spirit of God.


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Now as to things which have been sacrificed to idols. This is a subject which we already understand–because we all have knowledge of it. Knowledge, however, tends to make people conceited; it is love that builds us up.


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If any one imagines that he already possesses any true knowledge, he has as yet attained to no knowledge of the kind to which he ought to have attained;


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As to eating things which have been sacrificed to idols, we are fully aware that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no God but One.


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For if so-called gods do exist, either in Heaven or on earth –and in fact there are many such gods and many such lords–


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yet we have but one God, the Father, who is the source of all things and for whose service we exist, and but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom we and all things exist.


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But all believers do not recognize these facts. Some, from force of habit in relation to the idol, even now eat idol sacrifices as such, and their consciences, being but weak, are polluted.


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It is true that a particular kind of food will not bring us into God's presence; we are neither inferior to others if we abstain from it, nor superior to them if we eat it.


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But take care lest this liberty of yours should prove a hindrance to the progress of weak believers.


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For if any one were to see you, who know the real truth of this matter, reclining at table in an idol's temple, would not his conscience (supposing him to be a weak believer) be emboldened to eat the food which has been sacrificed to the idol?


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Moreover when you thus sin against the brethren and wound their weak consciences, you are, in reality, sinning against Christ.


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Therefore if what I eat causes my brother to fall, never again to the end of my days will I touch any kind of animal food, for fear I should cause my brother to fall.


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Am I not free? Am I not an Apostle? Can it be denied that I have seen Jesus, our Lord? Are not you yourselves my work in the Lord?


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If to other men I am not an Apostle, yet at any rate I am one to you; for your very existence as a Christian Church is the seal of my Apostleship.


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Have we not a right to take with us on our journeys a Christian sister as our wife, as the rest of the Apostles do–and the Lord's brothers and Peter?


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What soldier ever serves at his own cost? Who plants a vineyard and yet does not eat any of the grapes? Or who tends a herd of cattle and yet does not taste their milk?


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For in the Law of Moses it is written, <i>»Thou shalt not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.«</i>


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Is God simply thinking about the oxen? Or is it really in our interest that He speaks? Of course, it was written in our interest, because it is His will that when a plough-man ploughs, and a thresher threshes, it should be in the hope of sharing that which comes as the result.


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If it is we who sowed the spiritual grain in you, is it a great thing that we should reap a temporal harvest from you?


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If other teachers possess that right over you, do not we possess it much more? Yet we have not availed ourselves of the right, but we patiently endure all things rather than hinder in the least degree the progress of the Good News of the Christ.


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Do you not know that those who perform the sacred rites have their food from the sacred place, and that those who serve at the altar all alike share with the altar?


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In the same way the Lord also directed those who proclaim the Good News to maintain themselves by the Good News.


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But I, for my part, have not used, and do not use, my full rights in any of these things. Nor do I now write with that object so far as I myself am concerned, for I would rather die than have anybody make this boast of mine an empty one.


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If I go on preaching the Good News, that is nothing for me to boast of; for the necessity is imposed upon me; and alas for me, if I fail to preach it!


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And if I preach willingly, I receive my wages; but if against my will, a stewardship has nevertheless been entrusted to me.


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What are my wages then? The very fact that the Good News which I preach will cost my hearers nothing, so that I cannot be charged with abuse of my privileges as a Christian preacher.


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Though free from all human control, I have made myself the slave of all in the hope of winning as many converts as possible.


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To the Jews I have become like a Jew in order to win Jews; to men under the Law as if I were under the Law –although I am not– in order to win those who are under the Law;


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to men without Law as if I were without Law –although I am not without Law in relation to God but am abiding in Christ's Law– in order to win those who are without Law.


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To the weak I have become weak, so as to gain the weak. To all men I have become all things, in the hope that in every one of these ways I may save some.


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And I do everything for the sake of the Good News, that I may share with my hearers in its benefits.


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Do you not know that in the foot-race the runners all run, but that only one gets the prize? You must run like him, in order to win with certainty.


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But every competitor in an athletic contest practices abstemiousness in all directions. They indeed do this for the sake of securing a perishable wreath, but we for the sake of securing one that will not perish.


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That is how I run, not being in any doubt as to my goal. I am a boxer who does not inflict blows on the air,


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but I hit hard and straight at my own body and lead it off into slavery, lest possibly, after I have been a herald to others, I should myself be rejected.


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For I would have you remember, brethren, how our forefathers were all of them sheltered by the cloud, and all got safely through the Red Sea.


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and all drank the same spiritual drink; for they long drank the water that flowed from the spiritual rock that went with them–and that rock was the Christ.


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And in this they became a warning to us, to teach us not to be eager, as they were eager, in pursuit of what is evil.


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And you must not be worshippers of idols, as some of them were. For it is written, <i>»The People sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to dance.«</i>


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Nor may we be fornicators, like some of them who committed fornication and on a single day 23,000 of them fell dead.


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And do not let us test the Lord too far, as some of them tested Him and were destroyed by the serpents.


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All this kept happening to them with a figurative meaning; but it was put on record by way of admonition to us upon whom the ends of the Ages have come.


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No temptation has you in its power but such as is common to human nature; and God is faithful and will not allow you to be tempted beyond your strength. But, when the temptation comes, He will also provide the way of escape; so that you may be able to bear it.


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The cup of blessing, which we bless, does it not mean a joint-participation in the blood of Christ? The loaf of bread which we break, does it not mean a joint-participation in the body of Christ?


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Look at the Israelites–the nation and their ritual. Are not those who eat the sacrifices joint-partakers in the altar?


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Do I mean that a thing sacrificed to an idol is what it claims to be, or that an idol is a real thing?


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No, but that which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, not to God; and I would not have you have fellowship with one another through the demons.


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You cannot drink the Lord's cup and the cup of demons: you cannot be joint-partakers both in the table of the Lord and in the table of demons.


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Everything is allowable, but not everything is profitable. Everything is allowable, but everything does not build others up.


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If an unbeliever gives you an invitation and you are disposed to accept it, eat whatever is put before you, and ask no questions for conscience' sake.


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But if any one tells you, »This food has been offered in sacrifice;« abstain from eating it–out of respect for him who warned you, and, as before, for conscience' sake.


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But now I mean his conscience, not your own. »Why, on what ground,« you may object, »is the question of my liberty of action to be decided by a conscience not my own?


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If, so far as I am concerned, I partake with a grateful heart, why am I to be found fault with in regard to a thing for which I give thanks?«


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Whether, then, you are eating or drinking, or whatever you are doing, let everything be done to the glory of God.


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That is the way that I also seek in everything the approval of all men, not aiming at my own profit, but at that of the many, in the hope that they may be saved.


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Now I commend you for remembering me in everything, and because you hold fast truths and practices precisely as I have taught them to you.


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I would have you know, however, that of every man, Christ is the Head, that of a woman her husband is the Head, and that God is Christ's Head.


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but a woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her Head, for it is exactly the same as if she had her hair cut short.


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If a woman will not wear a veil, let her also cut off her hair. But since it is a dishonor to a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her wear a veil.


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For a man ought not to have a veil on his head, since he is the image and glory of God; while woman is the glory of man.


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For just as woman originates from man, so also man comes into existence through woman, but everything springs originally from God.


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But if any one is inclined to be contentious on the point, we have no such custom, nor have the Churches of God.


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But while giving you these instructions, there is one thing I cannot praise–your meeting together, with bad rather than good results.


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for, in the first place, when you meet as a Church, there are divisions among you. This is what I am told, and I believe that there is some truth in it.


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For there must of necessity be differences of opinion among you, in order that it may be plainly seen who are the men of sterling worth among you.


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for it is his own supper of which each of you is in a hurry to partake, and one eats like a hungry man, while another has already drunk to excess.


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Why, have you no homes in which to eat and drink? Or do you wish to show your contempt for the Church of God and make those who have no homes feel ashamed? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this matter I certainly do not praise you.


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For it was from the Lord that I received the facts which, in turn, I handed on to you; how that the Lord Jesus, on the night He was to be betrayed, took some bread,


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and after giving thanks He broke it and said, »This is my body which is about to be broken for you. Do this in memory of me.«


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In the same way, when the meal was over, He also took the cup. »This cup,« He said, »is the new Covenant of which my blood is the pledge. Do this, every time that you drink it, in memory of me.«


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For every time that you eat this bread and drink from the cup, you are proclaiming the Lord's death–until He returns.


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Whoever, therefore, in an unworthy manner, eats the bread or drinks from the cup of the Lord sins against the body and blood of the Lord.


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But let a man examine himself, and, having done that, then let him eat the bread and drink from the cup.


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For any one who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgement to himself, if he fails to estimate the body aright.


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But when we are judged by the Lord, chastisement follows, to save us from being condemned along with the world.


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If any one is hungry, let him eat at home; so that your coming together may not lead to judgement. The other matters I will deal with whenever I come.


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You know that when you were heathens you went astray after dumb idols, wherever you happened to be led.


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For this reason I would have you understand that no one speaking under the influence of The Spirit of God ever says, »Jesus is accursed,« and that no one is able to say, »Jesus is Lord,« except under the influence of the Holy Spirit.


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diversities in work, and yet one and the same God–He who in each person brings about the whole result.


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To one the utterance of wisdom has been granted through the Spirit; to another the utterance of knowledge in accordance with the will of the same Spirit;


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to a third man, by means of the same Spirit, special faith; to another various gifts of healing, by means of the one Spirit;


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to another the exercise of miraculous powers; to another the gift of prophecy; to another the power of discriminating between prophetic utterances; to another varieties of the gift of `tongues;' to another the interpretation of tongues.


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But these results are all brought about by one and the same Spirit, who bestows His gifts upon each of us in accordance with His own will.


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For just as the human body is one and yet has many parts, and all its parts, many as they are, constitute but one body, so it is with the Church of Christ.


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For, in fact, in one Spirit all of us –whether we are Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free men– were baptized to form but one body; and we were all nourished by that one Spirit.


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Were the foot to say, »Because I am not a hand I am not a part of the body,« that would not make it any the less a part of the body.


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Or were the ear to say, »Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,« that would not make it any the less a part of the body.


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If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the nostrils be?


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But, as a matter of fact, God has arranged the parts in the body –every one of them– as He has seen fit.


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It is also impossible for the eye to say to the hand, »I do not need you;« or again for the head to say to the feet, »I do not need you.«


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No, it is quite otherwise. Even those parts of the body which are apparently somewhat feeble are yet indispensable;


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and those which we deem less honorable we clothe with more abundant honor; and so our ungraceful parts come to have a more abundant grace, while our graceful parts have everything they need.


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But it was God who built up the body, and bestowed more abundant honor on the part that felt the need,


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that there might be no disunion in the body, but that all the members might entertain the same anxious care for one another's welfare.


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And if one part is suffering, every other part suffers with it; or if one part is receiving special honor, every other part shares in the joy.


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And by God's appointment there are in the Church–first Apostles, secondly Prophets, thirdly teachers. Then come miraculous powers, and then ability to cure diseases or render loving service, or powers of organization, or varieties of the gift of `tongues.'


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Have all miraculous powers? Have all ability to cure diseases? Do all speak in `tongues'? Do all interpret?


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But always seek to excel in the greater gifts. And now I will point out to you a way of life which transcends all others.


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If I can speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but am destitute of Love, I have but become a loud-sounding trumpet or a clanging cymbal.


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If I possess the gift of prophecy and am versed in all mysteries and all knowledge, and have such absolute faith that I can remove mountains, but am destitute of Love, I am nothing.


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And if I distribute all my possessions to the poor, and give up my body to be burned, but am destitute of Love, it profits me nothing.


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Love is patient and kind. Love knows neither envy nor jealousy. Love is not forward and self-assertive, nor boastful and conceited.


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She does not behave unbecomingly, nor seek to aggrandize herself, nor blaze out in passionate anger, nor brood over wrongs.


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Love never fails. But if there are prophecies, they will be done away with; if there are languages, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be brought to an end.


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When I was a child, I talked like a child, felt like a child, reasoned like a child: when I became a man, I put from me childish ways.


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For the present we see things as if in a mirror, and are puzzled; but then we shall see them face to face. For the present the knowledge I gain is imperfect; but then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.


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Be eager in your pursuit of this Love, and be earnestly ambitious for spiritual gifts, but let it be chiefly so in order that you may prophesy.


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For he who speaks in an unknown tongue is not speaking to men, but to God; for no one understands him. Yet in the Spirit he is speaking secret truths.


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He who speaks in an unknown tongue does good to himself, but he who prophesies does good to the Church.


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I should be right glad were you all to speak in `tongues,' but yet more glad were you all to prophesy. And, in fact, the man who prophesies is superior to him who speaks in `tongues,' except when the latter can interpret in order that the Church may get a blessing.


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But, brethren, as things are, if I come to you speaking in `tongues,' what benefit shall I confer on you, if the utterance is neither in the form of a revelation nor of additional knowledge nor of prophecy nor of teaching?


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Even inanimate things –flutes or harps, for instance– when yielding a sound, if they make no distinction in the notes, how shall the tune which is played on the flute or the harp be known?


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And so with you; if with the living voice you fail to utter intelligible words, how will people know what you are saying? You will be talking to the winds.


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There are, we will suppose, a great number of languages in the world, and no creature is without a language.


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If, however, I do not know the meaning of the particular language, I shall seem to the speaker of it, and he to me, to be merely talking some foreign tongue.


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Therefore, seeing that you are ambitious for spiritual gifts, seek to excel in them so as to benefit the Church.


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How then does the matter stand? I will pray in spirit, and I will pray with my understanding also. I will praise God in spirit, and I will praise Him with my understanding also.


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Otherwise, if you bless God in spirit only, how shall he who is in the position of an ungifted man say the `Amen' to your giving of thanks, when he does not know what your words mean?


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but in the Church I would rather speak five words with my understanding –so as to instruct others also– than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.


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Brethren, do not prove yourselves to be children in your minds. As regards evil, indeed, be utter babes, but as regards your minds prove yourselves to be men of ripe years.


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In the Law it stands written, <i>»`By men of unknown tongues and by the lips of an unknown nation will I speak to this People, but even then they will not listen to Me',</i> says the Lord.«


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This shows that the gift of tongues is intended as a sign not to those who believe but to unbelievers, but prophecy is intended not for unbelievers but for those who believe.


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Accordingly if the whole Church has assembled and all are speaking in `tongues,' and there come in ungifted men, or unbelievers, will they not say that you are all mad?


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If, on the other hand, every one is prophesying and an unbeliever or an ungifted man comes in, he is convicted by all and closely examined by all,


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and the hidden evils of his heart are brought to light. And, as the result, he will fall on his face and worship God, and will report to others that of a truth God is among you.


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What then, brethren? Whenever you assemble, there is not one of you who is not ready either with a song of praise, a sermon, a revelation, a `tongue,' or an interpretation. Let everything be done with a view to the building up of faith and character.


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If there is speaking in an unknown tongue, only two or at the most three should speak, and they should do so one at a time, and one should interpret;


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or if there is no interpreter, let the man with the gift be silent in the Church, speaking to himself and to God.


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Let married women be silent in the Churches, for they are not permitted to speak. They must be content with a subordinate place, as the Law also says;


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and if they wish to ask questions, they should ask their own husbands at home. For it is disgraceful for a married woman to speak at a Church assembly.


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If any one deems himself to be a Prophet or a man with spiritual gifts, let him recognize as the Lord's command all that I am now writing to you.


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The conclusion, my brethren, is this. Be earnestly ambitious to prophesy, and do not check speaking with tongues;


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But let me recall to you, brethren, the Good News which I brought you, which you accepted, and on which you are standing,


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through which also you are obtaining salvation, if you bear in mind the words in which I proclaimed it–unless indeed your faith has been unreal from the very first.


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For I repeated to you the all-important fact which also I had been taught, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures;


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Afterwards He was seen by more than five hundred brethren at once, most of whom are still alive, although some of them have now fallen asleep.


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For I am the least of the Apostles, and am not fit to be called an Apostle–because I persecuted the Church of God.


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But what I am I am by the grace of God, and His grace bestowed upon me did not prove ineffectual. But I labored more strenuously than all the rest–yet it was not I, but God's grace working with me.


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But if Christ is preached as having risen from the dead, how is it that some of you say that there is no such thing as a resurrection of the dead?


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And if Christ has not risen, it follows that what we preach is a delusion, and that your faith also is a delusion.


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Nay more, we are actually being discovered to be bearing false witness about God, because we have testified that God raised Christ to life, whom He did not raise, if in reality none of the dead are raised.


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If in this present life we have a hope resting on Christ, and nothing more, we are more to be pitied than all the rest of the world.


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But, in reality, Christ has risen from among the dead, being the first to do so of those who are asleep.


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But this will happen to each in the right order–Christ having been the first to rise, and afterwards Christ's people rising at His return.


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Later on, comes the End, when He is to surrender the Kingship to God, the Father, when He shall have overthrown all other government and all other authority and power.


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for He will have put all things in subjection under His feet. And when He shall have declared that »All things are in subjection,« it will be with the manifest exception of Him who has reduced them all to subjection to Him.


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But when the whole universe has been made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also become subject to Him who has made the universe subject to Him, in order that GOD may be all in all.


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Otherwise what will become of those who got themselves baptized for the dead? If the dead do not rise at all, why are these baptized for them?


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I protest, brethren, as surely as I glory over you –which I may justly do in Christ Jesus our Lord– that I die day by day.


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If from merely human motives I have fought with wild beasts in Ephesus, what profit is it to me? If the dead do not rise, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we are to die.


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Wake from this drunken fit; live righteous lives, and cease to sin; for some have no knowledge of God: I speak thus in order to move you to shame.


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and as for what you sow, it is not the plant which is to be that you are sowing, but a bare grain, of wheat (it may be) or of something else, and God gives it a body as He has seen fit,


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There are bodies which are celestial and there are bodies which are earthly, but the glory of the celestial ones is one thing, and that of the earthly ones is another.


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There is one glory of the sun, another of the moon, and another of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.


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It is the same with the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in a state of decay, it is raised free from decay;


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an animal body is sown, a spiritual body is raised. As surely as there is an animal body, so there is also a spiritual body.


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In the same way also it is written, <i>»The first man Adam became a living animal«;</i> the last Adam is a life-giving Spirit.


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Nevertheless, it is not what is spiritual that came first, but what is animal; what is spiritual came afterwards.


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What the earthy one is, that also are those who are earthy; and what the heavenly One is, that also are those who are heavenly.


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And as we have borne a resemblance to the earthy one, let us see to it that we also bear a resemblance to the heavenly One.


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But this I tell you, brethren: our mortal bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, nor will what is perishable inherit what is imperishable.


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in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the sounding of the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incapable of decay, and we shall be changed.


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For so it must be: this perishable nature must clothe itself with what is imperishable, and this mortality must clothe itself with immortality.


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But when this perishable nature has put on what is imperishable, and this mortality has put on immortality, then will the words of Scripture be fulfilled, <i>»Death has been swallowed up in victory.«</i>


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Therefore, my dear brethren, be firm, unmovable, busily occupied at all times in the Lord's work, knowing that your toil is not fruitless in the Lord.


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As to the collection for God's people, what I have directed the Churches of Galatia to do, you must do also.


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On the first day of every week let each of you put on one side and store up at his home whatever gain has been granted to him; so that whenever I come, there may then be no collections going on.


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And when I am with you, whatever brethren you accredit by letter I will send to carry your kind gift to Jerusalem.


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and I shall make some stay with you perhaps, or even spend the winter with you, in order that you may help me forward, whichever way I travel.


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For I do not wish to see you on this occasion merely in passing; but if the Lord permits, I hope to remain some time with you.


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If Timothy pays you a visit, see that he is free from fear in his relations with you; for he is engaged in the Master's work just as I am.


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Therefore let no one slight him, but all of you should help him forward in peace to join me; for I am waiting for him and others of the brethren.


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As for our brother Apollos, I have repeatedly urged him to accompany the brethren who are coming to you: but he is quite resolved not to do so at present. He will come, however, when he has a good opportunity.


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And I beseech you, brethren –you know the household of Stephanas, how they were the earliest Greek converts to Christ, and have devoted themselves to the service of God's people–


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I beseech you, on your part, to show deference to such men, and to every one who participates in their work and toils hard.


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It is a joy to me that Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus have now arrived, because what was wanting so far as you are concerned they have supplied.


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The Churches in the province of Asia send you greetings; and Aquila and Prisca, in hearty Christian love, do the same, together with the Church which meets at their house.


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Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God–and our brother Timothy: To the Church of God in Corinth, with all God's people throughout Greece.


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Heartfelt thanks be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ–the Father who is full of compassion and the God who gives all comfort.


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He comforts us in our every affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction by means of the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.


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For just as we have more than our share of suffering for the Christ, so also through the Christ we have more than our share of comfort.


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But if, on the one hand, we are enduring affliction, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if, on the other hand, we are receiving comfort, it is for your comfort which is produced within you through your patient fortitude under the same sufferings as those which we also are enduring.


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And our hope for you is stedfast; for we know that as you are partners with us in the sufferings, so you are also partners in the comfort.


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For as for our troubles which came upon us in the province of Asia, we would have you know, brethren, that we were exceedingly weighed down, and felt overwhelmed, so that we renounced all hope even of life.


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Nay, we had, as we still have, the sentence of death within our own selves, in order that our confidence may repose, not on ourselves, but on God who raised the dead to life.


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He it is who rescued us from so imminent a death, and will do so again; and we have a firm hope in Him that He will also rescue us in all the future,


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while you on your part lend us your aid in entreaty for us, so that from many lips thanksgivings may rise on our behalf for the boon granted to us at the intercession of many.


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For the reason for our boasting is this–the testimony of our own conscience that it was in holiness and with pure motives before God, and in reliance not on worldly wisdom but on the gracious help of God, that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and above all in our relations with you.


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For we are writing to you nothing different from what we have written before, or from what indeed you already recognize as truth and will, I trust, recognize as such to the very end;


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just as some few of you have recognized us as your reason for boasting, even as you will be ours, on the day of Jesus our Lord.


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It was because I entertained this confidence that I intended to visit you before going elsewhere –so that you might receive a twofold proof of God's favour–


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and to pass by way of Corinth into Macedonia. Then my plan was to return from Macedonia to you, and be helped forward by you to Judaea.


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Did I display any vacillation or caprice in this? Or the purposes which I form–do I form them on worldly principles, now crying »Yes, yes,« and now »No, no«?


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For Jesus Christ the Son of God –He who was proclaimed among you by us, that is by Silas and Timothy and myself– did not show Himself a waverer between »Yes« and »No.« But it was and always is »Yes« with Him.


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For all the promises of God, whatever their number, have their confirmation in Him; and for this reason through Him also our »Amen« acknowledges their truth and promotes the glory of God through our faith.


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But He who is making us as well as you stedfast through union with the Anointed One, and has anointed us, is God,


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and He has also set His seal upon us, and has put His Spirit into our hearts as a pledge and foretaste of future blessing.


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But as for me, as my soul shall answer for it, I appeal to God as my witness, that it was to spare you pain that I gave up my visit to Corinth.


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Not that we want to lord it over you in respect of your faith –we do, however, desire to help your joy– for in the matter of your faith you are standing firm.


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But, so far as I am concerned, I have resolved not to have a painful visit the next time I come to see you.


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For if I of all men give you pain, who then is there to gladden my heart, but the very persons to whom I give pain?


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And I write this to you in order that when I come I may not receive pain from those who ought to give me joy, confident as I am as to all of you that my joy is the joy of you all.


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For with many tears I write to you, and in deep suffering and depression of spirit, not in order to grieve you, but in the hope of showing you how brimful my heart is with love for you.


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Now if any one has caused sorrow, it has been caused not so much to me, as in some degree –for I have no wish to exaggerate– to all of you.


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So that you may now take the opposite course, and forgive him rather and comfort him, for fear he should perhaps be driven to despair by his excess of grief.


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For in writing to you I have also this object in view–to discover by experience whether you are prepared to be obedient in every respect.


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When you forgive a man an offence I also forgive it; for in fact what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has always been for your sakes in the presence of Christ,


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Now when I came into the Troad to spread there the Good News about the Christ, even though in the Lord's providence a door stood open before me,


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yet, obtaining no relief for my spirit because I did not find our brother Titus, I bade them farewell and went on into Macedonia.


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But to God be the thanks who in Christ ever heads our triumphal procession, and by our hands waves in every place that sweet incense, the knowledge of Him.


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For we are a fragrance of Christ grateful to God in those whom He is saving and in those who are perishing;


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to the last-named an odor of death predictive of death, and to the others an odor of life predictive of life. And for such service as this who is competent?


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We are; for, unlike most teachers, we are not fraudulent hucksters of God's Message; but with transparent motives, as commissioned by God, in God's presence and in communion with Christ, so we speak.


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Do you say that this is self-recommendation once more? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you?


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Our letter of recommendation is yourselves–a letter written on our hearts and everywhere known and read.


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For all can see that you are a letter of Christ entrusted to our care, and written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the ever-living God–and not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts as tablets.


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not that of ourselves we are competent to decide anything by our own reasonings, but our competency comes from God.


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It is He also who has made us competent to serve Him in connexion with a new Covenant, which is not a written code but a Spirit; for the written code inflicts death, but the Spirit gives Life.


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If, however, the service that proclaims death –its code being engraved in writing upon stones– came with glory, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily on the face of Moses because of the brightness of his face–a vanishing brightness;


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For if the service which pronounces doom had glory, far more glorious still is the service which tells of righteousness.


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For, in fact, that which was once resplendent in glory has no glory at all in this respect, that it pales before the glory which surpasses it.


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For if that which was to be abolished came with glory, much more is that which is permanent arrayed in glory.


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who used to throw a veil over his face to hide from the gaze of the children of Israel the passing away of what was but transitory.


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Nay, their minds were made dull; for to this very day during the reading of the book of the ancient Covenant, the same veil remains unlifted, because it is only in Christ that it is to be abolished.


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And all of us, with unveiled faces, reflecting like bright mirrors the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same likeness, from one degree of radiant holiness to another, even as derived from the Lord the Spirit.


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Therefore, being engaged in this service and being mindful of the mercy which has been shown us, we are not cowards.


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Nay, we have renounced the secrecy which marks a feeling of shame. We practice no cunning tricks, nor do we adulterate God's Message. But by a full clear statement of the truth we strive to commend ourselves in the presence of God to every human conscience.


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If, however, the meaning of our Good News has been veiled, the veil has been on the hearts of those who are on the way to perdition,


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in whom the god of this present age has blinded their unbelieving minds so as to shut out the sunshine of the Good News of the glory of the Christ, who is the image of God.


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(For we do not proclaim ourselves, but we proclaim Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bondservants for the sake of Jesus.)


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For God who said, »Out of darkness let light shine,« is He who has shone in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory, which is radiant on the face of Christ.


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But we have this treasure in a fragile vase of clay, in order that the surpassing greatness of the power may be seen to belong to God, and not to originate in us.


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always, wherever we go, carrying with us in our bodies the putting to death of Jesus, so that in our bodies it may also be clearly shown that Jesus lives.


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For we, alive though we are, are continually surrendering ourselves to death for the sake of Jesus, so that in this mortal nature of ours it may also be clearly shown that Jesus lives.


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But possessing the same Spirit of faith as he who wrote, <i>»I believed, and therefore I have spoken,«</i> we also believe, and therefore we speak.


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For we know that He who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will raise us also to be with Jesus, and will cause both us and you to stand in His own presence.


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For everything is for your sakes, in order that grace, being more richly bestowed because of the thanksgivings of the increased number, may more and more promote the glory of God.


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Therefore we are not cowards. Nay, even though our outward man is wasting away, yet our inward man is being renewed day by day.


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For this our light and transitory burden of suffering is achieving for us a preponderating, yes, a vastly preponderating, and eternal weight of glory;


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while we look not at things seen, but things unseen; for things seen are temporary, but things unseen are eternal.


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For we know that if this poor tent, our earthly house, is taken down, we have in Heaven a building which God has provided, a house not built by human hands, but eternal.


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Yes, we who are in this tent certainly do sigh under our burdens, for we do not wish to lay aside that with which we are now clothed, but to put on more, so that our mortality may be absorbed in Life.


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And He who formed us with this very end in view is God, who has given us His Spirit as a pledge and foretaste of that bliss.


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We have therefore a cheerful confidence. We know that while we are at home in the body we are banished from the Lord;


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So we have a cheerful confidence, and we anticipate with greater delight being banished from the body and going home to the Lord.


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And for this reason also we make it our ambition, whether at home or in exile, to please Him perfectly.


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For we must all of us appear before Christ's judgement-seat in our true characters, in order that each may then receive an award for his actions in this life, in accordance with what he has done, whether it be good or whether it be worthless.


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Therefore, because we realize how greatly the Lord is to be feared, we are endeavouring to win men over, and God recognizes what our motives are, and I hope that you, in your hearts, recognize them too.


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We are not again commending ourselves to your favour, but are furnishing you with a ground of boasting on our behalf, so that you may have a reply ready for those with whom superficial appearances are everything and sincerity of heart counts for nothing.


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For if we have been beside ourselves, it has been for God's glory; or if we are now in our right senses, it is in order to be of service to you.


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For the love of Christ overmasters us, the conclusion at which we have arrived being this–that One having died for all, His death was their death,


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and that He died for all in order that the living may no longer live to themselves, but to Him who died for them and rose again.


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Therefore for the future we know no one simply as a man. Even if we have known Christ as a man, yet now we do so no longer.


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So that if any one is in Christ, he is a new creature: the old state of things has passed away; a new state of things has come into existence.


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And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and has appointed us to serve in the ministry of reconciliation.


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We are to tell how God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not charging men's transgressions to their account, and that He has entrusted to us the Message of this reconciliation.


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On Christ's behalf therefore we come as ambassadors, God, as it were, making entreaty through our lips: we, on Christ's behalf, beseech men to be reconciled to God.


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He has made Him who knew nothing of sin to be sin for us, in order that in Him we may become the righteousness of God.


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And you also we, as God's fellow workers, entreat not to be found to have received His grace to no purpose.


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For He says, <i>»At a time of welcome I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have succoured you.«</i> Now is the time of loving welcome! Now is the day of salvation!


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We endeavour to give people no cause for stumbling in anything, lest the work we are doing should fall into discredit.


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On the contrary, as God's servants, we seek their full approval–by unwearied endurance, by afflictions, by distress, by helplessness;


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by floggings, by imprisonments; by facing riots, by toil, by sleepless watching, by hunger and thirst;


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by the proclamation of the truth, by the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness, wielded in both hands;


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through honour and ignominy, through calumny and praise. We are looked upon as impostors and yet are true men;


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as obscure persons, and yet are well known; as on the point of death, and yet, strange to tell, we live; as under God's discipline, and yet we are not deprived of life;


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as sad, but we are always joyful; as poor, but we bestow wealth on many; as having nothing, and yet we securely possess all things.


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Do not come into close association with unbelievers, like oxen yoked with asses. For what is there in common between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what partnership has light with darkness?


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Where can harmony between Christ and Belial be found? Or what participation has a believer with an unbeliever?


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And what compact has the Temple of God with idols? For we are the Temple of the ever-living God; as God has said, <i>»I will dwell among them, and walk about among them; and will be their God, and it is they who shall be My people.«</i>


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Therefore, <i>»`Come out from among them and separate yourselves,' says the Lord, `and touch nothing impure; and I will receive you, and will be a Father to you,</i>


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Having therefore these promises, beloved friends, let us purify ourselves from all defilement of body and of spirit, and secure perfect holiness through the fear of God.


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Make room for us in your hearts. There is not one of you whom we have wronged, not one to whom we have done harm, not one over whom we have gained any selfish advantage.


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I do not say this to imply blame, for, as I have already said, you have such a place in our hearts that we would die with you or live with you.


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I have great confidence in you: very loudly do I boast of you. I am filled with comfort: my heart overflows with joy amid all our affliction.


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For even after our arrival in Macedonia we could get no relief such as human nature craves. We were greatly harassed; there were conflicts without and fears within.


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But He who comforts the depressed –even God– comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not by his coming only,


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but also by the fact that he had felt comforted on your account, and by the report which he brought of your eager affection, of your grief, and of your jealousy on my behalf, so that I rejoiced more than ever.


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For if I gave you pain by that letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it then. I see that that letter, even though for a time it gave you pain, had a salutary effect.


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Now I rejoice, not in your grief, but because the grief led to repentance; for you sorrowed with a godly sorrow, which prevented you from receiving injury from us in any respect.


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For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, a repentance not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world finally produces death.


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For mark the effects of this very thing –your having sorrowed with a godly sorrow– what earnestness it has called forth in you, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing affection, what jealousy, what meting out of justice! You have completely wiped away reproach from yourselves in the matter.


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Therefore, though I wrote to you, it was not to punish the offender, nor to secure justice for him who had suffered the wrong, but it was chiefly in order that your earnest feeling on our behalf might become manifest to yourselves in the sight of God.


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For this reason we feel comforted; and –in addition to this our comfort– we have been filled with all the deeper joy at Titus's joy, because his spirit has been set at rest by you all.


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For however I may have boasted to him about you, I have no reason to feel ashamed; but as we have in all respects spoken the truth to you, so also our boasting to Titus about you has turned out to be the truth.


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And his strong and tender affection is all the more drawn out towards you when he recalls to mind the obedience which all of you manifested by the timidity and nervous anxiety with which you welcomed him.


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But we desire to let you know, brethren, of the grace of God which has been bestowed on the Churches of Macedonia;


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how, while passing through great trouble, their boundless joy even amid their deep poverty has overflowed to increase their generous liberality.


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For I can testify that to the utmost of their power, and even beyond their power, they have of their own free will given help.


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With earnest entreaty they begged from us the favour of being allowed to share in the service now being rendered to God's people.


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They not only did this, as we had expected, but first of all in obedience to God's will they gave their own selves to the Lord and to us.


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This led us to urge Titus that, as he had previously been the one who commenced the work, so he should now go and complete among you this act of beneficence also.


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Yes, just as you are already very rich in faith, readiness of speech, knowledge, unwearied zeal, and in the love that is in you, implanted by us, see to it that this grace of liberal giving also flourishes in you.


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I am not saying this by way of command, but to test by the standard of other men's earnestness the genuineness of your love also.


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For you know the condescending goodness of our Lord Jesus Christ–how for your sakes He became poor, though He was rich, in order that you through His poverty might grow rich.


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But in this matter I give you an opinion; for my doing this helps forward your own intentions, seeing that not only have you begun operations, but a year ago you already had the desire to do so.


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And now complete the doing also, in order that, just as there was then the eagerness in desiring, there may now be the accomplishment in proportion to your means.


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For, assuming the earnest willingness, the gift is acceptable according to whatever a man has, and not according to what he has not.


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but that, by equalization of burdens, your superfluity having in the present emergency supplied their deficiency, their superfluity may in turn be a supply for your deficiency later on, so that there may be equalization of burdens.


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Even as it is written, <i>»He who gathered much had not too much, and he who gathered little had not too little.«</i>


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for Titus welcomed our request, and, being thoroughly in earnest, comes to you of his own free will.


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And we send with him the brother whose praises for his earnestness in proclaiming the Good News are heard throughout all the Churches.


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And more than that, he is the one who was chosen by the vote of the Churches to travel with us, sharing our commission in the administration of this generous gift to promote the Lord's glory and gratify our own strong desire.


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For against one thing we are on our guard–I mean against blame being thrown upon us in respect to these large and liberal contributions which are under our charge.


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And we send with them our brother, of whose zeal we have had frequent proof in many matters, and who is now more zealous than ever through the strong confidence which he has in you.


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As for Titus, remember that he is a partner with me, and is my comrade in my labours for you. And as for our brethren, remember that they are delegates from the Churches, and are men in whom Christ is glorified.


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Exhibit therefore to the Churches a proof of your love, and a justification of our boasting to these brethren about you.


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As to the services which are being rendered to God's people, it is really unnecessary for me to write to you.


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For I know your earnest willingness, on account of which I habitually boast of you to the Macedonians, pointing out to them that for a whole year you in Greece have been ready; and the greater number of them have been spurred on by your ardour.


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Still I send the brethren in order that in this matter our boast about you may not turn out to have been an idle one; so that, as I have said, you may be ready;


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for fear that, if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we –not to say you yourselves– should be put to the blush in respect to this confidence.


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I have thought it absolutely necessary therefore to request these brethren to visit you before I myself come, and to make sure beforehand that the gift of love which you have already promised may be ready as a gift of love, and may not seem to have been something which I have extorted from you.


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But do not forget that he who sows with a niggardly hand will also reap a niggardly crop, and that he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.


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Let each contribute what he has decided upon in his own mind, and not do it reluctantly or under compulsion. <i>»It is a cheerful giver that God loves.«</i>


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And God is able to bestow every blessing on you in abundance, so that richly enjoying all sufficiency at all times, you may have ample means for all good works.


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As it is written, <i>»He has scattered abroad, he has given to the poor, his almsgiving remains for ever.«</i>


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And God who continually supplies seed for the sower and bread for eating, will supply you with seed and multiply it, and will cause your almsgiving to yield a plentiful harvest.


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May you be abundantly enriched so as to show all liberality, such as through our instrumentality brings thanksgiving to God.


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For the service rendered in this sacred gift not only helps to relieve the wants of God's people, but it is also rich in its results and awakens a chorus of thanksgiving to God.


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For, by the practical proof of it which you exhibit in this service, you cause God to be extolled for your fidelity to your professed adherence to the Good News of the Christ, and for the liberality of your contributions for them and for all who are in need,


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while they themselves also in supplications on your behalf pour out their longing love towards you because of God's surpassing grace which is resting upon you.


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But as for me Paul, I entreat you by the gentleness and self-forgetfulness of Christ–I who when among you have not an imposing personal presence, but when absent am fearlessly outspoken in dealing with you.


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I beseech you not to compel me when present to make a bold display of the confidence with which I reckon I shall show my `courage' against some who reckon that we are guided by worldly principles.


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The weapons with which we fight are not human weapons, but are mighty for God in overthrowing strong fortresses.


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For we overthrow arrogant `reckonings,' and every stronghold that towers high in defiance of the knowledge of God, and we carry off every thought as if into slavery–into subjection to Christ;


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while we hold ourselves in readiness to punish every act of disobedience, as soon as ever you as a Church have fully shown your obedience.


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Is it outward appearances you look to? If any man is confident as regards himself that he specially belongs to Christ, let him consider again and reflect that just as he belongs to Christ, so also do we.


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If, however, I were to boast more loudly of our Apostolic authority, which the Lord has given us that we may build you up, not pull you down, I should have no reason to feel ashamed.


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For they say »His letters are authoritative and forcible, but his personal presence is unimpressive, and as for eloquence, he has none.«


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Let such people take this into their reckoning, that whatever we are in word by our letters when absent, the same are we also in act when present.


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For we have not the `courage' to rank ourselves among, or compare ourselves with, certain persons distinguished by their self-commendation. Yet they are not wise, measuring themselves, as they do, by one another and comparing themselves with one another.


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We, however, will not exceed due limits in our boasting, but will keep within the limits of the sphere which God has assigned to us as a limit, which reaches even to you.


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For there is no undue stretch of authority on our part, as though it did not extend to you. We pressed on even to Corinth, and were the first to proclaim to you the Good News of the Christ.


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We do not exceed our due limits, and take credit for other men's labours; but we entertain the hope that, as your faith grows, we shall gain promotion among you –still keeping within our own sphere– promotion to a larger field of labour,


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and shall tell the Good News in the districts beyond you, not boasting in another man's sphere about work already done by him.


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I am jealous over you with God's own jealousy. For I have betrothed you to Christ to present you to Him like a faithful bride to her one husband.


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But I am afraid that, as the serpent in his craftiness deceived Eve, so your minds may be led astray from their single-heartedness and their fidelity to Christ.


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If indeed some visitor is proclaiming among you another Jesus whom we did not proclaim, or if you are receiving a Spirit different from the One you have already received or a Good News different from that which you have already welcomed, your toleration is admirable!


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And if in the matter of speech I am no orator, yet in knowledge I am not deficient. Nay, we have in every way made that fully evident to you.


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Is it a sin that I abased myself in order for you to be exalted, in that I proclaimed God's Good News to you without fee or reward?


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And when I was with you and my resources failed, there was no one to whom I became a burden –for the brethren when they came from Macedonia fully supplied my wants– and I kept myself from being in the least a burden to you, and will do so still.


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Christ knows that it is true when I say that I will not be stopped from boasting of this anywhere in Greece.


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But I will persist in the same line of conduct in order to cut the ground from under the feet of those who desire an opportunity of getting themselves recognized as being on a level with us in the matters about which they boast.


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For men of this stamp are sham apostles, dishonest workmen, assuming the garb of Apostles of Christ.


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It is therefore no great thing for his servants also to disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will be in accordance with their actions.


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To return to what I was saying. Let no one suppose that I am foolish. Or if you must, at any rate make allowance for me as being foolish, in order that I, as well as they, may boast a little.


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What I am now saying, I do not say by the Lord's command, but as a fool in his folly might, in this reckless boasting.


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For you tolerate it, if any one enslaves you, lives at your expense, makes off with your property, gives himself airs, or strikes you on the face.


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I use the language of self-disparagement, as though I were admitting our own feebleness. Yet for whatever reason any one is `courageous' –I speak in mere folly– I also am courageous.


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Are they servants of Christ? (I speak as if I were out of my mind.) Much more am I His servant; serving Him more thoroughly than they by my labours, and more thoroughly also by my imprisonments, by excessively cruel floggings, and with risk of life many a time.


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Three times I have been beaten with Roman rods, once I have been stoned, three times I have been shipwrecked, once for full four and twenty hours I was floating on the open sea.


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I have served Him by frequent travelling, amid dangers in crossing rivers, dangers from robbers; dangers from my own countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles; dangers in the city, dangers in the Desert, dangers by sea, dangers from spies in our midst;


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with labour and toil, with many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, in frequent fastings, in cold, and with insufficient clothing.


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And besides other things, which I pass over, there is that which presses on me daily–my anxiety for all the Churches.


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The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ –He who is blessed throughout the Ages– knows that I am speaking the truth.


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In Damascus the governor under King Aretas kept guards at the gates of the city in order to apprehend me,


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I am compelled to boast. It is not a profitable employment, but I will proceed to visions and revelations granted me by the Lord.


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I know a Christian man who fourteen years ago – whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know; God knows– was caught up (this man of whom I am speaking) even to the highest Heaven.


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God knows–was caught up into Paradise and heard unspeakable things which no human being is permitted to repeat.


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If however I should choose to boast, I should not be a fool for so doing, for I should be speaking the truth. But I forbear, lest any one should be led to estimate me more highly than what his own eyes attest, or more highly than what he hears from my lips.


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And judging by the stupendous grandeur of the revelations–therefore lest I should be over-elated there has been sent to me, like the agony of impalement, Satan's angel dealing blow after blow, lest I should be over-elated.


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but His reply has been, »My grace suffices for you, for power matures in weakness.« Most gladly therefore will I boast of my infirmities rather than complain of them–in order that Christ's power may overshadow me.


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In fact I take pleasure in infirmities, in the bearing of insults, in distress, in persecutions, in grievous difficulties–for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.


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It is foolish of me to write all this, but you have compelled me to do so. Why, you ought to have been my vindicators; for in no respect have I been inferior to these superlatively great Apostles, even though in myself I am nothing.


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The signs that characterize the true Apostle have been done among you, accompanied by unwearied fortitude, and by tokens and marvels and displays of power.


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In what respect, therefore, have you been worse dealt with than other Churches, except that I myself never hung as a dead weight upon you? Forgive the injustice I thus did you!


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See, I am now for the third time prepared to visit you, but I will not be a dead weight to you. I desire not your money, but yourselves; for children ought not to put by for their parents, but parents for their children.


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If I love you so intensely, am I the less to be loved? Be that as it may: I was not a burden to you. But being by no means scrupulous, I entrapped you, they say!


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I begged Titus to visit you, and sent our other brother with him. Did Titus gain any selfish advantage over you? Were not he and I guided by one and the same Spirit, and did we not walk in the same steps?


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You are imagining, all this time, that we are making our defense at your bar. In reality it is as in God's presence and in communion with Christ that we speak; but, dear friends, it is all with a view to your progress in goodness.


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For I am afraid that perhaps when I come I may not find you to be what I desire, and that you may find me to be what you do not desire; that perhaps there may be contention, jealousy, bitter feeling, party spirit, ill-natured talk, backbiting, undue eulogy, unrest;


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and that upon re-visiting you I may be humbled by my God in your presence, and may have to mourn over many whose hearts still cling to their old sins, and who have not repented of the impurity, fornication, and gross sensuality, of which they have been guilty.


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This intended visit of mine is my third visit to you. <i>»On the evidence of two or three witnesses every charge shall be sustained.«</i>


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Those who cling to their old sins, and indeed all of you, I have forewarned and still forewarn (as I did on my second visit when present, so I do now, though absent) that, when I come again, I shall not spare you;


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since you want a practical proof of the fact that Christ speaks by my lips–He who is not feeble towards you, but powerful among you.


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For though it is true that He was crucified through weakness, yet He now lives through the power of God. We also are weak, sharing His weakness, but with Him we shall be full of life to deal with you through the power of God.


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Test yourselves to discover whether you are true believers: put your own selves under examination. Or do you not know that Jesus Christ is within you, unless you are insincere?


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And our prayer to God is that you may do nothing wrong; not in order that our sincerity may be demonstrated, but that you may do what is right, even though our sincerity may seem to be doubtful.


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and it is a joy to us when we are powerless, but you are strong. This we also pray for–the perfecting of your characters.


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For this reason I write thus while absent, that when present I may not have to act severely in the exercise of the authority which the Lord has given me for building up, and not for pulling down.


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Finally, brethren, be joyful, secure perfection of character, take courage, be of one mind, live in peace. And then God who gives love and peace will be with you.


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May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.


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Paul, an Apostle sent not from men nor by any man, but by Jesus Christ and by God the Father, who raised Jesus from among the dead–


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who gave Himself to suffer for our sins in order to rescue us from the present wicked age in accordance with the will of our God and Father.


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I marvel that you are so readily leaving Him who called you by the grace of Christ, and are adhering to a different Good News.


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For other »Good News« there is none; but there are some persons who are troubling you, and are seeking to distort the Good News concerning Christ.


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But if even we or an angel from Heaven should bring you a Good News different from that which we have already brought you, let him be accursed.


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What I have just said I repeat–if any one is preaching to you a Good News other than that which you originally received, let him be accursed.


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For is it man's favour or God's that I aspire to? Or am I seeking to please men? If I were still a man-pleaser, I should not be Christ's bondservant.


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For I must tell you, brethren, that the Good News which was proclaimed by me is not such as man approves of.


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For, in fact, it was not from man that I received or learnt it, but by a revelation from Jesus Christ.


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For you have heard of my early career in Judaism–how I furiously persecuted the Church of God, and made havoc of it;


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and how in devotion to Judaism I outstripped many men of my own age among my people, being far more zealous than they on behalf of the traditions of my forefathers.


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saw fit to reveal His Son within me in order that I might tell among the Gentiles the Good News concerning Him, at once I did not confer with any human being,


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nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were my seniors in the Apostleship, but I went away into Arabia, and afterwards came back to Damascus.


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Then, three years later, I went up to Jerusalem to inquire for Peter, and I spent a fortnight with him.


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They only heard it said, »He who was once our persecutor is now telling the Good News of the faith of which he formerly made havoc.«


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Later still, after an interval of fourteen years, I again went up to Jerusalem in company with Barnabas, taking Titus also with me.


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I went up in obedience to a revelation of God's will; and I explained to them the Good News which I proclaim among the Gentiles. To the leaders of the Church this explanation was made in private, lest by any means I should be running, or should already have run, in vain.


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Yet there was danger of this through the false brethren secretly introduced into the Church, who had stolen in to spy out the freedom which is ours in Christ Jesus, in order to rob us of it.


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But not for an hour did we give way and submit to them; in order that the Good News might continue with you in its integrity.


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From those leaders I gained nothing new. Whether they were men of importance or not, matters nothing to me–God recognizes no external distinctions. To me, at any rate, the leaders imparted nothing new.


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Indeed, when they saw that I was entrusted with the preaching of the Good News to the Gentiles as Peter had been with that to the Jews–


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for He who had been at work within Peter with a view to his Apostleship to the Jews had also been at work within me with a view to my Apostleship to the Gentiles–


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and when they perceived the mission which was graciously entrusted to me, they (that is to say, James, Peter, and John, who were considered to be the pillars of the Church) welcomed Barnabas and me to their fellowship on the understanding that we were to go to the Gentiles and they to the Jews.


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Now when Peter visited Antioch, I remonstrated with him to his face, because he had incurred just censure.


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For until certain persons came from James he had been accustomed to eat with Gentiles; but as soon as these persons came, he withdrew and separated himself for fear of the Circumcision party.


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And along with him the other Jews also concealed their real opinions, so that even Barnabas was carried away by their lack of straightforwardness.


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As soon as I saw that they were not walking uprightly in the spirit of the Good News, I said to Peter, before them all, »If you, though you are a Jew, live as a Gentile does, and not as a Jew, how can you make the Gentiles follow Jewish customs?


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know that it is not through obedience to Law that a man can be declared free from guilt, but only through faith in Jesus Christ. We have therefore believed in Christ Jesus, for the purpose of being declared free from guilt, through faith in Christ and not through obedience to Law. For through obedience to Law no human being shall be declared free from guilt.


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But if while we are seeking in Christ acquittal from guilt we ourselves are convicted of sin, Christ then encourages us to sin! No, indeed.


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Why, if I am now rebuilding that structure of sin which I had demolished, I am thereby constituting myself a transgressor;


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I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me; and the life which I now live in the body I live through faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself up to death on my behalf.


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I do not nullify the grace of God; for if acquittal from guilt is obtainable through the Law, then Christ has died in vain.«


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You foolish Galatians! Whose sophistry has bewitched you–you to whom Jesus Christ has been vividly portrayed as on the Cross?


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Answer me this one question, »Is it on the ground of your obedience to the Law that you received the Spirit, or is it because, when you heard, you believed?«


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Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now going to reach perfection through what is external?


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He who gives you His Spirit and works miracles among you–does He do so on the ground of your obedience to the Law, or is it the result of your having heard and believed:


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And the Scripture, foreseeing that in consequence of faith God would declare the nations to be free from guilt, sent beforehand the Good News to Abraham, saying, <i>»In you all the nations shall be blessed.«</i>


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All who are depending upon their own obedience to the Law are under a curse, for it is written, <i>»Cursed is every one who does not remain faithful to all the precepts of the Law, and practise them.«</i>


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It is evident, too, that no one can find acceptance with God simply by obeying the Law, because <i>»the righteous shall live by faith,«</i>


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and the Law has nothing to do with faith. It teaches that <i>»he who does these things shall live by doing them.«</i>


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Christ has purchased our freedom from the curse of the Law by becoming accursed for us–because <i>»Cursed is every one who is hanged upon a tree.«</i>


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Our freedom has been thus purchased in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing belonging to Abraham may come upon the nations, so that through faith we may receive the promised Spirit.


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Brethren, even a covenant made by a man –to borrow an illustration from daily life– when once formally sanctioned is not liable to be set aside or added to.


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(Now the promises were given to Abraham and to his seed. God did not say »and to seeds,« as if speaking of many, but »and to your seed,« since He spoke of only one–and this is Christ.)


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I mean that the Covenant which God had already formally made is not abrogated by the Law which was given four hundred and thirty years later–so as to annul the promise.


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For if the inheritance comes through obedience to Law, it no longer comes because of a promise. But, as a matter of fact, God has granted it to Abraham in fulfilment of a promise.


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Why then was the Law given? It was imposed later on for the sake of defining sin, until the seed should come to whom God had made the promise; and its details were laid down by a mediator with the help of angels.


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God, however, is only one. Is the Law then opposed to the promises of God? No, indeed; for if a Law had been given which could have conferred Life, righteousness would certainly have come by the Law.


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But Scripture has shown that all mankind are the prisoners of sin, in order that the promised blessing, which depends on faith in Jesus Christ, may be given to those who believe.


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Before this faith came, we Jews were perpetual prisoners under the Law, living under restraints and limitations in preparation for the faith which was soon to be revealed.


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So that the Law has acted the part of a tutor-slave to lead us to Christ, in order that through faith we may be declared to be free from guilt.


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In Him the distinctions between Jew and Gentile, slave and free man, male and female, disappear; you are all one in Christ Jesus.


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And if you belong to Christ, then you are indeed true descendants of Abraham, and are heirs in fulfilment of the promise.


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Now I say that so long as an heir is a child, he in no respect differs from a slave, although he is the owner of everything,


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So we also, when spiritually we were children, were subject to the world's rudimentary notions, and were enslaved.


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in order to purchase the freedom of all who were subject to Law, so that we might receive recognition as sons.


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And because you are sons, God has sent out the Spirit of His Son to enter your hearts and cry »Abba! our Father!«


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Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir also through God's own act.


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But at one time, you Gentiles, having no knowledge of God, were slaves to gods which in reality do not exist.


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Now, however, having come to know God –or rather to be known by Him– how is it you are again turning back to weak and worthless rudimentary notions to which you are once more willing to be enslaved?


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Brethren, become as I am, I beseech you; for I have also become like you. In no respect did you behave badly to me.


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And you know that in those early days it was on account of bodily infirmity that I proclaimed the Good News to you,


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and yet the bodily infirmity which was such a trial to you, you did not regard with contempt or loathing, but you received me as if I had been an angel of God or Christ Jesus Himself!


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I ask you, then, what has become of your self-congratulations? For I bear you witness that had it been possible you would have torn out your own eyes and have given them to me.


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These men pay court to you, but not with honourable motives. They want to exclude you, so that you may pay court to them.


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It is always an honourable thing to be courted in an honourable cause; always, and not only when I am with you, my children–


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you for whom I am again, as it were, undergoing the pains of childbirth, until Christ is fully formed within you.


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But we see that the child of the slave-girl was born in the common course of nature; but the child of the free woman in fulfilment of the promise.


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All this is allegorical; for the women represent two Covenants. One has its origin on Mount Sinai, and bears children destined for slavery.


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This is Hagar; for the name Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, which is in bondage together with her children.


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For it is written, »Rejoice, thou barren woman that bearest not, break forth into a joyful cry, thou that dost not travail with child. For the desolate woman has many children–more indeed than she who has the husband.«


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Yet just as, at that time, the child born in the common course of nature persecuted the one whose birth was due to the power of the Spirit, so it is now.


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But what says the Scripture? »Send away the slave-girl and her son, for never shall the slave-girl's son share the inheritance with the son of the free woman.«


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Christ having made us gloriously free–stand fast and do not again be hampered with the yoke of slavery.


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Remember that it is I Paul who tell you that if you receive circumcision Christ will avail you nothing.


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I once more protest to every man who receives circumcision that he is under obligation to obey the whole Law of Moses.


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Christ has become nothing to any of you who are seeking acceptance with God through the Law: you have fallen away from grace.


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We have not, for through the Spirit we wait with longing hope for an acceptance with God which is to come through faith.


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For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any importance; but only faith working through love.


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For my part I have strong confidence in you in the Lord that you will adopt my view of the matter. But the man –be he who he may– who is troubling you, will have to bear the full weight of the judgement to be pronounced on him.


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As for me, brethren, if I am still a preacher of circumcision, how is it that I am still suffering persecution? In that case the Cross has ceased to be a stumbling-block!


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You however, brethren, were called to freedom. Only do not turn your freedom into an excuse for giving way to your lower natures; but become bondservants to one another in a spirit of love.


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For the entire Law has been obeyed when you have kept the single precept, which says, <i>»You are to love your fellow man equally with yourself.«</i>


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But if you are perpetually snarling and snapping at one another, beware lest you are destroyed by one another.


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This then is what I mean. Let your lives be guided by the Spirit, and then you will certainly not indulge the cravings of your lower natures.


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For the cravings of the lower nature are opposed to those of the Spirit, and the cravings of the Spirit are opposed to those of the lower nature; because these are antagonistic to each other, so that you cannot do everything to which you are inclined.


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Now you know full well the doings of our lower natures. Fornication, impurity, indecency, idol-worship, sorcery;


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hard drinking, riotous feasting, and the like. And as to these I forewarn you, as I have already forewarned you, that those who are guilty of such things will have no share in the Kingdom of God.


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The Spirit, on the other hand, brings a harvest of love, joy, peace; patience towards others, kindness, benevolence;


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Against such things as these there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their lower nature with its passions and appetites.


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Brethren, if anybody be detected in any misconduct, you who are spiritual should restore such a one in a spirit of meekness. And let each of you keep watch over himself, lest he also fall into temptation.


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For if there is any one who thinks himself to be somebody when he is nobody, he is deluding himself.


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But let every man scrutinize his own conduct, and then he will find out, not with reference to another but with reference to himself, what he has to boast of.


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But let those who receive instruction in Christian truth share with their instructors all temporal blessings.


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Do not deceive yourselves. God is not to be scoffed at. For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.


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He who sows in the field of his lower nature, will from that nature reap destruction; but he who sows to serve the Spirit will from the Spirit reap the Life of the Ages.


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Let us not abate our courage in doing what is right; for in due time we shall reap a reward, if we do not faint.


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So then, as we have opportunity, let us labour for the good of all, and especially of those who belong to the household of the faith.


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All who desire to display their zeal for external observances try to compel you to receive circumcision, but their real object is simply to escape being persecuted for the Cross of Christ.


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For these very men do not really keep the Law of Moses, but they would have you receive circumcision in order that they may glory in your bodies.


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But as for me, God forbid that I should glory in anything except the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, upon which the world is crucified to me, and I am crucified to the world.


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And all who shall regulate their lives by this principle –may peace and mercy be given to them– and to the true Israel of God.


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From this time onward let no one trouble me; for, as for me, I bear, branded on my body, the scars of Jesus as my Master.


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Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God: To God's people who are in Ephesus–believers in Christ Jesus.


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Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has crowned us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ;


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even as, in His love, He chose us as His own in Christ before the creation of the world, that we might be holy and without blemish in His presence.


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For He pre-destined us to be adopted by Himself as sons through Jesus Christ –such being His gracious will and pleasure–


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It is in Him, and through the shedding of His blood, that we have our deliverance –the forgiveness of our offences– so abundant was God's grace,


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for the government of the world when the times are ripe for it–the purpose which He has cherished in His own mind of restoring the whole creation to find its one Head in Christ; yes, things in Heaven and things on earth, to find their one Head in Him.


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In Him we Jews have been made heirs, having been chosen beforehand in accordance with the intention of Him whose might carries out in everything the design of His own will,


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so that we should be devoted to the extolling of His glorious attributes–we who were the first to fix our hopes on Christ.


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And in Him you Gentiles also, after listening to the Message of the truth, the Good News of your salvation –having believed in Him– were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit;


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that Spirit being a pledge and foretaste of our inheritance, in anticipation of its full redemption–the inheritance which He has purchased to be specially His for the extolling of His glory.


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For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which prevails among you, and of your love for all God's people,


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For I always beseech the God of our Lord Jesus Christ –the Father most glorious– to give you a spirit of wisdom and penetration through an intimate knowledge of Him,


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the eyes of your understanding being enlightened so that you may know what is the hope which His call to you inspires, what the wealth of the glory of His inheritance in God's people,


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and what the transcendent greatness of His power in us believers as seen in the working of His infinite might


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when He displayed it in Christ by raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His own right hand in the heavenly realms,


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high above all other government and authority and power and dominion, and every title of sovereignty used either in this Age or in the Age to come.


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God has put all things under His feet, and has appointed Him universal and supreme Head of the Church, which is His Body,


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which were once habitual to you while you walked in the ways of this world and obeyed the Prince of the powers of the air, the spirits that are now at work in the hearts of the sons of disobedience–to you God has given Life.


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Among them all of us also formerly passed our lives, governed by the inclinations of our lower natures, indulging the cravings of those natures and of our own thoughts, and were in our original state deserving of anger like all others.


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caused us, dead though we were through our offences, to live with Christ –it is by grace that you have been saved–


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raised us with Him from the dead, and enthroned us with Him in the heavenly realms as being in Christ Jesus,


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in order that, by His goodness to us in Christ Jesus, He might display in the Ages to come the transcendent riches of His grace.


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For it is by grace that you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves. It is God's gift, and is not on the ground of merit–


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For we are God's own handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for good works which He has pre-destined us to practise.


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Therefore, do not forget that formerly you were Gentiles as to your bodily condition. You were called the Uncircumcision by those who style themselves the Circumcised–their circumcision being one which the knife has effected.


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At that time you were living apart from Christ, estranged from the Commonwealth of Israel, with no share by birth in the Covenants which are based on the Promises, and you had no hope and no God, in all the world.


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But now in Christ Jesus you who once were so far away have been brought near through the death of Christ.


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For He is our peace–He who has made Jews and Gentiles one, and in His own human nature has broken down the hostile dividing wall,


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by setting aside the Law with its commandments, expressed, as they were, in definite decrees. His design was to unite the two sections of humanity in Himself so as to form one new man,


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thus effecting peace, and to reconcile Jews and Gentiles in one body to God, by means of His cross–slaying by it their mutual enmity.


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So He came and proclaimed good news of peace to you who were so far away, and peace to those who were near;


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because it is through Him that Jews and Gentiles alike have access through one Spirit to the Father.


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You are therefore no longer mere foreigners or persons excluded from civil rights. On the contrary you share citizenship with God's people and are members of His family.


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You are a building which has been reared on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, the cornerstone being Christ Jesus Himself,


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in union with whom the whole fabric, fitted and closely joined together, is growing so as to form a holy sanctuary in the Lord;


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and that by a revelation the truth hitherto kept secret was made known to me as I have already briefly explained it to you.


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which in earlier ages was not made known to the human race, as it has now been revealed to His holy Apostles and Prophets through the Spirit–


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I mean the truth that the Gentiles are joint heirs with us Jews, and that they form one body with us, and have the same interest as we have in the promise which has been made good in Christ Jesus through the Good News,


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in which I have been appointed to serve, in virtue of the work which God, in the exercise of His power within me, has graciously entrusted to me.


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To me who am less than the least of all God's people has this work been graciously entrusted–to proclaim to the Gentiles the Good News of the exhaustless wealth of Christ,


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and to show all men in a clear light what my stewardship is. It is the stewardship of the truth which from all the Ages lay concealed in the mind of God, the Creator of all things–


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concealed in order that the Church might now be used to display to the powers and authorities in the heavenly realms the innumerable aspects of God's wisdom.


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Therefore I entreat you not to lose heart in the midst of my sufferings on your behalf, for they bring you honour.


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to grant you –in accordance with the wealth of His glorious perfections– to be strengthened by His Spirit with power penetrating to your inmost being.


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I pray that Christ may make His home in your hearts through your faith; so that having your roots deep and your foundations strong, in love, you may become mighty to grasp the idea,


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yes, to attain to a knowledge of the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ, so that you may be made complete in accordance with God's own standard of completeness.


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Now to Him who, in exercise of His power that is at work within us, is able to do infinitely beyond all our highest prayers or thoughts–


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I, then, the prisoner for the Master's sake, entreat you to live and act as becomes those who have received the call that you have received–


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with all lowliness of mind and unselfishness, and with patience, bearing with one another lovingly, and earnestly striving to maintain,


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There is but one body and but one Spirit, as also when you were called you had one and the same hope held out to you.


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For this reason Scripture says: »He re-ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, and gave gifts to men.«


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(Now this »re-ascended« –what does it mean but that He had first descended into the lower regions of the earth?


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He who descended is the same as He who ascended again far above all the Heavens in order to fill the universe.)


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And He Himself appointed some to be Apostles, some to be Prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be pastors and teachers,


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till we all of us arrive at oneness in faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, and at mature manhood and the stature of full-grown men in Christ.


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So we shall no longer be babes nor shall we resemble mariners tossed on the waves and carried about with every changing wind of doctrine according to men's cleverness and unscrupulous cunning, making use of every shifting device to mislead.


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But we shall lovingly hold to the truth, and shall in all respects grow up into union with Him who is our Head, even Christ.


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Dependent on Him, the whole body –its various parts closely fitting and firmly adhering to one another– grows by the aid of every contributory link, with power proportioned to the need of each individual part, so as to build itself up in a spirit of love.


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Therefore I warn you, and I implore you in the name of the Master, no longer to live as the Gentiles in their perverseness live,


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with darkened understandings, having by reason of the ignorance which is deep-seated in them and the insensibility of their moral nature, no share in the Life which God gives.


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Such men being past feeling have abandoned themselves to impurity, greedily indulging in every kind of profligacy.


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if at least you have heard His voice and in Him have been taught –and this is true Christian teaching–


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to put away, in regard to your former mode of life, your original evil nature which is doomed to perish as befits its misleading impulses,


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with that new and better self which has been created to resemble God in the righteousness and holiness which come from the truth.


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For this reason, laying aside falsehood, every one of you should speak the truth to his fellow man; for we are, as it were, parts of one another.


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He who has been a thief must steal no more, but, instead of that, should work with his own hands in honest industry, so that he may have something of which he can give the needy a share.


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Let no unwholesome words ever pass your lips, but let all your words be good for benefiting others according to the need of the moment, so that they may be a means of blessing to the hearers.


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And beware of grieving the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you have been sealed in preparation for the day of Redemption.


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Let all bitterness and all passionate feeling, all anger and loud insulting language, be unknown among you–and also every kind of malice.


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On the contrary learn to be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ has also forgiven you.


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And live and act lovingly, as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up to death on our behalf as an offering and sacrifice to God, yielding a fragrant odor.


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But fornication and every kind of impurity, or covetousness, let them not even be mentioned among you, for they ought not to be named among God's people.


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Avoid shameful and foolish talk and low jesting –they are all alike discreditable– and in place of these give thanks.


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For be well assured that no fornicator or immoral person and no money-grubber –or in other words idol-worshipper– has any share awaiting him in the Kingdom of Christ and of God.


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Let no one deceive you with empty words, for it is on account of these very sins that God's anger is coming upon the disobedient.


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Live and act as sons of Light –for the effect of the Light is seen in every kind of goodness, uprightness and truth–


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Have nothing to do with the barren unprofitable deeds of darkness, but, instead of that, set your faces against them;


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But everything can be tested by the light and thus be shown in its true colors; for whatever shines of itself is light.


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For this reason it is said, »Rise, sleeper; rise from among the dead, and Christ will shed light upon you.«


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On this account do not prove yourselves wanting in sense, but try to understand what the Lord's will is.


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but drink deeply of God's Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and offer praise in your hearts to the Lord.


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Always and for everything let your thanks to God the Father be presented in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;


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because a husband is the Head of his wife as Christ also is the Head of the Church, being indeed the Saviour of this His Body.


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And just as the Church submits to Christ, so also married women should be entirely submissive to their husbands.


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that He might present the Church to Himself a glorious bride, without spot or wrinkle or any other defect, but to be holy and unblemished.


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So too married men ought to love their wives as much as they love themselves. He who loves his wife loves himself.


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For never yet has a man hated his own body. On the contrary he feeds and cherishes it, just as Christ feeds and cherishes the Church;


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<i>»For this reason a man is to leave his father and his mother and be united to his wife, and the two shall be as one.«</i>


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Yet I insist that among you also, each man is to love his own wife as much as he loves himself, and let a married woman see to it that she treats her husband with respect.


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<i>»Honour your father and your mother«</i> –this is the first Commandment which has a promise added to it–


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And you, fathers, do not irritate your children, but bring them up tenderly with true Christian training and advice.


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Slaves, be obedient to your earthly masters, with respect and eager anxiety to please and with simplicity of motive as if you were obeying Christ.


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Let it not be in acts of eye-service as if you had but to please men, but as Christ's bondservants who are doing God's will from the heart.


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You well know that whatever right thing any one does, he will receive a requital for it from the Lord, whether he is a slave or a free man.


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And you masters, act towards your slaves on the same principles, and refrain from threats. For you know that in Heaven there is One who is your Master as well as theirs, and that merely earthly distinctions there are none with Him.


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Put on the complete armour of God, so as to be able to stand firm against all the stratagems of the Devil.


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For ours is not a conflict with mere flesh and blood, but with the despotisms, the empires, the forces that control and govern this dark world–the spiritual hosts of evil arrayed against us in the heavenly warfare.


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Therefore put on the complete armour of God, so that you may be able to stand your ground on the day of battle, and, having fought to the end, to remain victors on the field.


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Stand therefore, first fastening round you the girdle of truth and putting on the breastplate of uprightness


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And besides all these take the great shield of faith, on which you will be able to quench all the flaming darts of the Wicked one;


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Pray with unceasing prayer and entreaty on every fitting occasion in the Spirit, and be always on the alert to seize opportunities for doing so, with unwearied persistence and entreaty on behalf of all God's people,


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and ask on my behalf that words may be given to me so that, outspoken and fearless, I may make known the truths (hitherto kept secret) of the Good News–


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to spread which I am an ambassador in chains–so that when telling them I may speak out boldly as I ought.


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But in order that you also may know how I am doing, Tychicus our dearly-loved brother and faithful helper in the Lord's service will tell you everything.


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I have sent him to you for the very purpose–that you may know about us and that he may encourage you.


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Peace be to the brethren, and love combined with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.


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Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Christ Jesus: To all God's people in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the ministers of the Church and their assistants.


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I thank my God, I say, for your cooperation in spreading the Good News, from the time it first came to you even until now.


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For of this I am confident, that He who has begun a good work within you will go on to perfect it in preparation for the day of Jesus Christ.


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And I am justified in having this confidence about you all, because, both during my imprisonment and when I stand up in defence of the Good News or to confirm its truth, I have you in my heart, sharers as you all are in the same grace as myself.


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And it is my prayer that your love may be more and more accompanied by clear knowledge and keen perception, for testing things that differ,


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so that you may be men of transparent character, and may be blameless, in preparation for the day of Christ,


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being filled with these fruits of righteousness which come through Jesus Christ– to the glory and praise of God.


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Now I would have you know, brethren, that what I have gone through has turned out to the furtherance of the Good News rather than otherwise.


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And thus it has become notorious among all the Imperial Guards, and everywhere, that it is for the sake of Christ that I am a prisoner;


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and the greater part of the brethren, made confident in the Lord through my imprisonment, now speak of God's Message without fear, more boldly than ever.


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Some indeed actually preach Christ out of envy and contentiousness but there are also others who do it from good will.


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while the others proclaim Him from motives of rivalry, and insincerely, supposing that by this they are embittering my imprisonment.


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What does it matter, however? In any case Christ is preached–either perversely or in honest truth; and in that I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice.


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For I know that it will result in my salvation through your prayers and a bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,


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in fulfilment of my eager expectation and hope that I shall never have reason to feel ashamed, but that by my perfect freedom of speech Christ will be glorified in me, now as always, either by my life or by my death.


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But since to live means a longer stay on earth, that implies more labour for me–and not unsuccessful labour; and which I am to choose I cannot tell.


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I am in a dilemma, my earnest desire being to depart and be with Christ, for that is far, far better.


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I am convinced of this, and I know that I shall remain, and shall go on working side by side with you all, to promote your progress and joy in the faith;


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so that, as Christians, you may have additional reason for glorying about me as the result of my being with you again.


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Only let the lives you live be worthy of the Good News of the Christ, in order that, whether I come and see you or, being absent, only hear of you, I may know that you are standing fast in one spirit and with one mind, fighting shoulder to shoulder for the faith of the Good News.


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Never for a moment quail before your antagonists. Your fearlessness will be to them a sure token of impending destruction, but to you it will be a sure token of your salvation–a token coming from God.


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For you have had the privilege granted you on behalf of Christ–not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer on His behalf;


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maintaining, as you do, the same kind of conflict that you once saw in me and which you still hear that I am engaged in.


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If then I can appeal to you as the followers of Christ, if there is any persuasive power in love and any common sharing of the Spirit, or if you have any tender-heartedness and compassion, make my joy complete by being of one mind,


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Do nothing in a spirit of factiousness or of vainglory, but, with true humility, let every one regard the rest as being of more account than himself;


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Although from the beginning He had the nature of God He did not reckon His equality with God a treasure to be tightly grasped.


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Nay, He stripped Himself of His glory, and took on Him the nature of a bondservant by becoming a man like other men.


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And being recognized as truly human, He humbled Himself and even stooped to die; yes, to die on a cross.


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It is in consequence of this that God has also so highly exalted Him, and has conferred on Him the Name which is supreme above every other,


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in order that in the Name of JESUS every knee should bow, of beings in Heaven, of those on the earth, and of those in the underworld,


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Therefore, my dearly-loved friends, as I have always found you obedient, labour earnestly with fear and trembling –not merely as though I were present with you, but much more now since I am absent from you– labour earnestly, I say, to make sure of your own salvation.


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For it is God Himself whose power creates within you the desire to do His gracious will and also brings about the accomplishment of the desire.


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so that you may always prove yourselves to be blameless and spotless–irreproachable children of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as heavenly lights in the world,


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holding out to them a Message of Life. It will then be my glory on the day of Christ that I did not run my race in vain nor toil in vain.


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Nay, even if my life is to be poured as a libation upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I rejoice, and I congratulate you all.


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But, if the Lord permits it, I hope before long to send Timothy to you, that I, in turn, may be cheered by getting news of you.


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But you know Timothy's approved worth–how, like a child working with his father, he has served with me in furtherance of the Good News.


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Yet I deem it important to send Epaphroditus to you now–he is my brother and comrade both in labour and in arms, and is your messenger who has ministered to my needs.


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I send him because he is longing to see you all and is distressed at your having heard of his illness.


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For it is true that he has been ill, and was apparently at the point of death; but God had pity on him, and not only on him, but also on me, to save me from having sorrow upon sorrow.


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I am therefore all the more eager to send him, in the hope that when you see him again you may be glad and I may have the less sorrow.


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because it was for the sake of Christ's work that he came so near death, hazarding, as he did, his very life in endeavouring to make good any deficiency that there might be in your gifts to me.


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In conclusion, my brethren, be joyful in the Lord. For me to give you the same warnings as before is not irksome to me, while so far as you are concerned it is a safe precaution.


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For we are the true circumcision–we who render to God a spiritual worship and make our boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in outward ceremonies:


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although I myself might have some excuse for confidence in outward ceremonies. If any one else claims a right to trust in them, far more may I:


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circumcised, as I was, on the eighth day, a member of the race of Israel and of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew sprung from Hebrews; as to the Law a Pharisee;


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Nay, I even reckon all things as pure loss because of the priceless privilege of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. And for His sake I have suffered the loss of everything, and reckon it all as mere refuse, in order that I may win Christ and be found in union with Him,


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not having a righteousness of my own, derived from the Law, but that which arises from faith in Christ–the righteousness which comes from God through faith.


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I long to know Christ and the power which is in His resurrection, and to share in His sufferings and die even as He died;


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I do not say that I have already won the race or have already reached perfection. But I am pressing on, striving to lay hold of the prize for which also Christ has laid hold of me.


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Brethren, I do not imagine that I have yet laid hold of it. But this one thing I do–forgetting everything which is past and stretching forward to what lies in front of me,


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with my eyes fixed on the goal I push on to secure the prize of God's heavenward call in Christ Jesus.


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Therefore let all of us who are mature believers cherish these thoughts; and if in any respect you think differently, that also God will make clear to you.


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Brethren, vie with one another in imitating me, and carefully observe those who follow the example which we have set you.


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For there are many whom I have often described to you, and I now even with tears describe them, as being enemies to the Cross of Christ.


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Their end is destruction, their bellies are their God, their glory is in their shame, and their minds are devoted to earthly things.


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We, however, are free citizens of Heaven, and we are waiting with longing expectation for the coming from Heaven of a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ,


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who, in the exercise of the power which He has even to subject all things to Himself, will transform this body of our humiliation until it resembles His own glorious body.


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Therefore, my brethren, dearly loved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand firm in the Lord, my dearly-loved ones.


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Yes, and I beg you also, my faithful yoke-fellow, to help these women who have shared my toil in connection with the Good News, together with Clement and the rest of my fellow labourers, whose names are recorded in the Book of Life.


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Do not be over-anxious about anything, but by prayer and earnest pleading, together with thanksgiving, let your request be unreservedly made known in the presence of God.


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And then the peace of God, which transcends all our powers of thought, will be a garrison to guard your hearts and minds in union with Christ Jesus.


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Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever wins respect, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovable, whatever is of good repute –if there is any virtue or anything deemed worthy of praise– cherish the thought of these things.


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The doctrines and the line of conduct which I taught you –both what you heard and what you saw in me– hold fast to them; and God who gives peace will be with you.


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But I rejoice with a deep and holy joy that now at length you have revived your thoughtfulness for my welfare. Indeed you have always been thoughtful for me, although opportunity failed you.


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I do not refer to this through fear of privation, for (for my part) I have learned, whatever be my outward experiences, to be content.


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I know both how to live in humble circumstances and how to live amid abundance. I am fully initiated into all the mysteries both of fulness and of hunger, of abundance and of want.


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And you men and women of Philippi also know that at the first preaching of the Good News, when I had left Macedonia, no other Church except yourselves held communication with me about giving and receiving;


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I have enough of everything –and more than enough. My wants are fully satisfied now that I have received from the hands of Epaphroditus the generous gifts which you sent me– they are a fragrant odor, an acceptable sacrifice, truly pleasing to God.


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My Christian greetings to every one of God's people. The brethren who are with me send their greetings.


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To the people of God and the believing brethren at Colossae who are in Christ. May grace and peace be granted to you from God our Father.


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because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which you cherish towards all God's people,


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on account of the hope treasured up for you in Heaven. Of this hope you have already heard in the Message of the truth of the Good News.


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For it has reached you, and remains with you, just as it has also spread through the whole world, yielding fruit there and increasing, as it has done among you from the day when first you heard it and came really to know the grace of God,


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as you learned it from Epaphras our dearly-loved fellow servant. He is to you a faithful minister of Christ in our stead,


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For this reason we also, from the day we first received these tidings, have never ceased to pray for you and to entreat that you may be filled with a clear knowledge of His will accompanied by thorough wisdom and discernment in spiritual things;


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so that your lives may be worthy of the Lord and perfectly pleasing to Him, while you exhibit the results of right action of every sort and grow into a fuller knowledge of God.


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Since His power is so glorious, may you be strengthened with strength of every kind, and be prepared for cheerfully enduring all things with patience and long-suffering;


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and give thanks to the Father who has made us fit to receive our share of the inheritance of God's people in Light.


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It is God who has delivered us out of the dominion of darkness, and has transferred us into the Kingdom of His dearly-loved Son,


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For in Him was created the universe of things in heaven and on earth, things seen and things unseen, thrones, dominions, princedoms, powers–all were created, and exist through and for Him.


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Moreover He is the Head of His Body, the Church. He is the Beginning, the Firstborn from among the dead, in order that He Himself may in all things occupy the foremost place.


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And God purposed through Him to reconcile the universe to Himself, making peace through His blood, which was shed upon the Cross–to reconcile to Himself through Him, I say, things on earth and things in Heaven.


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He has now, in His human body, reconciled to God by His death, to bring you, holy and faultless and irreproachable, into His presence;


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if, indeed, you are still firmly holding to faith as your foundation, without ever shifting from your hope that rests on the Good News that you have heard, which has been proclaimed in the whole creation under Heaven, and in which I Paul have been appointed to serve.


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Now I can find joy amid my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my own person whatever is lacking in Christ's afflictions on behalf of His Body, the Church.


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I have been appointed to serve the Church in the position of responsibility entrusted to me by God for your benefit, so that I may fully deliver God's Message–


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the truth which has been kept secret from all ages and generations, but has now been revealed to His people,


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to whom it was His will to make known how vast a wealth of glory for the Gentile world is implied in this truth–the truth that `Christ is in you, the hope of glory.'


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Him we preach, admonishing every one and instructing every one, with all possible wisdom, so that we may bring every one into God's presence, made perfect through Christ.


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To this end, like an earnest wrestler, I exert all my strength in reliance upon the power of Him who is mightily at work within me.


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For I would have you know in how severe a struggle I am engaged on behalf of you and the brethren in Laodicea and of all who have not known me personally,


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in order that their hearts may be cheered, they themselves being welded together in love and enjoying all the advantages of a reasonable certainty, till at last they attain the full knowledge of God's truth, which is Christ Himself.


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For although, as you say, I am absent from you in body, yet in spirit I am present with you and am delighted to witness your good discipline and the solid front presented by your faith in Christ.


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As therefore you have received the Christ, even Jesus our Lord, live and act in vital union with Him;


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having the roots of your being firmly planted in Him, and continually building yourselves up in Him, and always being increasingly confirmed in the faith as you were taught it, and abounding in it with thanksgiving.


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Take care lest there be some one who leads you away as prisoners by means of his philosophy and idle fancies, following human traditions and the world's crude notions instead of following Christ.


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For it is in Christ that the fulness of God's nature dwells embodied, and in Him you are made complete,


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In Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision not performed by hand, when you threw off your sinful nature in true Christian circumcision;


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having been buried with Him in your baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith produced within you by God who raised Him from among the dead.


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And to you –dead as you once were in your transgressions and in the uncircumcision of your natural state– He has nevertheless given Life with Himself, having forgiven us all our transgressions.


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The bond, with its requirements, which was in force against us and was hostile to us, He cancelled, and cleared it out of the way, nailing it to His Cross.


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And the hostile princes and rulers He shook off from Himself, and boldly displayed them as His conquests, when by the Cross He triumphed over them.


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Therefore suffer no one to sit in judgement on you as to eating or drinking or with regard to a festival, a new moon or a sabbath.


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Let no one defraud you of your prize, priding himself on his humility and on his worship of the angels, and taking his stand on the visions he has seen, and idly puffed up with his unspiritual thoughts.


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Such a one does not keep his hold upon Christ, the Head, from whom the Body, in all its parts nourished and strengthened by its points of contact and its connections, grows with a divine growth.


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If you have died with Christ and have escaped from the world's rudimentary notions, why, as though your life still belonged to the world, do you submit to such precepts as


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referring to things which are all intended to be used up and perish–in obedience to mere human injunctions and teachings?


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These rules have indeed an appearance of wisdom where self-imposed worship exists, and an affectation of humility and an ascetic severity. But not one of them is of any value in combating the indulgence of our lower natures.


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If however you have risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, enthroned at God's right hand.


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Therefore put to death your earthward inclinations–fornication, impurity, sensual passion, unholy desire, and all greed, for that is a form of idolatry.


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But now you must rid yourselves of every kind of sin –angry and passionate outbreaks, ill-will, evil speaking, foul-mouthed abuse– so that these may never soil your lips.


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and have clothed yourselves with the new self which is being remoulded into full knowledge so as to become like Him who created it.


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In that new creation there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free man, but Christ is everything and is in all of us.


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Clothe yourselves therefore, as God's own people holy and dearly loved, with tender-heartedness, kindness, lowliness of mind, meekness, long-suffering;


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bearing with one another and readily forgiving each other, if any one has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, you also must forgive.


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and let the peace which Christ gives settle all questionings in your hearts, to which peace indeed you were called as belonging to His one Body; and be thankful.


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Let the teaching concerning Christ remain as a rich treasure in your hearts. In all wisdom teach and admonish one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, and sing with grace in your hearts to God.


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And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, and let it be through Him that you give thanks to God the Father.


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Slaves, be obedient in everything to your earthly masters; not in acts of eye service, as aiming only to please men, but with simplicity of purpose, because you fear the Lord.


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Whatever you are doing, let your hearts be in your work, as a thing done for the Lord and not for men.


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For you know that it is from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. Christ is the Master whose bondservants you are.


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The man who perpetrates a wrong will find the wrong repaid to him; and with God there are no merely earthly distinctions.


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And pray at the same time for us also, that God may open for us a door for preaching, for us to tell the truth concerning Christ for the sake of which I am even a prisoner.


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Let your language be always seasoned with the salt of grace, so that you may know how to give every man a fitting answer.


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Tychicus, our much-loved brother, a trusty assistant and fellow servant with us in the Lord's work, will give you every information about me.


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And for this very purpose I send him to you that you may know how we are faring; and that he may cheer your hearts.


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And with him I send our dear and trusty brother Onesimus, who is one of yourselves. They will inform you of everything here.


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Aristarchus my fellow prisoner sends greeting to you, and so does Barnabas's cousin Mark. You have received instructions as to him; if he comes to you, give him a welcome.


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Jesus, called Justus, also sends greeting. These three are Hebrew converts. They alone among such have worked loyally with me for the Kingdom of God–they are men who have been a comfort to me.


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Epaphras, who is one of yourselves, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, sends greetings to you, always wrestling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand firm–Christians of ripe character and of clear conviction as to everything which is God's will.


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For I can bear witness to the deep interest he takes in you and in the brethren at Laodicea and in those at Hierapolis.


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Christian greetings to the brethren at Laodicea, especially to Nymphas, and to the Church that meets at their house.


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And when this Letter has been read among you, let it be read also in the Church of the Laodiceans, and you in turn must read the one I am sending to Laodicea.


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I Paul add with my own hand this final greeting. Be mindful of me in my imprisonment. Grace be with you.


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Paul, Silas, and Timothy: To the Church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be granted to you.


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For we never fail to remember your works of faith and labours of love and your persistent and unwavering hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father;


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The Good News that we brought you did not come to you in words only, but also with power and with the Holy Spirit and with much certainty, for you know the sort of men we became among you, as examples for your sakes.


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And you followed the pattern set you by us and by the Master, after you had received the Message amid severe persecution, and yet with the joy which the Holy Spirit gives,


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For it was not only from you that the Master's Message sounded forth throughout Macedonia and Greece; but everywhere your faith in God has become known, so that it is unnecessary for us to say anything about it.


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For when others speak of us they report the reception we had from you, and how you turned from your idols to God, to be bondservants of the true and ever-living God,


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and to await the return from Heaven of His Son, whom He raised from among the dead–even Jesus, our Deliverer from God's coming anger.


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But, as you will remember, after we had already met with suffering and outrage at Philippi, we summoned up boldness, by the help of our God, to tell you God's Good News amid much opposition.


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For our preaching was not grounded on a delusion, nor prompted by mingled motives, nor was there fraud in it.


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But as God tested and approved us before entrusting us with His Good News, so in what we say we are seeking not to please men but to please God, who tests and approves our motives.


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For, as you are well aware, we have never used the language of flattery nor have we found pretexts for enriching ourselves–God is our witness;


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nor did we seek glory either from you or from any other mere men, although we might have stood on our dignity as Christ's Apostles.


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On the contrary, in our relations to you we showed ourselves as gentle as a mother is when she tenderly nurses her own children.


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Seeing that we were thus drawn affectionately towards you, it would have been a joy to us to have imparted to you not only God's Good News, but to have given our very lives also, because you had become very dear to us.


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For you remember, brethren, our labour and toil: how, working night and day so as not to become a burden to any one of you, we came and proclaimed among you God's Good News.


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You yourselves are witnesses –and God is witness– how holy and upright and blameless our dealings with you believers were.


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For you know that we acted towards every one of you as a father does towards his own children, encouraging and cheering you,


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and imploring you to live lives worthy of fellowship with God who is inviting you to share His own Kingship and glory.


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And for this further reason we render unceasing thanks to God, that when you received God's Message from our lips, it was as no mere message from men that you embraced it, but as –what it really is– God's Message, which also does its work in the hearts of you who believe.


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For you, brethren, followed the example of the Churches of God in Christ Jesus which are in Judaea; seeing that you endured the same ill-treatment at the hands of your countrymen, as they did at the hands of the Jews.


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Those Jewish persecutors killed both the Lord Jesus and the Prophets, and drove us out of their midst. They are displeasing to God, and are the enemies of all mankind;


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for they still try to prevent our preaching to the Gentiles so that they may find salvation. They thus continually fill up the measure of their own sins, and God's anger in its severest form has overtaken them.


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But we, brethren, having been for a short time separated from you in bodily presence, though not in heart, endeavoured all the more earnestly, with intense longing, to see you face to face.


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On this account we wanted to come to you –at least I Paul wanted again and again to do so– but Satan hindered us.


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For what is our hope or joy, or the crown of which we boast? Is it not you yourselves in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His Coming?


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and sent Timothy our brother and God's minister in the service of Christ's Good News, that he might help you spiritually and encourage you in your faith;


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that none of you might be unnerved by your present trials: for you yourselves know that they are our appointed lot.


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For even when we were with you, we forewarned you, saying, »We are soon to suffer affliction;« and this actually happened, as you well know.


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For this reason I also, when I could no longer endure the uncertainty, sent to know the condition of your faith, lest perchance the Tempter might have tempted you and our labour have been lost.


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But now that Timothy has recently come back to us from you, and has brought us the happy tidings of your faith and love, and has told us how you still cherish a constant and affectionate recollection of us, and are longing to see us as we also long to see you–


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for this reason in our distress and trouble we have been comforted about you, brethren, by your faith.


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For what thanksgiving on your behalf can we possibly offer to God in return for all the joy which fills our souls before our God for you,


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while night and day, with intense earnestness, we pray that we may see your faces, and may bring to perfection whatever may be still lacking in your faith?


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and as for you, may the Lord teach you to love one another and all men, with a growing and a glowing love, resembling our love for you.


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Thus He will build up your characters, so that you will be faultlessly holy in the presence of our God and Father at the Coming of our Lord Jesus with all His holy ones.


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Moreover, brethren, as you learnt from our lips the lives which you ought to live, and do live, so as to please God, we beg and exhort you in the name of the Lord Jesus to live them more and more truly.


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and that in this matter there be no encroaching on the rights of a brother Christian and no overreaching him. For the Lord is an avenger in all such cases, as we have already taught you and solemnly warned you.


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Therefore a defiant spirit in such a case provokes not man but God, who puts His Holy Spirit into your hearts.


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But on the subject of love for the brotherhood it is unnecessary for me to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another;


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and indeed you do love all the brethren throughout Macedonia. And we exhort you to do so more and more,


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and to vie with one another in eagerness for peace, every one minding his own business and working with his hands, as we ordered you to do:


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Now, concerning those who from time to time pass away, we would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, lest you should mourn as others do who have no hope.


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For if we believe that Jesus has died and risen again, we also believe that, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who shall have passed away.


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For this we declare to you on the Lord's own authority–that we who are alive and continue on earth until the Coming of the Lord, shall certainly not forestall those who shall have previously passed away.


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For the Lord Himself will come down from Heaven with a loud word of command, and with an archangel's voice and the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.


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Afterwards we who are alive and are still on earth will be caught up in their company amid clouds to meet the Lord in the air.


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While they are saying »Peace and safety!« then in a moment destruction falls upon them, like birth-pains on a woman who is with child; and escape there is none.


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for all of you are sons of Light and sons of the day. We belong neither to the night nor to darkness.


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But let us, belonging –as we do– to the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.


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For God has not pre-destined us to meet His anger, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ;


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Now we beg you, brethren, to show respect for those who labour among you and are your leaders in Christian work, and are your advisers;


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And we exhort you, brethren, admonish the unruly, comfort the timid, sustain the weak, and be patient towards all.


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See to it that no one ever repays another with evil for evil; but always seek opportunities of doing good both to one another and to all the world.


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And may God Himself who gives peace, make you entirely holy; and may your spirits, souls and bodies be preserved complete and be found blameless at the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.


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Paul, Silas, and Timothy: To the Church of the Thessalonians which is in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.


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Unceasing thanks are due from us to God on your behalf, brethren. They are appropriate because your faith is growing greatly, and the love of every one of you for all the others goes on increasing.


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It so increases that we ourselves make honourable mention of you among the Churches of God because of your patience and faith amid all your persecutions and amid the afflictions which you are enduring.


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For these are a plain token of God's righteous judgement, which has in view your being deemed worthy of admission to God's Kingdom, for the sake of which, indeed, you are sufferers.


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A plain token of God's righteous judgement, I say, since it is a righteous thing for Him to requite with affliction those who are now afflicting you;


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and to requite with rest you who are suffering affliction now–rest with us at the re-appearing of the Lord Jesus from Heaven, attended by His mighty angels.


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He will come in flames of fire to take vengeance on those who have no knowledge of God, and do not obey the Good News as to Jesus, our Lord.


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They will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, being banished from the presence of the Lord and from His glorious majesty,


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when He comes on that day to be glorified in His people and to be wondered at among all who have believed, including you–because you believed the testimony which we brought for your acceptance.


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It is with this view also that we continually pray to our God for you, asking that He will count you worthy of His call, and by His mighty power fully gratify your every desire for what is truly good and make your work of faith complete;


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in order that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and that you may be glorified in Him–so wonderful is the grace of our God and of the Lord Jesus Christ!


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But with respect to the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to meet Him, we entreat you, brethren,


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not readily to become unsettled in mind or troubled –either by any pretended spiritual revelation or by any message or letter claiming to have been sent by us– through fancying that the day of the Lord is now here.


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Let no one in any way deceive you, for that day cannot come without the coming of the apostasy first, and the appearing of the man of sin, the son of perdition, who sets himself against,


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and exalts himself above, every so-called `god' or object of worship, and goes the length of taking his seat in the very temple of God, giving it out that he himself is God.


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And now you know what restrains him, in order that his true character may be revealed at his appointed time.


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For lawlessness is already at work in secret; but only until the man who is now exercising a restraining influence is removed,


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and then the Lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will sweep away with the tempest of His anger, and utterly overwhelm by the awful splendour of His Coming.


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The appearing of the Lawless one will be attended by various miracles and tokens and delusive marvels –for so Satan works–


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and by every kind of wicked deception for those who are on the way to perdition because they did not welcome into their hearts the love of the truth, so that they might be saved.


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in order that all may come under judgement who have refused to believe the truth and have taken pleasure in unrighteousness.


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And from us thanks are always due to God on your behalf –brethren whom the Lord loves– because God from the beginning has chosen you for salvation through the Spirit's sanctifying influence and your belief in the truth.


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To this blessing God has called you by our Good News, so that you may have a share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.


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So then, brethren, stand your ground, and hold fast to the teachings which you have received from us, whether by word of mouth or by letter.


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And may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself –and God our Father who has loved us and has given us in His grace eternal consolation and a bright hope–


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Finally, brethren, pray for us, asking that the Lord's Message may be spread rapidly and its glory be displayed, as it was displayed among you;


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and that we may be delivered from wrong-headed and wicked men; for it is not everybody who has faith.


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And we have confidence in the Lord in regard to you that you are doing, and will do, what we command.


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But, by the authority of the Lord, we command you, brethren, to stand aloof from every brother whose life is disorderly and not in accordance with the teaching which all received from us.


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For you yourselves know that it is your duty to follow our example. There was no disorder in our lives among you,


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nor did we eat any one's bread without paying for it, but we laboured and toiled, working hard night and day in order not to be a burden to any of you.


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This was not because we had not a claim upon you, but it arose from a desire to set you an example–for you to imitate us.


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For even when we were with you, we laid down this rule for you:»If a man does not choose to work, neither shall he eat.«


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To persons of that sort our injunction –and our command by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ– is that they are to work quietly and eat their own honestly-earned bread.


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and if any one refuses to obey these our written instructions, mark that man and hold no communication with him–so that he may be made to feel ashamed.


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And may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every sense. The Lord be with you all.


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To Timothy, my own true son in the faith. May grace, mercy and peace be granted to you from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.


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When I was on my journey to Macedonia I begged you to remain on in Ephesus that you might remonstrate with certain persons because of their erroneous teaching


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and the attention they bestow on mere fables and endless pedigrees, such as lead to controversy rather than to a true stewardship for God, which only exists where there is faith. And I make the same request now.


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But the end sought to be secured by exhortation is the love which springs from a pure heart, a clear conscience and a sincere faith.


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They are ambitious to be teachers of the Law, although they do not understand either their own words or what the things are about which they make such confident assertions.


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and remembers that a law is not enacted to control a righteous man, but for the lawless and rebellious, the irreligious and sinful, the godless and profane–for those who strike their fathers or their mothers, for murderers,


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fornicators, sodomites, slave-dealers, liars and false witnesses; and for whatever else is opposed to wholesome teaching


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I am thankful to Him who made me strong –even Christ Jesus our Lord– because He has judged me to be faithful and has put me into His service,


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though I was previously a blasphemer and a persecutor and had been insolent in outrage. Yet mercy was shown me, because I had acted ignorantly, not having as yet believed;


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and the grace of our Lord came to me in overflowing fulness, conferring faith on me and the love which is in Christ Jesus.


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Faithful is the saying, and deserving of universal acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; among whom I stand foremost.


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But mercy was shown me in order that in me as the foremost of sinners Christ Jesus might display the fulness of His long-suffering patience as an example to encourage those who would afterwards be resting their faith on Him with a view to the Life of the Ages.


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Now to the immortal and invisible King of the Ages, who alone is God, be honour and glory to the Ages of the Ages! Amen.


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This is the charge which I entrust to you, my son Timothy, in accordance with the inspired instructions concerning you which were given me long ago, that being equipped with them as your armour you may be continually fighting the good fight,


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holding fast to faith and a clear conscience, which some have cast aside and have made shipwreck of their faith.


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Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered to Satan so that they may be taught not to blaspheme.


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I exhort then, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings be offered on behalf of all men;


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including kings and all who are in high station, in order that we may live peaceful and tranquil lives with all godliness and gravity.


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and of which I have been appointed a herald and an Apostle (I am speaking the truth: it is not a fiction), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.


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So then I would have the men everywhere pray, lifting to God holy hands which are unstained with anger or strife;


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and I would have the women dress becomingly, with modesty and self-control, not with plaited hair or gold or pearls or costly clothes,


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and Adam was not deceived, but his wife was thoroughly deceived, and so became involved in transgression.


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Yet a woman will be brought safely through childbirth if she and her husband continue to live in faith and love and growing holiness, with habitual self-restraint.


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Faithful is the saying, »If any one is eager to have the oversight of a Church, he desires a noble work.«


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A minister then must be a man of irreproachable character, true to his one wife, temperate, sober-minded, well-behaved, hospitable to strangers, and with a gift for teaching;


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(If a man does not know how to rule his own household, how shall he have the Church of God given into his care?)


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He ought not to be a new convert, for fear he should be blinded with pride and come under the same condemnation as the Devil.


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It is needful also that he bear a good character with people outside the Church, lest he fall into reproach or a snare of the Devil.


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Deacons, in the same way, must be men of serious demeanour, not double-tongued, nor addicted to much wine, nor greedy of base gain,


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And they must also be well-tried men, and when found to be of unblemished character then let them serve as deacons.


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Deaconesses, in the same way, must be sober-minded women, not slanderers, but in every way temperate and trustworthy.


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For those who have filled the deacon's office wisely and well, are already gaining for themselves an honourable standing, and are acquiring great freedom of speech in proclaiming the faith which rests on Christ Jesus.


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But, for fear I may be hindered, I now write, so that you may have rules to guide you in dealing with God's household. For this is what the Church of the ever-living God is, and it is the pillar and foundation-stone of the truth.


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And, beyond controversy, great is the mystery of our religion– that Christ appeared in human form, and His claims justified by the Spirit, was seen by angels and proclaimed among Gentile nations, was believed on in the world, and received up again into glory.


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Now the Spirit expressly declares that in later times some will fall away from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and the teachings of demons;


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through the hypocrisy of men who teach falsely and have their own consciences seared as with a hot iron;


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forbidding people to marry, and insisting on abstinence from foods which God has created to be partaken of, with thankfulness, by those who believe and have a clear knowledge of the truth.


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For everything that God has created is good, and nothing is to be cast aside, if only it is received with thanksgiving.


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If you warn the brethren of these dangers you will be a good and faithful servant of Christ Jesus, inwardly feeding on the lessons of the faith and of the sound teaching of which you have been, and are, so close a follower.


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Train yourself in godliness. Exercise for the body is not useless, but godliness is useful in every respect, possessing, as it does, the promise of Life now and of the Life which is soon coming.


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and here is the motive of our toiling and wrestling, because we have our hopes fixed on the ever-living God, who is the Saviour of all mankind, and especially of believers.


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Let no one think slightingly of you because you are a young man; but in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, be an example for your fellow Christians to imitate.


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Do not be careless about the gifts with which you are endowed, which were conferred on you through a divine revelation when the hands of the elders were placed upon you.


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Habitually practise these duties, and be absorbed in them; so that your growing proficiency in them may be evident to all.


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Be on your guard as to yourself and your teaching. Persevere in these things; for by doing this you will make certain your own salvation and that of your hearers.


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Never administer a sharp reprimand to a man older than yourself; but entreat him as if he were your father, and the younger men as brothers;


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But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let these learn first to show piety towards their own homes and to prove their gratitude to their parents; for this is well pleasing in the sight of God.


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A widow who is really in need, friendless and desolate, has her hopes fixed on God, and continues at her supplications and prayers, night and day;


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But if a man makes no provision for those dependent on him, and especially for his own family, he has disowned the faith and is behaving worse than an unbeliever.


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She must have been true to her one husband, and well reported of for good deeds, as having brought up children, received strangers hospitably, washed the feet of God's people, given relief to the distressed, and devoted herself to good works of every kind.


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But the younger widows you must not enrol; for as soon as they begin to chafe against the yoke of Christ, they want to marry,


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And at the same time they also learn to be idle as they go round from house to house; and they are not only idle, but are gossips also and busybodies, speaking of things that ought not to be spoken of.


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I would therefore have the younger women marry, bear children, rule in domestic matters, and furnish the Adversary with no excuse for slander.


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If a believing woman has widows dependent on her, she should relieve their wants, and save the Church from being burdened–so that the Church may relieve the widows who are really in need.


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Let the Elders who perform their duties wisely and well be held worthy of double honour, especially those who labour in preaching and teaching.


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For the Scripture says, <i>»You are not to muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain;«</i> and the workman deserves his pay.


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Those who persist in sin reprove in the presence of all, so that it may also be a warning to the rest.


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I solemnly call upon you, in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels, to carry out these instructions of mine without prejudice, and to do nothing from partiality.


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(No longer be a water-drinker; but take a little wine for the sake of your digestion and your frequent ailments.)


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The sins of some men are evident to the world, leading the way to your estimate of their characters, but the sins of others lag behind.


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So also the right actions of some are evident to the world, and those that are not cannot remain for ever out of sight.


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Let all who are under the yoke of slavery hold their own masters to be deserving of honour, so that the name of God and the Christian teaching may not be spoken against.


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And those who have believing masters should not be wanting in respect towards them because they are their brethren, but should serve them all the more willingly because those who profit by the faithful service rendered are believers and are friends.


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So teach and exhort. If any one is a teacher of any other kind of doctrine, and refuses assent to wholesome instructions –those of our Lord Jesus Christ– and the teaching that harmonizes with true godliness,


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he is puffed up with pride and has no true knowledge, but is crazy over discussions and controversies about words which give rise to envy, quarrelling, revilings, ill-natured suspicions,


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and persistent wranglings on the part of people whose intellects are disordered and they themselves blinded to all knowledge of the truth; who imagine that godliness means gain.


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But people who are determined to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many unwise and pernicious ways which sink mankind in destruction and ruin.


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For from love of money all sorts of evils arise; and some have so hankered after money as to be led astray from the faith and be pierced through with countless sorrows.


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But you, O man of God, must flee from these things; and strive for uprightness, godliness, good faith, love, fortitude, and a forgiving temper.


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Exert all your strength in the honourable struggle for the faith; lay hold of the Life of the Ages, to which you were called, when you made your noble profession of faith before many witnesses.


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I charge you –as in the presence of God who gives life to all creatures, and of Christ Jesus who at the bar of Pontius Pilate made a noble profession of faith–


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that you keep God's commandments stainlessly and without reproach till the Appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.


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For, as its appointed time, this will be brought about by the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords,


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who alone possesses immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, and whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be eternal honour and power! Amen.


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Impress on those who are rich in the present age that they must not be haughty nor set their hopes on riches –that unstable foundation– but on God who provides us richly with all things for our enjoyment.


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storing up for themselves that which shall be a solid foundation for the future, that they may lay hold of the Life which is life indeed.


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O Timothy, guard the truths entrusted to you, shunning irreligious and frivolous talk, and controversy with what is falsely called `knowledge';


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of which some have spoken boastfully in connexion with the true faith, and have erred. Grace be with you all.


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Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, for proclaiming the promise of the Life which is in Christ Jesus:


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To Timothy my dearly-loved child. May grace, mercy and peace be granted to you from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.


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I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience –as my forefathers did– that night and day I unceasingly remember you in my prayers,


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For I recall the sincere faith which is in your heart–a faith which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and then in your mother Eunice, and, I am fully convinced, now dwells in you also.


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For this reason let me remind you to rekindle God's gift which is yours through the laying on of my hands.


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For the Spirit which God has given us is not a spirit of cowardice, but one of power and of love and of sound judgement.


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Do not be ashamed then to bear witness for our Lord and for me His prisoner; but rather share suffering with me in the service of the Good News, strengthened by the power of God.


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For He saved us and called us with a holy call, not in accordance with our desserts, but in accordance with His own purpose and the free grace which He bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before the commencement of the Ages,


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but which has now been plainly revealed through the Appearing of our Saviour, Christ Jesus. He has put an end to death and has brought Life and Immortality to light through the Good News,


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That indeed is the reason why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know in whom my trust reposes, and I am confident that He has it in His power to keep what I have entrusted to Him safe until that day.


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Provide yourself with an outline of the sound teaching which you have heard from my lips, and be true to the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.


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That precious treasure which is in your charge, guard through the Holy Spirit who has His home in our hearts.


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Of this you are aware, that all the Christians in Roman Asia have deserted me: and among them Phygelus and Hermogenes.


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May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus; for many a time he cheered me and he was not ashamed of my chain.


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Nay, when he was here in Rome, he took great pains to inquire where I was living, and at last he found me.


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(The Lord grant that he may obtain mercy at His hands on that day!) And you yourself well know all the services which he rendered me in Ephesus.


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All that you have been taught by me in the hearing of many witnesses, you must hand on to trusty men who shall themselves, in turn, be competent to instruct others also.


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Every one who serves as a soldier keeps himself from becoming entangled in the world's business–so that he may satisfy the officer who enlisted him.


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Never forget that Jesus Christ has risen from among the dead and is a descendant of David, as is declared in the Good News which I preach.


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For preaching the Good News I suffer, and am even put in chains, as if I were a criminal: yet the word of God is not imprisoned.


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For this reason I endure all things for the sake of God's own people; so that they also may obtain salvation –even the salvation which is in Christ Jesus– and with it eternal glory.


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»If we patiently endure pain, we shall also share His Kingship;« If we disown Him, He will also disown us;


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Bring all this to men's remembrances, solemnly charging them in the presence of God not to waste time in wrangling about mere words, a course which is altogether unprofitable and tends only to the ruin of the hearers.


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Earnestly seek to commend yourself to God as a servant who, because of his straightforward dealing with the word of truth, has no reason to feel any shame.


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But from irreligious and frivolous talk hold aloof, for those who indulge in it will proceed from bad to worse in impiety,


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In the matter of the truth they have gone astray, saying that the Resurrection is already past, and so they are overthrowing the faith of some.


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Yet God's solid foundation stands unmoved, bearing this inscription, <i>»The Lord knows those who really belong to Him.«</i> And this also, <i>»Let every one who names the Name of the Lord renounce all wickedness.«</i>


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Now in a great house there are not only articles of gold and silver, but also others of wood and of earthenware; and some are for specially honourable, and others for common use.


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If therefore a man keeps himself clear of these latter, he himself will be for specially honourable use, consecrated, fit for the Master's service, and fully equipped for every good work.


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Keep a strong curb, however, on your youthful cravings; and strive for integrity, good faith, love, peace, in company with all who pray to the Lord with pure hearts.


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and a bondservant of the Lord must not quarrel, but must be inoffensive towards all men, a skilful teacher, and patient under wrongs.


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He must speak in a gentle tone when correcting the errors of opponents, in the hope that God will at last give them repentance, for them to come to a full knowledge of the truth


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and recover sober-mindedness and freedom from the Devil's snare, though they are now entrapped by him to do his will.


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For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, haughty, profane. They will be disobedient to parents, thankless, irreligious,


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destitute of natural affection, unforgiving, slanderers. They will have no self-control, but will be brutal, opposed to goodness,


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and will keep up a make-believe of piety and yet live in defiance of its power. Turn away from people of this sort.


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Among them are included the men who make their way into private houses and carry off weak women as their prisoners–women who, weighed down by the burden of their sins, are led by ever-changing caprice,


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and are always learning something new, and yet are never able to arrive at real knowledge of the truth.


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And just as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so also these false teachers withstand the truth–being, as they are, men of debased intellects, and of no real worth so far as faith is concerned.


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But they will have no further success; for their folly will be as clearly manifest to all men, as that of the opponents of Moses came to be.


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and the persecutions and sufferings which I have endured; the things which happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra. You know the persecutions I endured, and how the Lord delivered me out of them all.


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And indeed every one who is determined to live a godly life as a follower of Christ Jesus will be persecuted.


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But you must cling to the things which you have learnt and have been taught to believe, knowing who your teachers were,


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and that from infancy you have known the sacred writings which are able to make you wise to obtain salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.


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Every Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for convincing, for correction of error, and for instruction in right doing;


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I solemnly implore you, in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is about to judge the living and the dead, and by His Appearing and His Kingship:


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proclaim God's message, be zealous in season and out of season; convince, rebuke, encourage, with the utmost patience as a teacher.


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For a time is coming when they will not tolerate wholesome instruction, but, wanting to have their ears tickled, they will find a multitude of teachers to satisfy their own fancies;


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But as for you, you must exercise habitual self-control, and not live a self-indulgent life, but do the duty of an evangelist and fully discharge the obligations of your office.


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I for my part am like a drink-offering which is already being poured out; and the time for my departure is now close at hand.


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From this time onward there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who love the thought of His Appearing.


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For Demas has deserted me –loving, as he does, the present age– and has gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia.


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Luke is the only friend I now have with me. Call for Mark on your way and bring him with you, for he is a great help to me in my ministry.


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When you come, bring with you the cloak which I left behind at Troas at the house of Carpus, and the books, but especially the parchments.


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Alexander the metal-worker showed bitter hostility towards me: the Lord will requite him according to his doings.


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At my first defence I had no one at my side, but all deserted me. May it not be laid to their charge.


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The Lord, however, stood by me and filled me with inward strength, that through me the Message might be fully proclaimed and that all the Gentiles might hear it; and I was rescued from the lion's jaws.


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The Lord will deliver me from every cruel attack and will keep me safe in preparation for His heavenly Kingdom. To Him be the glory until the Ages of the Ages! Amen.


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Make an effort to come before winter. Eubulus greets you, and so do Pudens, Linus, Claudia, and all the brethren.


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Paul, a bondservant of God and an Apostle of Jesus Christ for building up the faith of God's own people and spreading a full knowledge of the truths of religion,


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in hope of the Life of the Ages which God, who is never false to His word, promised before the commencement of the Ages.


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And at the appointed time He clearly made known His Message in the preaching with which I was entrusted by the command of God our Saviour:


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To Titus my own true child in our common faith. May grace and peace be granted to you from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour.


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I have left you behind in Crete in order that you may set right the things which still require attention, and appoint Elders in every town, as I directed you to do;


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wherever there is a man of blameless life, true to his one wife, having children who are themselves believers and are free from every reproach of profligacy or of stubborn self-will.


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For, as God's steward, a minister must be of blameless life, not over-fond of having his own way, not a man of a passionate temper nor a hard drinker, not given to blows nor greedy of gain,


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holding fast to the faithful Message which he has received, so that he may be well qualified both to encourage others with sound teaching and to reply successfully to opponents.


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For there are many that spurn authority–idle, talkative and deceitful persons, who, for the most part, are adherents of the Circumcision.


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You must stop the mouths of such men, for they overthrow the faith of whole families, teaching what they ought not, just for the sake of making money.


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One of their own number –a Prophet who is a countryman of theirs– has said, »Cretans are always liars, dangerous animals, idle gluttons.«


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To the pure everything is pure; but to the polluted and unbelieving nothing is pure, but on the contrary their very minds and consciences are polluted.


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They profess to know God; but in their actions they disown Him, and are detestable and disobedient men, and for any good work are utterly useless.


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Exhort aged men to be temperate, grave, sober-minded, robust in their faith, their love and their patience.


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In the same way exhort aged women to let their conduct be such as becomes consecrated persons. They must not be slanderers nor enslaved to wine-drinking. They must be teachers of what is right.


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They should school the young women to be affectionate to their husbands and to their children, to be sober-minded, pure in their lives,


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industrious in their homes, kind, submissive to their husbands, so that the Christian teaching may not be exposed to reproach.


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and above all make your own life a pattern of right conduct, having in your teaching no taint of insincerity, but a serious tone,


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and healthy language which no one can censure, so that our opponents may feel ashamed at having nothing evil to say against us.


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Exhort slaves to be always obedient to their owners, and to give them satisfaction in everything, not contradicting and not pilfering,


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but manifesting perfect fidelity and kind feeling, in order to bring honour to the teaching of our Saviour, God, in all things.


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training us to renounce ungodliness and all the pleasures of this world, and to live sober, upright, and pious lives at the present time,


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in expectation of the fulfilment of our blessed hope–the Appearing in glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ;


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who gave Himself for us to purchase our freedom from all iniquity, and purify for Himself a people who should be specially His own, zealous for doing good works.


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Remind people that they must submit to the rulers who are in authority over them; that they must obey the magistrates, be prepared for every right action,


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not speak evil of any one, nor be contentious, but yield unselfishly to others and constantly manifest a forgiving spirit towards all men.


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For there was a time when we also were deficient in understanding, obstinate, deluded, the slaves of various cravings and pleasures, spending our lives in malice and envy, hateful ourselves and hating one another.


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But when the goodness of God our Saviour, and His love to man, dawned upon us, not in consequence of things which we,


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as righteous men, had done, but as the result of His own mercy He saved us by means of the bath of regeneration and the renewal of our natures by the Holy Spirit,


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in order that having been declared righteous through His grace we might become heirs to the Life of the Ages in fulfilment of our hopes.


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This is a faithful saying, and on these various points I would have you insist strenuously, in order that those who have their faith fixed on God may be careful to set an example of good actions. For these are not only good in themselves, but are also useful to mankind.


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But hold yourself aloof from foolish controversies and pedigrees and discussions and wrangling about the Law, for they are useless and vain.


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After a first and second admonition, have nothing further to do with any one who will not be taught;


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for, as you know, a man of that description has turned aside from the right path and is a sinner self-condemned.


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After I have sent Artemas or Tychicus to you, lose no time in joining me at Nicopolis; for I have decided to pass the winter there.


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Help Zenas the lawyer forward on his journey with special care, and Apollos, so that they may have all they require.


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And let our people too learn to set a good example in following honest occupations for the supply of their necessities, so that they may not live useless lives.


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Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother: To Philemon our dearly-loved fellow labourer–


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because I hear of your love and of the faith which you have towards the Lord Jesus and which you manifest towards all God's people;


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praying as I do, that their participation in your faith may result in others fully recognizing all the right affection that is in us toward Christ.


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For I have found great joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of God's people have been, and are, refreshed through you, my brother.


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Therefore, though I might with Christ's authority speak very freely and order you to do what is fitting,


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it is for love's sake that –instead of that– although I am none other than Paul the aged, and am now also a prisoner for Christ Jesus,


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I entreat you on behalf of my own child whose father I have become while in my chains–I mean Onesimus.


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It was my wish to keep him at my side for him to attend to my wants, as your representative, during my imprisonment for the Good News.


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Only I wished to do nothing without your consent, so that his kind action of yours might not be done under pressure, but might be a voluntary one.


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For perhaps it was for this reason he was parted from you for a time, that you might receive him back wholly and for ever yours;


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no longer as a slave, but as something better than a slave–a brother peculiarly dear to me, and even dearer to you, both as a servant and as a fellow Christian.


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I Paul write this with my own hand–I will pay you in full. (I say nothing of the fact that you owe me even your own self.)


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I write to you in the full confidence that you will meet my wishes, for I know you will do even more than I say.


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And at the same time provide accommodation for me; for I hope that through your prayers I shall be permitted to come to you.


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God, who in ancient days spoke to our forefathers in many distinct messages and by various methods through the Prophets,


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has at the end of these days spoken to us through a Son, who is the pre-destined Lord of the universe, and through whom He made the Ages.


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He brightly reflects God's glory and is the exact representation of His being, and upholds the universe by His all-powerful word. After securing man's purification from sin He took His seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high,


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having become as far superior to the angels as the Name He possesses by inheritance is more excellent than theirs.


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For to which of the angels did God ever say, <i>»My Son art Thou: I have this day become Thy Father;«</i> and again, <i>»I will be a Father to Him, and He shall be My Son«?</i>


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But speaking of the time when He once more brings His Firstborn into the world, He says, <i>»And let all God's angels worship Him.«</i>


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Moreover of the angels He says, <i>»He changes His angels into winds, and His ministering servants into a flame of fire.«</i>


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But of His Son, He says, <i>»Thy throne, O God, is for ever and for ever, and the sceptre of Thy Kingdom is a sceptre of absolute justice.</i>


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<i>Thou hast loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, Thy God, has anointed Thee with the oil of gladness beyond Thy companions.«</i>


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It is also of His Son that God says, <i>»Thou, O Lord, in the beginning didst lay the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Thy hands.</i>


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<i>and, as though they were a mantle Thou wilt roll them up; yes, like a garment, and they will undergo change. But Thou art the same, and Thy years will never come to an end.«</i>


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To which of the angels has He ever said, <i>»Sit at My right hand till I make Thy foes a footstool for Thy feet«?</i>


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Are not all angels spirits that serve Him–whom He sends out to render service for the benefit of those who, before long, will inherit salvation?


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For this reason we ought to pay the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, for fear we should drift away from them.


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For if the message delivered through angels proved to be true, and every transgression and act of disobedience met with just retribution,


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how shall we escape if we are indifferent to a salvation as great as that now offered to us? This, after having first of all been announced by the Lord Himself, had its truth made sure to us by those who heard Him,


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while God corroborated their testimony by signs and marvels and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed in accordance with His own will.


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But, as we know, a writer has solemnly said, How poor a creature is man, and yet Thou dost remember him, and a son of man, and yet Thou dost come to him!


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Thou hast made him only a little inferior to the angels; with glory and honour Thou hast crowned him, and hast set him to govern the works of Thy hands.


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Thou hast put everything in subjection under his feet. - For this subjecting of the universe to man implies the leaving nothing not subject to him. But we do not as yet see the universe subject to him.


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But Jesus –who was made a little inferior to the angels in order that through God's grace He might taste death for every human being– we already see wearing a crown of glory and honour because of His having suffered death.


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For it was fitting that He for whom, and through whom, all things exist, after He had brought many sons to glory, should perfect by suffering the Prince Leader who had saved them.


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For both He who sanctifies and those whom He is sanctifying have all one Father; and for this reason He is not ashamed to speak of them as His brothers;


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as when He says: <i>»I will proclaim Thy name to My brothers: in the midst of the congregation I will hymn Thy praises;«</i>


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and again, <i>»As for Me, I will be one whose trust reposes in God;«</i> and again, <i>»Here am I, and here are the children God has given Me.«</i>


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Since then the children referred to are all alike sharers in perishable human nature, He Himself also, in the same way, took on Him a share of it, in order that through death He might render powerless him who had authority over death, that is, the Devil,


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For assuredly it is not to angels that He is continually reaching a helping hand, but it is to the descendants of Abraham.


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And for this purpose it was necessary that in all respects He should be made to resemble His brothers, so that He might become a compassionate and faithful High Priest in things relating to God, in order to atone for the sins of the people.


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For inasmuch as He has Himself felt the pain of temptation and trial, He is also able instantly to help those who are tempted and tried.


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Therefore, holy brethren, sharers with others in a heavenly invitation, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest whose followers we profess to be.


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For Jesus has been counted worthy of greater glory than Moses, in so far as he who has built a house has higher honour than the house itself.


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Moreover, Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant in delivering the message given him to speak;


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but Christ was faithful as a Son having authority over God's house, and we are that house, if we hold firm to the End the boldness and the hope which we boast of as ours.


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do not harden your hearts as your forefathers did in the time of the provocation on the day of the temptation in the Desert,


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Therefore I was greatly grieved with that generation, and I said, `They are ever going astray in heart, and have not learnt to know My paths.'


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see to it, brethren, that there is never in any one of you –as perhaps there may be– a sinful and unbelieving heart, manifesting itself in revolt from the ever-living God.


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On the contrary encourage one another, day after day, so long as To-day lasts, so that not one of you may be hardened through the deceitful character of sin.


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For we have, all alike, become sharers with Christ, if we really hold our first confidence firm to the End;


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seeing that the warning still comes to us, »To-day, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as your forefathers did in the time of the provocation.«


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For who were they that heard, and yet provoked God? Was it not the whole of the people who had come out of Egypt under the leadership of Moses?


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And with whom was God so greatly grieved for forty years? Was it not with those who had sinned, and whose dead bodies fell in the Desert?


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And to whom did He swear that they should not be admitted to His rest, if it was not to those who were disobedient?


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Therefore let us be on our guard lest perhaps, while He still leaves us a promise of being admitted to His rest, some one of you should be found to have fallen short of it.


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For Good News has been brought to us as truly as to them; but the message they heard failed to benefit them, because they were not one in faith with those who gave heed to it.


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We who have believed are soon to be admitted to the true rest; as He has said, <i>»As I swore in My anger, they shall not be admitted to My rest,«</i> although God's works had been going on ever since the creation of the world.


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For, as we know, when speaking of the seventh day He has used the words, <i>»And God rested on the seventh day from all His works;«</i>


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Since, then, it is still true that some will be admitted to that rest, and that because of disobedience those who formerly had Good News proclaimed to them were not admitted,


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He again definitely mentions a certain day, »To-day,« saying long afterwards, by David's lips, in the words already quoted, »To-day, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.«


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For if Joshua had given them the true rest, we should not afterwards hear God speaking of another still future day.


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Let it then be our earnest endeavour to be admitted to that rest, so that no one may perish through following the same example of unbelief.


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For God's Message is full of life and power, and is keener than the sharpest two-edged sword. It pierces even to the severance of soul from spirit, and penetrates between the joints and the marrow, and it can discern the secret thoughts and purposes of the heart.


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And no created thing is able to escape its scrutiny; but everything lies bare and completely exposed before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.


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Inasmuch, then, as we have in Jesus, the Son of God, a great High Priest who has passed into Heaven itself, let us hold firmly to our profession of faith.


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For we have not a High Priest who is unable to feel for us in our weaknesses, but one who was tempted in every respect just as we are tempted, and yet did not sin.


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Therefore let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our times of need.


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For every High Priest is chosen from among men, and is appointed to act on behalf of men in matters relating to God, in order to offer both gifts and sin-offerings,


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and must be one who is able to bear patiently with the ignorant and erring, because he himself also is beset with infirmity.


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And for this reason he is required to offer sin-offerings not only for the people but also for himself.


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And no one takes this honourable office upon himself, but only accepts it when called to it by God, as Aaron was.


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So Christ also did not claim for Himself the honour of being made High Priest, but was appointed to it by Him who said to Him, »My Son art Thou: I have to-day become Thy Father;«


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as also in another passage He says, <i>»Thou art a priest for ever, belonging to the order of Melchizedek.«</i>


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For Jesus during his earthly life offered up prayers and entreaties, crying aloud and weeping as He pleaded with Him who was able to bring Him in safety out of death, and He was delivered from the terror from which He shrank.


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and so, having been made perfect, He became to all who obey Him the source and giver of eternal salvation.


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Concerning Him we have much to say, and much that it would be difficult to make clear to you, since you have become so dull of apprehension.


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For although, considering the long time you have been believers, you ought now to be teachers of others, you really need some one to teach you over again the very rudiments of the truths of God, and you have come to require milk instead of solid food.


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By people who live on milk I mean those who are imperfectly acquainted with the teaching concerning righteousness.


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Such persons are mere babes. But solid food is for adults–that is, for those who through constant practice have their spiritual faculties carefully trained to distinguish good from evil.


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Therefore leaving elementary instruction about the Christ, let us advance to mature manhood and not be continually re-laying a foundation of repentance from lifeless works and of faith in God,


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or of teaching about ceremonial washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and the last judgement.


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For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once for all been enlightened, and have tasted the sweetness of the heavenly gift, and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit,


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and have realized how good the word of God is and how mighty are the powers of the coming Age, and then fell away–


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it is impossible, I say, to keep bringing them back to a new repentance, for, to their own undoing, they are repeatedly crucifying the Son of God afresh and exposing Him to open shame.


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For land which has drunk in the rain that often falls upon it, and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sakes, indeed, it is tilled, has a share in God's blessing.


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But if it only yields a mass of thorns and briers, it is considered worthless, and is in danger of being cursed, and in the end will be destroyed by fire.


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But we, even while we speak in this tone, have a happier conviction concerning you, my dearly-loved friends–a conviction of things which point towards salvation.


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For God is not unjust so that He is unmindful of your labour and of the love which you have manifested towards Himself in having rendered services to His people and in still rendering them.


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But we long for each of you to continue to manifest the same earnestness, with a view to your enjoying fulness of hope to the very End;


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so that you may not become half-hearted, but be imitators of those who through faith and patient endurance are now heirs to the promises.


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For when God gave the promise to Abraham, since He had no one greater to swear by, He swore by Himself,


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For men swear by what is greater than themselves; and with them an oath in confirmation of a statement always puts an end to a dispute.


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In the same way, since it was God's desire to display more convincingly to the heirs of the promise how unchangeable His purpose was,


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He added an oath, in order that, through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for Him to prove false, we may possess mighty encouragement–we who, for safety, have hastened to lay hold of the hope set before us.


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That hope we have as an anchor of the soul–an anchor that can neither break nor drag. It passes in behind the veil,


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where Jesus has entered as a forerunner on our behalf, having become, like Melchizedek, a High Priest for ever.


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For this man, Melchizedek, King of Salem and priest of the Most High God –he who when Abraham was returning after defeating the kings met him and pronounced a blessing on him–


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to whom also Abraham presented a tenth part of all–being first, as his name signifies, King of righteousness, and secondly King of Salem, that is, King of peace:


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with no father or mother, and no record of ancestry: having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made a type of the Son of God–this man Melchizedek remains a priest for ever.


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Now think how great this priest-king must have been to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth part of the best of the spoil.


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And those of the descendants of Levi who receive the priesthood are authorized by the Law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brethren, though these have sprung from Abraham.


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But, in this instance, one who does not trace his origin from them takes tithes from Abraham, and pronounces a blessing on him to whom the promises belong.


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Moreover here frail mortal men receive tithes: there one receives them about whom there is evidence that he is alive.


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Now if the crowning blessing was attainable by means of the Levitical priesthood –for as resting on this foundation the people received the Law, to which they are still subject– what further need was there for a Priest of a different kind to be raised up belonging to the order of Melchizedek instead of being said to belong to the order of Aaron?


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He, however, to whom that prophecy refers is associated with a different tribe, not one member of which has anything to do with the altar.


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For it is undeniable that our Lord sprang from Judah, a tribe of which Moses said nothing in connection with priests.


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And this is still more abundantly clear when we read that it is as belonging to the order of Melchizedek that a priest of a different kind is to arise,


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For the words are in evidence, <i>»Thou art a priest for ever, belonging to the order of Melchizedek.«</i>


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for the Law brought no perfect blessing–but on the other hand we have the bringing in of a new and better hope by means of which we draw near to God.


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for these men hold office without any oath having been taken, but He holds it attested by an oath from Him who said to Him, »The Lord has sworn and will not recall His words, Thou art a Priest for ever« –


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And they have been appointed priests many in number, because death prevents their continuance in office:


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Hence too He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, seeing that He ever lives to plead for them.


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Moreover we needed just such a High Priest as this–holy, guileless, undefiled, far removed from sinful men and exalted above the heavens;


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who, unlike other High Priests, is not under the necessity of offering up sacrifices day after day, first for His own sins, and afterwards for those of the people; for this latter thing He did once for all when He offered up Himself.


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For the Law constitutes men High Priests –men with all their infirmity– but the utterance of the oath, which came later than the Law, constitutes High Priest a Son who has been made for ever perfect.


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Now in connexion with what we have been saying the chief point is that we have a High Priest who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of God's Majesty in the heavens,


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Every High Priest, however, is appointed to offer both bloodless gifts and sacrifices. Therefore this High Priest also must have some offering to present.


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If then He were still on earth, He would not be a priest at all, since here there are already those who present the offerings in obedience to the Law,


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and serve a copy and type of the heavenly things, just as Moses was divinely instructed when about to build the tabernacle. For God said, <i>»See that you make everything in imitation of the pattern shown you on the mountain.«</i>


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But, as a matter of fact, the ministry which Christ has obtained is all the nobler a ministry, in that He is at the same time the negotiator of a sublimer covenant, based upon sublimer promises.


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For if that first Covenant had been free from imperfection, there would have been no attempt to introduce another.


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For, being dissatisfied with His people, God says, <i>»`There are days coming,' says the Lord, `When I will establish with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new Covenant–</i>


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<i>a Covenant unlike the one which I made with their forefathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out from the land of Egypt; for they would not remain faithful to that.' `So I turned from them,' says the Lord.</i>


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<i>`But this is the Covenant that I will covenant with the house of Israel after those days,' says the Lord: I will put My laws into their minds and will write them upon their hearts. And I will indeed be their God and they shall be My People.</i>


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<i>And there shall be no need for them to teach each one his fellow citizen and each one his brother, saying, Know the Lord. For all will know Me from the least of them to the greatest;</i>


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By using the words, »a new Covenant,« He has made the first one obsolete; but whatever is decaying and showing signs of old age is not far from disappearing altogether.


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Now even the first Covenant had regulations for divine worship, and had also its sanctuary–a sanctuary belonging to this world.


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For a sacred tent was constructed–the outer one, in which were the lamp and the table and the presented loaves; and this is called the Holy place.


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This had a censer of gold, and the ark of the Covenant lined with gold and completely covered with gold, and in it were a gold vase which held the manna, and Aaron's rod which budded and the tables of the Covenant.


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And above the ark were the Cherubim denoting God's glorious presence and overshadowing the Mercy-seat. But I cannot now speak about all these in detail.


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These arrangements having long been completed, the priests, when conducting the divine services, continually enter the outer tent.


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But into the second, the High Priest goes only on one day of the year, and goes alone, taking with him blood, which he offers on his own behalf and on account of the sins which the people have ignorantly committed.


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And the lesson which the Holy Spirit teaches is this–that the way into the true Holy place is not yet open so long as the outer tent still remains in existence.


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And this is a figure –for the time now present– answering to which both gifts and sacrifices are offered, unable though they are to give complete freedom from sin to him who ministers.


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For their efficacy depends only on meats and drinks and various washings, ceremonies pertaining to the body and imposed until a time of reformation.


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But Christ appeared as a High Priest of the blessings that are soon to come by means of the greater and more perfect Tent of worship, a tent which has not been built with hands –that is to say does not belong to this material creation–


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and once for all entered the Holy place, taking with Him not the blood of goats and calves, but His own blood, and thus procuring eternal redemption for us.


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For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have contracted defilement make them holy so as to bring about ceremonial purity,


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how much more certainly shall the blood of Christ, who strengthened by the eternal Spirit offered Himself to God, free from blemish, purify your consciences from lifeless works for you to serve the ever-living God?


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And because of this He is the negotiator of a new Covenant, in order that, since a life has been given in atonement for the offences committed under the first Covenant, those who have been called may receive the eternal inheritance which has been promised to them.


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For where there is a legal `will,' there must also be a death brought forward in evidence–the death of him who made it.


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And a will is only of force in the case of a deceased person, being never of any avail so long as he who made it lives.


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For when Moses had proclaimed to all the people every commandment contained in the Law, he took the blood of the calves and of the goats and with them water, scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,


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And in the same way he also sprinkled blood upon the Tent of worship and upon all the vessels used in the ministry.


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Indeed we may almost say that in obedience to the Law everything is sprinkled with blood, and that apart from the outpouring of blood there is no remission of sins.


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It was needful therefore that the copies of the things in Heaven should be cleansed in this way, but that the heavenly things themselves should be cleansed with more costly sacrifices.


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For not into a Holy place built by men's hands –a mere copy of the reality– did Christ enter, but He entered Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.


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Nor did He enter for the purpose of many times offering Himself in sacrifice, just as the High Priest enters the Holy place, year after year, taking with him blood not his own.


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In that case Christ would have needed to suffer many times, from the creation of the world onwards; but as a matter of fact He has appeared once for all, at the Close of the Ages, in order to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself.


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so the Christ also, having been once offered in sacrifice in order that He might bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, separated from sin, to those who are eagerly expecting Him, to make their salvation complete.


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For, since the Law exhibits only an outline of the blessings to come and not a perfect representation of the things themselves, the priests can never, by repeating the same sacrifices which they continually offer year after year, give complete freedom from sin to those who draw near.


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For then would not the sacrifices have ceased to be offered, because the consciences of the worshippers –who in that case would now have been cleansed once for all– would no longer be burdened with sins?


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That is why, when He comes into the world, He says, <i>»Sacrifice and offering Thou has not desired, but a body Thou hast prepared for Me.</i>


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<i>Then I said, `I have come –in the roll of the book it is written concerning Me– to do Thy will, O God.'«</i>


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After saying the words I have just quoted, <i>»Sacrifices and offerings or whole burnt-offerings and sin-offerings Thou hast not desired or taken pleasure in«</i> –all such being offered in obedience to the Law–


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He then adds, <i>»I have come to do Thy will.«</i> He does away with the first in order to establish the second.


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It is through that divine will that we have been set free from sin, through the offering of Jesus Christ as our sacrifice once for all.


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And while every priest stands ministering, day after day, and constantly offering the same sacrifices –though such can never rid us of our sins–


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this Priest, on the contrary, after offering for sins a single sacrifice of perpetual efficacy, took His seat at God's right hand,


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For by a single offering He has for ever completed the blessing for those whom He is setting free from sin.


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<i>»`This is the Covenant that I will make with them after those days,' says the Lord: `I will put My laws upon their hearts and will write them on their minds;'«</i>


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by the new and ever-living way which He opened up for us through the rending of the veil –that is to say, of His earthly nature–


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let us draw near with sincerity and unfaltering faith, having had our hearts sprinkled, once for all, from consciences oppressed with sin, and our bodies bathed in pure water.


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Let us hold firmly to an unflinching avowal of our hope, for He is faithful who gave us the promises.


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And let us bestow thought on one another with a view to arousing one another to brotherly love and right conduct;


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not neglecting –as some habitually do– to meet together, but encouraging one another, and doing this all the more since you can see the day of Christ approaching.


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For if we wilfully persist in sin after having received the full knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains in reserve any other sacrifice for sins.


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There remains nothing but a certain awful expectation of judgement, and the fury of a fire which before long will devour the enemies of the truth.


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Any one who bids defiance to the Law of Moses is put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.


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How much severer punishment, think you, will he be held to deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, has not regarded as holy that Covenant-blood with which he was set free from sin, and has insulted the Spirit from whom comes grace?


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For we know who it is that has said, <i>»Vengeance belongs to Me: I will pay back;«</i> and again, <i>»The Lord will be His people's judge.«</i>


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But continually recall to mind the days now past, when on being first enlightened you went through a great conflict and many sufferings.


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This was partly through allowing yourselves to be made a public spectacle amid reproaches and persecutions, and partly through coming forward to share the sufferings of those who were thus treated.


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For you not only showed sympathy with those who were imprisoned, but you even submitted with joy when your property was taken from you, being well aware that you have in your own selves a more valuable possession and one which will remain.


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For you stand in need of patient endurance, so that, as the result of having done the will of God, you may receive the promised blessing.


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<i>But it is by faith that My righteous servant shall live; and if he shrinks back, My soul takes no pleasure in him.«</i>


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But we are not people who shrink back and perish, but are among those who believe and gain possession of their souls.


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Now faith is a well-grounded assurance of that for which we hope, and a conviction of the reality of things which we do not see.


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Through faith we understand that the worlds came into being, and still exist, at the command of God, so that what is seen does not owe its existence to that which is visible.


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Through faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain did, and through this faith he obtained testimony that he was righteous, God giving the testimony by accepting his gifts; and through it, though he is dead, he still speaks.


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Through faith Enoch was taken from the earth so that he did not see death, and he could not be found, because God had taken him; for before he was taken we have evidence that he truly pleased God.


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But where there is no faith it is impossible truly to please Him; for the man who draws near to God must believe that there is a God and that He proves Himself a rewarder of those who earnestly try to find Him.


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Through faith Noah, being divinely taught about things as yet unseen, reverently gave heed and built an ark for the safety of his family, and by this act he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which depends on faith.


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Through faith Abraham, upon being called to leave home and go into a land which he was soon to receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing where he was going to.


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Through faith he came and made his home for a time in a land which had been promised to him, as if in a foreign country, living in tents together with Isaac and Jacob, sharers with him in the same promise;


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for he continually looked forward to the city which has the foundations, whose architect and builder is God.


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Through faith even Sarah herself received strength to become a mother –although she was past the time of life for this– because she judged Him faithful who had given the promise.


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And thus there sprang from one man, and him practically dead, a nation like the stars of the sky in number, and like the sands on the sea shore which cannot be counted.


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All these died in the possession of faith. They had not received the promised blessings, but had seen them from a distance and had greeted them, and had acknowledged themselves to be foreigners and strangers here on earth;


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for men who acknowledge this make it manifest that they are seeking elsewhere a country of their own.


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And if they had cherished the remembrance of the country they had left, they would have found an opportunity to return;


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but, as it is, we see them eager for a better land, that is to say, a heavenly one. For this reason God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has now prepared a city for them.


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Through faith Abraham, as soon as God put him to the test, offered up Isaac. Yes, he who had joyfully welcomed the promises was on the point of sacrificing his only son


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with regard to whom he had been told, <i>»It is through Isaac that your posterity shall be traced.«</i>


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For he reckoned that God is even able to raise a man up from among the dead, and, figuratively speaking, it was from among the dead that he received Isaac again.


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Through faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons, and, leaning on the top of his staff, worshipped God.


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Through faith Joseph, when he was near his end, made mention of the departure of the descendants of Israel, and gave orders about his own body.


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Through faith the child Moses was hid for three months by his parents, because they saw his rare beauty; and the king's edict had no terror for them.


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having determined to endure ill-treatment along with the people of God rather than enjoy the short-lived pleasures of sin;


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because he deemed the reproaches which he might meet with in the service of the Christ to be greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt; for he fixed his gaze on the coming reward.


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Through faith he left Egypt, not being frightened by the king's anger; for he held on his course as seeing the unseen One.


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Through faith he instituted the Passover, and the sprinkling with blood so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch the Israelites.


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Through faith they passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing over dry land, but the Egyptians, when they tried to do the same, were swallowed up.


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Through faith the notorious sinner Rahab did not perish along with the disobedient, for she had welcomed the spies and had sheltered them.


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And why need I say more? For time will fail me if I tell the story of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, and of David and Samuel and the Prophets;


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men who, as the result of faith, conquered whole kingdoms, brought about true justice, obtained promises from God, stopped lions' mouths,


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deprived fire of its power, escaped being killed by the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put to flight foreign armies.


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Women received back their dear ones alive from the dead; and others were put to death with torture, refusing the deliverance offered to them–that they might secure a better resurrection.


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They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were tried by temptation, they were killed with the sword. They went from place to place in sheepskins or goatskins, enduring want, oppression and cruelty.


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(They were men of whom the world was not worthy.) They wandered across deserts and mountains, or hid themselves in caves and in holes in the ground.


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And although by their faith all these people won God's approval, none of them received the fulfilment of His great promise;


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for God had provided for them and us something better, so that apart from us they were not to attain to full blessedness.


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Therefore, surrounded as we are by such a vast cloud of witnesses, let us fling aside every encumbrance and the sin that so readily entangles our feet. And let us run with patient endurance the race that lies before us,


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simply fixing our gaze upon Jesus, our Prince Leader in the faith, who will also award us the prize. He, for the sake of the joy which lay before Him, patiently endured the cross, looking with contempt upon its shame, and afterwards seated Himself – where He still sits– at the right hand of the throne of God.


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Therefore, if you would escape becoming weary and faint-hearted, compare your own sufferings with those of Him who endured such hostility directed against Him by sinners.


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and you have quite forgotten the encouraging words which are addressed to you as sons, and which say, <i>»My son, do not think lightly of the Lord's discipline, and do not faint when He corrects you;</i>


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<i>for those whom the Lord loves He disciplines: and He scourges every son whom He acknowledges.«</i>


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The sufferings that you are enduring are for your discipline. God is dealing with you as sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?


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And if you are left without discipline, of which every true son has had a share, that shows that you are bastards, and not true sons.


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Besides this, our earthly fathers used to discipline us and we treated them with respect, and shall we not be still more submissive to the Father of our spirits, and live?


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It is true that they disciplined us for a few years according as they thought fit; but He does it for our certain good, in order that we may become sharers in His own holy character.


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Now, at the time, discipline seems to be a matter not for joy, but for grief; yet it afterwards yields to those who have passed through its training a result full of peace–namely, righteousness.


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but may rather be restored. Persistently strive for peace with all men, and for that growth in holiness apart from which no one will see the Lord.


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Be carefully on your guard lest there be any one who falls back from the grace of God; lest any root bearing bitter fruit spring up and cause trouble among you, and through it the whole brotherhood be defiled;


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lest there be a fornicator, or an ungodly person like Esau, who, in return for a single meal, parted with the birthright which belonged to him.


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For you know that even afterwards, when he wished to secure the blessing, he was rejected; for he found no opportunity for undoing what he had done, though he sought the blessing earnestly with tears.


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For you have not come to a material object all ablaze with fire, and to gloom and darkness and storm and trumpet-blast and the sound of words–


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For they could not endure the order which had been given, <i>»Even a wild beast, if it touches the mountain, shall be stoned to death;«</i>


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On the contrary you have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the ever-living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to countless hosts of angels,


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to the great festal gathering and Church of the first-born, whose names are recorded in Heaven, and to a Judge who is God of all, and to the spirits of righteous men made perfect,


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and to Jesus the negotiator of a new Covenant, and to the sprinkled blood which speaks in more gracious tones than that of Abel.


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Be careful not to refuse to listen to Him who is speaking to you. For if they of old did not escape unpunished when they refused to listen to him who spoke on earth, much less shall we escape who turn a deaf ear to Him who now speaks from Heaven.


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His voice then shook the earth, but now we have His promise, <i>»Yet again I will, once for all, cause not only the earth to tremble, but Heaven also.«</i>


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Here the words »Yet again, once for all« denote the removal of the things which can be shaken –created things– in order that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.


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Therefore, receiving, as we now do, a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us cherish thankfulness so that we may ever offer to God an acceptable service, with godly reverence and awe.


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Do not neglect to show kindness to strangers; for, in this way, some, without knowing it, have had angels as their guests.


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Remember prisoners, as if you were in prison with them; and remember those suffering ill-treatment, for you yourselves also are still in the body.


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Let marriage be held in honour among all, and let the marriage bed be unpolluted; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.


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Your lives should be untainted by love for money. Be content with what you have; for God Himself has said, <i>»I will never, never let go your hand: I will never never forsake you.«</i>


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So that we fearlessly say, <i>»The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid: what can man do to me?«</i>


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Remember your former leaders–it was they who brought you God's Message. Bear in mind how they ended their lives, and imitate their faith.


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Do not be drawn aside by all sorts of strange teaching; for it is well to have the heart made stedfast through God's grace, and not by special kinds of food, from which those who scrupulously attend to them have derived no benefit.


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For the bodies of those animals of which the blood is carried by the High Priest into the Holy place as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp.


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And for this reason Jesus also, in order, by His own blood, to set the people free from sin, suffered outside the gate.


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Through Him, then, let us continually lay on the altar a sacrifice of praise to God, namely, the utterance of lips that give thanks to His Name.


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Obey your leaders and be submissive to them. For they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give account; that they may do this with joy and not with lamentation. For that would be of no advantage to you.


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Keep on praying for us; for we are sure that we have clear consciences, and we desire to live nobly in every respect.


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Now may God who gives peace, and brought Jesus, our Lord, up again from among the dead –even Him who, by virtue of the blood of the eternal Covenant, is the great Shepherd of the sheep–


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fully equip you with every grace that you may need for the doing of His will, producing in us that which will truly please Him through Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory to the Ages of the Ages! Amen.


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Bear with me, brethren, when I thus exhort you; for, in fact, it is but a short letter that I have written to you.


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You will rejoice to hear that our brother Timothy has been set at liberty. If he comes soon, I will see you with him.


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James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ: to the twelve tribes who are scattered over the world. All good wishes.


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Only let endurance have perfect results so that you may become perfect and complete, deficient in nothing.


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And if any one of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask God for it, who gives with open hand to all men, and without upbraiding; and it will be given him.


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But let him ask in faith and have no doubts; for he who has doubts is like the surge of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed into spray.


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but a rich man should rejoice in being brought low, for like flowers among the herbage rich men will pass away.


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The sun rises with his scorching heat and dries up the herbage, so that its flowers drop off and the beauty of its appearance perishes, and in the same way rich men with all their prosperity will fade away.


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Blessed is he who patiently endures trials; for when he has stood the test, he will gain the victor's crown –even the crown of Life– which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.


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Let no one say when passing through trial, »My temptation is from God;« for God is incapable of being tempted to do evil, and He Himself tempts no one.


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Then the passion conceives, and becomes the parent of sin; and sin, when fully matured, gives birth to death.


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Every gift which is good, and every perfect boon, is from above, and comes down from the Father, who is the source of all Light. In Him there is no variation nor the slightest suggestion of change.


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In accordance with His will He made us His children through the Message of the truth, so that we might, in a sense, be the Firstfruits of the things which He has created.


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You know this, my dearly-loved brethren. But let every one be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to be angry.


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Ridding yourselves, therefore, of all that is vile and of the evil influences which prevail around you, welcome in a humble spirit the Message implanted within you, which is able to save your souls.


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But prove yourselves obedient to the Message, and do not be mere hearers of it, imposing a delusion upon yourselves.


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For if any one listens but does not obey, he is like a man who carefully looks at his own face in a mirror.


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Although he has looked carefully at himself, he goes away, and has immediately forgotten the sort of man he is.


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But he who looks closely into the perfect Law –the Law of freedom– and continues looking, he, being not a hearer who forgets, but an obedient doer, will as the result of his obedience be blessed.


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If a man thinks that he is scrupulously religious, although he is not curbing his tongue but is deceiving himself, his religious service is worthless.


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The religious service which is pure and stainless in the sight of our God and Father is to visit fatherless children and widowed women in their time of trouble, and to keep one's own self unspotted from the world.


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My brethren, you must not make distinctions between one man and another while you are striving to maintain faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our glory.


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For suppose a man comes into one of your meetings wearing gold rings and fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man wearing shabby clothes,


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and you pay court to the one who wears the fine clothes, and say, »Sit here; this is a good place;« while to the poor man you say, »Stand there, or sit on the floor at my feet;«


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is it not plain that in your hearts you have little faith, seeing that you have become judges full of wrong thoughts?


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Listen, my dearly-loved brethren. Has not God chosen those whom the world regards as poor to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom which He has promised to those that love Him?


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But you have put dishonour upon the poor man. Yet is it not the rich who grind you down? Are not they the very people who drag you into the Law courts? –


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If, however, you are keeping the Law as supreme, in obedience to the Commandment which says <i>»You are to love your fellow man just as you love yourself,«</i> you are acting rightly.


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But if you are making distinctions between one man and another, you are guilty of sin, and are convicted by the Law as offenders.


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A man who has kept the Law as a whole, but has failed to keep some one command, has become guilty of violating all.


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For He who said, <i>»Do not commit adultery,«</i> also said, <i>»Do not commit murder,«</i> and if you are a murderer, although not an adulterer, you have become an offender against the Law.


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For he who shows no mercy will have judgement given against him without mercy; but mercy triumphs over judgement.


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What good is it, my brethren, if a man professes to have faith, and yet his actions do not correspond? Can such faith save him?


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and one of you says to them, »I wish you well; keep yourselves warm and well fed,« and yet you do not give them what they need; what is the use of that?


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Nay, some one will say, »You have faith, I have actions: prove to me your faith apart from corresponding actions and I will prove mine to you by my actions.


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But, idle boaster, are you willing to be taught how it is that faith apart from obedience is worthless? Take the case of Abraham our forefather.


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Was it, or was it not, because of his actions that he was declared to be righteous as the result of his having offered up his son Isaac upon the altar?


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You notice that his faith was co-operating with his actions, and that by his actions his faith was perfected;


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and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, <i>»And Abraham believed God, and his faith was placed to his credit as righteousness,«</i> and he received the name of `God's friend.'


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You all see that it is because of actions that a man is pronounced righteous, and not simply because of faith.


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In the same way also was not the notorious sinner Rahab declared to be righteous because of her actions when she welcomed the spies and hurriedly helped them to escape another way?


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For just as a human body without a spirit is lifeless, so also faith is lifeless if it is unaccompanied by obedience.


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Do not be eager, my brethren, for many among you to become teachers; for you know that we teachers shall undergo severer judgement.


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For we often stumble and fall, all of us. If there is any one who never stumbles in speech, that man has reached maturity of character and is able to curb his whole nature.


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Remember that we put the horses' bit into their mouths to make them obey us, and so we turn their whole bodies round.


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So too with ships, great as they are, and often driven along by strong gales, yet they can be steered with a very small rudder in whichever direction the caprice of the man at the helm chooses.


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In the same way the tongue is an insignificant part of the body, but it is immensely boastful. Remember how a mere spark may set a vast forest in flames.


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And the tongue is a fire. That world of iniquity, the tongue, is placed within us spotting and soiling our whole nature, and setting the whole round of our lives on fire, being itself set on fire by Gehenna.


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For brute nature under all its forms –beasts and birds, reptiles and fishes– can be subjected and kept in subjection by human nature.


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But the tongue no man or woman is able to tame. It is an ever-busy mischief, and is full of deadly poison.


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Can a fig-tree, my brethren, yield olives, or a vine yield figs? No; and neither can salt water yield sweet.


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Which of you is a wise and well-instructed man? Let him prove it by a right life with conduct guided by a wisely teachable spirit.


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But if in your hearts you have bitter feelings of envy and rivalry, do not speak boastfully and falsely, in defiance of the truth.


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That is not the wisdom which comes down from above: it belongs to earth, to the unspiritual nature, and to evil spirits.


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The wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peaceful, courteous, not self-willed, full of compassion and kind actions, free from favouritism and from all insincerity.


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What causes wars and contentions among you? Is it not the cravings which are ever at war within you for various pleasures?


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You covet things and yet cannot get them; you commit murder; you have passionate desires and yet cannot gain your end; you begin to fight and make war. You have not, because you do not pray;


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or you pray and yet do not receive, because you pray wrongly, your object being to waste what you get on some pleasure or another.


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You unfaithful women, do you not know that friendship with the world means enmity to God? Therefore whoever is bent on being friendly with the world makes himself an enemy to God.


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Or do you suppose that it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, »The Spirit which He has caused to dwell in our hearts yearns jealously over us«?


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But He gives more abundant grace, as is implied in His saying, <i>»God sets Himself against the haughty, but to the lowly He gives grace.«</i>


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Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and make your hearts pure, you who are half-hearted towards God.


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Afflict yourselves and mourn and weep aloud; let your laughter be turned into grief, and your gladness into shame.


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Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. The man who speaks evil of a brother-man or judges his brother-man speaks evil of the Law and judges the Law. But if you judge the Law, you are no longer one who obeys the Law, but one who judges it.


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The only real Lawgiver and Judge is He who is able to save or to destroy. Who are you to sit in judgement on your fellow man?


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Come, you who say, »To-day or to-morrow we will go to this or that city, and spend a year there and carry on a successful business,«


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when, all the while, you do not even know what will happen to-morrow. For what is the nature of your life? Why, it is but a mist, which appears for a short time and then is seen no more.


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your gold and your silver have become covered with rust, and the rust on them will give evidence against you, and will eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded up wealth in these last days.


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I tell you that the pay of the labourers who have gathered in your crops –pay which you are keeping back– is calling out against you; and the outcries of those who have been your reapers have entered into the ears of the Lord of the armies of Heaven.


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Here on earth you have lived self-indulgent and profligate lives. You have stupefied yourselves with gross feeding; but a day of slaughter has come.


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Be patient therefore, brethren, until the Coming of the Lord. Notice how eagerly a farmer waits for a valuable crop! He is patient over it till it has received the early and the later rain.


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So you also must be patient: keeping up your courage; for the Coming of the Lord is now close at hand.


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Do not cry out in condemnation of one another, brethren, lest you come under judgement. I tell you that the Judge is standing at the door.


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In illustration, brethren, of persecution patiently endured take the Prophets who have spoken as messengers from the Lord.


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Remember that we call those blessed who endured what they did. You have also heard of Job's patient endurance, and have seen the issue of the Lord's dealings with him–how full of tenderness and pity the Lord is.


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But above all things, my brethren, do not swear, either by Heaven or by the earth, or with any other oath. Let your `yes' be simply `yes,' and your `no' be simply `no;' that you may not come under condemnation.


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Is any one ill? Let him send for the Elders of the Church, and let them pray over him, after anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.


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And the prayer of faith will restore the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up to health; and if he has committed sins, they shall be forgiven.


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Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be cured. The heartfelt supplication of a righteous man exerts a mighty influence.


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Elijah was a man with a nature similar to ours, and he earnestly prayed that there might be no rain: and no rain fell on the land for three years and six months.


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let him know that he who brings a sinner back from his evil ways will save the man's soul from death and throw a veil over a multitude of sins.


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Peter, an Apostle of Jesus Christ: To God's own people scattered over the earth, who are living as foreigners in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Roman Asia, and Bithynia,


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chosen in accordance with the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, with a view to their obedience and to their being sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ. May more and more grace and peace be granted to you.


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Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in His great mercy has begotten us anew to an ever-living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,


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whom God in His power is guarding through faith for a salvation that even now stands ready for unveiling at the End of the Age.


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Rejoice triumphantly in the prospect of this, even if now, for a short time, you are compelled to sorrow amid various trials.


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The sorrow comes in order that the testing of your faith –being more precious than that of gold, which perishes and yet is proved by fire– may be found to result in praise and glory and honour at the re-appearing of Jesus Christ.


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Him you love, though your eyes have never looked on Him. In Him, though at present you cannot see Him, you nevertheless trust, and triumph with a joy which is unspeakable and is crowned with glory,


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There were Prophets who earnestly inquired about that salvation, and closely searched into it–even those who spoke beforehand of the grace which was to come to you.


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They were eager to know the time which the Spirit of Christ within them kept indicating, or the characteristics of that time, when they solemnly made known beforehand the sufferings that were to come upon Christ and the glories which would follow.


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To them it was revealed that they were serving not themselves but you, when they foretold the very things which have now been openly declared to you by those who, having been taught by the Holy Spirit which had been sent from Heaven, brought you the Good News. Angels long to stoop and look into these things.


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Therefore gird up your minds and fix your hopes calmly and unfalteringly upon the boon that is soon to be yours, at the re-appearing of Jesus Christ.


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And, since you delight in obedience, do not shape your lives by the cravings which used to dominate you in the time of your ignorance,


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but –in imitation of the holy One who has called you– you also must be holy in all your habits of life.


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And if you address as your Father Him who judges impartially in accordance with each man's actions, then spend in fear the time of your stay here on earth,


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knowing, as you do, that it was not with a ransom of perishable wealth, such as silver or gold, that you were set free from your frivolous habits of life which had been handed down to you from your forefathers,


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He was pre-destined indeed to this work, even before the creation of the world, but has been plainly manifested in these last days for the sake of you who, through Him,


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are faithful to God, who raised Him from among the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are resting upon God.


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Now that, through your obedience to the truth, you have purified your souls for cherishing sincere brotherly love, you must love another heartily and fervently.


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For you have been begotten again by God's ever-living and enduring word from a germ not of perishable, but of imperishable life.


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<i>»All mankind resemble the herbage, and all their beauty is like its flowers. The herbage dries up, and its flowers drop off;«</i>


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<i>But the word of the Lord remains for ever.«</i> And that means the Message which has been proclaimed among you in the Good News.


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Rid yourselves therefore of all ill-will and all deceitfulness, of insincerity and envy, and of all evil speaking.


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Thirst, like newly-born infants, for pure milk for the soul, that by it you may grow up to salvation;


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Come to Him, the ever-living Stone, rejected indeed by men as worthless, but in God's esteem chosen and held in honour.


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And be yourselves also like living stones that are being built up into a spiritual house, to become a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.


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For it is contained in Scripture, <i>»See, I am placing on Mount Zion a Cornerstone, chosen, and held in honour, and he whose faith rests on Him shall never have reason to feel ashamed.«</i>


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To you believers, therefore, that honour belongs; but for unbelievers– <i>»A Stone which the builders rejected has been made the Cornerstone,«</i>


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and <i>»a Stone for the foot to strike against, and a Rock to stumble over.«</i> Their foot strikes against it because they are disobedient to God's Message, and to this they were appointed.


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But you are a chosen race, a priesthood of kingly lineage, a holy nation, a people belonging specially to God, that you may make known the perfections of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.


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Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you had not found mercy, but now you have.


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Dear friends, I entreat you as pilgrims and foreigners not to indulge the cravings of your lower natures: for all such cravings wage war upon the soul.


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Live honourable lives among the Gentiles, in order that, although they now speak against you as evil-doers, they may yet witness your good conduct, and may glorify God on the day of reward and retribution.


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Submit, for the Lord's sake, to every authority set up by man, whether it be to the Emperor as supreme ruler,


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or to provincial Governors as sent by him for the punishment of evil-doers and the encouragement of those who do what is right.


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For it is God's will that by doing what is right you should thus silence the ignorant talk of foolish persons.


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Be free men, and yet do not make your freedom an excuse for base conduct, but be God's bondservants.


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Household servants, be submissive to your masters, and show them the utmost respect–not only if they are kind and thoughtful, but also if they are unreasonable.


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For it is an acceptable thing with God, if, from a sense of duty to Him, a man patiently submits to wrong, when treated unjustly.


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If you do wrong and receive a blow for it, what credit is there in your bearing it patiently? But if when you do right and suffer for it you bear it patiently, this is an acceptable thing with God.


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And it is to this you were called; because Christ also suffered on your behalf, leaving you an example so that you should follow in His steps.


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When He was reviled, He did not answer with reviling; when He suffered He uttered no threats, but left His wrongs in the hands of the righteous Judge.


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The burden of our sins He Himself carried in His own body to the Cross and bore it there, so that we, having died so far as our sins are concerned, may live righteous lives. By His wounds yours have been healed.


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For you were straying like lost sheep, but now you have come back to the Shepherd and Protector of your souls.


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Married women, in the same way, be submissive to your husbands, so that even if some of them disbelieve the Message, they may, apart from the Message, be won over by the daily life of their wives, after watching your daily life–


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Your adornment ought not to be a merely outward thing–one of plaiting the hair, putting on jewelry, or wearing beautiful dresses.


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Instead of that, it should be a new nature within–the imperishable ornament of a gentle and peaceful spirit, which is indeed precious in the sight of God.


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For in ancient times also this was the way the holy women who set their hopes upon God used to adorn themselves, being submissive to their husbands.


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Thus, for instance, Sarah obeyed Abraham, acknowledging his authority over her. And you have become Sarah's children if you do what is right and permit nothing whatever to terrify you.


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Married men, in the same way, live with your wives with a clear recognition of the fact that they are weaker than you. Yet, since you are heirs with them of God's free gift of Life, treat them with honour; so that your prayers may not be hindered.


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In conclusion, all of you should be of one mind, quick to sympathize, kind to the brethren, tenderhearted, lowly-minded,


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not requiting evil with evil nor abuse with abuse, but, on the contrary, giving a blessing in return, because a blessing is what you have been called by God to inherit.


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For <i>»He who wishes to be well-satisfied with life and see happy days– let him restrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from deceitful words;</i>


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<i>For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open to their supplication; but the face of the Lord is set against evil-doers.«</i>


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But even if you suffer for righteousness' sake, you are to be envied. So do not be alarmed by their threats, nor troubled;


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but in your hearts consecrate Christ as Lord, being always ready to make your defence to any one who asks from you a reason for the hope which you cherish.


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Yet argue modestly and cautiously, keeping your consciences free from guilt, so that, when you are spoken against, those who slander your good Christian lives may be put to shame.


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For it is better that you should suffer for doing right, if such be God's will, than for doing evil;


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because Christ also once for all died for sins, the innocent One for the guilty many, in order to bring us to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit,


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who in ancient times had been disobedient, while God's longsuffering was patiently waiting in the days of Noah during the building of the Ark, in which a few persons –eight in number– were brought safely through the water.


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And, corresponding to that figure, the water of baptism now saves you –not the washing off of material defilement, but the craving of a good conscience after God– through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,


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who is at God's right hand, having gone into Heaven, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.


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Since, then, Christ has suffered in the flesh, you also must arm yourselves with a determination to do the same –because he who has suffered in the flesh has done with sin–


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that in future you may spend the rest of your earthly lives, governed not by human passions, but by the will of God.


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For you have given time enough in the past to the doing of the things which the Gentiles delight in– pursuing, as you did, a course of habitual licence, debauchery, hard drinking, noisy revelry, drunkenness and unholy image-worship.


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At this they are astonished–that you do not run into the same excess of profligacy as they do; and they speak abusively of you.


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But they will have to give account to Him who stands ready to pronounce judgement on the living and the dead.


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For it is with this end in view that the Good News was proclaimed even to some who were dead, that they may be judged, as all mankind will be judged, in the body, but may be living a godly life in the spirit.


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But the end of all things is now close at hand: therefore be sober-minded and temperate, so that you may give yourselves to prayer.


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Above all continue to love one another fervently, for love throws a veil over a multitude of faults.


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Whatever be the gifts which each has received, you must use them for one another's benefit, as good stewards of God's many-sided kindness.


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If any one preaches, let it be as uttering God's truth; if any one renders a service to others, let it be in the strength which God supplies; so that in everything glory may be given to God in the name of Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the might to the Ages of the Ages. Amen.


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Dear friends, do not be surprised at finding that that scorching flame of persecution is raging among you to put you to the test–as though some surprising thing were accidentally happening to you.


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On the contrary, in the degree that you share in the sufferings of the Christ, rejoice, so that at the unveiling of His glory you may also rejoice with triumphant gladness.


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You are to be envied, if you are being reproached for bearing the name of Christ; for in that case the Spirit of glory – even the Spirit of God– is resting upon you.


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But let not one of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evil-doer, or as a spy upon other people's business.


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If, however, any one suffers because he is a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God for being permitted to bear that name.


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For the time has come for judgement to begin, and to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the end of those who reject God's Good News?


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And if it is difficult even for a righteous man to be saved, what will become of irreligious men and sinners?


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Therefore also, let those who are suffering in accordance with the will of God entrust their souls in well-doing to a faithful Creator.


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So I exhort the Elders among you–I who am their fellow Elder and have been an eye-witness of the sufferings of the Christ, and am also a sharer in the glory which is soon to be revealed.


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Be shepherds of God's flock which is among you. Exercise the oversight not reluctantly but eagerly, in accordance with the will of God; not for base gain but with cheerful minds;


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In the same way you younger men must submit to your elders; and all of you must gird yourselves with humility towards one another, for God sets Himself against the proud, but gives grace to the humble.


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Humble yourselves therefore beneath the mighty hand of God, so that at the right time He may set you on high.


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Curb every passion, and be on the alert. Your great accuser, the Devil, is going about like a roaring lion to see whom he can devour.


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Withstand him, firm in your faith; knowing that your brethren in other parts of the world are passing through just the same experiences.


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And God, the giver of all grace, who has called you to share His eternal glory, through Christ, after you have suffered for a short time, will Himself make you perfect, firm, and strong.


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I send this short letter by Silas, our faithful brother –for such I regard him– in order to encourage you, and to bear witness that what I have told you is the true grace of God. In it stand fast.


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Simon Peter, a bondservant and Apostle of Jesus Christ: To those to whom there has been allotted the same precious faith as that which is ours through the righteousness of our God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ.


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May more and more grace and peace be granted to you in a full knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,


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seeing that His divine power has given us all things that are needful for life and godliness, through our knowledge of Him who has appealed to us by His own glorious perfections.


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It is by means of these that He has granted us His precious and wondrous promises, in order that through them you may, one and all, become sharers in the very nature of God, having completely escaped the corruption which exists in the world through earthly cravings.


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But for this very reason –adding, on your part, all earnestness– along with your faith, manifest also a noble character: along with a noble character, knowledge;


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along with power of endurance, godliness; along with godliness, brotherly affection; and along with brotherly affection, love.


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If these things exist in you, and continually increase, they prevent your being either idle or unfruitful in advancing towards a full knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.


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For the man in whom they are lacking is blind and cannot see distant objects, in that he has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his old sins.


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For this reason, brethren, be all the more in earnest to make sure that God has called you and chosen you; for it is certain that so long as you practise these things, you will never stumble.


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And so a triumphant admission into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ will be freely granted to you.


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For this reason I shall always persist in reminding you of these things, although you know them and are stedfast believers in truth which you already possess.


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But I think it right, so long as I remain in the body, my present dwelling-place, to arouse you by such reminders.


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For I know that the time for me to lay aside my body is now rapidly drawing near, even as our Lord Jesus Christ has revealed to me.


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So on every possible occasion I will also do my best to enable you to recall these things after my departure.


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For when we made known to you the power and Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, we were not eagerly following cleverly devised legends, but we had been eye-witnesses of His majesty.


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He received honour and glory from God the Father, and out of the wondrous glory words such as these were spoken to Him, »This is My dearly-loved Son, in whom I take delight.«


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And in the written word of prophecy we have something more permanent; to which you do well to pay attention –as to a lamp shining in a dimly-lighted place– until day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.


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But, above all, remember that no prophecy in Scripture will be found to have come from the prophet's own prompting;


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for never did any prophecy come by human will, but men sent by God spoke as they were impelled by the Holy Spirit.


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But there were also false prophets among the people, as there will be teachers of falsehood among you also, who will cunningly introduce fatal divisions, disowning even the Sovereign Lord who has redeemed them, and bringing on themselves swift destruction.


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And in their immoral ways they will have many eager disciples, through whom religion will be brought into disrepute.


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Thirsting for riches, they will trade on you with their canting talk. From of old their judgement has been working itself out, and their destruction has not been slumbering.


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For God did not spare angels when they had sinned, but hurling them down to Tartarus consigned them to caves of darkness, keeping them in readiness for judgement.


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And He did not spare the ancient world, although He preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a deluge on the world of the ungodly.


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He reduced to ashes the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and condemned them to overthrow, making them an example to people who might in future be living godless lives.


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(For their lawless deeds were torture, day after day, to the pure soul of that righteous man–all that he saw and heard whilst living in their midst.)


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Since all this is so, the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from temptation, and on the other hand how to keep the unrighteous under punishment in readiness for the Day of Judgement,


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and especially those who are abandoned to sensuality–craving, as they do, for polluted things, and scorning control. Fool-hardy and self-willed, they do not tremble when speaking evil of glorious beings;


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while angels, though greater than they in might and power, do not bring any insulting accusation against such in the presence of the Lord.


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But these men, like brute beasts, created (with their natural instincts) only to be captured or destroyed, are abusive in matters of which they are ignorant, and in their corruption will perish,


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being doomed to receive a requital for their guilt. They reckon it pleasure to feast daintily in broad daylight. They are spots and blemishes, while feeding luxuriously at their love-feasts, and banqueting with you.


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Their very eyes are full of adultery–being eyes which never cease from sin. These men set traps to catch unstedfast souls, their own hearts being well trained in greed. They are fore-doomed to God's curse!


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Forsaking the straight road, they have gone astray, having eagerly followed in the steps of Balaam, the son of Beor, who was bent on securing the wages of unrighteousness.


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But he was rebuked for his transgression: a dumb ass spoke with a human voice and checked the madness of the Prophet.


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These people are wells without water, mists driven along by a storm, men for whom the dense darkness has been reserved.


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For, while they pour out their frivolous and arrogant talk, they use earthly cravings –every kind of immorality– as a bait to entrap men who are just escaping from the influence of those who live in error.


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And they promise them freedom, although they are themselves the slaves of what is corrupt. For a man is the slave of any one by whom he has been worsted in fight.


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For if, after escaping from the pollutions of the world through a full knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, people are once more entangled in these pollutions and are overcome, their last state has become worse than their first.


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For it would have been better for them not to have fully known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandments in which they were instructed.


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Their case is that described in the true proverb, <i>»A dog returns to what he has vomited,«</i> and also in the other proverb, »The sow has washed itself and now goes back to roll in its filth.«


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This letter which I am now writing to you, dear friends, is my second letter. In both my letters I seek to revive in your honest minds the memory of certain things,


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so that you may recall the words spoken long ago by the holy Prophets, and the commandments of our Lord and Saviour given you through your Apostles.


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But, above all, remember that, in the last days, men will come who make a mock at everything–men governed only by their own passions,


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and, asking, »What has become of His promised Return? For from the time our forefathers fell asleep all things continue as they have been ever since the creation of the world.«


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For they are wilfully blind to the fact that there were heavens which existed of old, and an earth, the latter arising out of water and extending continuously through water, by the command of God;


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But the present heavens and the present earth are, by the command of the same God, kept stored up, reserved for fire in preparation for a day of judgement and of destruction for the ungodly.


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But there is one thing, dear friends, which you must not forget. With the Lord one day resembles a thousand years and a thousand years resemble one day.


