Wanting to know the charge they were accusing him of, I brought him down before their Sanhedrin.

commanding his accusers to come to you.] By examining him yourself you will be able to discern all these things we are accusing him of.”

But I confess this to you: I worship my fathers’ God according to the Way, which they call a sect, believing all the things that are written in the Law and in the Prophets.

And I have a hope in God, which these men themselves also accept, that there is going to be a resurrection, both of the righteous and the unrighteous.

“All the Jews know my way of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem.

But get up and stand on your feet. For I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and a witness of what you have seen and of what I will reveal to you.

which He promised long ago through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures—

We have also obtained access through Him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

I am using a human analogy because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you offered the parts of yourselves as slaves to moral impurity, and to greater and greater lawlessness, so now offer them as slaves to righteousness, which results in sanctification.

But now, since you have been liberated from sin and have become enslaved to God, you have your fruit, which results in sanctification—and the end is eternal life!

On the contrary, we speak God’s hidden wisdom in a mystery, a wisdom God predestined before the ages for our glory.

Each person should remain in the life situation in which he was called.

If I partake with thanks, why am I slandered because of something I give thanks for?

gave thanks, broke it, and said, “This is My body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.”

If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is experienced in your endurance of the same sufferings that we suffer.

You will be enriched in every way for all generosity, which produces thanksgiving to God through us.

I beg you that when I am present I will not need to be bold with the confidence by which I plan to challenge certain people who think we are behaving in an unspiritual way.

For if I boast some more about our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for tearing you down, I am not ashamed.

We, however, will not boast beyond measure but according to the measure of the area of ministry that God has assigned to us, which reaches even to you.

For if a person comes and preaches another Jesus, whom we did not preach, or you receive a different spirit, which you had not received, or a different gospel, which you had not accepted, you put up with it splendidly!

was caught up into paradise. He heard inexpressible words, which a man is not allowed to speak.

They asked only that we would remember the poor, which I made every effort to do.

And I say this: The law, which came 430 years later, does not revoke a covenant that was previously ratified by God and cancel the promise.

envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I tell you about these things in advance—as I told you before—that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

which is His body, the fullness of the One who fills all things in every way.

in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler who exercises authority over the lower heavens, the spirit now working in the disobedient.

For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them.

This is according to His eternal purpose accomplished in the Messiah, Jesus our Lord.

And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless actions, but be filled by the Spirit:

Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise,

Take the helmet of salvation,
and the sword of the Spirit,
which is God’s word.

Now if I live on in the flesh, this means fruitful work for me; and I don’t know which one I should choose.

I am pressured by both. I have the desire to depart and be with Christ—which is far better—

but our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Therefore, put to death what belongs to your worldly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry.

And let the peace of the Messiah, to which you were also called in one body, control your hearts. Be thankful.

At the same time, pray also for us that God may open a door to us for the message, to speak the mystery of the Messiah, for which I am in prison,

This is why we constantly thank God, because when you received the message about God that you heard from us, you welcomed it not as a human message, but as it truly is, the message of God, which also works effectively in you believers.

We must always thank God for you, brothers. This is right, since your faith is flourishing and the love each one of you has for one another is increasing.

It is a clear evidence of God’s righteous judgment that you will be counted worthy of God’s kingdom, for which you also are suffering,

or to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies. These promote empty speculations rather than God’s plan, which operates by faith.

But if I should be delayed, I have written so that you will know how people ought to act in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.

But those who want to be rich fall into temptation, a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction.

Fight the good fight for the faith;
take hold of eternal life
that you were called to
and have made a good confession about
in the presence of many witnesses.

God will bring this about in His own time. He is

the blessed and only Sovereign,
the King of kings,
and the Lord of lords,

He has saved us and called us
with a holy calling,
not according to our works,
but according to His own purpose and grace,
which was given to us in Christ Jesus
before time began.

This is why I endure all things for the elect: so that they also may obtain salvation, which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

and you know that from childhood you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

There is reserved for me in the future the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me, but to all those who have loved His appearing.

For to which of the angels did He ever say, You are My Son; today I have become Your Father, or again, I will be His Father, and He will be My Son?

Now to which of the angels has He ever said:

Sit at My right hand
until I make Your enemies Your footstool?

so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us.

For the One these things are spoken about belonged to a different tribe. No one from it has served at the altar.

(for the law perfected nothing), but a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.

For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak, but the promise of the oath, which came after the law, appoints a Son, who has been perfected forever.

a minister of the sanctuary and the true tabernacle that was set up by the Lord and not man.

But Jesus has now obtained a superior ministry, and to that degree He is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been legally enacted on better promises.

For a tabernacle was set up, and in the first room, which is called the holy place, were the lampstand, the table, and the presentation loaves.

It contained the gold altar of incense and the ark of the covenant, covered with gold on all sides, in which there was a gold jar containing the manna, Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant.

But the high priest alone enters the second room, and he does that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance.

This is a symbol for the present time, during which gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the worshiper’s conscience.

After He says above, You did not want or delight in sacrifices and offerings, whole burnt offerings and sin offerings (which are offered according to the law),

Every priest stands day after day ministering and offering the same sacrifices time after time, which can never take away sins.

How much worse punishment do you think one will deserve who has trampled on the Son of God, regarded as profane the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and insulted the Spirit of grace?

So don’t throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.

He considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead, and as an illustration, he received him back.

But if you are without discipline—which all receive—then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

to Jesus (mediator of a new covenant), and to the sprinkled blood, which says better things than the blood of Abel.

We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle do not have a right to eat.

Therefore, ridding yourselves of all moral filth and evil, humbly receive the implanted word, which is able to save you.

so that the genuineness of your faith—more valuable than gold, which perishes though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Instead, it should consist of what is inside the heart with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very valuable in God’s eyes.

Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

as you wait for and earnestly desire the coming of the day of God. The heavens will be on fire and be dissolved because of it, and the elements will melt with the heat.

He speaks about these things in all his letters in which there are some matters that are hard to understand. The untaught and unstable twist them to their own destruction, as they also do with the rest of the Scriptures.

Yet I am writing you a new command, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

Yet you do have this: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

“Anyone who has an ear should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. I will give the victor the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in God’s paradise.

Be alert and strengthen what remains, which is about to die, for I have not found your works complete before My God.

The victor: I will make him a pillar in the sanctuary of My God, and he will never go out again. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God—the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God—and My new name.

Flashes of lightning and rumblings of thunder came from the throne. Seven fiery torches were burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God.

Then I saw One like a slaughtered lamb standing between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent into all the earth.

When He took the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

After this I looked, and there was a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, which no one could number, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were robed in white with palm branches in their hands.

The rest of the people, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands to stop worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which are not able to see, hear, or walk.

Their dead bodies will lie in the public square of the great city, which prophetically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.

A second angel followed, saying: “It has fallen, Babylon the Great has fallen, who made all nations drink the wine of her sexual immorality, which brings wrath.”

he will also drink the wine of God’s wrath, which is mixed full strength in the cup of His anger. He will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the sight of the holy angels and in the sight of the Lamb,

“Here is the mind with wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated.

For all the nations have drunk
the wine of her sexual immorality,
which brings wrath.
The kings of the earth
have committed sexual immorality with her,
and the merchants of the earth
have grown wealthy from her excessive luxury.

Pay her back the way she also paid,
and double it according to her works.
In the cup in which she mixed,
mix a double portion for her.

But the beast was taken prisoner, and along with him the false prophet, who had performed the signs in his presence. He deceived those who accepted the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image with these signs. Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.

I also saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their works by what was written in the books.

But the cowards, unbelievers, vile, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars—their share will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

Then he measured its wall, 144 cubits according to human measurement, which the angel used.