I must tell you, brothers, how the favor of God has been shown in the churches of Macedonia,

Just as you excel in everything else??aith, expression, knowledge, perfect devotion, and the love we have awakened in you??ou must excel in this generous undertaking too.

If I must say anything about Titus, he is my intimate companion, and he shares my work for you; if it is our Brothers, they are delegates of the Churches, an honor to Christ.

So you must give proof to them before all the churches of your love, and justify my pride in you.

So I have thought that I must ask these brothers to visit you beforehand, and get your promised contribution ready in advance. I want it to be given of your bounty, not extorted from your covetousness.

Everyone must give what he has made up his mind to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion; God loves a man who is glad to give.

The way you stand the test of this service must do honor to God, through your fidelity to what you profess as to the good news of Christ, and through the liberality of your contributions for them and for all others;

"But the man who boasts must boast in the Lord.

Let me say again that no one must think that I am a fool, but if you do, please treat me like a fool and let me do a little boasting too, as other fools do.

To my shame I must admit that I was too weak for that sort of thing. But whatever anyone else dares to boast of?? am playing the part of a fool?? will dare to boast of too.

If I must needs rejoice, I will rejoice of mine infirmities.

I must boast, although it does not do any good. Let's talk about visions and revelations from the Lord.

And I know that this man?? do not know whether it was in the body or out of it, God knows??4 was caught up into Paradise, and heard things that must not be told, which no human being can repeat.

was actually caught up into paradise, and heard things that must not be told, which no man has a right even to mention.

For what is there in which the other churches had the better of you, except in the fact that I would not permit myself to be a burden to you? You must forgive me that wrong!

This is my third visit to you. Any charge preferred must be sustained by the evidence of two or three witnesses.

You yourselves must continue testing yourselves to see whether you are continuing in the faith. You must continue standing the test. Do you not know by a growing experience that Jesus Christ is in you? -- provided you stand the test.

For must I now believe men, or God? whether do I seek to please men? if I were still pleasing men, I would not be the servant of Christ.

For I must tell you, brethren, that the Good News which was proclaimed by me is not such as man approves of.

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?"

and yet what must have tried you in my physical condition, you did not scorn and despise, but you welcomed me like an angel of God, like Christ Jesus himself.

But what does the Scripture say? "Drive out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman must never share the inheritance with the son of the free woman."

Yes, I declare to every person who attempts to require circumcision [as a means of gaining acceptance with God], that he must also obey everything else required by the law of Moses.

But, brothers, if I were still preaching [that a person had] to be circumcised, why am I being persecuted? [Note: Paul's argument seems to be "I must not be preaching circumcision since I am being persecuted by those who believe in it"]. [If I preached that a person had to be circumcised] then my preaching that Christ died on the cross would not be such an offense [to those who believe in it].

For you, brothers, were called to freedom; only you must not let your freedom be an excuse for the gratification of your lower nature, but in love be slaves to one another.

For the whole law is summed up in one saying, "You must love your neighbor as you do yourself."

If we live by the Spirit, we must also follow the Spirit.

We must not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Brothers, if anybody is caught in the very act of doing wrong, you who are spiritual, in the spirit of gentleness, must set him right; each of you continuing to think of yourself, for you may be tempted too.

Each person must examine his own actions, and then he can boast about his own accomplishments and not about someone else.

For everyone must carry his own load.

Now the one who is taught the word must share in all good [things] with the one who teaches.

So we must not grow weary in doing good, for in due time we will reap, if we do not give up.

Therefore, as we have opportunity, we must work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith.

and that Christ in His love, through your faith, may make His permanent home in your hearts. You must be deeply rooted, your foundations must be strong,

Now surely this 'going up' must imply that he had already gone down into the world beneath.

We must not be babies any longer, blown about and swung around by every wind of doctrine through the trickery of men with their ingenuity in inventing error.

We must lovingly hold to the truth and grow up into perfect union with him who is the head??hrist himself.

So I mean this and now testify to it in the name of the Lord: You must now stop living as the heathen usually do, in the frivolity of their minds,

You must lay aside with your former habits your old self which is going to ruin through its deceptive passions.

You must adopt a new attitude of mind,

And that you must clothe yourselves in that new nature which was created to resemble God, with the righteousness and holiness springing from the Truth.

So you must lay aside falsehood and each of you practice telling the truth to his neighbor, for we are parts of one another.

If you do get angry, you must stop sinning in your anger. Do not ever let the sun go down on your anger;

you must not give the devil a chance.

The man who used to steal must now stop stealing; rather, he must keep on working and toiling with his own hands at some honest vocation, so as to have something to contribute to the needy.

You must stop letting any bad word pass your lips, but only words that are good for building up as the occasion demands, so that they will result in spiritual blessing to the hearers.

You must stop offending the Holy Spirit of God by whom you have been stamped for the day of redemption.

You must remove all bitterness, rage, anger, loud threats, and insults, with all malice.

You must practice being kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has graciously forgiven you.

So you must keep on following God's example, as dearly loved children of His,

But sexual vice and any form of immorality or sensual greed must not so much as be mentioned among you, as that is the only course becoming in God's people;

there must be no indecency, silly talk or suggestive jesting, for they are unbecoming. There should be thanksgiving instead.

So you must stop having anything to do with them.

For at one time you were darkness itself, but now in union with the Lord you are light itself. You must live like children of light,

you must approve what is pleasing to the Lord.

Stop having anything to do with the profitless doings of darkness; instead you must continue to expose them.

So you must be very careful how you live, not thoughtlessly but thoughtfully,

You married women must continue to live in subordination to your husbands, as you do to the Lord,

Just as the church is subject to Christ, so the married women in everything must be subject to their husbands.

You married men must love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her,

In the same way, husbands must love their wives as they love their own bodies. A man who loves his wife loves himself.

Therefore, a man must leave his father and mother and so perfectly unite himself to his wife that the two shall be one.

But as for you individually, you must each one of you love his own wife exactly as if she were yourself; and the wife, on her part, should reverence her husband.

"You must honor your father and mother" -- this is the first commandment, with a promise to make it good

You parents, too, must stop exasperating your children, but continue to bring them up with the sort of education and counsel the Lord approves.

You slaves must practice obedience to your earthly masters, with reverence and awe, with sincerity of heart, as you would obey Christ,

You slave-owners, too, must maintain the same attitude toward your slaves, and stop threatening them, for you know that their real Lord and yours is in heaven, and that He never shows partiality.

From now on you must grow stronger through union with the Lord and through His mighty power.

You must put on God's full armor, so as to be able to stand up against the devil's stratagems.

So you must take on God's full armor, so as to be able to take a stand in the day when evil attacks you, and, after having completely finished the contest, to hold your own.

Only you must practice living lives that are worthy of the good news, so that whether I come and see you or stay away, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, and that with one purpose you are continuing to cooperate in the fight for faith in the good news.

so that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow [in submission], of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

so that you will be without just blame and innocent [of wrongdoing], children of God without fault in the middle of a crooked and perverted generation of people. You must shine among them like stars lighting up the sky,

And yet, even if, when your faith is offered as a sacrifice to God, my life-blood must be poured out in addition, still I shall rejoice and share the joy of you all;

I will rejoice and congratulate you all; and in the same way you must rejoice and congratulate me.

But I feel that I must send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow-laborer, and fellow-soldier, whom you sent to look after my needs.

For all those of our number who are mature, this must be the point of view; God will reveal that to any of you who look at things differently.

However, we must continue to live up to that degree of success that we have already reached.

Therefore, my dear brothers whom I long for, my joy and my victor's crown, this is how you must stand firm in the Lord, dear friends.

However, you must remain firmly established and steadfast in the faith, without being moved from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

So, just as you once accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue living in vital union with Him,

You must be rooted and built up in him and made strong in faith, just as you were taught to be, overflowing with it in your gratitude.

Such people lose their connection with the head, from which the whole body through its ligaments and sinews must be governed and united if it is to grow in the divine way.

If you died with Christ to the world's rudimentary notions, why, as if you still lived in the world, do you submit yourselves to dogmatisms found on teachings and doctrines of men??21 such as "Do not handle this," "You must not taste that," "Do not touch this"??22 all things which are intended to perish in the using?

"You must not handle," "You must not taste," "You must not touch,"

But now you also must renounce them all. Anger, passion, and ill-will must be put away; slander, too, and foul talk, so that they may never soil your lips.

You must not lie to one another. For you have stripped off your old self with its ways

So as God's own chosen people, consecrated and dearly loved, you must once for all clothe yourselves with tenderheartedness, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience; you must keep on

bearing with one another and forgiving each other, if any one has a grievance against another. Just as Christ the Lord forgave you, so must you forgive.

And above all you must be loving, for love is the link of the perfect life.

And the peace of Christ must rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body, and be thankful.

You married women must continue to live in subordination to your husbands, for this is your Christian duty.

You husbands must continue to love your wives and stop being harsh with them.

You who are slaves must always obey your earthly masters, not with mere external service, as though you had only men to please, but with sincerity of heart, because you fear the Lord.

Masters, you must practice doing the right and square things by your slaves, for you know that you have a Master in heaven.

You must persevere in prayer and by this means stay wide awake when you give thanks.

And when this Letter has been read among you, let it be read also in the Church of the Laodiceans, and you in turn must read the one I am sending to Laodicea.

and encourage you not to be led astray, any of you, in all these troubles. You know yourselves that this is what we must expect,

For the rest, brethren, we request and exhort you, in our Lord Jesus, that, even as ye received from us, how ye must needs walk and please God, - even as ye also do walk, that ye would abound still more.