Therefore, my brothers, you also were put to death in relation to the law through the crucified body of the Messiah, so that you may belong to another—to Him who was raised from the dead—that we may bear fruit for God.

Thank God through Jesus the Messiah, our Lord, because with my mind I myself can serve the Law of God, even while with my human nature I serve the law of sin.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in union with the Messiah Jesus.

For the Spirit's law of life in the Messiah Jesus has set me free from the Law of sin and death.

You, however, are not under the control of the human nature but under the control of the Spirit, since God's Spirit lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of the Messiah, he does not belong to him.

But if the Messiah is in you, your bodies are dead due to sin, but the spirit is alive due to righteousness.

And if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, then the one who raised the Messiah from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive by his Spirit who lives in you.

Now if we are children, we are heirs heirs of God and co-heirs with the Messiah if, in fact, we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Who is the one who condemns us? Christ Jesus is the One who died [to pay our penalty], and more than that, who was raised [from the dead], and who is at the right hand of God interceding [with the Father] for us.

Who will separate us from the Messiah's love? Can trouble, distress, persecution, hunger, nakedness, danger, or a violent death do this?

nor anything above, nor anything below, nor anything else in all creation can separate us from the love of God that is ours in union with the Messiah Jesus, our Lord.

I am telling the truth because I belong to the Messiah I am not lying, and my conscience confirms it by means of the Holy Spirit.

For I could almost wish to be cursed and cut off from the Messiah for the benefit of my brothers, my own flesh and blood.

The ancestors are theirs, and from them, by physical descent, came the Messiah, who is God over all, praised forever. Amen.

Does the potter not have the right over the clay, to make from the same lump [of clay] one object for honorable use [something beautiful or distinctive] and another for common use [something ordinary or menial]?

For the Messiah is the culmination of the Law as far as righteousness is concerned for everyone who believes.

But the righteousness that comes from faith says, "Do not say in your heart, "Who will go up to heaven?' (that is, to bring the Messiah down),

or "Who will go down into the depths?' (that is, to bring the Messiah back from the dead)."

So faith comes from hearing [what is told], and what is heard comes by the [preaching of the] message concerning Christ.

If the first portion [of dough offered as the first fruits] is holy, so is the whole batch; and if the root (Abraham, the patriarchs) is holy, so are the branches (the Israelites).

I do not want you, believers, to be unaware of this mystery [God’s previously hidden plan]—so that you will not be wise in your own opinion—that a partial hardening has [temporarily] happened to Israel [to last] until the full number of the Gentiles has come in;

so we, who are many, are [nevertheless just] one body in Christ, and individually [we are] parts one of another [mutually dependent on each other].

Do this, knowing that this is a critical time. It is already the hour for you to awaken from your sleep [of spiritual complacency]; for our salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed [in Christ].

But clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for [nor even think about gratifying] the flesh in regard to its improper desires.

For this reason the Messiah died and returned to life, so that he might become the Lord of both the dead and the living.

For if your brother is being hurt by what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not destroy the person for whom the Messiah died by what you eat.

Whoever serves Christ in this way is acceptable to God and approved by men.

For even the Messiah did not please Himself. On the contrary, as it is written, The insults of those who insult You have fallen on Me.

Now may God, the source of endurance and encouragement, allow you to live in harmony with each other as you follow the Messiah Jesus,

so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify and praise and honor the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore accept one another, just as the Messiah also accepted you, to the glory of God.

For I tell you that Christ has become a servant and a minister to the circumcision (Jews) on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm and verify the promises made to the fathers,

to be a minister of the Messiah Jesus to the gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering brought by gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, in the Messiah Jesus I have the right to boast about my work for God.

For I am bold enough to tell you only about what the Messiah has accomplished through me in bringing gentiles to obedience. By my words and actions,

with the power of signs and wonders, [and all of it] in the power of the Spirit. So [starting] from Jerusalem and as far away as Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel [faithfully preaching the good news] of Christ [where it had not before been preached].

My one ambition is to proclaim the gospel where the name of the Messiah is not known, so I don't build on someone else's foundation.

And I know that when I come to you I will come with the full blessing of the Messiah.

Now I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, and by the love that the Spirit produces, to join me in my struggle, earnestly praying to God for me

Greet Prisca and Aquila, who work with me for the Messiah Jesus,

Greet also the church in their house. Greet my dear friend Epaenetus, who was the first convert to the Messiah in Asia.

Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews who are in prison with me and are prominent among the apostles. They belonged to the Messiah before I did.

Greet Urbanus, our co-worker in the Messiah, and my dear friend Stachys.

Greet Apelles, the one tested and approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to the household of Aristobulus.

Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.

because such people are not serving the Messiah our Lord, but their own desires. By their smooth talk and flattering words they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.

The [wonderful] grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

[The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.]

Now to Him who is able to establish and strengthen you [in the faith] according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery [of the plan of salvation] which has been kept secret for long ages past,

to the only wise God, through Jesus the Messiah, be glory forever! Amen.

From: Paul, called to be an apostle of the Messiah Jesus by the will of God, and from our brother Sosthenes.

To: God's church in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified by the Messiah Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah their Lord and ours.

May grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, be yours!

I always thank my God for you because of the grace of God given you by the Messiah Jesus.

In this way our testimony about Christ was confirmed and established in you,

Therefore, you don't lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus the Messiah to be revealed.

And He will also confirm you to the end [keeping you strong and free of any accusation, so that you will be] blameless and beyond reproach in the day [of the return] of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Faithful is the God by whom you were called into fellowship with his Son Jesus the Messiah, our Lord.

Brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, I urge all of you to be in agreement and not to have divisions among you, so that you may be perfectly united in your understanding and opinions.

This is what I mean: Each of you is saying, "I belong to Paul," or "I belong to Apollos," or "I belong to Cephas," or "I belong to the Messiah."

Has Christ been divided [into different parts]? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul? [Certainly not!]

For Christ did not send me [as an apostle] to baptize, but [commissioned and empowered me] to preach the good news [of salvation]—not with clever and eloquent speech [as an orator], so that the cross of Christ would not be made ineffective [deprived of its saving power].

but we preach Christ crucified, [a message which is] to Jews a stumbling block [that provokes their opposition], and to Gentiles foolishness [just utter nonsense],

but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, the Messiah is God's power and God's wisdom.

It is because of God that you are in union with the Messiah Jesus, who for us has become wisdom from God, as well as our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

for I made the decision to know nothing [that is, to forego philosophical or theological discussions regarding inconsequential things and opinions while] among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified [and the meaning of His redemptive, substitutionary death and His resurrection].

For who has known the mind and purposes of the Lord, so as to instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ [to be guided by His thoughts and purposes].

Brothers, I couldn't talk to you as spiritual people but as worldly people, as mere infants in the Messiah.

for no one can lay a foundation other than the one which is [already] laid, which is Jesus Christ.

but you belong to the Messiah, and the Messiah belongs to God.

Think of us as servants of the Messiah and as servant managers entrusted with God's secrets.

We are fools for the Messiah's sake, but you are wise in the Messiah. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honored, but we are dishonored.

You may have 10,000 mentors who work for the Messiah, but not many fathers. For in the Messiah Jesus I became your father through the gospel.

That's why I sent Timothy to you. He is my dear and dependable son in the Lord and will help you remember how I live for the Messiah Jesus as I teach everywhere in every church.

This pride of yours is not good. Do you not see that a little leaven makes a change in all the mass?

Take away, then, the old leaven, so that you may be a new mass, even as you are without leaven. For Christ has been put to death as our Passover.

That is what some of you were! But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus the Messiah and by the Spirit of our God.

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Am I therefore to take the members of Christ and make them part of a prostitute? Certainly not!

For he who was a slave when he was called in the Lord is a freedman of the Lord, likewise he who was free when he was called is a slave of Christ.

yet for us there is only one God, the Father, from whom everything came into being and for whom we live. And there is only one Lord, Jesus the Messiah, through whom everything came into being and through whom we live.

For through your knowledge (spiritual maturity) this weak man is ruined [that is, he suffers in his spiritual life], the brother for whom Christ died.

When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak consciences, you are sinning against the Messiah.

If others enjoy this right over you, don't we have a stronger claim? But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we tolerate everything in order not to put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of the Messiah.

To those who do not have the Law, I became like a man who does not have the Law in order to win those who do not have the Law. However, I am not free from God's Law, but I'm subject to the Messiah's law.

and drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that went with them. That rock was the Messiah.

Is the cup of blessing which we bless [at the Lord’s Supper] not a sharing in the blood of Christ? [Indeed it is.] Is the bread which we break not a sharing in the body of Christ? [Indeed it is.]

Imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.

Now I want you to realize that the Messiah is the head of every man, and man is the head of the woman, and God is the head of the Messiah.

For just as the body is one and yet has many parts, and all the parts, though many, form [only] one body, so it is with Christ.

Now you are the Messiah's body and individual parts of it.

For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to [that which] the Scriptures [foretold],

Now if Christ is preached as raised from the dead, how is it that some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

If there is no resurrection of the dead, then the Messiah has not been raised,

and if the Messiah has not been raised, then our message means nothing and your faith means nothing.

In addition, we are found to be false witnesses about God because we testified on God's behalf that he raised the Messiah whom he did not raise if in fact it is true that the dead are not raised.

For if the dead are not raised, then the Messiah has not been raised,

and if the Messiah has not been raised, your faith is worthless and you are still imprisoned by your sins.

Yes, even those who have died believing in the Messiah are lost.

If we have set our hopes on the Messiah in this life only, we deserve more pity than any other people.

But now [as things really are] Christ has in fact been raised from the dead, [and He became] the first fruits [that is, the first to be resurrected with an incorruptible, immortal body, foreshadowing the resurrection] of those who have fallen asleep [in death].