Dear friends, we are God's Children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is that, when it is revealed, we shall be like Christ; because we shall see him as he is.

By this we know that we love God's Children--when we love God and carry out his commands.

This means that it is not the children born in the course of nature who are God's Children, but it is the children born in fulfillment of the Promise who are to be regarded as Abraham's descendants.

and you have forgotten the encouraging words which are addressed to you as God's Children-- 'My child, think not lightly of the Lord's discipline, do not despond when he rebukes you;

The Spirit himself unites with our spirits in bearing witness to our being God's children,

For he whom God sent as his Messenger gives us God's own teaching, for God does not limit the gift of the Spirit.

It is through him that, by reason of our faith, we have obtained admission to that place in God's favor in which we not stand. So let us exult in our hope of attaining God's glorious ideal.

For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, much more, now that we have become reconciled, shall we be saved by virtue of Christ's Life.

Unlike many people, we are not in the habit of making profit out of God's Message; but in all sincerity, and bearing God's commission, we speak before him in union with Christ.

but, if a widow has children or grand-children, let them learn to show proper regard for the members of their own family first, and to make some return to their parents; for that is pleasing in God's sight.

For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's harvest field, God's building.

For, although we had experienced suffering and ill-treatment, as you know, at Philippi, we had the courage, by the help of our God, to tell you God's Good News in spite of great opposition.

For we are God's handiwork, created, by our union with Christ Jesus, for the good actions in doing which God had pre-arranged that we should spend our lives.

By that we shall know that we are on the side of the Truth; and we shall satisfy ourselves in God's sight,

We know that God never listens to bad men, but, when a man is god-fearing and does God's will, God listens to him.

No, we have renounced the secrecy prompted by shame, refusing to adopt crafty ways, or to tamper with God's Message, and commending ourselves to every man's conscience, in the sight of God, by our exhibition of the Truth.

What are we to say, then? Are we to continue to sin, in order that God's loving-kindness may be multiplied?

This is the Christ whom we proclaim, warning every one, and instructing every one, with all the wisdom that we possess, in the hope of bringing every one into God's presence perfected by union with Christ.

Listen, I will tell you God's hidden purpose! We shall not all have passed to our rest, but we shall all be transformed-in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,

You will not have forgotten, Brothers, our labor and toil. Night and day we used to work at our trades, so as not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you God's Good News.

Therefore, since it is by God's mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart.

For we know that if our tent--that earthly body which is now our home--is taken down, we have a house of God's building, a home not made by hands, imperishable, in Heaven.

For, if we were "beside ourselves," it was in God's service! If we are not in our senses, it is in yours!

We must, therefore, be very careful, though there is a promise still standing that we shall enter upon God's Rest, that none of you even appear to have missed it.

With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who are made 'in God's likeness.'

Nor, because they are Abraham's descendants, are they all his Children; but-'It is Isaac's children who will be called thy descendants.'

Upon that Rest we who have believed are now entering. As God has said-- 'In my wrath I swore--"They shall never enter upon my Rest;"' Although God's work was finished at the creation of the world;

We accept the testimony of men, but God's testimony is still stronger; and there is the testimony of God--the fact that he has already borne testimony about his Son.

And that, not only in the way we had expected; but first they gave themselves to the Lord, and to us also, in accordance with God's will.

Even though we were 'dead' because of our offenses, gave Life to us in giving Life to the Christ. (By God's loving-kindness you have been saved.)

And, moreover, we have learned to know, and have accepted as a fact, the love which God has for us. God is Love; and he who lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

And so, Brothers, we are not children of a slave, but of her who is free.

And we know that God's judgment falls unerringly upon those who do them.

Seeing that, while we were still powerless, Christ, in God's good time, died on behalf of the godless.

Therefore, as God's fellow-workers, we also appeal to you not to receive his loving-kindness in vain.

No, we are trying to commend ourselves under all circumstances, as God's ministers should--in many an hour of endurance, in troubles, in hardships, in difficulties,

In him, I say, for by our union with him we became God's Heritage, having from the first been destined for this in the intention of him who, in all that happens, is carrying out his own fixed purpose;

To sum up what I have been saying:--Such is the High Priest that we have, one who 'has taken his seat at the right hand' of the throne of God's Majesty in Heaven,

Yes and, with God's help, we will.

Yet to us God revealed it through his Spirit; for the Spirit fathoms all things, even the inmost depths of God's being.

For the time has come for judgment to begin with the House of God; and, if it begins with us, what will be the end of those who reject God's Good News?

That is why all is made to depend upon faith, that all may be God's gift, and in order that the fulfillment of the promise may be made certain for all Abraham's descendants-not only for those who take their stand on the Law, but also for those who take their stand on the faith of Abraham. (He is the Father of us all;

That, by union with Christ Jesus and through the Good News, the Gentiles are co-heirs with us and members of one Body, and that they share with us in God's Promise.

In our strong affection for you, that seemed to us the best way of sharing with you, not only God's Good news, but our very lives as well--so dear had you become to us.

But, when the full time came, God sent his Son--born a woman's child, born subject to Law--

"Our father is Abraham," was their answer. "If you are Abraham's children," replied Jesus, "do what Abraham did.

While they said to Aaron--'Make us Gods who will lead the way for us, since, as for this Moses who has brought us out of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.'

He has trusted in God; if God wants him, let him deliver him now; for he said 'I am God's Son.'"

He who comes from God listens to God's teaching; the reason why you do not listen is because you do not come from God."

To all in Rome who are dear to God and have been called to become Christ's People, From Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, who has been called to become an Apostle, and has been set apart to tell God's Good News.

But there is a contrast between Adam's Offence and God's gracious Gift. For, if by reason of the offence of the one man the whole race died, far more were the loving-kindness of God, and the gift given in the loving-kindness of the one man, Jesus Christ, lavished upon the whole race.

Who is there to condemn them? He who died for us is Christ Jesus!-or, rather, it was he who was raised from the dead, and who is now at God's right hand and is even pleading on our behalf!

From the stand-point of the Good News, the Jews are God's enemies on your account; but from the stand-point of God's selection, they are dear to him on account of the Patriarchs.

For they are God's servants appointed for your good. But, if you do what is wrong, you may well be afraid; for the sword they carry is not without meaning! They are God's servants to inflict his punishments on those who do wrong.

For since the world, in God's wisdom, did not by its philosophy learn to know God, God saw fit, by the 'folly' of our proclamation, to save those who believe in Christ!

For God's 'folly' is wiser than men, and God's 'weakness' is stronger than men.

Do not you know that you are God's Temple, and that God's Spirit has his home in you?

The Twelve, therefore, called together the general body of the disciples and said to them: "It is not well for us to see to the distribution at the tables and neglect God's Message.

For God's Call to us does not permit of an impure life, but demands purity.

These persecutions will vindicate the justice of God's judgment, and will result in your being reckoned worthy of God's Kingdom, for the sake of which you are now afflicted;

For it is by God's loving-kindness that you have been saved, through your faith. It is not due to yourselves; the gift is God's.

For this wins God's approval when, because conscious of God's presence, a man who is suffering unjustly bears his troubles patiently.

Shrieking out in a loud voice: "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? For God's sake do not torment me!"

If any one has the will to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching is from God, or whether I speak on my own authority.

To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God; so that they may receive pardon for their sins, and a place among those who have become God's People, by faith in me.'

But what if our wrong-doing makes God's righteousness all the clearer? Will God be wrong in inflicting punishment? (I can but speak as a man.) Heaven forbid!

There is a contrast, too, between the gift and the results of the one man's sin. The judgment, which followed upon the one man's sin, resulted in condemnation, but God's gracious Gift, which followed upon many offences, resulted in a decree of righteousness.

For God has put it into their minds to carry out his purpose, in carrying out their common purpose and surrendering their kingdoms to the Beast, until God's decrees shall be executed.

Who will bring a charge against any of God's People? He who pronounces them righteous is God!

Because of the charge with which God has entrusted me, that I should be a minister of Christ Jesus to go to the Gentiles--that I should act as a priest of God's Good News, so that the offering up of the Gentiles may be an acceptable sacrifice, consecrated by the Holy Spirit.

And do not grieve God's Holy Spirit; for it was through that Spirit that God sealed you as his, against the Day of Redemption.

But you, by your union with Christ Jesus, belong to God; and Christ, by God's will, became not only our Wisdom, but also our Righteousness, Holiness, and Deliverance,

He, filled as he was with the Holy Spirit, fixed his eyes intently on the heavens, and saw the Glory of God and Jesus standing at God's right hand.

For he is the radiance of the Glory of God and the very expression of his Being, upholding all creation by the power of his word; and, when he had made an expiation for the sins of men, he 'took his seat at the right hand' of God's Majesty on high,

From Paul, a servant of God, and an Apostle of Jesus Christ, charged to strengthen the faith of God's Chosen People, and their knowledge of that Truth which makes for godliness, .

again God fixed a day. 'To-day,' he said, speaking after a long interval through the mouth of David, in the passage already quoted-- 'If to-day you hear God's voice harden not your hearts.'

For he who enters upon God's Rest does himself rest after his work, just as God did.

Remember that you were at that time far from Christ; you were shut out from the citizenship of Israel; you were strangers to the Covenants founded on God's Promise; you were in the world without hope and without God.

to the festal gathering and assemblage of God's Eldest Sons whose names are enrolled in Heaven, to God the Judge of all men, to the spirits of the righteous who have attained perfection,

May God, the source of all peace, who brought back from the dead him who, 'by virtue of the blood that rendered valid the unchangeable Covenant, is the Great Shepherd of God's Sheep,' Jesus, our Lord--

But the Pharisees and the Students of the Law, having rejected John's baptism, frustrated God's purpose in regard to them.)