A few of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also encountered him again and again. Some were saying, "What has this beggarly fellow to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a setter forth of strange gods," because he preached Jesus and the resurrection.

"He has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitation,

inasmuch as he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world justly, by the Man whom he has ordained, and he has given proof of all this by raising him from the dead."

"And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but almost throughout all of Asia, this fellow Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, by telling them that they are no gods at all who are made with hands.

Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you overseers, and be shepherds of the church of God which he has purchased with his own blood.

"Men of Israel, help! This is the man who goes everywhere preaching to everybody against the people, and the Law, and this place. And he has actually brought Gentiles even into the temple, and has desecrated the holy place."

Then the tribune came up and seized him, and ordered that he be bound with two chains. "Who is he?" he began asking, "and what has he done?"

"Then he said: "'The God of our forefathers has appointed you to know his will; and to see the righteous One, and to hear a voice from his mouth.

Then a great clamor arose; some of the scribes who belonged to the Pharisaic party stood up, and contended. "We find nothing wrong in this man. What if a spirit has spoken to him, or an angel?"

And Paul called one of the centurions, and said, "Take this young man to the tribune, for he has something to tell him."

So he took him, and brought his to the tribune, and said, "Paul, the prisoner, called me to him, and begged me to bring this young man to you, because he has something to tell you."

"owing to your wise care, has been improved in every respect and in every place, we accept it with profound thankfulness.

"I could not find that he had done anything for which he ought to die; but as he himself has appealed to the Emperor, I have determined to send him.

"I am speaking words of sober truth. For the King, to whom I am speaking freely, knows of these matters. I am persuaded that not one of these things has escaped his notice; for these things were not done in a corner.

"'Fear not, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. Behold, God has granted you the lives of all who are sailing with you.'

"So take courage, men! I believe God, I believe that things will turn out exactly as it has been told me.

When the natives saw the reptile hanging on his hand, they began saying to one another, "No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped from the sea, yet justice does not allow him to live."

They said to him. "We neither received any letters about you from Judea nor has any brother come hither to report or speak any harm of you.

This is so because that which may be known of God is manifest among them; for God has made it manifest to them.

For ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, even his everlasting power and divinity, has been clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made. So they have no excuse.

That is why God has given them up to passions of dishonor; for on the one hand their women actually changed the natural function of sex into that which is against nature;

What special privilege, then, has the Jew? Or what is the use of circumcision?

But if by a falsehood of mine the truthfulness of God has been made to redound to his glory, why am I still tried as a sinner?

All have swerved from the right path; Every one of them has become corrupt. There is none that practices good, no, not one.

But now, quite apart from any law, a righteousness coming from God has been fully brought to light, continually witnessed to by the Law and the Prophets.

I say, at this present time; that he himself might be just, and yet the justifier of him who has faith in Jesus.

For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to be proud of, but not before God.

but a man who does not "work," but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, has his faith imputed to him for righteousness.

and fortitude character, and character, hope??5 a hope which never disappoints us. For through the Holy Spirit who has given to us, the "brimming river of the love of God" has overflowed in our hearts.

in order that as sin has ruled as king in death, so also grace might rule as king in righteousness which issues in eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord,??urs!

knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more; death has no more dominion over him.

For a married woman who has a husband is bound by law to her husband during his lifetime; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband.

And now it is longer I myself who do the deed, but it is sin which has its home in me.

For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, no good thing has its home; for while to will is present with me, to carry out that which is right is not.

But if I do the very thing I do not intend to do, it is no more I who practise it, but sin which has its home in me.

for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and of death.

For God has done what the Law could not do, weakened as it was by flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and on account of sin, he condemned sin in the flesh;

For we know that all nature has been groaning and travailing together until this hour.

So then it is not a question of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy.

So then he has mercy on whom he will, and whom he will, he hardens.

Or has not the potter power over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for noble, and another for ignoble uses?

Now such are we whom he has called, not only from among the Jews, but also from among the Gentiles.

But I ask, Did they fail to hear? Yes, truly, Their sound has gone out unto all the earth, And their words unto the ends of the world.

What then? that which Israel has been seeking for, that he has not obtained; but the chosen have obtained it, and the rest have been hardened.

According as it is written, God has given them a spirit of slumber, Eyes that they should not see, Ears that they should not hear, unto this day.

I ask then, "Have they stumbled so as to fall?" No indeed; but by their lapse salvation has come unto Gentiles, "to provoke Israel to jealousy."

For I would not, my brothers, have you ignorant of this hidden truth, for fear that you become wise in your own conceits. that a hardening in part has befallen Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles is come in.

For God has locked up all in the prison of disobedience, that upon all he may have mercy.

Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counsellor?

Who has first given to Him, So as to receive payment in return?

For, through the grace that was given to me, I tell every man among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but so to think, as to think soberly, according to the measure of faith which God has given him.

But we have gifts differing according to the grace which was given to us. He that has the gift of prophecy, let him prophesy according to the proportion of his faith.

Never owe any one anything save the debt of brotherly love; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the Law.

One man has faith to eat anything; but he whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.

He who eats meat must not despise the man who abstains; and let not the man who abstains judge him who eats; for God has received him.

Who are you just that judges the household-servant of another? To his own lord he stands or falls. And stand he will, for his Master has power to make him stand.

But he who has misgivings, and yet eats meat, is condemned already, because his action is not based on faith; and whatever is not based on faith is sin.

For everything that was written of old has been written for our instruction, that through patience, and through the comfort of the Scriptures, we might have hope.

For I say that Christ has been made a minister of the Circumcision the people of Israel, in vindication of God's truth, so that he may confirm the promises given to our forefathers;

For I will not dare to speak of any thing except that which Christ has done through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed,

My ambition has been, however, to preach the gospel where Christ's name was not already known, so that I might not build upon another man's foundation.

For it has been the good pleasure of Macedonia and Achaia to make an offering for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem.

Yes, it has been made their good pleasure, and their debt, too. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual riches, they owe it to them also to minister to them the Jews in worldly goods.

I beg you to give her a Christian welcome, as the saints should; and to assist her in any matter in which she may have need of you. For she herself has been made an overseer to many people, including myself.

Salute Trypheana and Tryphosa, who are ever toiling in the Lord. Salute dear Persis, who has toiled terribly in the Lord's service.

but now has been brought to light, and by command of the eternal God made known to the Gentiles by the scriptures of the Prophets, so that the Gentiles might hold obedience of the faith.

For it has been plainly told me concerning you, my brothers, by Chloe's people, that there are dissensions among you.

Has Christ been divided? Paul, was he crucified for you? or was it into the name of Paul that you were baptized?

Sage, rabbi, skeptic of this present age??here are they all? Has not God made foolish the philosophy of the world?

No, God has chosen the world's folly to confound its philosophy; and the world's weakness to confound its strength.

The world's base things has God chosen, and the things that are not, to bring to naught the things that are;

Nay, as it is written. Eye has not seen, Nor ear heard, Neither have entered into man's heart The things which God has prepared For those who love him.

Yet God has unveiled them to us by his Spirit. For the Spirit fathoms everything, even the abysmal depths of God.

If any man's work??he building he has made??tands the test, he will be rewarded.

But it seems to me that God has exhibited us apostles, last of all, like men doomed to death; for we are made a spectacle to the whole world, both to men and to angels.

It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and such immorality as is not even among the heathen??hat a man has taken his father's wife!

Yet you are puffed up instead of mourning and removing from among you the man who has done this thing.

For I, although absent in body, yet present in spirit, have already passed sentence, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, on him who has done this thing.

Then get rid of the old leaven, so that you may be like a new lump, as you are now unleavened. For our Paschal Lamb has already been sacrificed, Christ himself.

Dare any one of you who has a grievance against his neighbor go to law before heathen judges, instead of before the saints?

I would that every one lived as I do; but each man has his own special gift from God, one this, another that.

(or if she has already left him let her either remain as she is, or be reconciled to him), and also that a husband is not to put away his wife.

To the rest it is I who am speaking, not the Lord. If any brother has a wife who is not a believer, if he is willing to live with her, let him not send her away.

But if the unbelieving partner be determined to leave, separation let it be. In such cases the believing husband or wife is not under bondage. But it is into peace that God has called us.

Only whatever be the lot in life to which God has assigned each one??nd whatever the condition in which he was living when God called him??n that let him continue. Such is the rule I give in all the churches.

For the slave who has been called in the Lord is the Lord's freedman; and in the same way, the free man who is called is Christ's slave.

Yet if you do not marry, you have not done wrong; and if a girl marries, she has not done wrong. Such people, however, will have trouble in worldly affairs, and I wish to spare you.

Indeed, brothers, the time that remains to us has been shortened; so let those who have wives live as if they had none,

On the other hand, he who is firm in his purpose and is under no compulsion, but is free to carry out his own wishes, and who has determined to keep his daughter unmarried, does well.

Now in regard to food which has been offered to idols, we are sure of course that "we all have knowledge." But knowledge puffs up, while love builds up.

If a man thinks that he already has knowledge, he does not yet truly know as he ought to know;

Now as to eating food that has been offered to idols, we know well that an idol has no real existence in the universe, and that there is no God but One.

But that "knowledge" is not possessed by all; but some, accustomed until now to the idol, eat food as that which has actually been offered to an idol, and so their conscience, being still weak, is defiled.

No temptation has overtaken you that is beyond man's power; but God is faithful, who will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear, but will, with every temptation, provide the way of escape also, so that you may be able to withstand.

But if any one tells you, "This food has been offered in sacrifice," do not eat it, for the sake of him who told you,

but it is woman's glory, because her hair has been given her instead of a veil.

Now to each man has been given his manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

For to one man by the Spirit has been given a word of wisdom, to another a word of insight by the same Spirit;

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, although they be many, are one body; so also is Christ.

But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body as it has pleased him.