To prevent you from being self-conceited, brothers, I would like you to understand this secret: it is only a partial insensibility that has come over Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles come in.

the magistrate is God's servant for your benefit. But if you do wrong, you may well be alarmed; a magistrate does not wield the power of the sword for nothing, he is God's servant for the infliction of divine vengeance upon evil-doers.

Christ certainly did not please himself, but, as it is written, The reproaches of those who denounced Thee have fallen upon me. ??4 All such words were written of old for our instruction, that by remaining stedfast and drawing encouragement from the scriptures we may cherish hope.

None of the Powers of this world understands it (if they had, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory).

God will destroy anyone who would destroy God's temple, for God's temple is sacred ??and that is what you are.

Clean out the old dough that you may be a fresh lump. For you are free from the old leaven; Christ our paschal lamb has been sacrificed.

So let us celebrate our festival, not with any old leaven, not with vice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of innocence and integrity.

I did not mean you were literally to avoid contact with the immoral in this world, with the lustful and the thievish, or with idolaters; in that case you would have to leave the world altogether.

I would like all men to be as I am. However, everyone is endowed by God in his own way; he has a gift for the one life or the other.

To the unmarried and to widows I would say this: it is an excellent thing if like me they remain as they are.

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;

For the unbelieving husband is consecrated in the person of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is consecrated in the person of the Christian brother she has married; otherwise, of course, your children would be unholy instead of being consecrated to God.

Well, what I think is this: that, considering the imminent distress in these days, it would be an excellent plan for you to remain just as you are.

Of course, if you are actually married, there is no sin in that; and if a maid marries, there is no sin in that. (At the same time those who marry will have outward trouble ??and I would spare you that.)

Only, I have not availed myself of any of these rights, and I am not writing in order to secure any such provision for myself. I would die sooner than let anyone deprive me of this, my source of pride.

For I would have you know this, my brothers, that while our fathers all lived under the cloud, all crossed through the sea,

No temptation has waylaid you that is beyond man's power; trust God, he will never let you be tempted beyond what you can stand, but when temptation comes, he will provide the way out of it, so that you can bear up under it.

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.

If we only judged our own lives truly, we would not come under the Lord's judgment.

If the body were all eye, where would hearing be? If the body were all ear, where would smell be?

If they all made up one member, what would become of the body?

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.

but in church I would rather say five words with my own mind for the instruction of other people than ten thousand words in a 'tongue.'

Now, brothers, I would have you know the gospel I once preached to you, the gospel you received, the gospel in which you have your footing,

What would it avail me that, humanly speaking, I 'fought with wild beasts' at Ephesus? If dead men do not rise, let us eat and drink, for we will be dead to-morrow!

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 decided I would not pay you another painful visit.

So the very reason I wrote was that I might not come only to be pained by those who ought to give me joy; I relied on you all, I felt sure that my joy would be a joy for everyone of you.

Besides, their minds were dulled, for to this very day, when the Old Testament is read aloud, the same veil hangs. Veiled from them the fact that the glory fades in Christ!

Yes, down to this day, whenever Moses is read aloud, the veil rests on their heart;

and in this confidence I would fain get away from the body and reside with the Lord.

There is a new creation whenever a man comes to be in Christ; what is old is gone, the new has come.

At the same time I am sending these brothers just in case my pride in you should prove an empty boast in this particular instance; I want you to be "all ready," as I have been telling them that you would be,

in case any Macedonians accompany me and find you are not ready ??which would make me (not to speak of yourselves) ashamed of having been so sure.

Even supposing I were to boast somewhat freely of my authority (and the Lord gave it to me for building you up, not for demolishing you), I would feel quite justified.

I wish you would put up with a little 'folly' from me. Do put up with me,

No, I intend to go on as I am doing, in order to checkmate those who would fain make out that in the apostolate of which they boast they work on the same terms as I do.

(If I did care to boast of other things, I would be no 'fool,' for I would have a true tale to tell; however, I abstain from that ??I want no one to take me for more than he can see in me or make out from me.)

Now is that 'appealing to the interests of men' or of God? Trying to 'satisfy men'? Why, if I still tried to give satisfaction to human masters, I would be no servant of Christ.

(It was in consequence of a revelation that I went up at all.) I submitted the gospel I am in the habit of preaching to the Gentiles, submitting it privately to the authorities, to make sure that my course of action would be and had been sound.

But we refused to yield for a single instant to their claims; we were determined that the truth of the gospel should hold good for you.

Then the Law is contrary to God's Promises? Never! Had there been any law which had the power of producing life, righteousness would really have been due to law,

Now, what has become of all that? (I can bear witness that you would have torn out your very eyes, if you could, and given me them.)

would that I could be with you at this moment, and alter my tone, for I am at my wits' end about you!

but just as in the old days the son born by the flesh persecuted the son born by the Spirit, so it is still to-day.

O that those who are upsetting you would get themselves castrated!

you must lay aside the old nature which belonged to your former course of life, that nature which crumbles to ruin under the passions of moral deceit,

I would have you understand, my brothers, that my affairs have really tended to advance the gospel;

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,

I am suffering now on your behalf, but I rejoice in that; I would make up the full sum of all that Christ has to suffer in my person on behalf of the church, his Body;

for I am a minister of the church by the divine commission which has been granted me in your interests, to make a full presentation of God's message ??26 of that open secret which, though concealed from ages and generations of old, has now been disclosed to the saints of God.

Tell no lies to one another; you have stripped off the old nature with its practices,

by hindering us from speaking words of salvation to the Gentiles. So they would fill up the measure of their sins to the last drop! But the Wrath is on them to the bitter end!

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.

I adjure you by the Lord to have this letter read aloud to all the [holy] brothers.

and with the full deceitfulness of evil for those who are doomed to perish, since they refuse to love the Truth that would save them.

When I recall the tears you shed when we parted, I long by night and day to see you again. That would fill me with joy,

Hence I would remind you to rekindle the divine gift which you received when my hands were laid upon you;

Hence, although in Christ I would feel quite free to order you to do your duty,

I prefer to appeal to you on the ground of love. Well then, as Paul the old man, who now-a-days is a prisoner for Christ Jesus,

I would have liked to keep him beside me, that as your deputy he might serve me during my imprisonment for the gospel;

You count me a partner? Then receive him as you would receive me,

Many were the forms and fashions in which God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets,

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

Therefore I grew exasperated with that generation, I said, 'They are always astray in their heart': They would not learn my ways;

And to whom did he swear that they would never enter his Rest? To whom but those who disobeyed?

Thus if Joshua had given them Rest, God would not speak later about another day.

It is my heart's desire that each of you would prove equally keen upon realizing your full hope to the very end,

Were he on earth, he would not be a priest at all, for there are priests already to offer the gifts prescribed by Law

For if the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion for a second.

on the day I took them by the hand to lead out of Egypt's land; for they would not hold to my covenant, so I let them alone, saith the Lord.

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.

Otherwise, they would surely have ceased to be offered; for the worshippers, once cleansed, would no longer be conscious of sins!

It was for this that the men of old won their record.

It was by faith that Abraham obeyed his call to go forth to a place which he would receive as an inheritance; he went forth, although he did not know where he was to go.

If they thought of the land they have left behind, they would have time to go back,

And what more shall I say? Time would fail me to tell of Gideon, of Barak and Samson and Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets ??33 men who by faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouth of lions,

God had something better in store for us; he would not have them perfected apart from us.

Obey your leaders, submit to them; for they are alive to the interests of your souls, as men who will have to account for their trust. Let their work be a joy to them and not a grief ??which would be a loss to yourselves.

Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives? Or a vine, figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.

Thus Sara obeyed Abraham by calling him 'lord'. And you are daughters of Sara if you do what is right and yield to no panic.

he who would love Life and enjoy good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking guile:

in their lust they will exploit you with cunning arguments ??men whose doom comes apace from of old, and destruction is awake upon their trail.

Beloved, I am not writing you any new command, but an old command which you have had from the very beginning: the old command is the word you have heard.

They withdrew from us, but they did not belong to us; had they belonged to us, they would have remained with us, but they withdrew to make it plain that they are none of us.

I am writing to you in this way about those who would deceive you,

wild waves foaming out their own shame, wandering stars for whom the nether gloom of darkness has been reserved eternally.

Blessed is he who reads aloud, blessed they who hear the words of this prophecy and lay to heart what is written in it; for the time is near.

I know your doings, you are neither cold nor hot ??would you were either cold or hot!

crying aloud, "The slain Lamb deserves to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing."

So I looked, and there was a livid horse; its rider's name was Death, and Hades followed him. They were given power over the fourth part of the earth, to kill men with sword and famine and plague and by the wild beasts of the earth.

and they cried aloud, "O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long wilt thou refrain from charging and avenging our blood upon those who dwell on earth?"

And I saw another angel rise up from the east, with the seal of the living God; he shouted aloud to the four angels who were allowed to injure the earth and sea,

and shouted aloud like a lion roaring; and at his shout the seven thunders gave voice.

So the huge dragon was thrown down ??that old serpent called the Devil and Satan, the seducer of the whole world ??thrown down to the earth, and his angels thrown down along with him.

he cried aloud, "Fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come; worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the fountains of water."

They were followed by another, a third angel, crying aloud, "Whoever worships the Beast and his statue, and lets his forehead or hand be marked,

And another angel came out of the temple, shouting aloud to him who sat upon the cloud, "Thrust your sickle in and reap, the time has come to reap, the harvest of earth is ripe and ready."

till men, scorched by the fierce heat, blasphemed the name of the God who had control of these plagues; yet they would not repent and give him glory.

and he shouted aloud with a strong voice, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, now she is a haunt of demons, the den of all foul spirits, a cage for every foul and loathsome bird: