Next he was seen by James, then by all the apostles,

and finally he was seen by me, as though I were born abnormally late.

But by God's grace I am what I am, and his grace shown to me was not wasted. Instead, I worked harder than all the others not I, of course, but God's grace that was with me.

So, whether it was I or the others, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

Just as we have borne the likeness of the man who was made from dust, we will also bear the likeness of the man from heaven.

Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, but he was not inclined to do so just now. However, he will visit you when the time is right.

I am glad that Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus came here, because what was lacking they have supplied through you.

Because I was confident, I planned to come to you first so you might receive a double blessing.

For God's Son, Jesus the Messiah, who was preached among you by us by me, Silvanus, and Timothy was not "Yes" and "No." But with him it is always "Yes."

I call upon God as a witness on my behalf that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth.

When you forgive someone, I do, too. Indeed, what I have forgiven if there was anything to forgive I did in the presence of the Messiah for your benefit,

Now if the ministry of death that was inscribed in letters of stone came with such glory that the people of Israel could not gaze on Moses' face (because the glory was fading away from it),

not like Moses, who kept covering his face with a veil to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of what was fading away.

So if we were crazy, it was for God; if we are sane, it is for you.

for through the Messiah, God was reconciling the world to himself by not counting their sins against them. He has committed his message of reconciliation to us.

So, even though I wrote to you, it wasn't because of the man who did the wrong or because of the man who was hurt. Instead, I wrote to you so that your devotion to us might be made perfectly clear to you before God.

For if I have been doing some boasting about you to him, I have never been ashamed of it. Moreover, since everything we told you was true, our boasting to Titus has also proved to be true.

We want you to know, brothers, about God's grace that was given to the churches of Macedonia.

We did not expect that! They gave themselves to the Lord first and then to us, since this was God's will.

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah. Although he was rich, for your sakes he became poor, so that you, through his poverty, might become rich.

And so in their prayers for you they will long for you because of God's exceptional grace that was shown to you.

When I was with you and needed something, I did not bother any of you, because our brothers who came from Macedonia supplied everything I needed. I kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and I will continue to do so.

Three times I was beaten with a stick, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, and I drifted on the sea for a day and a night.

but I was let down in a basket through an opening in the wall and escaped from him.

I know a man who belongs to the Messiah. Fourteen years ago whether in his body or outside of his body, I do not know, but God knows that man was snatched away to the third heaven.

was snatched away to Paradise and heard things that cannot be expressed in words, things that no human being has a right even to mention.

To keep me from becoming conceited because of the exceptional nature of these revelations, a thorn was given to me and placed in my body. It was Satan's messenger to keep on tormenting me so that I would not become conceited.

Granting that I have not been a burden to you, was I a clever schemer who trapped you by some trick?

Though he was crucified in weakness, he lives by God's power. We are weak with him, but by God's power we will live for you.

For I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin.

For I did not receive it from a man, nor was I taught it, but it was revealed to me by Jesus the Messiah.

For you have heard about my earlier life in Judaism how I kept violently persecuting God's church and was trying to destroy it.

I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries, because I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors.

But when God, who set me apart before I was born and who called me by his grace, was pleased

The only thing they kept hearing was this: "The man who used to persecute us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy!"

I went in response to a revelation, and in a private meeting with the reputed leaders, I explained to them the gospel that I'm proclaiming to the gentiles. I did this because I was afraid that I was running or had run my life's race for nothing.

But not even Titus, who was with me, was forced to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek.

The only thing they asked us to do was to remember the destitute, the very thing I was eager to do.

But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly wrong.

Until some men arrived from James, he was in the habit of eating with the gentiles, but after those men came, he withdrew from the gentiles and would not associate with them any longer, because he was afraid of the circumcision party.

The other Jews also joined him in this hypocritical behavior, to the extent that even Barnabas was caught up in their hypocrisy.

You foolish Galatians! Who put you under a spell? Was not Jesus the Messiah clearly portrayed before your very eyes as having been crucified?

Did you suffer so much for nothing? (If it really was for nothing!)

In the same way, Abraham "believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."

This is what I mean: The Law that came 430 years later did not cancel the covenant that God ratified previously. The promise was never nullified.

For if the inheritance comes about through the Law, it no longer comes about through the promise. But it was through a promise that God so graciously gave it to Abraham.

Why, then, was the Law added? Because of transgressions, until the descendant came about whom the promise pertained. It was put into effect through angels by means of a mediator.

But the Scripture has captured everything by means of sin's net, so that what was promised by the faithfulness of the Messiah might be granted to those who believe.

Now before faith came about, we were held in custody and confined under the Law in preparation for the faith that was to be revealed.

And so the Law was our guardian until the Messiah came, so that we might be justified by faith.

It was the same way with us. While we were children, we were slaves to the basic principles of the world.

You know that it was because I was ill that I brought you the gospel the first time.

Now the slave woman's son was conceived through human means, while the free woman's son was conceived through divine promise.

But just as then the son who was conceived according to the flesh persecuted the son who was conceived according to the Spirit, so it is now.

when he made known to us the secret of his will. This was according to his plan that he set forth in the Messiah

Surely you have heard about the responsibility of administering God's grace that was given to me on your behalf,

and how this secret was made known to me through a revelation, just as I wrote about briefly in the past.

which in previous generations was not made known to human beings as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. This is that secret:

The gentiles are heirs-in-common, members-in-common of the body, and common participants in what was promised by the Messiah Jesus through the gospel.

I have become a servant of this gospel according to the gift of God's grace that was given me by the working of his power.

To me, the very least of all the saints, this grace was given so that I might proclaim to the gentiles the immeasurable wealth of the Messiah

and help everyone see how this secret that has been at work was hidden for ages by God, who created all things.

and to clothe yourselves with the new nature, which was created according to God's image in righteousness and true holiness.

Have the same attitude among yourselves that was also in the Messiah Jesus:

And so, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only when I was with you but even more now that I am absent, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

For he has been longing for all of you and is troubled because you heard that he was sick.

Indeed, he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him, and not only on him but also on me, so that I would not have one sorrow on top of another.

Having been circumcised on the eighth day, I am of the nation of Israel, from the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. As far as the Law is concerned, I was a Pharisee.

As for my zeal, I was a persecutor of the church. As far as righteousness in the Law is concerned, I was blameless.

Nevertheless, it was kind of you to share my troubles.

Even while I was in Thessalonica, you provided for my needs not once, but twice.

For God was pleased to have all of his divine essence inhabit him.

This secret was hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints,

For you yourselves know, brothers, that our visit to you was not a waste of time.

You and God are witnesses of how pure, honest, and blameless our conduct was among you who believe.

But when I could stand it no longer, I sent Timothy to find out about your faith. I was afraid that the tempter had tempted you in some way, and that our work had been a waste of time.

Don't you remember that I repeatedly told you about these things when I was still with you?

When I was on my way to Macedonia, I urged you to stay in Ephesus so that you could instruct certain people to stop teaching false doctrine

In the past I was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent man. But I received mercy because I acted ignorantly in my unbelief,

For this reason I was appointed to be an announcer, an apostle, and a faithful and true teacher of the gentiles. (I am telling you the truth. I am not lying.)

For Adam was formed first, then Eve,

and it was not Adam who was deceived. It was the woman who was deceived and became disobedient,

By common confession, the secret of our godly worship is great: In flesh was he revealed to sight, kept righteous by the Spirit's might, adored by angels singing. To nations was he manifest, believing souls found peace and rest, our Lord in heaven reigning!

Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you through prophecy when the elders laid their hands on you.

He saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our own accomplishments, but according to his own purpose and the grace that was given to us in the Messiah Jesus before time began.

For the sake of this gospel I was appointed to be a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the gentiles.

May the Lord grant mercy to the family of Onesiphorus, for he often took care of me and was not ashamed that I was a prisoner.

Meditate on Jesus, the Messiah, who was raised from the dead and is a descendant of David. This is the gospel I tell others.

and how I was persecuted and suffered in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured! Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.

However, the Lord stood by me and gave me strength so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the gentiles could hear it. I was rescued out of a lion's mouth.

Erastus stayed in Corinth, and I left Trophimus in Miletus because he was sick.

At the right time he revealed his message through the proclamation that was entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior.

The reason I left you in Crete was to complete what still needed to be done and to appoint elders in every city, as I myself commanded you.

Once he was useless to you, but now he is very useful both to you and to me.

15Perhaps this is why he was separated from you for a while, so that you could have him back forever,

because if the message spoken by angels was reliable, and every violation and act of disobedience received its just punishment,

how will we escape if we neglect a salvation as great as this? It was first proclaimed by the Lord himself, and then it was confirmed to us by those who heard him,

Now when God put everything under him, he left nothing outside his control. However, at the present time we do not yet see everything put under him. But we do see someone who was made a little lower than the angels. He is Jesus, who is crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might experience death for everyone.

It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through suffering as part of his plan to glorify many children,

Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.