But when they had tied him up with the straps, Paul asked the centurion who was standing there, "Is it legal for you to whip a Roman citizen who hasn't been condemned?"

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.

Since a plot against the man has been reported to me, I'm sending him to you at once, and I've also ordered his accusers to present their charges against him before you."

When Paul had been summoned, Tertullus opened the prosecution by saying:

"Since I know that you have been a judge over this nation for many years, I am pleased to present my defense. You can verify for yourself that I went up to worship in Jerusalem no more than twelve days ago.

As they were leaving, they began to say to each other, "This man hasn't been doing anything to deserve death or imprisonment."

Agrippa told Festus, "This man could have been set free if he hadn't appealed to the emperor."

Much time had been lost, and because navigation had become dangerous and the day of fasting had already past, Paul began to warn those on the ship,

Right up to daybreak Paul kept urging all of them to eat something. He said, "Today is the fourteenth day that you have been waiting and going without food, not eating anything.

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

You, too, are among those who have been called to belong to Jesus the Messiah.

I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I often planned to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now), so that I might reap a harvest among you, just as I have among the rest of the gentiles.

For since the creation of the world God's invisible attributes his eternal power and divine nature have been understood and observed by what he made, so that people are without excuse.

and know his will, and approve of what is best because you have been instructed in the Law;

For circumcision is valuable if you observe the Law, but if you break the Law, your having been circumcised has no more value than if you were uncircumcised.

There are all kinds of advantages! First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the utterances of God.

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.

Under what circumstances was it credited? Was he circumcised or uncircumcised? He had not yet been circumcised, but was uncircumcised.

Hoping in spite of hopeless circumstances, he believed that he would become "the father of many nations," just as he had been told: "This is how many descendants you will have."

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus the Messiah.

Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace by which we have been established, and we boast because of our hope in God's glory.

Now this hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Now that we have been justified by his blood, how much more will we be saved from wrath through him!

For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life!

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

But God's free gift is not like Adam's offense. For if many people died as the result of one man's offense, how much more have God's grace and the free gift given through the kindness of one man, Jesus the Messiah, been showered on many people!

For the person who has died has been freed from sin.

Stop offering the parts of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness. Instead, offer yourselves to God as people who have been brought from death to life and the parts of your body as instruments of righteousness to God.

And since you have been freed from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness.

But now that you have been freed from sin and have become God's slaves, the benefit you reap is sanctification, and the result is eternal life.

But now we have been released from the Law by dying to what enslaved us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit, not under the old writings.

What should we say, then? Is the Law sinful? Of course not! In fact, I wouldn't have become aware of sin if it had not been for the Law. I wouldn't have known what it means to covet if the Law had not said, "You must not covet."

For we know that all the rest of creation has been groaning with the pains of childbirth up to the present time.

Who is the one to condemn? It is the Messiah Jesus who is interceding on our behalf. He died, and more importantly, has been raised and is seated at the right hand of God.

Yet before their children had been born or had done anything good or bad (so that God's plan of election might continue to operate

It is just as Isaiah predicted: "If the Lord of the Heavenly Armies had not left us some descendants, we would have become like Sodom and would have been compared to Gomorrah."

Now if some of the branches have been broken off, and you, a wild olive branch, have been grafted in their place to share the rich root of the olive tree,

Every person must be subject to the governing authorities, for no authority exists except by God's permission. The existing authorities have been established by God,

I know and have been persuaded by the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in and of itself, but it is unclean to a person who thinks it is unclean.

This is why I have so often been hindered from coming to you.

because the believers in Macedonia and Achaia have been eager to share their resources with the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.

Greet Apelles, who has been approved by the Messiah. Greet those who belong to the family of Aristobulus.

Greet Rufus, the one chosen by the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me, too.

but now has been made known through the prophets to all the gentiles, in keeping with the decree of the eternal God to bring them to the obedience that springs from faith

To: God's church in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified by the Messiah Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah their Lord and ours.

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

Get rid of the old yeast so that you may be a new batch of dough, since you are to be free from yeast. For the Messiah, our Passover, has been sacrificed.

For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified because of her husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean, but now they are holy.

For the slave who has been called to belong to the Lord is the Lord's free person. In the same way, the free person who has been called is the Messiah's slave.

Have you become committed to a wife? Stop trying to get released from your commitment. Have you been freed from your commitment to a wife? Stop looking for one.

But not everyone has this knowledge. Some people are so accustomed to idolatry that when they eat food that has been offered to an idol, their conscience becomes contaminated because it is weak.

However, food will not bring us closer to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat food that has been offered to an idol, and no better off if we do.

For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you, who know better, eating in an idol's temple, he will be encouraged to eat what has been offered to idols, won't 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!

These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down as a warning for us in whom the culmination of the ages has been attained.

To each person has been given the ability to manifest the Spirit for the common good.

To one has been given a message of wisdom by the Spirit; to another the ability to speak with knowledge according to the same Spirit;

Now we see only an indistinct image in a mirror, but then we will be face to face. Now what I know is incomplete, but then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.

Now if we preach that the Messiah has been raised from the dead, how can some of you keep claiming there is no resurrection of the dead?

If there is no resurrection of the dead, then the Messiah has not been raised,

and if the Messiah has not been raised, then our message means nothing and your faith means nothing.

For if the dead are not raised, then the Messiah has not been raised,

and if the Messiah has not been raised, your faith is worthless and you are still imprisoned by your sins.

for "God has put everything under his feet." Now when he says, "Everything has been put under him," this clearly excludes the one who put everything under him.

But when everything has been put under him, then the Son himself will also become subject to the one who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.

Now, when what is decaying is clothed with what cannot decay, and what is dying is clothed with what cannot die, then the written word will be fulfilled: "Death has been swallowed up by victory!"

It is not that we are trying to rule over your faith, but rather to work with you for your joy, because you have been standing firm in the faith.

This is what comforted us. In addition to our own comfort, we were even more delighted at the joy of Titus, because his spirit had been set at rest by all of you.

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.

More than that, he has also been selected by the churches to travel with us while we are administering this work of kindness for the glory of the Lord and as evidence of our eagerness to help.

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.

I am ashamed to admit it, but we have been too weak for that. Whatever anyone else dares to claim I am talking like a fool I can claim it, too.

Are they the Messiah's servants? I am insane to talk like this, but I am a far better one! I have been involved in far greater efforts, far more imprisonments, countless beatings, and have faced death more than once.

I have traveled extensively and have been endangered from rivers, robbers, my own people, and gentiles. I've also been in danger in the city, in the open country, at sea, from false brothers,

I have become a fool. You forced me to be one. Really, I should have been commended by you, for I am not in any way inferior to your "super-apostles," even if I am nothing.

Granting that I have not been a burden to you, was I a clever schemer who trapped you by some trick?

Have you been thinking all along that we are trying to defend ourselves before you? We are speaking before God in the authority of the Messiah, and everything, dear friends, is meant to build you up.

In fact, they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel for the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel for the circumcised.

So when James, Cephas, and John (who were reputed to be leaders) recognized the grace that had been given me, they gave Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that we should go to the gentiles and they to the circumcised.

But when I saw that they were not acting consistently with the truth of the gospel, I told Cephas in front of everyone, "Though you are a Jew, you have been living like a gentile and not like a Jew. So how can you insist that the gentiles must live like Jews?"

Now if we, while trying to be justified by the Messiah, have been found to be sinners, does that mean that the Messiah is serving the interests of sin? Of course not!

For through the Law I died to the Law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with the Messiah.

You foolish Galatians! Who put you under a spell? Was not Jesus the Messiah clearly portrayed before your very eyes as having been crucified?

Brothers, let me use an example from everyday life. Once an agreement has been ratified, no one can cancel it or add conditions to it.

So is the Law in conflict with the promises of God? Of course not! For if a law had been given that could give us life, then certainly righteousness would come through the Law.

But now that you know God, or rather have been known by God, how can you turn back again to those powerless and bankrupt basic principles? Why do you want to become their slaves all over again?

I am afraid for you! I don't want my work for you to have been wasted!

What, then, happened to your positive attitude? For I testify that if it had been possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me.

These people who have been instructing you are devoted to you, but not in a good way. They want you to avoid me so that you will be devoted to them.

Those of you who are trying to be justified by the Law have been cut off from the Messiah. You have fallen away from grace.

As for me, brothers, if I am still preaching the necessity of circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed.

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!

even when we were dead because of our offenses, made us alive together with the Messiah (by grace you have been saved),

For by such grace you have been saved through faith. This does not come from you; it is the gift of God

But now, in union with the Messiah Jesus, you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of the Messiah.

having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, the Messiah Jesus himself being the cornerstone.

which in previous generations was not made known to human beings as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. This is that secret:

and help everyone see how this secret that has been at work was hidden for ages by God, who created all things.

and that the Messiah would make his home in your hearts through faith. Then, having been rooted and grounded in love,

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to live in a way that is worthy of the calling to which you have been called,