For God once publicly offered Him in His death as a sacrifice of reconciliation through faith, to demonstrate His own justice (for in His forbearance God had passed over men's former sins);

Afterward he received the mark of circumcision as God's seal of his right standing with Him on condition of faith which he had before he was circumcised, that he might be the forefather of all who have faith while still uncircumcised, that they might have their faith credited to them as right standing with God;

and the forefather of those Jews who not only belong to the circumcision but also follow in the footsteps of our forefather Abraham in the faith he had before he was circumcised.

For the promise made to Abraham and his descendants, that he should own the world, was not conditioned on the law, but on the right standing he had with God through faith.

Abraham, building on hope in spite of hopeless circumstances, had faith, and so he actually became the father of many nations, just as it had been told him, "So numberless shall your descendants be."

in full assurance that He was able to do what He had promised.

And yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the way Adam had, against a positive command. For Adam was a figure of Him who was to come.

so that just as sin had reigned by death, so His favor too might reign in right standing with God which issues in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

What are we then to conclude? Is the law sin? Of course not! Yet, if it had not been for the law, I should not have learned what sin was, for I should not have known what an evil desire was, if the law had not said, "You must not have an evil desire."

I was once alive when I had no connection with the law, but when the command came, sin revived, and then I died;

For even before the twin sons were born, and though they had done nothing either good or bad, that God's purpose in accordance with His choice might continue to stand, conditioned not on men's actions but on God's calling them,

As Isaiah again has foretold, "Unless the Lord of hosts had left us some descendants, we would have fared as Sodom did and would have been like Gomorrah."

But may I ask, They had no chance to hear, did they? Yes, indeed: "All over the earth their voices have gone, to the ends of the world their words."

For just as you once disobeyed God, but now have had mercy shown you because of their disobedience,

In this matter it has ever been my ambition to tell the good news where Christ's name had never been mentioned, so as not to build upon foundations laid by other men,

But I beg you, brothers, to keep on the lookout for those who stir up divisions and put hindrances in your way, in opposition to the instruction that you had, and always avoid them.

To Him who can make you strong in accordance with the good news I bring and in accordance with the message preached about Jesus Christ, in accordance with the uncovering of the secret which for ages past had not been told,

For since in accordance with the wisdom of God the world had never in reality, by means of its wisdom, come to know God, God chose through the nonsense of the message proclaimed, to save the people who put their faith in Him.

Not one of this world's leaders understands it, for if they had, they would never have crucified our glorious Lord.

For who makes you superior? And what do you have that you did not get from someone? But if you got it from someone, why do you boast as though you had not?

Are you satisfied already? Have you grown rich already? Have you ascended your thrones without us to join you? Yes, I could wish that you had ascended your thrones, that we too might join you on them!

To this very hour we have gone hungry, thirsty, poorly clad; we have been roughly knocked around; we have had no home.

About unmarried women I have no command from the Lord, but I will give you my opinion as of one who is trustworthy, since I have had mercy shown me by the Lord.

I mean this, brothers. The time has been cut short. For the future, men who have wives should live as though they had none,

But I myself have never used any of these rights. And I am not writing this just to make it so in my case, for I had rather die than do that. No one shall rob me of this ground of boasting.

For I passed on to you, among the primary principles of the good news, what I had received, that Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the Scriptures,

This is the very thing I wrote you, that when I did come I might not be made sad by the very people who ought to make me glad, for I had confidence in you all that my gladness would be gladness to you all.

When I went to Troas to preach the good news of Christ, although I had an opportunity in the service of the Lord,

I had no rest of spirit, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and left for Macedonia.

For if the service connected with condemnation had such splendor, the service resulting in right standing with God will surely far surpass it in splendor.

So, because I hold a place in this ministry and that because I have had God's mercy shown me, I never give up.

For even after I had gotten to Macedonia, my frail, human nature could find no relief; I was crushed with sorrow at every turn -- fighting without and fears within.

and not only by his coming but by the comfort he had gotten from you, because he kept on telling me how you were longing to see me, how sorry you were, and how loyal you were to me, so that I was gladder still.

I am glad of it now, not because you had such sorrow, but because your sorrow led you to repentance, for you took your sorrow in accordance with the will of God, so that you should not suffer any loss at all from me.

so that I insisted that Titus, as he had formerly commenced it, should bring to completion this gracious contribution among you too.

But when God, who had already set me apart from my birth, and had called me by His unmerited favor,

and before I went up to Jerusalem to see those who had been apostles before me, I retired to Arabia, and afterwards returned to Damascus.

they did not try it even for the sake of the false brothers who had been smuggled in, who stole in to spy out the freedom we enjoy in Christ Jesus, so as to make us slaves again.

On the contrary, because they saw that I had been entrusted with the good news for the heathen, just as Peter had been entrusted with it for the Jews --

for He who had been at work in Peter for his apostleship to the Jews had been at work in me too for the apostleship to the heathen --

and because they recognized the favor God had shown me, James, Cephas, and John, the so-called pillar apostles, gave Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, with the understanding that we should go to the heathen and they to the Jews.

I mean this: The law which was given four hundred and thirty years later could not annul the contract which had already been ratified by God, so as to cancel the promise.

Is the law then contrary to God's promises? Of course not. For if a law had been given that was able to impart life, surely, then, right standing would have come through law.

but when the proper time had come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born subject to law,

For the Scripture says that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave girl, the other by a free woman.

in union with whom we were made God's portion, since we had been foreordained in accordance with the purpose of Him who in everything carries out the plan of His will,

that we who had first put our hope in Christ might praise His glory.

to reconcile them both to God with His cross after He had killed the hostility through it.

What does "He went up" mean, except that He had first gone down into the lower regions of the earth?

Keep on fostering the same disposition that Christ Jesus had.

I was made very happy as a Christian to have your interest in my welfare revived again after so long; because you have always had the interest but not the opportunity to show it.

But, although we had just suffered and been insulted, as you remember, at Philippi, we again summoned courage by the help of God, in spite of the terrific strain, to tell you God's good news.

That was why, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for I was afraid that the tempter had tempted you and our labor might be lost.

No widow under sixty years of age should be put on this roll. A widow must have had but one husband,

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,

He saved us, not for upright deeds that we had done, but in accordance with His mercy, through the bath of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,

but in these latter days He has spoken to us through a Son, whom He had appointed lawful owner of everything, and through whom He had made the worlds.

He is the reflection of God's glory and the perfect representation of His being, and continues to uphold the universe by His mighty word. After He had procured man's purification from sins, He took His seat at the right hand of God's majesty,

For if the message spoken through angels proved to be valid, and every violation and infraction of it had its adequate penalty,

and set at liberty those who all their lifetime had been subject to slavery because of their dread of death.

Therefore He had to be made like His brothers, so that He could be a sympathetic High Priest, as well as a faithful one, in things relating to God, in order to atone for the people's sins.

For we have become real sharers in Christ, if we keep firm to the end the faith we had at first,

With whom was He disgusted forty years? Was it not with those who had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the desert?

For we have had the good news told to us as well as they, but the message heard did them no good, because they were not by faith made one with those who heeded it.

For we who have believed are being admitted to that rest, just as He has said: "As in my anger I took oath, they shall not be admitted to my rest," although God's works had been completed at the creation of the world.

Since then it still remains that some are being admitted to it and that those who first had the good news told to them were not admitted because of disobedience,

For if Joshua had really given them rest, He would not afterward have been speaking of another day.

since He had received from God the title of a High Priest with the rank of Melchizedek.

For when God made His promise to Abraham, He took an oath by Himself, since He had no one greater by whom He could take it,

And so by patiently waiting he obtained what God had promised him.

But in this case, the man whose ancestry is not traced from them collected a tenth from Abraham, and put his blessing on the man who had the promises from God.

Now if perfection had been reached through the Levitical priesthood -- for on it as a basis even the law was enacted for the people-- what further need would there have been of appointing a different priest, with the rank of Melchizedek, instead of designating one with the rank of Aaron?

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 if the first covenant had been faultless, there could have been no room for a second one.

So indeed the first covenant had its regulations for worship and its earthly sanctuary.

And this is why He is the Mediator of a new covenant, in order that, after He had suffered death for securing redemption from the offenses committed under the first covenant, those who had been invited to share it might obtain the eternal inheritance promised them.

For after every regulation in the law had been spoken by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, crimson wool, and a bunch of hyssop, and sprinkled the book containing the law and all the people,

So, on the one hand, the copies of the original things in heaven had to be purified with such sacrifices; but on the other hand, the original things themselves in heaven with better sacrifices than these.

for, if that had been the case, He would have had to suffer over and over again, ever since the creation of the world. But, as it is, once at the close of the ages He has appeared, to put away sin by His sacrifice.

Otherwise, would they not have ceased offering them, because those who offered them, having once been purified, would have had no further consciousness of sins?

For you showed sympathy with those who were in prison and cheerfully submitted to the violent seizure of your property, for you knew that you had in yourselves and in heaven one that was lasting.

By faith Enoch was transplanted from earth, so that he did not experience dying; and he could not be found, because God had transplanted him from earth. For before he was transplanted from earth evidence was given him that he pleased God;

By faith he made his temporary home in the land that God had promised him, although a land inhabited by others, living merely in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who were to share the promise with him.

And if they had been cherishing the memory of the country they had left, they would have had an opportunity to go back.

By faith Abraham, when he was put to the test, offered Isaac as a sacrifice; that is, he who had received the promise was starting to offer as a sacrifice his only son,

of whom it had been said, "Through Isaac your offspring must be traced."

By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as a son of Pharaoh's daughter,

By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who disobeyed God, because she had welcomed the scouts as friends.

Though all these people by their faith won God's approval, yet none of them received what He had promised,

for God had provided something still better for us, that they, apart from us might not attain perfection.

Furthermore, we had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we used to treat them with respect; how much more cheerfully should we submit to the Father of our spirits, and live!

Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once His mercy had not been shown you, but now it has.

who had once been disobedient, while God's patience was awaiting in the days when Noah was preparing an ark, in which a few people-- eight, to be exact -- were brought safely through the water.

be shepherds of the flock of God that is among you, not as though you had to but of your own free will, not from the motive of personal profit but freely,

For it was not mere stories of fancy that we followed when we told you of the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of His majesty.

For they willfully ignore the fact that long ago the heavens existed and the earth that had been formed by God's command out of water and through water,

Dearly beloved, I am not writing you a new command, but an old one that you have had from the beginning. That old command is the message that you have heard.

They have gone out from our own number, but they did not really belong to us; for if they had, they would have stayed with us. It was to show that none of those who went out really belonged to us.

I am happy to find that some of your children are living by the truth, just as we had been commanded from the Father to do.

And now I beg you, my lady, not as though I were writing you a new command, but one which we had from the beginning, that we continue to love one another.