For who makes any one of you superior to others? And what have you that was not given you? But if you received it as a gift, why do you boast as if you had not?

Though you may have thousands of instructors in the Faith of Christ, yet you have not many fathers. It was I who, through union with Christ Jesus, became your father by means of the Good News.

I have decided-having been present in spirit at your meetings, when the power of the Lord Jesus was with us-

Moreover, you are not your own masters; you were bought, and the price was paid. Therefore, honor God in your bodies.

In any case, a man should continue to live in the condition which the Lord has allotted to him, and in which he was when God called him. This is the rule that I lay down in every Church.

Was a man already circumcised when he was called? Then he should not efface his circumcision. Has a man been called when uncircumcised? Then he should not be circumcised.

Let every one remain in that condition of life in which he was when the Call came to him.

For the man who was a slave when he was called to the master's service is the Master's freed-man; so, too, the man who was free when called is Christ's slave.

You were bought, and the price was paid. Do not let yourselves become slaves to men.

Brothers, let every one remain in the condition in which he was when he was called, in close communion with God.

Or is not is said entirely for our sakes? Surely it was written for our sakes, for the ploughman ought not to plough, nor the thrasher to thrash, without expecting a share of the grain.

Although I was entirely free, yet, to win as many converts as possible, I made myself everyone's slave.

To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win Jews. To those who are subject to Law I became like a man subject to Law-though I was not myself subject to Law-to win those who are subject to Law.

and all drank the same supernatural water, for they used to drink from a supernatural rock which followed them, and that rock was the Christ.

Yet with most of them God was displeased; for they were 'struck down in the desert.'

For it was not man who was taken from woman, but woman who was taken from man.

Besides, man was not created for the sake of woman, but woman for the sake of man.

You know that there was a time when you were Gentiles, going astray after idols that could not speak, just as you happened to be led.

For it was by one Spirit that we were all baptized to form one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free men, and were all imbued with one Spirit.

When I was a child, I talked as a child, I felt as a child, I reasoned as a child; now that I am a man, I have done with childish ways.

And by means of which you are being saved. I would remind you of the very words that I used in telling it to you, since you are still holding fast to it, and since it was not in vain that you became believers in Christ.

That he was buried, that on the third day he was raised (as the Scriptures had foretold),

But it is through the love of God that I am what I am, and the love that he showed me has not been wasted. No, I have toiled harder than any of them, and yet it was not I, but the love of God working with me.

Whether, then, it was I or whether it was they, this we proclaim, and this you believed.

The first man was from the dust of the earth; the second man from Heaven.

Indeed, our main ground for satisfaction is this--Our conscience tells us that our conduct in the world, and still more in our relations with you, was marked by a purity of motive and a sincerity that were inspired by God, and was based, not on worldly policy, but on the help of God.

As this was my plan, where, pray, did I show any fickleness of purpose? Or do you think that my plans are formed on mere impulse, so that in the same breath I say 'Yes' and 'No'?

But, as my life shall answer for it, I call God to witness that it was to spare you that I deferred my visit to Corinth.

So I wrote as I did, for fear that, if I had come, I should have been pained by those who ought to have made me glad; for I felt sure that it was true of you all that my joy was in every case yours also.

When I went to the district round Troas to tell the Good News of the Christ, even though there was an opening for serving the Master,

If the system of religion which involved Death, embodied in a written Law and engraved on stones, began amid such glory, that the Israelites were unable to gaze at the face of Moses on account of its glory, though it was but a passing glory,

For, if there was a glory in the religion that involved condemnation, far greater is the glory of the religion that confers righteousness!

And, if that which was to pass away was attended with glory, far more will that which is to endure be surrounded with glory!

Unlike Moses, who covered his face with a veil, to prevent the Israelites from gazing at the disappearance of what was passing away.

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

To proclaim that God, in Christ, was reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning men's offenses against them, and that he had entrusted us with the Message of this reconciliation.

I am glad now; not because of the sorrow it caused you, but because your sorrow brought you to repentance. For it was God's will that you should feel sorrow, in order that you should not suffer loss in any way at our hands.

So, then, even though I did write to you, it was not for the sake of the wrong-doer, or of the man who was wronged, but to make you conscious, in the sight of God, of your own earnest care for us. And it is this that has encouraged us.

Although I have been boasting a little to him about you, you did not put me to shame; but, just as every thing we had said to you was true, so our boasting to Titus about you has also proved to be the truth.

For you do not forget the loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ--how that for your sakes, although he was rich, he became poor, so that you also might become rich through his poverty.

I know, of course, your willingness to help, and I am always boasting of it to the Macedonians. I tell them that you in Greece have been ready for a year past; and it was really your zeal that stimulated most of them.

And, when I was with you in need, I did not become a burden to any of you; for our Brothers, on coming from Macedonia, supplied my needs. I kept myself, and will keep myself from being an expense to you in any way.

Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. I have spent a whole day and night in the deep.

When I was in Damascus, the Governor under King Aretas had the gates of that city guarded, so as to arrest me,

But I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and so escaped his hands.

I know a man in union with Christ, who, fourteen years ago-- whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows-- was caught up (this man of whom I am speaking) to the third Heaven.

Was caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable things of which no human being may tell.

It was for this reason, and to prevent my thinking too highly of myself, that a thorn was sent to pierce my flesh--an instrument of Satan to discipline me--so that I should not think too highly of myself.

In what respect, I ask, were you treated worse than the other Churches, unless it was that, for my part, I refused to become a burden to you? Forgive me the wrong I thus did you!

You will admit that I was not a burden to you but you say that I was "crafty" and caught you "by a trick"!

For though his crucifixion was due to weakness, his life is due to the power of God. And we, also, are weak in his weakness, but with him we shall live for you through the power of God.

I, at least, did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through a revelation made by Jesus Christ.

You heard, no doubt, of my conduct when I was devoted to Judaism--how I persecuted the Church of God to an extent beyond belief, and made havoc of it,

But I was still unknown even by sight to the Christian Churches in Judea;

All that they had heard was--'The man who once persecuted us is now telling the Good News of the very Faith of which he once made havoc.'

It was in obedience to a revelation that I went; and I laid before the Apostles the Good News that I am proclaiming among the Gentiles. I did this privately before those who are thought highly of, for fear that I might possibly be taking, or might have already taken, a course which would prove useless.

Yet even my companion, Titus, though a Greek, was not compelled to be circumcised.

Only we were to remember the poor--the very thing I was myself anxious to do.

The rest of the Jewish converts were guilty of the same hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led away by it.

I do not reject the love of God. If righteousness comes through Law, then there was no need for Christ to die!

Foolish Galatians! Who has been fascinating you--you before whose very eyes Jesus Christ was depicted upon the cross?

Did you go through so much to no purpose?--if indeed it really was to no purpose!

It is just as it was with Abraham--'He had faith in God, and his faith was regarded by God as righteousness.'

Now it was to Abraham that the promises were made, 'and to his offspring.' It was not said 'to his offsprings,' as if many persons were meant, but the words were 'to thy offspring,' showing that one person was meant--and that was Christ.

What, then, you ask, was the use of the Law? It was a later addition, to make men conscious of their wrong-doings, and intended to last only till the coming of that 'offspring' to whom the promise had been made; and it was delivered through angels by a mediator.

Before the coming of faith, we were kept under the guard of the Law, in bondage, awaiting the Faith that was destined to be revealed.

You remember that it was owing to bodily infirmity that on the first occasion I told you the Good News.

But the child of the slave-woman was born in the course of nature, while the child of the free woman was born in fulfillment of a promise.

In view of that Divine Order which was to mark the completion of the ages, when he should make everything, both in Heaven and on earth, center in him.

The same mighty power was exerted upon the Christ, when he raised the Christ from the dead and 'caused him to sit at his right hand' on high, exalting him above all Angels and Archangels of every rank,

And it was among them that we all once lived our lives, indulging the cravings of our earthly nature, and carrying out the desires prompted by that earthly nature and by our own thoughts. Our very nature exposed us to the Divine Wrath, like the rest of mankind.

And also that it was by direct revelation that the hidden purpose of God was made known to me, as I have already briefly told you.

In former generations it was not made known to mankind, as fully as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to the Apostles and Prophets among Christ's People--

Yes, to me, who am less than the least of all Christ's People, was this charge entrusted!--to tell the Gentiles the Good News of the boundless wealth to be found in the Christ,

There is but one Body and one Spirit, just as there was but one hope set before you when you received your Call.

And that you must clothe yourselves in that new nature which was created to resemble God, with the righteousness and holiness springing from the Truth.

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.

Though the divine nature was his from the beginning, yet he did not look upon equality with God as above all things to be clung to,

Still I think it necessary to send Epaphroditus to you now, for he is my brother, fellow-worker, and fellow-soldier, and he was also your messenger to help me in my need.

For it was owing to his devotion to the Master's work that he was at the point of death, having risked his own life in the effort to supply what was wanting in the help that you sent me.

I was circumcised when eight days old; I am an Israelite by race, and of the tribe of Benjamin; I am a Hebrew, and the child of Hebrews. As to the Law, I was a Pharisee;

As to zeal, I was a persecutor of the Church; as to such righteousness as is due to Law, I proved myself blameless.

Not that I have already laid hold of it, or that I am already made perfect. But I press on, in the hope of actually laying hold of that for which indeed I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.

It was a matter of great joy to me, as one in union with the Lord, that at length your interest in me had revived. The interest indeed you had, but not the opportunity.

Indeed, even while I was still in Thessalonica, you sent more than once to relieve my wants.

For in him was created all that is in Heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible--Angels and Archangels and all the Powers of Heaven.

All has been created through him and for him. He was before all things, and all things unite in him;

If only you remain true to your Faith, firm and immovable, never abandoning the hope held out in the Good News to which you listened, which has been proclaimed among all created things under Heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.

To whom it was his pleasure to make known the surpassing glory of that hidden Truth when proclaimed among the Gentiles--'Christ among you! Your Hope of glory!'

By your union with him you received a circumcision that was not performed by human hands, when you threw off the tyranny of the earthly body, and received the circumcision of the Christ.

He canceled the bond which stood against us--the bond that consisted of ordinances--and which was directly hostile to us! He has taken it out of our way by nailing it to the cross!

For it was from you that the Lord's Message resounded throughout Macedonia and Greece; and, more than that, your faith in God has become known far and wide; so that there is no need for us to say another word.

Yes, Brothers, you yourselves know that your reception of us was not without result.

Our appeal to you was not based on a delusion, nor was it made from unworthy motives, or with any intention of misleading you.

As for ourselves, Brothers, our having been bereaved of you even for a short time--though in body only, and not in spirit--made us all the more eager to see your faces again; and the longing to do so was strong upon us.

That was why we made up our minds to go and see you--at least I, Paul, did, more than once--but Satan put difficulties in our way.

Do not you remember how, when I was with you, I used to speak to you of all this?

In conclusion, Brothers, pray for us--pray that the Lord's Message may spread rapidly, and be received everywhere with honour, as it was among you;

For you know well that you ought to follow our example. When we were with you, our life was not ill-ordered,

This was not because we had not a right to receive support, but our object was to give you a pattern for you to copy.