These people who have been instructing you are devoted to you, but not in a good way. They want you to avoid me so that you will be devoted to them.

Tell me, those of you who want to live under the Law: Are you really listening to what the Law says?

For it is written, "Rejoice, you childless woman, who cannot give birth to any children! Break into song and shout, you who feel no pains of childbirth! For the children of the deserted woman are more numerous than the children of the woman who has a husband."

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.

Again, I insist that everyone who allows himself to be circumcised is obligated to obey the entire Law.

Those of you who are trying to be justified by the Law have been cut off from the Messiah. You have fallen away from grace.

You were running the race beautifully. Who cut in on you and stopped you from obeying the truth?

Such influence does not come from the one who calls you.

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.

I wish that those who are upsetting you would castrate themselves!

envy, murder, drunkenness, wild partying, and things like that. I am telling you now, as I have told you in the past, that people who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Now those who belong to the Messiah Jesus have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires.

Brothers, if a person is caught doing something wrong, those of you who are spiritual should restore that person gently. Watch out for yourself so that you are not tempted as well.

The person who is taught the word should share all his goods with his teacher.

The person who sows through human means will harvest decay from human means, but the person who sows in the Spirit will harvest eternal life from the Spirit.

These people who want to impress others by their external appearance are trying to force you to be circumcised, simply to avoid being persecuted for the cross of the Messiah.

Why, not even those who are circumcised obey the Law! They simply want you to be circumcised so that they can boast about your external appearance.

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

From: Paul, an apostle of the Messiah Jesus by God's will. To: His holy and faithful people in Ephesus who are in union with the Messiah Jesus.

In the Messiah we were also chosen when we were predestined according to the purpose of the one who does everything that he wills to do,

so that we who had already fixed our hope on the Messiah might live for his praise and glory.

who is the guarantee of our inheritance until God redeems his own possession for his praise and glory.

and the unlimited greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his mighty strength,

which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills everything in every way.

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.

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love for us

So then, remember that at one time you gentiles by birth were called "the uncircumcised" by those who called themselves "the circumcised." They underwent physical circumcision done by human hands.

But now, in union with the Messiah Jesus, you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of the Messiah.

For it is he who is our peace. Through his mortality he made both groups one by tearing down the wall of hostility that divided them.

He came and proclaimed peace for you who were far away and for you who were near.

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

in whom we have boldness and confident access through his faithfulness.

from whom every family in heaven and on earth receives its name.

Now to the one who can do infinitely more than all we can ask or imagine according to the power that is working among us

one God and Father of all, who is above all, through all, and in all.

The one who went down is the same one who went up above all the heavens so that all things would be fulfilled.

And it is he who gifted some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, and still others to be pastors and teachers,

in whom the whole body is united and held together by every ligament with which it is supplied. As each individual part does its job, the body builds itself up in love.

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.

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, by whom you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption.

For you know very well that no immoral or impure person, or anyone who is greedy (that is, an idolater), has an inheritance in the kingdom of the Messiah and of God.

Do not let anyone deceive you with meaningless words, for it is because of these things that God becomes angry with those who disobey.

For the husband is the head of his wife as the Messiah is the head of the church. It is he who is the Savior of the body.

In the same way, husbands must love their wives as they love their own bodies. A man who loves his wife loves himself.

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.

May grace be with all who sincerely love the Lord Jesus, the Messiah!

From: Paul and Timothy, servants of the Messiah Jesus. To: All the holy ones in Philippi, along with their overseers and ministers, who are in union with the Messiah Jesus.

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 God who is producing in you both the desire and the ability to do what pleases him.

so that you may be blameless and innocent, God's children without any faults among a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world

I do not have anyone else like him who takes a genuine interest in your welfare.

For it is we who are the circumcision we who worship in the Spirit of God and find our joy in the Messiah Jesus. We have not placed any confidence in the flesh,

Therefore, those of us who are mature should think this way. And if you think differently about anything, God will show you how to think.

Join together in imitating me, brothers, and pay close attention to those who live by the example we have set for you.

Therefore, my dear brothers whom I long for, my joy and my victor's crown, this is how you must stand firm in the Lord, dear friends.

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Greet every saint who is in union with the Messiah Jesus. The brothers who are with me send their greetings to you.

To: The holy and faithful brothers in Colossae who are in union with the Messiah. May grace and peace from God our Father be yours!

You learned about this gospel from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of the Messiah on your behalf.

and might thank the Father, who has enabled us to share in the saints' inheritance in the light.

God has rescued us from the power of darkness and has brought us into the kingdom of the Son whom he loves,

through whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

You who were once alienated with a hostile attitude, doing evil,

to whom God wanted to make known the glorious riches of this secret among the gentiles which is the Messiah in you, our glorious hope.

It is he whom we proclaim as we admonish and wisely teach everyone, so that we may present everyone mature in the Messiah.

For I want you to know how much I struggle for you, for those in Laodicea, and for all who have never seen me face to face.

Because they are united in love, I pray that their hearts may be encouraged by all the riches that come from a complete understanding of the full knowledge of the Messiah, who is the mystery of God.

And you have been filled by him, who is the head of every ruler and authority.

When you were buried with the Messiah in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

Let no one who delights in humility and the worship of angels cheat you out of the prize by rejoicing about what he has seen. Such a person is puffed up for no reason by his carnal mind.

He does not hold on to the head, from whom the whole body, which is nourished and held together by its joints and ligaments, grows as God enables it.

When the Messiah, who is your life, is revealed, then you, too, will be revealed with him in glory.

It is because of these things that the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient.

and have clothed yourselves with the new nature, which is being renewed in full knowledge, consistent with the image of the one who created it.

Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is appropriate for those who belong to the Lord.

You know that it is from the Lord that you will receive the inheritance as a reward. It is the Lord Messiah whom you are serving!

For the person who does what is wrong will be paid back for what he has done without favoritism.

He is coming with Onesimus, that faithful and dear brother, who is one of you. They will tell you everything that is happening here.

Jesus, who is called Justus, also greets you. These are the only ones of the circumcision who are fellow workers for the kingdom of God. They have been an encouragement to me.

Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of the Messiah Jesus, sends you his greetings. He is always wrestling in his prayers for you, so that you may stand mature, completely convinced of the entire will of God.

Brothers whom God loves, we know that he has chosen you,

and to wait for his Son whom he raised from the dead to come back from heaven. This Jesus is the one who rescues us from the coming wrath.

Rather, because we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, we speak as we do, not trying to please people but God, who tests our motives.

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

We comforted and encouraged you, urging you to live in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.

Here is another reason why we constantly give thanks to God: When you received God's word, which you heard from us, you did not accept it as the word of humans but for what it really is the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.

who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, who have persecuted us, and who please neither God nor any group of people,

After all, who is our hope, joy, or reason for rejoicing in the presence of our Lord Jesus at his coming? It is you, isn't it?

and send Timothy, our brother who works with us for God in the gospel of the Messiah, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith,

Then your hearts will be strong, blameless, and holy in the presence of God, who is our Father, when our Lord Jesus appears with all his saints.

not with passion and lust like the gentiles who do not know God.

Therefore, whoever rejects this instruction is not rejecting human authority but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.

But we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve like other people who have no hope.

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so through Jesus God will bring those who have died with him.

For we declare to you what the Lord has told us to say: We who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who have died.

With a shout of command, with the archangel's call, and with the sound of God's trumpet, the Lord himself will come down from heaven, and the dead who belong to the Messiah will rise first.

Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

For people who go to sleep, go to sleep at night; and people who get drunk, get drunk at night.

who died for us in order that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.

Brothers, we ask you to show your appreciation for those who work among you, set an example for you in the Lord, and instruct you.