But I would like you to understand this: Christ is the head of every man, man is the head of woman, and God is the head of Christ.

for as woman was made from man, so man is now made from woman, while both, like all things, come from God.)

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I argued like a child; now that I am a man, I am done with childish ways.

Now I would like you all to speak with 'tongues,' but I would prefer you to prophesy. The man who prophesies is higher than the man who speaks with 'tongues' ??unless indeed the latter interprets, so that the church may get edification.

Well, I want you to put yourselves under people like that, under everyone who sets his hand to the work.

They refresh my spirit as they do your own. You should appreciate men like that.

Now I would like you to know about the distress which befell me in Asia, brothers. I was crushed, crushed far more than I could stand, so much so that I despaired even of life;

I am, for I am not like most, adulterating the word of God; like a man of sincerity, like a man of God, I speak the word in Christ before the very presence of God.

Am I beginning again to 'commend' myself? Do I need, like some people, to be commended by written certificates either to you or from you?

Such being my hope then, I am quite frank and open ??13 not like Moses, who used to hang a veil over his face to keep the children of Israel from gazing at the last rays of a fading glory.

it is a matter of give and take; at the present moment your surplus goes to make up what they lack, in order that their surplus may go to make up what you lack.

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.

Ministers of Christ? yes perhaps, but not as much as I am (I am mad to talk like this!), with all my labours, with all my lashes, with all my time in prison ??a record longer far than theirs. I have been often at the point of death;

Of an experience like that I am prepared to boast, but not of myself personally ??not except as regards my weaknesses.

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

But I saw they were swerving from the true line of the gospel; so I said to Cephas in presence of them all, "If you live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, though you are a Jew yourself, why do you oblige the Gentiles to become Jews?" ??15 We may be Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners,'

and though my flesh was a trial to you, you did not scoff at me nor spurn me, you welcomed me like an angel of God, like Christ Jesus. You congratulated yourselves.

Now you are the children of the Promise, brothers, like Isaac;

envy, [murder], drinking bouts, revelry, and the like; I tell you beforehand as I have told you already, that people who indulge in such practices will never inherit the Realm of God.

Even if anyone is detected in some trespass, brothers, you are spiritual, you must set the offender right in a spirit of gentleness; let each of you look to himself, in case he too is tempted.

among whom all of us lived, we as well as you, when we obeyed the passions of our flesh, carrying out the dictates of the flesh and its impulses, when we were objects of God's anger by nature, like the rest of men.

Now in the Lord I insist and protest that you must give up living like pagans; for their purposes are futile,

Be strictly careful then about the life you lead; act like sensible men, not like thoughtless;

instead of merely working when their eye is on you, like those who court human favour, do God's will from the heart like servants of Christ,

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.

so as to be blameless and innocent, faultless children of God in a crooked and perverse generation where you shine like stars in a dark world;

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

But you know how he has stood the test, how he has served with me in the gospel, like a son helping his father.

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

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.

As you died with Christ to the Elemental spirits of the world, why live as if you still belonged to the world? Why submit to rules and regulations like

Servants, obey your masters here below at every point; do not work simply when their eye is on you, like those who court human favour, but serve them with a single heart out of reverence for your Lord and Master.

Epaphras, who is one of yourselves, salutes you ??a servant of Christ Jesus who is always earnest in prayer for you, that you may stand firm like mature and convinced Christians, whatever be the will of God for you.

Our beloved Luke, the doctor, salutes you; so does Demas.

no, we behaved gently when we were among you, like a nursing mother cherishing her own children,

not to gratify sensual passion like the Gentiles in their ignorance of God ??6 no one is to defraud or overreach his brother in this matter, for the Lord avenges all these sins, as we told you already in our solemn protest against them.

We would like you, brothers, to understand about those who are asleep in death. You must not grieve for them, like the rest of men who have no hope.

You know perfectly well that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night;

when 'all's well' and 'all is safe' are on the lips of men, then all of a sudden Destruction is upon them, like pangs on a pregnant woman ??escape there is none.

But, brothers, you are not in the darkness for the Day to surprise you like thieves;

Well then, we must not sleep like the rest of men, but be wakeful and sober;

(if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how is he to look after the church of God?);

Never censure an older man harshly; appeal to him as a father. Treat younger men like brothers,

older women like mothers, younger women like sisters ??with perfect propriety.

So I prefer young widows to marry again, to bear children, to look after their households, and not to afford our opponents any chance of reviling us.

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

Join the ranks of those who bear suffering, like a loyal soldier of Christ Jesus.

and their doctrine spreads like a gangrene. So it is with Hymenaeus and Philetus;

Luke is the only one who is with me. Pick up Mark and bring him along with you, for he is of great use in helping me.

you may be sure a man like that is perverted; he is sinning and he knows it.

So do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my fellow-workers.

they will perish, but thou remainest, they will all be worn out like a garment,

thou wilt roll them up like a mantle and they win be changed, but thou art the same, and thy years will never fail.'

Holy brothers, you who participate in a heavenly calling, look at Jesus then, at the apostle and high priest of our confession;

for ours is no high priest who is incapable of sympathizing with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every respect like ourselves, yet without sinning.

one who has no need, like yonder high priests, day by day to offer sacrifices first for their own sins and then for those of the People ??he did that once for all in offering up himself.

Now, while the copies of the heavenly things had to be cleansed with sacrifices like these, the heavenly things themselves required nobler sacrifices.

Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, like the high priest entering the holy place every year with blood that was not his own: ??26 for in that case he would have had to suffer repeatedly, ever since the world was founded. Nay, once for all, at the end of the world, he has appeared with his self-sacrifice to abolish sin.

so Christ, after being once sacrificed to bear the sins of many, will appear again, not to deal with sin but for the saving of those who look out for him.

Thus a single man, though he was physically impotent, had issue in number like the stars in heaven, countless as the sand on the seashore.

It was by faith that he left Egypt, not from any fear of the king's wrath; like one who saw the King Invisible, he never flinched.

It was by faith that they crossed the Red Sea like dry land ??and when the Egyptians attempted it they were drowned.

Remember your leaders, the men who spoke the word of God to you; look back upon the close of their career, and copy their faith.

Only, let him ask in faith, with never a doubt; for the doubtful man is like surge of the sea whirled and swayed by the wind;

but let one who is rich exult in being lowered; for the rich will pass away like the flower of the grass ??11 up comes the sun with the scorching wind and withers the grass, its flower drops off, and the splendour of it is ruined: so shall the rich fade away amid their pursuits.

For whoever listens and does nothing, is like a man who glances at his natural face in a mirror;

he glances at himself, goes off, and at once forgets what he was like.

Look at ships too; for all their size and speed under stiff winds, they are turned by a tiny rudder wherever the mind of the steersman chooses.

your gold and silver lie rusted over, and their rust will be evidence against you, it will devour your flesh like fire. [Moved to the end of 5:1] You have been storing up treasure in the very last days;

Do not murmur against one another, brothers, lest you are judged; look, the Judge is standing at the very door!

Elijah was a man with a nature just like our own; but he offered prayer that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain;

for All flesh is like the grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass: the grass withers and the flower fades,

Like newly-born children, thirst for the pure, spiritual milk to make you grow up to salvation.

come and, like living stones yourselves, be built into a spiritual house, to form a consecrated priesthood for the offering of those spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Live like free men, only do not make your freedom a pretext for misconduct; live like servants of God.

You were astray like sheep, but you have come back now to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.

Keep cool, keep awake. Your enemy the devil prowls like a roaring lion, looking out for someone to devour.

Your sister-church in Babylon, elect like yourselves, salutes you. So does my son Mark.

and thus we have gained fresh confirmation of the prophetic word. Pray attend to that word; it shines like a lamp within a darksome spot, till the Day dawns and the daystar rises within your hearts ??20 understanding this, at the outset, that no prophetic scripture allows a man to interpret it by himself;

But those people! ??like irrational animals, creatures of mere instinct, born for capture and corruption, they scoff at what they are ignorant of; and like animals they will suffer corruption and ruin,

Beloved, you must not ignore this one fact, that with the Lord a single day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a single day.

The day of the Lord will come like a thief, when the heavens will vanish with crackling roar, the stars will be set ablaze and melt, the earth and all its works will disappear.

We are children of God now, beloved; what we are to be is not apparent yet, but we do know that when he appears, we are to be like him ??for we are to see him as he is.

we are not to be like Cain, who belonged to the evil One and slew his brother. And why did he slay him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's just.

But these people scoff at anything they do not understand; and whatever they do understand, like irrational animals, by mere instinct, that proves their ruin.

These people are stains on your love-feasts; they have no qualms about carousing in your midst, they look after none but themselves ??rainless clouds, swept along by the wind, trees in autumn without fruit, doubly dead and so uprooted,

On the Lord's day I found myself rapt in the Spirit, and I heard a loud voice behind me like a trumpet calling,

his head and hair were white as wool, white as snow; his eyes flashed like fire,

his feet glowed like burnished bronze, his voice sounded like many waves,

in his right hand he held seven stars, a sharp sword with a double edge issued from his mouth, and his face shone like the sun in full strength.

When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man; but he laid his hand on me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the First and Last,

Then to the angel of the church at Thyatira write thus: ??These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes flash like fire and whose feet glow like bronze.

'And the conqueror, he who till the end lays to heart what I enjoin, I will give him authority over the nations ??27 aye, he will shepherd them with an iron flail, shattering them like a potter's jars ??as I myself have received authority from my Father;

Now remember what you received and heard, hold to it and repent. If you will not wake up, I shall come like a thief; you will not know at what hour I come upon you.

You declare, 'I am rich, I am well off, I lack nothing!' ??not knowing you are a miserable creature, pitiful, poor, blind, naked.

After this I looked, and there was a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice I had heard talking with me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must come to pass after this."

also in front of the throne there is like a sea of glass, resembling crystal. And on each side of the throne, all round it, four living Creatures full of eyes inside and outside;

the first living Creature resembling a lion, the second living Creature resembling an ox, the third living Creature with a face like a man's, the fourth living Creature like a flying eagle.

But no one was fit, either in heaven or on earth or underneath the earth, to open the scroll or look into it.

So I began to weep bitterly because no one had been found fit to open the scroll or look into it;