But if anyone has doubts about eating and then eats, that condemns him at once; it was not faith that induced him to eat, and any action that is not based on faith is a sin.

Each of us must please his neighbour, doing him good by building up his faith.

or again, Extol the Lord, all Gentiles, let all the peoples praise him;

or again, as Isaiah says, Then shall the Scion of Jessai live, he who rises to rule the Gentiles; on him shall the Gentiles set their hope.

but that (as it is written) They should see who never had learned about him, and they who had never heard of him should understand.

[Now to Him who can strengthen you by my gospel, by the preaching of Jesus Christ, by revealing the secret purpose which after the silence of long ages

in him you have received a wealth of all blessing, full power to speak of your faith and full insight into its meaning,

so that, as it is written, let him who boasts boast of the Lord.

No, as it is written, what no eye has ever seen, what no ear has ever heard, what never entered the mind of man, God has prepared all that for those who love him.

The unspiritual man rejects these truths of the Spirit of God; to him they are 'sheer folly,' he cannot understand them. And the reason is, that they must be read with the spiritual eye.

For who ever understood the thoughts of the Lord, so as to give him instruction? No one. Well, our thoughts are Christ's thoughts.

In virtue of my commission from God, I laid the foundation of the house like an expert master-builder. It remains for another to build on this foundation. Whoever he is, let him be careful how he builds.

What I now write is that you are not to associate with any so-called brother who is immoral or lustful or idolatrous or given to abuse or drink or robbery. Associate with him! Do not even eat with him!

while he who joins himself to the Lord is one with him in spirit.

For married people these are my instructions (and they are the Lord's, not mine). A wife is not to separate from her husband ??11 if she has separated, she must either remain single or be reconciled to him ??and a husband must not put away his wife.

To other people I would say (not the Lord): ??if any brother has a wife who is not a believer, and if she consents to live with him, he must not put her away;

Only, everyone must lead the lot assigned him by the Lord; he must go on living the life in which God's call came to him. (Such is the rule I lay down for all the churches).

I have no orders from the Lord for unmarried women, but I will give you the opinion of one whom you can trust, after all the Lord's mercy to him.

At the same time, if any man considers he is not behaving properly to the maid who is his spiritual bride, if his passions are strong and if it must be so, then let him do what he wants ??let them be married; it is no sin for him.

but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him.

Suppose anyone sees you, a person of enlightened mind, reclining at meat inside an idol's temple; will that really 'fortify his weak conscience'? Will it not embolden him to violate his scruples of conscience by eating food that has been offered to idols?

Therefore if food is any hindrance to my brother's welfare, sooner than injure him I will never eat flesh as long as I live, never!

As it is, we are chastened when we are judged by him, so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

and if anyone is hungry let him eat at home. You must not gather, only to incur condemnation. I will give you my instructions upon the other matters when I come.

As it is, God has set the members in the body, each as it pleased him.

For he who speaks in a 'tongue' addresses God not men; no one understands him; he is talking of divine secrets in the Spirit.

If anyone considers himself a prophet or gifted with the Spirit, let him understand that what I write to you is a command of the Lord.

Besides, we are detected bearing false witness to God by affirming of him that he raised Christ ??whom he did not raise, if after all dead men never rise.

For God has put everything under his feet. When it is said that everything has been put under him, plainly that excludes Him who put everything under him;

and when everything is put under him, then the Son himself will be put under Him who put everything under him, so that God may be everything to everyone.

When Timotheus arrives, see that you make him feel quite at home with you; he carries on the work of the Lord as I do.

So let no one disparage him. When he leaves to rejoin me, speed him cordially on his journey, for I am expecting him along with the other brothers.

As for our brother Apollos, I urged him to accompany the other brothers on a visit to you; he will come as soon as he has time, but for the present it is not the will of God that he should visit you.

'If any one has no love for the Lord, God's curse be on him! Maran atha!

he rescued me from so terrible a death, he rescues still, and I rely upon him for the hope that he will continue to rescue me.

Let me have your cooperation in prayer, so that many a soul may render thanks to him on my behalf for the boon which many have been the means of him bestowing on myself.

for the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was proclaimed among you by us (by myself and Silvanus and Timotheus) was not 'yes and no' ??the divine 'yes' has at last sounded in him,

for in him is the 'yes' that affirms all the promises of God. Hence it is through him that we affirm our 'amen' in worship, to the glory of God.

so that instead of censuring you should now forgive him and comfort him, in case the man is overwhelmed by excessive remorse.

So I beg you to reinstate him in your love.

If you forgive the man, I forgive him too; anything I had to forgive him has been forgiven in the presence of Christ for your sakes,

(for I have to lead my life in faith, without seeing him):

Hence also I am eager to satisfy him, whether in the body or away from it;

and that he died for all in order to have the living live no longer for themselves but for him who died and rose for them.

Once convinced of this, then, I estimate no one by what is external; even though I once estimated Christ by what is external, I no longer estimate him thus.

For our sakes He made him to be sin who himself knew nothing of sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Yes, and by more than his arrival, by the comfort which you had been to him; for he gave me such a report of how you longed for me, how sorry you were, and how eagerly you took my part, that it added to my delight.

I told him of my pride in you, and I have not been disappointed. No, just as all I have had to say to you has been true, so all I said about you to Titus, all my pride in you, has also proved true.

His own heart goes out to you all the more when he remembers how you all obeyed him, and how you received him with reverence and trembling.

Along with him I am sending that brother whose services to the gospel are praised by all the churches;

Look at this obvious fact. So-and-so is perfectly sure he 'belongs to Christ'? Well then, let him understand, on second thoughts, that I 'belong to Christ' as much as he does.

Let him understand that I will act when I arrive, as forcibly as I express myself by letter when I am absent.

However, let him who boasts boast of the Lord;

I asked Titus to go, and with him I sent our brother. Titus did not make anything out of you, did he? And did not I act in the same spirit as he did? Did I not take the very same steps?

PAUL an apostle ??not appointed by men nor commissioned by any man but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead, ??2 with all the brothers who are beside me, to the churches of Galatia;

I am astonished you are hastily shifting like this, deserting Him who called you by Christ's grace and going over to another gospel.

Now even though it were myself or some angel from heaven, whoever preaches a gospel that contradicts the gospel I preached to you, God's curse be on him!

I have said it before and I now repeat it: whoever preaches a gospel to you that contradicts the gospel you have already received, God's curse be on him!

and when he chose to reveal his Son to me, that I might preach him to the Gentiles, instead of consulting with any human being,

Then, after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to make the acquaintance of Cephas. I stayed a fortnight with him.

But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face. The man stood self-condemned.

The rest of the Jewish Christians also played false along with him, so much so that even Barnabas was carried away by their false play.

Why, it is as with Abraham, he had faith in God and that was counted to him as righteousness.

What I mean is this. As long as an heir is under age, there is no difference between him and a servant, though he is lord of all the property;

That sort of suasion does not come from Him who called you!

He chose us in him ere the world was founded, to be consecrated and unblemished in his sight,

so to order it in the fulness of the ages that all things in heaven and earth alike should be gathered up in Christ ??11 in the Christ in whom we have had our heritage allotted us (as was decreed in the design of him who carries out everything according to the counsel of his will),

You also have heard the message of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, and in him you also by your faith have been stamped with the seal of the long-promised holy Spirit

which he exerted in raising Christ from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavenly sphere,

above all the angelic Rulers, Authorities, Powers, and Lords, above every Name that is to be named not only in this age but in the age to come ??22 he has put everything under his feet and set him as head over everything for the church,

the church which is his Body, filled by him who fills the universe entirely.

for it is through him that we both enjoy our access to the Father in one Spirit.

in him the whole structure is welded together and rises into a sacred temple in the Lord,

and in him you are yourselves built into this to form a habitation for God in the Spirit.

through whom, as we have faith in him, we enjoy our confidence of free access.

praying Him out of the wealth of his glory to grant you a mighty increase of strength by his Spirit in the inner man.

Now to him who by the action of his power within us can do all things, aye far more than we ever ask or imagine,

to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations for ever and ever: Amen.

we are to hold by the truth, and by our love to grow up wholly into Him. For He, Christ, is the head, and under him,

Let the thief steal no more; rather let him work and put his hands to an honest task, so as to have something to contribute to the needy.

in order to have the church as his very own, standing before him in all her glory, with never a spot or wrinkle or any such flaw, but consecrated and unblemished.

And as for you masters, act by your servants in the same way, and stop threatening them; be sure that they and you have a Lord and Master in heaven, and there is no partiality about him.

that is why I am sending him to you, to let you know how I am and to encourage your hearts.

For on behalf of Christ you have the favour of suffering no less than of believing in him,

Therefore God raised him high and conferred on him a Name above all names,

I have no one like him, for genuine interest in your welfare.

I hope to send him then, as soon as ever I see how it will go with me ??24 though I am confident in the Lord that I shall be coming myself before long.

As for Epaphroditus, however, my brother, my fellow-worker, my fellow-soldier, and your messenger to meet my wants, I think it necessary to send you him at once,

And he was ill, nearly dead with illness. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me, to save me from having one sorrow upon another.

So I am specially eager to send him, that you may be glad when you see him again, and thus my own anxiety may be lightened.

Give him a welcome in the Lord, then, with your hearts full of joy. Value men like that,

Though I could rely on outward privilege, if I chose. Whoever thinks he can rely on that, I can outdo him.

and be found at death in him, possessing no legal righteousness of my own but the righteousness of faith in Christ, the divine righteousness that rests on faith.

I would know him in the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, with my nature transformed to die as he died,

who will transform the body that belongs to our low estate till it resembles the body of his Glory, by the same power that enables him to make everything subject to himself.

In him who strengthens me I am able for anything.

so that you may lead a life that is worthy of the Lord and give him entire satisfaction. May you be fruitful and increase in the doing of all good, as you thus know God!

In him we enjoy our redemption, that is, the forgiveness of sins.

He is the likeness of the unseen God, born first before all the creation ??16 for it was by him that all things were created both in heaven and on earth, both the seen and the unseen, including Thrones, angelic Lords, celestial Powers and Rulers; all things have been created by him and for him;

he is prior to all, and all coheres in him.