but His reply has been, "My grace suffices for you, for power matures in weakness." Most gladly therefore will I boast of my infirmities rather than complain of them--in order that Christ's power may overshadow me.

It is foolish of me to write all this, but you have compelled me to do so. Why, you ought to have been my vindicators; for in no respect have I been inferior to these superlatively great Apostles, even though in myself I am nothing.

See, I am now for the third time prepared to visit you, but I will not be a dead weight to you. I desire not your money, but yourselves; for children ought not to put by for their parents, but parents for their children.

If I love you so intensely, am I the less to be loved? Be that as it may: I was not a burden to you. But being by no means scrupulous, I entrapped you, they say!

You are imagining, all this time, that we are making our defense at your bar. In reality it is as in God's presence and in communion with Christ that we speak; but, dear friends, it is all with a view to your progress in goodness.

since you want a practical proof of the fact that Christ speaks by my lips--He who is not feeble towards you, but powerful among you.

For though it is true that He was crucified through weakness, yet He now lives through the power of God. We also are weak, sharing His weakness, but with Him we shall be full of life to deal with you through the power of God.

But I trust that you will recognize that we are not insincere.

And our prayer to God is that you may do nothing wrong; not in order that our sincerity may be demonstrated, but that you may do what is right, even though our sincerity may seem to be doubtful.

For we have no power against the truth, but only for the furtherance of the truth;

and it is a joy to us when we are powerless, but you are strong. This we also pray for--the perfecting of your characters.

Paul, an Apostle sent not from men nor by any man, but by Jesus Christ and by God the Father, who raised Jesus from among the dead--

For other "Good News" there is none; but there are some persons who are troubling you, and are seeking to distort the Good News concerning Christ.

But if even we or an angel from Heaven should bring you a Good News different from that which we have already brought you, let him be accursed.

For, in fact, it was not from man that I received or learnt it, but by a revelation from Jesus Christ.

But when He who set me apart even from my birth, and called me by His grace,

nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were my seniors in the Apostleship, but I went away into Arabia, and afterwards came back to Damascus.

But to the Christian Churches in Judaea I was personally unknown.

But although my companion Titus was a Greek they did not insist upon even his being circumcised.

But not for an hour did we give way and submit to them; in order that the Good News might continue with you in its integrity.

For until certain persons came from James he had been accustomed to eat with Gentiles; but as soon as these persons came, he withdrew and separated himself for fear of the Circumcision party.

know that it is not through obedience to Law that a man can be declared free from guilt, but only through faith in Jesus Christ. We have therefore believed in Christ Jesus, for the purpose of being declared free from guilt, through faith in Christ and not through obedience to Law. For through obedience to Law no human being shall be declared free from guilt.

But if while we are seeking in Christ acquittal from guilt we ourselves are convicted of sin, Christ then encourages us to sin! No, indeed.

I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me; and the life which I now live in the body I live through faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself up to death on my behalf.

(Now the promises were given to Abraham and to his seed. God did not say 'and to seeds,' as if speaking of many, but 'and to your seed,' since He spoke of only one--and this is Christ.)

For if the inheritance comes through obedience to Law, it no longer comes because of a promise. But, as a matter of fact, God has granted it to Abraham in fulfilment of a promise.

But there cannot be a mediator where only one individual is concerned.

But Scripture has shown that all mankind are the prisoners of sin, in order that the promised blessing, which depends on faith in Jesus Christ, may be given to those who believe.

But now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor-slave.

but he is under the control of guardians and trustees until the time his father has appointed.

But, when the time was fully come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born subject to Law,

Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir also through God's own act.

But at one time, you Gentiles, having no knowledge of God, were slaves to gods which in reality do not exist.

and yet the bodily infirmity which was such a trial to you, you did not regard with contempt or loathing, but you received me as if I had been an angel of God or Christ Jesus Himself!

These men pay court to you, but not with honourable motives. They want to exclude you, so that you may pay court to them.

But we see that the child of the slave-girl was born in the common course of nature; but the child of the free woman in fulfilment of the promise.

But the Jerusalem which is above is free, and *she* is *our* mother.

But you, brethren, like Isaac, are children born in fulfilment of a promise.

But what says the Scripture? "Send away the slave-girl and her son, for never shall the slave-girl's son share the inheritance with the son of the free woman."

Therefore, brethren, since we are not the children of a slave-girl, but of the free woman--

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any importance; but only faith working through love.

For my part I have strong confidence in you in the Lord that you will adopt my view of the matter. But the man--be he who he may--who is troubling you, will have to bear the full weight of the judgement to be pronounced on him.

You however, brethren, were called to freedom. Only do not turn your freedom into an excuse for giving way to your lower natures; but become bondservants to one another in a spirit of love.

But if you are perpetually snarling and snapping at one another, beware lest you are destroyed by one another.

But if the Spirit is leading you, you are not subject to Law.

But let every man scrutinize his own conduct, and then he will find out, not with reference to another but with reference to himself, what he has to boast of.

But let those who receive instruction in Christian truth share with their instructors all temporal blessings.

He who sows in the field of his lower nature, will from that nature reap destruction; but he who sows to serve the Spirit will from the Spirit reap the Life of the Ages.

All who desire to display their zeal for external observances try to compel you to receive circumcision, but their real object is simply to escape being persecuted for the Cross of Christ.

For these very men do not really keep the Law of Moses, but they would have you receive circumcision in order that they may glory in *your* bodies.

But as for me, God forbid that I should glory in anything except the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, upon which the world is crucified to me, and I am crucified to the world.

For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any importance; but only a renewed nature.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the intense love which He bestowed on us,

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were so far away have been brought near through the death of Christ.

There is but one body and but one Spirit, as also when you were called you had one and the same hope held out to you.

There is but one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

(Now this "re-ascended" --what does it mean but that He had first descended into the lower regions of the earth?

But we shall lovingly hold to the truth, and shall in all respects grow up into union with Him who is our Head, even Christ.

But these are not the lessons which you have learned from Christ;

He who has been a thief must steal no more, but, instead of that, should work with his own hands in honest industry, so that he may have something of which he can give the needy a share.

Let no unwholesome words ever pass your lips, but let all your words be good for benefiting others according to the need of the moment, so that they may be a means of blessing to the hearers.

But fornication and every kind of impurity, or covetousness, let them not even be mentioned among you, for they ought not to be named among God's people.

There was a time when you were nothing but darkness. Now, as Christians, you are Light itself.

Have nothing to do with the barren unprofitable deeds of darkness, but, instead of that, set your faces against them;

But everything can be tested by the light and thus be shown in its true colors; for whatever shines of itself is light.

Therefore be very careful how you live and act. Let it not be as unwise men, but as wise.

On this account do not prove yourselves wanting in sense, but try to understand what the Lord's will is.

but drink deeply of God's Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and offer praise in your hearts to the Lord.

that He might present the Church to Himself a glorious bride, without spot or wrinkle or any other defect, but to be holy and unblemished.

And you, fathers, do not irritate your children, but bring them up tenderly with true Christian training and advice.

Let it not be in acts of eye-service as if you had but to please men, but as Christ's bondservants who are doing God's will from the heart.

For ours is not a conflict with mere flesh and blood, but with the despotisms, the empires, the forces that control and govern this dark world--the spiritual hosts of evil arrayed against us in the heavenly warfare.

But in order that you also may know how I am doing, Tychicus our dearly-loved brother and faithful helper in the Lord's service will tell you everything.

Some indeed actually preach Christ out of envy and contentiousness but there are also others who do it from good will.

in fulfilment of my eager expectation and hope that I shall never have reason to feel ashamed, but that by my perfect freedom of speech Christ will be glorified in me, now as always, either by my life or by my death.

But since to live means a longer stay on earth, that implies more labour for me--and not unsuccessful labour; and which I am to choose I cannot tell.

But for your sakes it is more important that I should still remain in the body.

Never for a moment quail before your antagonists. Your fearlessness will be to them a sure token of impending destruction, but to you it will be a sure token of your salvation--a token coming from God.

For you have had the privilege granted you on behalf of Christ--not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer on His behalf;

Do nothing in a spirit of factiousness or of vainglory, but, with true humility, let every one regard the rest as being of more account than himself;

each fixing his attention, not simply on his own interests, but on those of others also.

Therefore, my dearly-loved friends, as I have always found you obedient, labour earnestly with fear and trembling--not merely as though I were present with you, but much more now since I am absent from you--labour earnestly, I say, to make sure of your own salvation.

But, if the Lord permits it, I hope before long to send Timothy to you, that I, in turn, may be cheered by getting news of you.

But you know Timothy's approved worth--how, like a child working with his father, he has served with me in furtherance of the Good News.

but trusting, as I do, in the Lord, I believe that I shall myself also come to you before long.

For it is true that he has been ill, and was apparently at the point of death; but God had pity on him, and not only on him, but also on me, to save me from having sorrow upon sorrow.

not having a righteousness of my own, derived from the Law, but that which arises from faith in Christ--the righteousness which comes from God through faith.

I do not say that I have already won the race or have already reached perfection. But I am pressing on, striving to lay hold of the prize for which also Christ has laid hold of me.

Brethren, I do not imagine that I have yet laid hold of it. But this one thing I do--forgetting everything which is past and stretching forward to what lies in front of me,

But whatever be the point that we have already reached, let us persevere in the same course.

Do not be over-anxious about anything, but by prayer and earnest pleading, together with thanksgiving, let your request be unreservedly made known in the presence of God.

But I rejoice with a deep and holy joy that now at length you have revived your thoughtfulness for my welfare. Indeed you have always been thoughtful for me, although opportunity failed you.

Not that I crave for gifts from you, but I do want to see abundant fruit bring you honour.

But my God--so great is His wealth of glory in Christ Jesus--will fully supply every need of yours.

the truth which has been kept secret from all ages and generations, but has now been revealed to His people,

These were a shadow of things that were soon to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

These rules have indeed an appearance of wisdom where self-imposed worship exists, and an affectation of humility and an ascetic severity. But not one of them is of any value in combating the indulgence of our lower natures.

But now you must rid yourselves of every kind of sin--angry and passionate outbreaks, ill-will, evil speaking, foul-mouthed abuse--so that these may never soil your lips.

In that new creation there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free man, but Christ is everything and is in all of us.

Slaves, be obedient in everything to your earthly masters; not in acts of eye service, as aiming only to please men, but with simplicity of purpose, because you fear the Lord.