Are they servants of Christ? (I am really talking like a crazy person now). I am more [of a servant, than they are]. I have worked much harder. I have been in prison more often. I have been flogged more severely. I have been in danger of death more frequently.

But the free gift [of salvation through Christ] is not [exactly] like the sin [of Adam]. For if many people died [physically] because of the sin of the one man [i.e., Adam], how much more did God's favor abound by [providing] His gracious gift [of salvation] to many people because of the one man, Jesus Christ.

Now consider how you were when you were called, brothers. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were from prominent families.

Then I looked, and heard the voice of many angels surrounding the throne and the living beings and elders. They numbered in the tens of thousands, and thousands and thousands [more]. [Note: The Greek says "myriads of myriads"].

I have many [more] things to write to you about, but will not do so with paper and ink, since I hope to visit you [soon] and speak to you in person, so that our joy may be complete.

I know about your deeds, your love, your faith, your service and your endurance, and that your most recent deeds are more numerous than when you first began [your Christian lives].

It was God's purpose to bring us into being [spiritually] by the message of truth, so that we could become a kind of "firstfruits" of those He created. [Note: "Firstfruits" here suggests either that Christians are the best of all of God's creatures (Num. 18:12), or that they were the first to be converted, with many more to come].

Not many of you should be teachers, my brothers, because you [should] know that we [teachers] will be judged more strictly.