I, Paul, add this greeting in my own handwriting, which is my token in every letter. Thus I write??18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

yet for love's sake, I rather beseech you, I, Paul, an old man, and now a prisoner for Christ Jesus!

I, John, who am your brother and who share with you in the woes and kingdom and stedfastness of Jesus, found myself in the island called Patmos, for the sake of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.

Beseech

On Christ's behalf, then, I come as ambassador. It is as though God was entreating you, through me, on Christ's behalf I beg you to be reconciled to God.

As a worker with him I beseech you not to receive the grace of God in vain.

I entreat you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies to Him as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. This is your reasonable service of worship.

I summon you then, I the prisoner in the Lord, to live lives worthy of the calling to which you were called.

I beseech you, beloved, as pilgrims and exiles, to abstain from passions of the flesh that war upon your souls.

By

"Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

He will not strive nor cry aloud, Nor shall anyone hear is voice in the streets.

Say to the daughter of Zion, "Behold thy King cometh to thee, Gentle and sitting upon an ass, And upon a colt, the fool of a beast of burden."

Now the portion of Scripture which he was reading was as follows. He was led a sheep to the slaughter; And as a lamb before its shearer is dumb, So he opened not his mouth.

He committed no sin, Neither was guile found in his mouth.

Presence

Look these facts in the face. If any man is fully persuaded as regards himself that he belongs to Christ, let him consider again with himself, that just as he is Christ's, so also am I.

Base

"His letters indeed," says one, "are mighty and forcible, but his personality is weak, and his speech contemptible."

If boast I must, it shall be concerning my weakness.

Of such a one I will boast; but on my own behalf I will not boast except in my weaknesses.

For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he now lives through the power of God. I also am weak, sharing in his weakness, but I shall live with him by the power of God.

In weakness and fear and great trembling came I among you.

For Christ's sake we are fools, but you are quite philosophic in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong; you are honorable, but we are outcast.

on the contrary, you know that although it was illness which brought about my preaching the gospel to you at my first visit,

General references

He will not strive nor cry aloud, Nor shall anyone hear is voice in the streets.

In weakness and fear and great trembling came I among you.