So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you could be joined to another, to the one who was raised from the dead, to bear fruit to God.

And I was once alive apart from the law, but with the coming of the commandment sin became alive

and I died. So I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life brought death!

For God achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened through the flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,

For the creation was subjected to futility -- not willingly but because of God who subjected it -- in hope

Who is the one who will condemn? Christ is the one who died (and more than that, he was raised), who is at the right hand of God, and who also is interceding for us.

it was said to her, "The older will serve the younger,"

As he also says in Hosea: "I will call those who were not my people, 'My people,' and I will call her who was unloved, 'My beloved.'"

"And in the very place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' there they will be called 'sons of the living God.'"

And Isaiah is even bold enough to say, "I was found by those who did not seek me; I became well known to those who did not ask for me."

But what was the divine response to him? "I have kept for myself seven thousand people who have not bent the knee to Baal."

What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was diligently seeking, but the elect obtained it. The rest were hardened,

For everything that was written in former times was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and through encouragement of the scriptures we may have hope.

This is the reason I was often hindered from coming to you.

Also greet the church in their house. Greet my dear friend Epenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia.

Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother who was also a mother to me.

I always thank my God for you because of the grace of God that was given to you in Christ Jesus.

Is Christ divided? Paul wasn't crucified for you, was he? Or were you in fact baptized in the name of Paul?

For since in the wisdom of God the world by its wisdom did not know God, God was pleased to save those who believe by the foolishness of preaching.

And I was with you in weakness and in fear and with much trembling.

I wish that everyone was as I am. But each has his own gift from God, one this way, another that.

Was anyone called after he had been circumcised? He should not try to undo his circumcision. Was anyone called who is uncircumcised? He should not get circumcised.

Let each one remain in that situation in life in which he was called.

For the one who was called in the Lord as a slave is the Lord's freedman. In the same way, the one who was called as a free person is Christ's slave.

In whatever situation someone was called, brothers and sisters, let him remain in it with God.

Or is he not surely speaking for our benefit? It was written for us, because the one plowing and threshing ought to work in hope of enjoying the harvest.

and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they were all drinking from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.

But God was not pleased with most of them, for they were cut down in the wilderness.

Neither was man created for the sake of woman, but woman for man.

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread,

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I became an adult, I set aside childish ways.

and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures,

Whether then it was I or they, this is the way we preach and this is the way you believed.

With regard to our brother Apollos: I strongly encouraged him to visit you with the other brothers, but it was simply not his intention to come now. He will come when he has the opportunity.

I was glad about the arrival of Stephanus, Fortunatus, and Achaicus because they have supplied the fellowship with you that I lacked.

Therefore when I was planning to do this, I did not do so without thinking about what I was doing, did I? Or do I make my plans according to mere human standards so that I would be saying both "Yes, yes" and "No, no" at the same time?

For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the one who was proclaimed among you by us -- by me and Silvanus and Timothy -- was not "Yes" and "No," but it has always been "Yes" in him.

But if the ministry that produced death -- carved in letters on stone tablets -- came with glory, so that the Israelites could not keep their eyes fixed on the face of Moses because of the glory of his face (a glory which was made ineffective),

For if there was glory in the ministry that produced condemnation, how much more does the ministry that produces righteousness excel in glory!

For if what was made ineffective came with glory, how much more has what remains come in glory!

and not like Moses who used to put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from staring at the result of the glory that was made ineffective.

And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised.

In other words, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting people's trespasses against them, and he has given us the message of reconciliation.

So then, even though I wrote to you, it was not on account of the one who did wrong, or on account of the one who was wronged, but to reveal to you your eagerness on our behalf before God.

For if I have boasted to him about anything concerning you, I have not been embarrassed by you, but just as everything we said to you was true, so our boasting to Titus about you has proved true as well.

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that although he was rich, he became poor for your sakes, so that you by his poverty could become rich.

because he not only accepted our request, but since he was very eager, he is coming to you of his own accord.

When I was with you and was in need, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia fully supplied my needs. I kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so.

Three times I was beaten with a rod. Once I received a stoning. Three times I suffered shipwreck. A night and a day I spent adrift in the open sea.

In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to arrest me,

but I was let down in a rope-basket through a window in the city wall, and escaped his hands.

I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago (whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows) was caught up to the third heaven.

was caught up into paradise and heard things too sacred to be put into words, things that a person is not permitted to speak.

even because of the extraordinary character of the revelations. Therefore, so that I would not become arrogant, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to trouble me -- so that I would not become arrogant.

For how were you treated worse than the other churches, except that I myself was not a burden to you? Forgive me this injustice!

But be that as it may, I have not burdened you. Yet because I was a crafty person, I took you in by deceit!

I said before when I was present the second time and now, though absent, I say again to those who sinned previously and to all the rest, that if I come again, I will not spare anyone,

For indeed he was crucified by reason of weakness, but he lives because of God's power. For we also are weak in him, but we will live together with him, because of God's power toward you.

For you have heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how I was savagely persecuting the church of God and trying to destroy it.

I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my nation, and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors.

But when the one who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace was pleased

But I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ.

I went there because of a revelation and presented to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did so only in a private meeting with the influential people, to make sure that I was not running -- or had not run -- in vain.

Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, although he was a Greek.

On the contrary, when they saw that I was entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised just as Peter was to the circumcised

They requested only that we remember the poor, the very thing I also was eager to do.

Until certain people came from James, he had been eating with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he stopped doing this and separated himself because he was afraid of those who were pro-circumcision.

And the rest of the Jews also joined with him in this hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray with them by their hypocrisy.

You foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell on you? Before your eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed as crucified!

Have you suffered so many things for nothing? -- if indeed it was for nothing.

Just as Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,

Why then was the law given? It was added because of transgressions, until the arrival of the descendant to whom the promise had been made. It was administered through angels by an intermediary.

Is the law therefore opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that was able to give life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law.

But you know it was because of a physical illness that I first proclaimed the gospel to you,

But one, the son by the slave woman, was born by natural descent, while the other, the son by the free woman, was born through the promise.

if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you,

that by revelation the divine secret was made known to me, as I wrote before briefly.

Now this secret was not disclosed to people in former generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit,

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

To me -- less than the least of all the saints -- this grace was given, to proclaim to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ

This was according to the eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord,

But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

It was he who gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,

Indeed, he greatly missed all of you and was distressed because you heard that he had been ill.

since it was because of the work of Christ that he almost died. He risked his life so that he could make up for your inability to serve me.

I was circumcised on the eighth day, from the people of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. I lived according to the law as a Pharisee.

In my zeal for God I persecuted the church. According to the righteousness stipulated in the law I was blameless.

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in the Son

He has destroyed what was against us, a certificate of indebtedness expressed in decrees opposed to us. He has taken it away by nailing it to the cross.

You are witnesses, and so is God, as to how holy and righteous and blameless our conduct was toward you who believe.

Surely you recall that I used to tell you these things while I was still with you.

Finally, pray for us, brothers and sisters, that the Lord's message may spread quickly and be honored as in fact it was among you,

It was not because we do not have that right, but to give ourselves as an example for you to imitate.

As I urged you when I was leaving for Macedonia, stay on in Ephesus to instruct certain people not to spread false teachings,

This accords with the glorious gospel of the blessed God that was entrusted to me.

even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor, and an arrogant man. But I was treated with mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief,

and our Lord's grace was abundant, bringing faith and love in Christ Jesus.

But here is why I was treated with mercy: so that in me as the worst, Christ Jesus could demonstrate his utmost patience, as an example for those who are going to believe in him for eternal life.

For this I was appointed a preacher and apostle -- I am telling the truth; I am not lying -- and a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

For Adam was formed first and then Eve.