This man had been seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them when I went with the guard and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman citizen.

I found that, although he was charged with questions about their Law, there was no charge against him deserving death or imprisonment.

"Your Excellency Felix, since we are enjoying lasting peace because of you, and since reforms for this nation are being brought about through your foresight, we always and everywhere acknowledge it with profound gratitude.

Felix was rather well informed about the Way, and so he adjourned the trial with the comment, "When Tribune Lysias arrives, I'll decide your case."

Some days later, Felix arrived with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish. He sent for Paul and listened to him talk about faith in Jesus the Messiah.

As Paul talked about righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment, Felix became afraid and said, "For the present you may go. When I get a chance, I will send for you again."

When I went to Jerusalem, the high priests and the Jewish elders informed me about him and asked me to condemn him.

Instead, they had several arguments with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus who had died but Paul kept asserting he was alive.

Then Festus said, "King Agrippa and all you men who are present with us! You see this man about whom the whole Jewish nation petitioned me, both in Jerusalem and here, shouting that he ought not to live any longer.

I have nothing reliable to write our Sovereign about him, so I have brought him to all of you, and especially to you, King Agrippa, so that I will have something to write after he is cross-examined.

Indeed, the king knows about these things, and I can speak to him freely. For I'm certain that none of these things has escaped his notice, since this wasn't done in a corner.

After boarding a ship from Adramyttium that was about to sail to the ports on the coast of Asia, we put out to sea. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, went with us.

It was the fourteenth night, and we were drifting through the Adriatic Sea, when about midnight the sailors suspected that land was near.

The islanders honored us in many ways, and when we were about to sail again, they supplied us with everything we needed.

The brothers there heard about us and came as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns to meet us. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and felt encouraged.

The Jewish leaders told him, "We haven't received any letters from Judea about you, and none of the brothers coming here has reported or mentioned anything bad about you.

From morning until evening, he continued to explain the kingdom of God to them, trying to convince them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and the Prophets. Some of them were convinced by what he said, but others wouldn't believe.

You must understand that this message about God's salvation has been sent to the gentiles, and they will listen."

He continued to preach about the kingdom of God and to teach boldly and freely about the Lord Jesus, the Messiah.

Through him we received grace and a commission as an apostle to bring about faithful obedience among all the gentiles for the sake of his name.

First of all, I thank my God through Jesus the Messiah for all of you, because the news about your faith is being reported throughout the world.

For God, whom I serve with my spirit by preaching the gospel about his Son, is my witness how constantly I mention you

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God himself has made it plain to them.

Now if you call yourself a Jew, and rely on the Law, and boast about God,

As you boast about the Law, do you dishonor God by breaking the Law?

No, a person is a Jew inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, brought about by the Spirit, not by a written law. That person's praise will come from God, not from people.

What, then, is there to boast about? That has been eliminated. On what principle? On that of actions? No, but on the principle of faith.

What, then, are we to say about Abraham, our human ancestor?

For if Abraham was justified by actions, he would have had something to boast about though not before God.

His faith did not weaken when he thought about his own body (which was already as good as dead now that he was about a hundred years old) or about Sarah's inability to have children,

Not only that, but we also continue to boast about God through our Lord Jesus the Messiah, through whom we have now been reconciled.

What, then, can we say about all of this? If God is for us, who can be against us?

For the Scripture says about Pharaoh, "I have raised you up for this very purpose, to demonstrate my power through you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."

Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God about the Jews is that they would be saved.

For Moses writes about the righteousness that comes from the Law as follows: "The person who obeys these things will find life by them."

But what does it say? "The message is near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart." This is the message about faith that we are proclaiming:

How, then, can people call on someone they have not believed? And how can they believe in someone they have not heard about? And how can they hear without someone preaching?

But about Israel he says, "All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and rebellious people."

God has not rejected his people whom he chose long ago. Do you not know what the Scripture says in the story about Elijah, when he pleads with God against Israel?

do not boast about being better than the other branches. If you boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.

For I want to let you know about this secret, brothers, so that you will not claim to be wiser than you are: Stubbornness has come to part of Israel until the full number of the gentiles comes to faith.

Therefore, in the Messiah Jesus I have the right to boast about my work for God.

For I am bold enough to tell you only about what the Messiah has accomplished through me in bringing gentiles to obedience. By my words and actions,

Rather, as it is written, "Those who were never told about him will see, and those who have never heard will understand."

For your obedience has become known to everyone, and I am full of joy for you. But I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.

Now to the one who is able to strengthen you with my gospel and the message that I preach about Jesus, the Messiah, by revealing the secret that was kept hidden from long ago

while our testimony about the Messiah has been confirmed among you.

For the message about the cross is nonsense to those who are being destroyed, but it is God's power to us who are being saved.

Brothers, think about your own calling. Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.

When I came to you, brothers, I didn't come and tell you about God's secret with rhetorical language or wisdom.

Instead, we speak about God's wisdom in a hidden secret, which God destined before the world began for our glory.

We don't speak about these things with words taught us by human wisdom, but with words taught by the Spirit, as we explain spiritual things to spiritual people.

So let no one boast about human beings, since everything belongs to you,

Brothers, I have applied all this to Apollos and myself for your benefit, so that you may learn from us not to go beyond what the Scriptures say. Then you will stop boasting about one person at the expense of another.

Now about what you asked: "Is it advisable for a man not to marry?"

I want you to be free from concerns. An unmarried man is concerned about the things of the Lord, that is, about how he can please the Lord.

But a married man is concerned about things of this world, that is, about how he can please his wife,

An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the affairs of the Lord, so that she may be holy in body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world, that is, about how she can please her husband. I'm saying this for your benefit, not to put a noose around your necks, but to promote good order and unhindered devotion to the Lord.

For in the Law of Moses it is written, "You must not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain." God is not only concerned about oxen, is he?

For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast about, for this obligation has been entrusted to me. How terrible it would be for me if I didn't preach the gospel!

Eat anything that is sold in the meat market without raising any question about it on the grounds of conscience,

But if anyone wants to argue about this, we do not have any custom like this, nor do any of God's churches.

For the person who speaks in a foreign language is not actually speaking to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands him, because he is talking about secrets by the Spirit.

In addition, we are found to be false witnesses about God because we testified on God's behalf that he raised the Messiah whom he did not raise if in fact it is true that the dead are not raised.

For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, about the suffering we experienced in Asia. We were so crushed beyond our ability to endure that we even despaired of living.

For this is what we boast about: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world with pure motives and godly sincerity, without earthly wisdom but with God's grace especially toward you.

and not only by his arrival but also by the comfort he had received from you. He told us about your longing for me, your sorrow, and your eagerness to take my side, and this made me even happier.

For if I have been doing some boasting about you to him, I have never been ashamed of it. Moreover, since everything we told you was true, our boasting to Titus has also proved to be true.

We want you to know, brothers, about God's grace that was given to the churches of Macedonia.

Therefore, demonstrate to the churches that you love them and show them publicly why we boast about you.

I do not need to write to you any further about the ministry to the saints.

For I know how willing you are, and I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year, and your enthusiasm has stimulated most of them.

Now I have sent the brothers so that our boasting about you in this matter may not prove to be an idle boast, and so that you may stand ready, just as I said.

So if I boast a little too much about our authority, which the Lord gave us to build you up and not to tear you down, I will not be ashamed of it.

We will not boast about what cannot be evaluated. Instead, we will stay within the field that God assigned us, so as to reach even you.

We are not boasting about work done by others that cannot be evaluated. On the contrary, we cherish the hope that your faith may continue to grow and enlarge our sphere of action among you until it overflows.

Then we can preach the gospel in the regions far beyond you without boasting about things already accomplished by someone else.

But I will go on doing what I'm doing in order to deny an opportunity to those people who want an opportunity to be recognized as our equals in the work they are boasting about.

Besides everything else, I have a daily burden because of my anxiety about all the churches.

If I must boast, I will boast about the things that show how weak I am.

I must boast, although it does not do any good. Let's talk about visions and revelations from the Lord.

I will boast about this man, but as for myself I will boast only about my weaknesses.

However, if I did want to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be telling the truth. But I am not going to do it in order to keep anyone from thinking more of me than what he sees and hears about me.

but he has told me, "My grace is all you need, because my power is perfected in weakness." Therefore, I will most happily boast about my weaknesses, so that the Messiah's power may rest on me.

not that another one really exists. To be sure, there are certain people who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel about the Messiah.

For you have heard about my earlier life in Judaism how I kept violently persecuting God's church and was trying to destroy it.

I do not misapply God's grace, for if righteousness comes about by doing what the Law requires, then the Messiah died for nothing.

For if the inheritance comes about through the Law, it no longer comes about through the promise. But it was through a promise that God so graciously gave it to Abraham.

Why, then, was the Law added? Because of transgressions, until the descendant came about whom the promise pertained. It was put into effect through angels by means of a mediator.

Now before faith came about, we were held in custody and confined under the Law in preparation for the faith that was to be revealed.

But now that faith has come about, we are no longer under a guardian.

Each person must examine his own actions, and then he can boast about his own accomplishments and not about someone else.

Why, not even those who are circumcised obey the Law! They simply want you to be circumcised so that they can boast about your external appearance.

But may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world!

Therefore, because I have heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,

which he brought about in the Messiah when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realm.

Surely you have heard about the responsibility of administering God's grace that was given to me on your behalf,

and how this secret was made known to me through a revelation, just as I wrote about briefly in the past.

By reading this, you will be able to grasp my understanding of the secret about the Messiah,

Then we will no longer be little children, tossed like waves and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, or by clever strategies that would lead us astray.