Seeing great crowds about Him Jesus had given directions to cross to the other side of the Lake,

and any one who does not take up his cross and follow where I lead is not worthy of me.

and He told all the people to sit down on the grass. Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and after looking up to heaven and blessing them, He broke up the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples distributed them to the people.

Immediately afterwards He made the disciples go on board the boat and cross to the opposite shore, leaving Him to dismiss the people.

Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If any one desires to follow me, let him renounce self and take up his cross, and so be my follower.

"It is not every man," He replied, "who can receive this teaching, but only those on whom the grace has been bestowed.

Going out they met a Cyrenaean named Simon; whom they compelled to carry His cross,

and said, "You who would pull down the Sanctuary and build a new one within three days, save yourself. If you are God's Son, come down from the cross."

"He saved others," they said, "himself he cannot save! He is the King of Israel! Let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in him.

The same day, in the evening, He said to them, "Let us cross to the other side."

So He directed them to make all sit down in companies on the green grass.

Immediately afterwards He made His disciples go on board the boat and cross over to Bethsaida, leaving Him behind to dismiss the crowd.

Then calling to Him the crowd and also His disciples, He said to them, "If any one is desirous of following me, let him ignore self and take up his cross, and so be my follower.

One Simon, a Cyrenaean, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing along, coming from the country: him they compelled to carry His cross.

come down from the cross and save yourself."

This Christ, the King of Israel, let him come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe." Even the men who were being crucified with Him heaped insults on Him.

And when the Centurion who stood in front of the cross saw that He was dead, he exclaimed, "This man was indeed God's Son."

One day He went on board a boat--both He and his disciples; and He said to them, "Let us cross over to the other side of the Lake." So they set sail.

And He said to all, "If any one is desirous of following me, let him ignore self and take up his cross day by day, and so be my follower.

No one who does not carry his own cross and come after me can be a disciple of mine.

And, besides all this, a vast chasm is immovably fixed between us and you, put there in order that those who desire to cross from this side to you may not be able, nor any be able to cross over from your side to us.'

As soon as they led Him away, they laid hold on one Simon, a Cyrenaean, who was coming in from the country, and on his shoulders they put the cross, for him to carry it behind Jesus.

When they reached the place called 'The Skull,' there they nailed Him to the cross, and the criminals also, one at His right hand and one at His left.

And the Word came in the flesh, and lived for a time in our midst, so that we saw His glory--the glory as of the Father's only Son, sent from His presence. He was full of grace and truth.

For He it is from whose fulness we have all received, and grace upon grace.

For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

"Make the people sit down," said Jesus. The ground was covered with thick grass; so they sat down, the adult men numbering about 5,000.

There they got on board a boat, and pushed off to cross the Lake to Capernaum. By this time it had become dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them.

As soon then as the High Priests and the officers saw Him, they shouted "To the cross! To the cross!" "Take him yourselves and crucify him," said Pilate; "for I, at any rate, find no crime in him."

and He went out carrying His own cross, to the place called Skull-place--or, in Hebrew, Golgotha--

where they nailed Him to a cross, and two others at the same time, one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

And Pilate wrote a notice and had it fastened to the top of the cross. It ran thus: JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Now standing close to the cross of Jesus were His mother and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala.

delivered up through God's settled purpose and foreknowledge--you by the hands of Gentiles have nailed to a cross and have put to death.

while the Apostles with great force of conviction delivered their testimony as to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus; and great grace was upon them all.

And Stephen, full of grace and power, performed great marvels and signs among the people.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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;

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.

"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.

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,

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.

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

All depends on faith, and for this reason--that acceptance with God might be an act of pure grace,

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.

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.

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

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.

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?

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;

For Sin shall not be lord over you, since you are subjects not of Law, but of grace.

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

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

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.

And before long, God the giver of peace will crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you!

May grace and peace be granted to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I thank my God continually on your behalf for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus--

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.

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.

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.

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.

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.

May grace and peace be granted to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

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.

And you also we, as God's fellow workers, entreat not to be found to have received His grace to no purpose.

But we desire to let you know, brethren, of the grace of God which has been bestowed on the Churches of Macedonia;

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.

May grace and peace be granted to you from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,

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.

But when He who set me apart even from my birth, and called me by His grace,

I do not nullify the grace of God; for if acquittal from guilt is obtainable through the Law, then Christ has died in vain."

You foolish Galatians! Whose sophistry has bewitched you--you to whom Jesus Christ has been vividly portrayed as on the Cross?

Christ has become nothing to any of you who are seeking acceptance with God through the Law: you have fallen away from grace.

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!

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.

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.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirits, brethren. Amen.

May grace and peace be granted to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

to the praise of the splendour of His grace with which He has enriched us in the beloved One.

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,

the grace which He, the possessor of all wisdom and understanding, lavished upon us,

caused us, dead though we were through our offences, to live with Christ--it is by grace that you have been saved--

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.

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--

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.

Yet to each of us individually grace was given, measured out with the munificence of Christ.

May grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with perfect sincerity.

May grace and peace be granted to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

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.