and be found in him, not because I have my own righteousness derived from the law, but because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ's faithfulness -- a righteousness from God that is in fact based on Christ's faithfulness.

Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His plea through us. We plead with you on Christ's behalf, "Be reconciled to God!"

For the one who was called in the Lord as a slave is the Lord's freedman. In the same way, the one who was called as a free person is Christ's slave.

For I tell you the truth, whoever gives you a cup of water because you bear Christ's name will never lose his reward.

Isaiah said these things because he saw Christ's glory, and spoke about him.

And God put all things under Christ's feet, and he gave him to the church as head over all things.

Now you are Christ's body, and each of you is a member of it.

and I know that when I come to you I will come in the fullness of Christ's blessing.

in whom we have boldness and confident access to God because of Christ's faithfulness.

until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God -- a mature person, attaining to the measure of Christ's full stature.

according to the foreknowledge of God the Father by being set apart by the Spirit for obedience and for sprinkling with Jesus Christ's blood. May grace and peace be yours in full measure!

So as your fellow elder and a witness of Christ's sufferings and as one who shares in the glory that will be revealed, I urge the elders among you:

yet we know that no one is justified by the works of the law but by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by the faithfulness of Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.

While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, he said, "How is it that the experts in the law say that the Christ is David's son?

It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

But he said to them, "How is it that they say that the Christ is David's son?

Others said, "This is the Christ!" But still others said, "No, for the Christ doesn't come from Galilee, does he?

explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and to rise from the dead, saying, "This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ."

For the love of Christ controls us, since we have concluded this, that Christ died for all; therefore all have died.

In other words, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting people's trespasses against them, and he has given us the message of reconciliation.

You are looking at outward appearances. If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should reflect on this again: Just as he himself belongs to Christ, so too do we.

But if while seeking to be justified in Christ we ourselves have also been found to be sinners, is Christ then one who encourages sin? Absolutely not!

I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

I do not set aside God's grace, because if righteousness could come through the law, then Christ died for nothing!

For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to the promise.

Carry one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints [in Ephesus], the faithful in Christ Jesus.

Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ.

In Christ we too have been claimed as God's own possession, since we were predestined according to the one purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will

But now in Christ Jesus you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; then when Christ comes, those who belong to him.

For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow toward us, so also our comfort through Christ overflows to you.

Receive one another, then, just as Christ also received you, to God's glory.

For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of God's truth to confirm the promises made to the fathers,

And in this way I desire to preach where Christ has not been named, so as not to build on another person's foundation,

to the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, and called to be saints, with all those in every place who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel -- and not with clever speech, so that the cross of Christ would not become useless.

and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

We are fools for Christ, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, we are dishonored!

For though you may have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, because I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!

To those free from the law I became like one free from the law (though I am not free from God's law but under the law of Christ) to gain those free from the law.

Is not the cup of blessing that we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread that we break a sharing in the body of Christ?

But I want you to know that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.

From Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the overseers and deacons.

More than that, I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things -- indeed, I regard them as dung! -- that I may gain Christ,

Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

For you became imitators, brothers and sisters, of God's churches in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, because you too suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they in fact did from the Jews,

in everything give thanks. For this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,

and our Lord's grace was abundant, bringing faith and love in Christ Jesus.

From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to further the promise of life in Christ Jesus,

From Paul, a slave of God and apostle of Jesus Christ, to further the faith of God's chosen ones and the knowledge of the truth that is in keeping with godliness,

But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. We are of his house, if in fact we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope we take pride in.

For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with hands -- the representation of the true sanctuary -- but into heaven itself, and he appears now in God's presence for us.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he gave us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

They probed into what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating when he testified beforehand about the sufferings appointed for Christ and his subsequent glory.