What does this mean? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind. I will sing psalms with my spirit, but I will also sing psalms with my mind.

In the Law it is written, "By means of foreign languages and through the mouths of foreigners I will speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to me," declares the Lord.

What, then, does this mean, brothers? When you gather, everyone has a psalm, teaching, revelation, foreign language, or interpretation. Everything must be done for upbuilding.

But if anyone ignores this, he should be ignored.

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

If we have set our hopes on the Messiah in this life only, we deserve more pity than any other people.

But at this moment the Messiah stands risen from the dead, the first one offered in the harvest of those who have died.

However, this will happen to each person in the proper order: first the Messiah, then those who belong to the Messiah when he comes.

for "God has put everything under his feet." Now when he says, "Everything has been put under him," this clearly excludes the one who put everything under him.

Come back to your senses as you should, and stop sinning! For some of you I say this to your shame don't fully know God.

This is how it will be at the resurrection of the dead. What is planted is decaying, what is raised cannot decay.

This, indeed, is what is written: "The first man, Adam, became a living being." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

Brothers, this is what I mean: Mortal bodies cannot inherit the kingdom of God, and what decays cannot inherit what does not decay.

I, Paul, am writing this greeting with my own hand.

For this is what we boast about: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world with pure motives and godly sincerity, without earthly wisdom but with God's grace especially toward you.

When I planned this, I did not do it lightly, did I? Are my plans so fickle that I can say "Yes" and "No" at the same time?

This is the very reason I wrote you, so that when I did come I might not be made sad by those who should have made me happy. For I had confidence that all of you would share the joy that I have.

But if anyone has caused grief, he didn't cause me any grief. To some extent I don't want to emphasize this too much it has affected all of you.

This punishment by the majority is severe enough for such a man.

To some people we are a deadly fragrance, while to others we are a living fragrance. Who is qualified for this?

However, their minds were hardened, for to this day the same veil is still there when they read the old covenant. Only in union with the Messiah is that veil removed.

Yet even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.

Therefore, since we have this ministry through the mercy shown to us, we do not get discouraged.

In their case, the god of this world has blinded the minds of those who do not believe to keep them from seeing the light of the glorious gospel of the Messiah, who is the image of God.

But we have this treasure in clay jars to show that its extraordinary power comes from God and not from us.

Now since we have the same spirit of faith in keeping with this Scripture: "I believed, and so I spoke," we also believe and therefore speak.

All this is for your sake so that, as his grace spreads, more and more people will give thanks and glorify God.

This light, temporary nature of our suffering is producing for us an everlasting weight of glory, far beyond any comparison,

For in this one we sigh, since we long to put on our heavenly dwelling.

So while we are still in this tent, we sigh under our burdens, because we do not want to put it off but to put it on, so that our dying bodies may be swallowed up by life.

God has prepared us for this and has given us his Spirit as a guarantee.

Therefore, we are always confident, and we know that as long as we are at home in this body we are away from the Lord.

We are confident, then, and would prefer to be away from this body and to live with the Lord.

The love of the Messiah controls us, for we are convinced of this: that one person died for all people; therefore, all people have died.

All of this comes from God, who has reconciled us to himself through the Messiah and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,

I am not saying this to condemn you. I told you before that you are in our hearts to die together and to live together.

and not only by his arrival but also by the comfort he had received from you. He told us about your longing for me, your sorrow, and your eagerness to take my side, and this made me even happier.

See what great earnestness godly sorrow has produced in you! How ready you are to clear yourselves, how indignant, how alarmed, how full of longing and enthusiasm, how eager to seek justice! In every way you have demonstrated that you are innocent in this matter.

This is what comforted us. In addition to our own comfort, we were even more delighted at the joy of Titus, because his spirit had been set at rest by all of you.

They begged us earnestly for the privilege of participating in this ministry to the saints.

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

So we urged Titus to finish this work of kindness among you in the same way that he had started it.

Indeed, the more your faith, speech, knowledge, enthusiasm, and love for us increase, the more we want you to be rich in this work of kindness.

I am giving you my opinion on this matter because it will be helpful to you. Last year you were not only willing to do something, but had already started to do it.

At the present time, your surplus fills their need, so that their surplus may fill your need. In this way things are fair.

More than that, he has also been selected by the churches to travel with us while we are administering this work of kindness for the glory of the Lord and as evidence of our eagerness to help.

We are trying to avoid any criticism of the way we are administering this great undertaking.

Now I have sent the brothers so that our boasting about you in this matter may not prove to be an idle boast, and so that you may stand ready, just as I said.

Otherwise, if any Macedonians come with me and find out that you are not ready, we would be humiliated to say nothing of you in this undertaking.

Therefore, I thought it necessary to urge these brothers to visit you ahead of me, to make arrangements in advance for this gift you promised, and to have it ready as something given generously and not forced.

Remember this: The person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the person who sows generously will also reap generously.

In every way you will grow richer and become even more generous, and this will cause others to give thanks to God because of us,

since this ministry you render is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, it is also overflowing with more and more prayers of thanksgiving to God.

Look at the plain facts! If anyone is confident that he belongs to the Messiah, he should remind himself of this: Just as he belongs to the Messiah, so do we.

Someone like this should take note of the following: What we say by letter when we are absent is what we will do when present!

Even though I may be untrained as an orator, I am not so in the field of knowledge. We have made this clear to all of you in every possible way.

Are they the Messiah's servants? I am insane to talk like this, but I am a far better one! I have been involved in far greater efforts, far more imprisonments, countless beatings, and have faced death more than once.

I know that this man whether in his body or outside of his body, I do not know, but God knows

I will boast about this man, but as for myself I will boast only about my weaknesses.

How were you treated worse than the other churches, except that I did not bother you for help? Forgive me for this wrong!

This will be the third time I am coming to you. "Every accusation must be verified by two or three witnesses."

For this reason I am writing this while I am away from you: When I come I do not want to be severe in using the authority the Lord gave me to build you up and not to tear you down.

He gave himself for our sins in order to rescue us from this present evil age according to the will of our God and Father.

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.

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

I no longer live, but the Messiah lives in me, and the life that I am now living in this body I live by the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

This happened in order that the blessing promised to Abraham would come to the gentiles through the Messiah Jesus, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

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.

Now what I am saying is this: As long as an heir is a child, he is no better off than a slave, even though he owns everything.

This is being said as an allegory, for these women represent two covenants. The one woman, Hagar, is from Mount Sinai, and her children are born into slavery.

I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view of this. However, the one who is troubling you will suffer God's judgment, whoever he is.

Practice carrying each other's burdens. In this way you will fulfill the law of the Messiah.

Now may peace be on all those who live by this principle, and may mercy be on the Israel of God.

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

that you once practiced as you lived according to the ways of this present world and according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now active in those who are disobedient.

For by such grace you have been saved through faith. This does not come from you; it is the gift of God

For this reason I, Paul, am the prisoner of the Messiah Jesus for the sake of you gentiles.

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

By reading this, you will be able to grasp my understanding of the secret about the Messiah,

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:

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.

He did this so that now, through the church, the wisdom of God in all its variety might be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realm

This is the reason I bow my knees before the Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah,

Now what does this "he went up" mean except that he also had gone down into the lower parts of the earth?

Let no filthy talk be heard from your mouths, but only what is good for building up people and meeting the need of the moment. This way you will administer grace to those who hear you.

This is a great secret, but I am talking about the Messiah and the church.

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is the right thing to do.

"Honor your father and mother"" (This is a very important commandment with a promise.)

Do not do this only while you're being watched in order to please them, but be like slaves of the Messiah, who are determined to obey God's will.

For this reason, take up the whole armor of God so that you may be able to take a stand whenever evil comes. And when you have done everything you could, you will be able to stand firm.

I am sending him to you for this very reason, so that you may know how we are doing and that he may encourage your hearts.

I am convinced of this, that the one who began a good action among you will bring it to completion by the Day of the Messiah Jesus.

For it is only right for me to think this way about all of you, because you're constantly on my mind. Both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, all of you are partners with me in this privilege.

And this is my prayer, that your love will keep on growing more and more with full knowledge and insight,

But so what? Just this that in every way, whether by false or true motives, the Messiah is being proclaimed. Because of this, I rejoice and will continue to rejoice.

I know that this will result in my deliverance through your prayers and the help that comes from the Spirit of Jesus the Messiah.

Indeed, I cannot decide between the two. I have the desire to leave this life and be with the Messiah, for that is far better.