and know the supreme will, and can test things that differ--being a man who receives instruction from the Law--

unless you can deny that it is one and the same God who will pronounce the circumcised to be acquitted on the ground of faith, and the uncircumcised to be acquitted through the same faith.

For the Law inflicts punishment; but where no Law exists, there can be no violation of Law.

But if I do that which I desire not to do, it can no longer be said that it is I who do it, but the sin which has its home within me does it.

It is *in hope* that we have been saved. But an object of hope is such no longer when it is present to view; for when a man has a thing before his eyes, how can he be said to hope for it?

In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness; for we do not know what prayers to offer nor in what way to offer them. But the Spirit Himself pleads for us in yearnings that can find no words,

trying whether I can succeed in rousing my own countrymen to jealousy and thus save some of them.

If you can, so far as it depends on you, live at peace with all the world.

Who are you that you should find fault with the servant of another? Whether he stands or falls is a matter which concerns his own master. But stand he will; for the Master can give him power to stand.

I can therefore glory in Christ Jesus concerning the work for God in which I am engaged.

you are still unspiritual. For so long as jealousy and strife continue among you, can it be denied that you are unspiritual and are living and acting like mere men of the world?

For no one can lay any other foundation in addition to that which is already laid, namely Jesus Christ.

Every one of you already has all that heart can desire; already you have grown rich; without waiting for us, you have ascended your thrones! Yes indeed, would to God that you had ascended your thrones, that we also might reign with you!

Were you a slave when God called you? Let not that weigh on your mind. And yet if you can get your freedom, take advantage of the opportunity.

Am I not free? Am I not an Apostle? Can it be denied that I have seen Jesus, our Lord? Are not you yourselves my work in the Lord?

If I can speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but am destitute of Love, I have but become a loud-sounding trumpet or a clanging cymbal.

If I possess the gift of prophecy and am versed in all mysteries and all knowledge, and have such absolute faith that I can remove mountains, but am destitute of Love, I am nothing.

I should be right glad were you all to speak in 'tongues,' but yet more glad were you all to prophesy. And, in fact, the man who prophesies is superior to him who speaks in 'tongues,' except when the latter can interpret in order that the Church may get a blessing.

For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged:

But some one will say, "How can the dead rise? And with what kind of body do they come back?"

For all can see that you are a letter of Christ entrusted to our care, and written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the ever-living God--and not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts as tablets.

Where can harmony between Christ and Belial be found? Or what participation has a believer with an unbeliever?

For I can testify that to the utmost of their power, and even beyond their power, they have of their own free will given help.

And no wonder. Satan, their master, can disguise himself as an angel of light.

As soon as I saw that they were not walking uprightly in the spirit of the Good News, I said to Peter, before them all, "If you, though you are a Jew, live as a Gentile does, and not as a Jew, how can you make the Gentiles follow Jewish customs?

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.

It is evident, too, that no one can find acceptance with God simply by obeying the Law, because "the righteous shall live by faith,"

Can it be that I have become your enemy through speaking the truth to you?

By means of that explanation, as you read it, you can judge of my insight into the truth of 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.

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

If then I can appeal to you as the followers of Christ, if there is any persuasive power in love and any common sharing of the Spirit, or if you have any tender-heartedness and compassion, make my joy complete by being of one mind,

Now I can find joy amid my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my own person whatever is lacking in Christ's afflictions on behalf of His Body, the Church.

For I can bear witness to the deep interest he takes in you and in the brethren at Laodicea and in those at Hierapolis.

For what thanksgiving on your behalf can we possibly offer to God in return for all the joy which fills our souls before our God for you,

for we brought nothing into the world, nor can we carry anything out of it;

who alone possesses immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, and whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be eternal honour and power! Amen.

and healthy language which no one can censure, so that our opponents may feel ashamed at having nothing evil to say against us.

For God's Message is full of life and power, and is keener than the sharpest two-edged sword. It pierces even to the severance of soul from spirit, and penetrates between the joints and the marrow, and it can discern the secret thoughts and purposes of the heart.

That hope we have as an anchor of the soul--an anchor that can neither break nor drag. It passes in behind the veil,

For, since the Law exhibits only an outline of the blessings to come and not a perfect representation of the things themselves, the priests can never, by repeating the same sacrifices which they continually offer year after year, give complete freedom from sin to those who draw near.

And while every priest stands ministering, day after day, and constantly offering the same sacrifices--though such can never rid us of our sins--

not neglecting--as some habitually do--to meet together, but encouraging one another, and doing this all the more since you can see the day of Christ approaching.

Here the words "Yet again, once for all" denote the removal of the things which can be shaken--created things--in order that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.

So that we fearlessly say, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid: what can man do to me?"

What good is it, my brethren, if a man professes to have faith, and yet his actions do not correspond? Can such faith save him?

So too with ships, great as they are, and often driven along by strong gales, yet they can be steered with a very small rudder in whichever direction the caprice of the man at the helm chooses.

For brute nature under all its forms--beasts and birds, reptiles and fishes--can be subjected and kept in subjection by human nature.

Can a fig-tree, my brethren, yield olives, or a vine yield figs? No; and neither can salt water yield sweet.

Curb every passion, and be on the alert. Your great accuser, the Devil, is going about like a roaring lion to see whom he can devour.

But whoever obeys His Message, in him love for God has in very deed reached perfection. By this we can know that we are in Him.

By this we can distinguish God's children and the Devil's children: no one who fails to act righteously is a child of God, nor he who does not love his brother man.

But if any one has this world's wealth and sees that his brother man is in need, and yet hardens his heart against him--how can such a one continue to love God?

The man who obeys His commands continues in union with God, and God continues in union with him; and through His Spirit whom He has given us we can know that He continues in union with us.

The man who is beginning to know God listens to us, but he who is not a child of God does not listen to us. By this test we can distinguish the Spirit of truth from the spirit of error.

We can know that we are continuing in union with Him and that He is continuing in union with us, by the fact that He has given us a portion of His Spirit.

These men are murmurers, ever bemoaning their lot. Their lives are guided by their evil passions, and their mouths are full of big, boastful words, while they treat individual men with admiring reverence for the sake of the advantage they can gain.

I know your doings. I have put an opened door in front of you, which no one can shut; because you have but a little power, and yet you have guarded My word and have not disowned Me.

But the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues, did not even then repent and leave the things they had made, so as to cease worshipping the demons, and the idols of gold and silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear, nor move.