I almost wish that these men who are upsetting you would go all the way, and have themselves mutilated.

But may it never be mine to boast of anything but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world!

so that we might praise the splendid favor which He has shown us in His beloved Son.

which He lavished upon us. Through perfect wisdom and spiritual insight

He has made known to us the secret of His will, which is in accordance with His purpose which He planned in Christ,

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may grant you the Spirit to give wisdom and revelation which come through a growing knowledge of Him,

by having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, so that you may know what the hope is to which He calls you, how glorious rich God's portion in His people is,

which is His body, that is being filled by Him who fills everything everywhere.

in which you once lived in accordance with the spirit of this present world, and the mighty prince of the air, who is always at work in the disobedient, among whom all of us, we Jews as well as you heathen,

For He has made us what we are, because He has created us through our union with Christ Jesus for doing good deeds which He beforehand planned for us to do.

which in the earlier ages, so different from the present, was not made known to mankind as fully as now, but through the Spirit it has been revealed to His Holy apostles and prophets --

for which I was called to serve in accordance with the gift of God's unmerited favor which was bestowed on me by the exercise of His power--

and to make clear how is to be carried out the trusteeship of this secret which has for ages been hidden away in God, the Creator of all things,

in accordance with the eternal purpose which God executed in the gift of Christ Jesus our Lord.

for in their recklessness they have abandoned themselves to sensuality which leads to excessive practices of all sorts of immorality.

to lay aside, with your former way of living, your old self which is on the way to destruction in accordance with its deceptive impulses;

and put on the new self which has been created in the likeness of God, which fruits in right and holy living inspired by the truth.

Besides all these, take on the shield which faith provides, for with it you will be able to put out all the fire-tipped arrows shot by the evil one,

take the helmet salvation provides, and take the sword the Spirit wields, which is the word of God.

for the sake of which I am an envoy in prison: so that, when I tell it, I may speak as courageously as I ought.

Now I want you to rest assured, brothers, that those things which have befallen me have actually resulted in the progress of the good news;

But if to keep on living here means fruit from my labor, I cannot tell which to choose.

which will result in your joy; so that, through union with Christ Jesus, you may have more than sufficient ground for boasting about me, through my being with you again.

since you are having the same struggle that you once saw me have and which you hear that I am still having.

so that you may prove to be blameless and spotless, faultless children of God in a crooked and perverted age, in which you shine as light-bearers in the world as you continue

and be actually in union with Him, not having a supposed right standing with God which depends on my doing what the law commands, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the real right standing with God which originates from Him and rests on faith.

It is not a fact that I have already secured it or already reached perfection, but I am pressing on to see if I can capture it, the ideal for which I was captured by Christ Jesus.

I am pressing onward toward the goal, to win the prize to which God through Jesus Christ is calling us upward.

But we are citizens of the republic in heaven, from which we are eagerly waiting for our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Remember me to every one of God's people in union with Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me wish to be remembered to you.

All God's people wish to be remembered to you, but more especially the members of the Emperor's household.

which reached you, and since it is bearing fruit and growing among you, just as it is all over the world, from the day you first heard of God's favor and in reality came to know it,

by whom we possess the ransom from captivity, which means the forgiveness of our sins.

if indeed you continue well grounded and firm in faith and never shift from the hope inspired by the good news you heard, which has been preached all over the world, and of which I, Paul, have been made a minister.

For this I am toiling and struggling by His active energy which is mightily working in me.

Such a person is not continuing in connection with the Head, from which the whole body, when supplied and united through its joints and sinews, grows with a growth that God produces.

which refer to things that perish in the using, in accordance with human rules and teachings?

So once for all put to death your lower, earthly nature with respect to sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which is real idolatry.

and have put on the new self which is in the process of being made new in the likeness of its Creator, so that you may attain a perfect knowledge of Him.

And over all these qualities put on love, which is the tie of perfection that binds us together.

At the same time keep on praying for me too, that God may open the door of opportunity for the message, so that I may tell the open secret about Christ, for the sake of which I am held a prisoner,

Our dearly loved Luke, the physician, and Demas, wish to be remembered to you.

And tell Archippus, "See to it that you continue until you fill full your ministry which you received in the Lord's work."

For another reason too, we, as far as we are concerned, are constantly giving thanks to God; that is, when you received the message you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the message of men but as the message of God, as it really is, which keeps on working in you who believe.

For you are aware of the instructions which we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

so that we are always boasting of you among the churches of God for your patient endurance and faith, in spite of your persecutions and crushing sorrows which you are enduring.

This is a proof of God's righteous judgment, His aim being to let you show yourselves worthy of His kingdom, for which you are suffering; since,

We have confidence in you through the Lord that you are now practicing the directions which we give you and that you will continue to do so.

They want to be teachers of the law, although they do not understand the words they use or the things about which they make such confident assertions.

as measured by the glorious good news of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.

This is the instruction which I entrust to you, my son Timothy, which is in accordance with the prophetic utterances formerly made about you, that you may, aided by them, continue to fight the good fight,

and for which purpose I was appointed a preacher and an apostle -- I am telling the truth, I am not lying, -- a teacher of the heathen in the realm of faith and truth.

So I want the men everywhere to offer prayer, lifting to heaven holy hands which are kept unstained by anger and dissensions.

so that, if I am detained, you may know how people ought to conduct themselves in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.

who forbid people to marry and teach them to abstain from certain sorts of food which God created for the grateful enjoyment of those who have faith and a clear knowledge of the truth.

If you continue to put these things before the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, ever feeding your own soul on the truths of the faith and of the fine teaching which you have followed.

Stop neglecting the gift you received, which was given you through prophetic utterance when the elders laid their hands upon you.

he is a conceited ignoramus with a morbid appetite for discussions and controversies which lead to envy, quarreling, abuse, base suspicions,

But men who keep planning to get rich fall into temptations and snares and many foolish, hurtful desires which plunge people into destruction and ruin.

Keep up the good fight for the faith. Keep your hold on eternal life, to which God called you, when before many witnesses you made the good profession of faith.

which will be brought about in His own time by the blessed, only Sovereign, the King of kings, the Lord of lords,

by professing which some individuals have failed in the faith. Spiritual blessing be with you all.

For this reason I now remind you to rekindle and keep burning the fire of the divine gift which came upon you when I laid my hands upon you.

For He saved us and called us with a holy call, not in accordance with anything that we had done, but in accordance with His own purpose and unmerited favor which was shown us through union with Christ Jesus eternal ages ago,

Continue to be an example in wholesome instructions which you learned from me, in the faith and love that come through union with Christ Jesus.

for the sake of which I am suffering hardships even to the extent of wearing chains as though I were a criminal. But God's message is not in chains.

Keep on reminding men of these things. Solemnly charge them before God to stop petty debating, which does no good at all but brings destruction on those who hear it.

and they might recover their senses and escape from the devil's trap in which they have been caught by him to do his will.

and that from childhood you have known the sacred Scriptures which can give you wisdom that leads to salvation through the faith that leans on Christ Jesus.

Now the crown for doing right awaits me, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award me on that day, and not only me but also all who have loved His appearing.

When you come, bring the coat which I left with Carpus at Troas; bring the books, too, especially the parchments.

in the hope of eternal life which God, who never lies, promised ages ago

but at the proper time made known as His message through the message that I preach with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Saviour;

which He abundantly poured out upon us through Jesus Christ our Saviour,

All who are with me wish to be remembered to you. Remember me to all who love me as Christians. Spiritual blessing be with you all.

I am sending him back to you, which is all the same as sending my very heart.

I write you in perfect confidence in your compliance with my wish, because I am sure that you will do even more than I ask.

For it was not to angels that He gave authority over that world to be, of which we are speaking.

so that by these two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to prove false, we who have taken refuge with Him may have encouragement strong enough to make us seize upon the hope that lies ahead of us.

This hope we have as an anchor for our souls, secure and safe, which reaches up behind the heavenly veil,

to whom Abraham contributed a tenth of all his spoils, who first of all, in accordance with the meaning of his name, is king of righteousness, and then king of Salem, which means king of peace;

For He of whom this is said became a member of a different tribe no member of which ever officiated at the altar.

For it is very clear that our Lord sprang from Judah, a tribe about which Moses said nothing as to priests.

for the law had never made anything perfect -- and so a better hope is brought to us, through which we have approach to God.

For the law appoints imperfect men as high priests, but the assertion about the taking of an oath, which was spoken after the time of the law, appoints a Son who is perfectly qualified to be High Priest forever.

as officiating Priest in that sanctuary, which is also the true tent of worship, which the Lord and not man set up.

But, as the case with Him now stands, He has entered upon a priestly service as much superior to theirs as the covenant of which He is the Mediator is superior to theirs, superior because it has been enacted upon superior promises.

For the first or outer part of the tent, which is called the holy place, was equipped with the lamp and table and the presentation bread.

with its golden incense-altar and the chest for the covenant, completely covered with gold, and in it a golden jar which held the manna, Aaron's staff that budded, and the tablets on which the covenant was written;

and above the chest were the winged creatures, the symbols of God's glorious presence, overshadowing the mercy seat, of which I cannot now speak in detail.

but into the second or inner part nobody but the high priest may go, and he only once a year, and never without blood which he offers for himself and for the sins committed in ignorance by the people.

for it is merely a symbol of the present time in connection with which gifts and sacrifices are repeatedly offered though they cannot make the conscience of the worshiper perfect,

since they deal only with food and drink and various washings, that is, with mere material regulations which are in force only until the time of setting things straight.

saying, "This is the blood that ratifies the covenant which God commanded me to make with you."

"Sacrifice and offering you did not wish, but a body you have prepared for me; in burnt-offerings and sin-offerings you never took delight.

Although at first He said, "You never wished or took delight in sacrifices and offerings, burnt-offerings and sin-offerings" -- all of which are repeatedly offered in accordance with the law --

the new and living way which He opened for us, through the curtain, that is, His physical nature,

but only a terrifying prospect of judgment and that fiery indignation which is going to devour God's enemies.

How much severer punishment do you suppose that one deserves who tramples the Son of God underfoot, and counts as a common thing the blood of the covenant by which he was consecrated, and has insulted the Spirit that grants God's unmerited favor?

By faith Abraham, on being called, obeyed in starting off for a country which he was to receive as his own, and he did it in spite of the fact that he did not know where he was going.