Finally, brethren, rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.

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

For I would like to clarify for you, brothers, the situation regarding the Gospel that I have preached: It did not originate from man.

And I advanced in Judaism above many like in my race, being more abundantly zealous of paternal traditions.

but on the contrary, seeing that I am intrusted with the gospel of the uncircumcision, like Peter of the circumcision,

But when I saw that they were not walking a straight path, in the presence of the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all. "If you, although you are a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, why do you try to compel the Gentiles to become Jews?

Now if, in our efforts to come into right standing with God through union with Christ, we have proved ourselves to be sinners like the heathen themselves, does that make Christ a party to our sin? Of course not.

The only thing I would like to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Holy Spirit [into your lives] by [meeting the requirements of] the law of Moses or by hearing [and obeying the message] of faith [in Christ]?

For if the inheritance [of what was promised] is based on [observing] the Law [as these false teachers claim], it is no longer based on a promise; however, God granted it to Abraham [as a gift] by virtue of His promise.

So, the law of Moses became like our "transportation to school," bringing us to [the school of] Christ where we [learn how to be] made right with God by faith [in Christ].

So also, when we [Jews] were like children, we were under bondage to the basic worldly rules [of the law of Moses].

I beg you, brothers: Become like me, for I also became like you. You have not wronged me;

and although my bodily affliction was a trial to you, you did not scoff at it nor spurn me, but welcomed me like an angel of God, like Christ Jesus himself.

I would like to be with you right now and change my tone of voice, because I don’t know what to do about you.

But you, brothers, are like Isaac, children of the promise;

The sins of our earthly nature are unmistakable. They are sins like these--unchastity, impurity, indecency,

envy, drunkenness, revellings, and things like these. I tell you beforehand, as I have already told you, that those who practise such sins shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

and how surpassingly great his power is for us who believe; like the mighty strength

Among these [unbelievers] we all once lived in the passions of our flesh [our behavior governed by the sinful self], indulging the desires of human nature [without the Holy Spirit] and [the impulses] of the [sinful] mind. We were, by nature, children [under the sentence] of [God’s] wrath, just like the rest [of mankind].

So that we are no longer children [spiritually immature], tossed back and forth [like ships on a stormy sea] and carried about by every wind of [shifting] doctrine, by the cunning and trickery of [unscrupulous] men, by the deceitful scheming of people ready to do anything [for personal profit].

So what I mean and insist upon in the Lord's name is this: You must no longer live like the heathen, with their frivolity of mind and darkened understanding.

But you did not learn about Christ like this,

and to be renewed in your mind, by living like men formed anew,

And you should put on the new person who has been [re-] created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Since, therefore, you have cast off what is false, 'you must every one of you speak the truth to your neighbors.' For we are united to one another like the parts of a body.

banish all resentment and indignation, anger, vehemence, detraction, and every thing like malice.

Let it then be your desire to be like God, as well-loved children;

Live in a loving way, just like Christ loved us and gave Himself up [to die] for us as an offering and fragrant smelling sacrifice to God.

for you were formerly darkness, but now [you are] light in the Lord. Live like children of light

Be very careful, then, about the way you live. Do not act thoughtlessly, but like sensible men,

that he himself might make her appear illustrious to his own eye, a church without spot, or any thing like a defect; so as to be holy and irreprehensible.

in like manner ought men to love their wives, as their own bodies: "he that loves his wife, loveth himself."

not like those who do their work only when someone is watching -- as people-pleasers -- but as slaves of Christ doing the will of God from the heart.

Stand, therefore,

with truth like a belt around your waist,
righteousness like armor on your chest,

Only, do lead a life that is worthy of the gospel of Christ. Whether I come and see you or only hear of you in absence, let me know you are standing firm in a common spirit, fighting side by side like one man for the faith of the gospel.

Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

To whom, though himself in the form of God, it did not seem that to take for oneself was to be like God;

but emptied Himself [without renouncing or diminishing His deity, but only temporarily giving up the outward expression of divine equality and His rightful dignity] by assuming the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men [He became completely human but was without sin, being fully God and fully man].

And having been found in a form like a man, he lowered himself, having become obedient until death, even of death from a cross.

that you may become blameless and innocent, the sons of God, without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine like stars in a dark world,

And even if I am offered like a drink offering, giving myself for the cause and work of your faith, I am glad and have joy with you all:

You too, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.

For I have no one else [like him who is] so kindred a spirit who will be genuinely concerned for your [spiritual] welfare.

And you know Timothy's worth, how he has shared my servitude in furtherance of the gospel, like a son helping his father.

Welcome him home in the Lord with great joy, and appreciate and honor men like him;

Beware of those that are like dogs, beware of evil doers, beware of the concision.

That I may have knowledge of him, and of the power of his coming back from the dead, and a part with him in his pains, becoming like him in his death;

In the hope that, if I become like him in death, I may possibly attain to the resurrection from the dead.

For there are many who live, as I have often told you, and tell you now with tears, like enemies of the cross of Christ.

who, by exerting that power which enables Him even to subject everything to Himself, will [not only] transform [but completely refashion] our earthly bodies so that they will be like His glorious resurrected body.

I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be like-minded in [fellowship with] the Lord.

I have received your payment in full, and more too. I am amply supplied after getting the things you sent by Epaphroditus; they are like sweet incense, the kind of sacrifice that God accepts and approves.

To this end, like an earnest wrestler, I exert all my strength in reliance upon the power of Him who is mightily at work within me.

For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those [believers] at Laodicea, and for all who [like yourselves] have never seen me face to face.

These things are [only] a shadow of future things, but the body [i.e., the real substance of things] belongs to Christ. [Note: The idea here is that the ritual observances of the Mosaic law were like shadows pointing to the reality of life in Christ].

If you have died with Christ to material ways of looking at things, why do you act as though you still belonged to the world, and submit to rules like

Which things indeed appear like wisdom in self-imposed worship, and humility, and severity to the body; but are not of any value against the indulgence of the flesh.

You people also once lived like this when you practiced these things.

and have clothed yourselves with the new self which is being remoulded into full knowledge so as to become like Him who created it.

Slaves, obey your earthly masters in every respect, not only when they are watching -- like those who are strictly people-pleasers -- but with a sincere heart, fearing the Lord.

Epaphras, one of your own number, a slave of Christ Jesus, wishes to be remembered to you. He is always standing up for you in his prayers that you may stand fast, like men of mature convictions, whatever God's will for you may be.

Because our good news came to you, not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Spirit, so that you were completely certain of it; even as you saw what our behaviour to you was like from our love to you.

But we behaved gently when we were among you, like a devoted mother tenderly caring for her own children.

Even as you saw how, like a father with his children, we were teaching and comforting you all, and giving witness,

For you, brothers, began to follow the example of the churches of God in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus; and you in your turn suffered at the hands of your fellow citizens persecutions like to those which they endured from the Jews??15 The men who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out??hey are displeasing to God, and are the enemies of all mankind.

May the Lord make your love for one another and for all men wide and full like my love for you,

Not in the passion of lust, like the Gentiles who know not God.

But I would not have you ignorant, brothers, about those who are falling asleep. You must not sorrow like other men, who have no hope.

for you yourselves know perfectly well that the day of the Lord is coming like a thief in the night.

When people say, "Such peace and security!" then suddenly destruction falls upon them, like birth pains upon a woman who is about to become a mother, but they shall not escape, no, not at all.

But you, brothers, are not in darkness, so that that day, like a thief, should take you by surprise;

So then, we must not sleep, like the rest, but we must stay awake and be serious.

May the Lord guide you into a realization of God's love for you and into a patient endurance like Christ's.

For also when we were with you we enjoined you this, that if any man does not like to work, neither let him eat.

For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies.

Yet, don't treat him like an enemy, but warn him like a brother.

They would like to be teachers of law although they do not understand the words they use or the matters they insist upon.

with faith and a good conscience. By ignoring their consciences, some people have destroyed their faith like a wrecked ship.

like Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I turned over to Satan, to be taught not to blaspheme.

in like manner also the women. I desire women to clothe themselves in suitable apparel, adorning themselves with reverence and self-restraint; not with hair plaited with gold or pearls, or with expensive clothes,

Deacons likewise must be men worthy of respect [honorable, financially ethical, of good character], not double-tongued [speakers of half-truths], not addicted to wine, not greedy for dishonest gain,

Women -- in like manner grave, not false accusers, vigilant, faithful in all things.

Never reprove an older man, but always appeal to him as a father. Treat younger men like brothers,

older women like mothers, younger women like sisters, with perfect purity.

in like manner also the right works are manifest beforehand, and those that are otherwise are not able to be hid.

I thank God, whom I, like my forefathers, worship with a clear conscience, when I remember you, as I constantly do, in my prayers.

So do not be ashamed to testify to our Lord, and do not be ashamed of a prisoner of the Lord like me; join me in bearing suffering for the gospel by the power of the God

The Lord grant mercy to the family of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and showed me kindness [comforting and reviving me like fresh air] and he was not ashamed of my chains [for Christ’s sake];

Take your share of hardships like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

In which I put up with the hardest conditions, even prison chains, like one who has done a crime; but the word of God is not in chains.

and their message will spread like a cancer; men like Hymenaeus and Philetus,

If, then, a man has escaped from the pollution of such errors as I have mentioned, he will be like a thing kept for better use, set apart, serviceable to its owner, ready for any good purpose.

They will maintain the outward appearance of religion but will have repudiated its power. So avoid people like these.

Moreover, like as, Jannes and Jambres, withstood Moses, so, these men also, withstand the truth, - men utterly corrupted in their mind, disapproved concerning their faith;

But they will not go much further, for their foolishness will be obvious to everyone, just like it was with Jannes and Jambres.

and those who will live like Christians, shall generally suffer persecution.

For I am already being "poured out like a drink offering," and the time for me to leave has come. [Note: Paul here likens the prospect of shedding his blood for the work of Christ to the pouring of wine and oil on an Old Testament sacrifice].

aged women, in like manner, in deportment as doth become sacred persons, not false accusers, to much wine not enslaved, of good things teachers,

The younger men, in like manner, be exhorting to be sober-minded;

For you know that a person like this is corrupt and keeps on sinning, being self-condemned.