that He was buried, that on the third day He was raised from the dead, in accordance with the Scriptures,

Now if we preach that Christ has been raised from the dead, how is it that some of you are saying that there is no such thing as a resurrection of the dead?

But in reality Christ has been raised from the dead, the first to be raised of those who have fallen asleep.

For just as all men die by virtue of their descent from Adam, so all such as are in union with Christ will be made to live again.

If from merely human motives I have fought wild beasts here in Ephesus, what profit will it be to me? If the dead are never raised at all, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall be dead."

One kind of splendor belongs to the sun, another to the moon, and another to the stars; yes, one star differs from another in splendor.

The first man was made of the dust of the earth; the second Man is from heaven.

Now those who are made of the dust are just like him who was first made of dust, and those who are heavenly are like Him who is from heaven,

and as we have reflected the likeness of him who was made of dust, let us also reflect the likeness of the Man from heaven.

spiritual blessing and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Yes, I felt within my very self the sentence of death, to keep me from depending on myself instead of God who raises the dead.

He saved me from a death so horrible, and He will save me again! He it is on whom I have set my hope that He will still save me,

For my boast is this, to which my conscience testifies, that before the world, but especially before you, I have acted from pure motives and in sincerity before God, not depending on worldly wisdom but on God's unmerited favor.

that is, to go by you on my way to Macedonia, and then to come back to you from Macedonia, and have you send me on to Judea.

so you must do the opposite, freely forgive and comfort him, to keep him from being overwhelmed by his excessive sadness.

to keep us from being worsted by Satan, for we know what his intentions are.

Now who is qualified for such a task? I am, for I am not a peddler of God's message, like the most of them, but like a man of sincerity, like a man that is sent from God and living in His presence, in union with Christ I speak His message.

Am I beginning to recommend myself again? I do not, like some people, do I, need letters of recommendation to you or from you?

Not that I am myself qualified to consider anything as coming from me myself. No, my qualification comes from God, for

Now if the old religious service which resulted in death, although its law was carved in letters of stone, was introduced with a splendor so great that the Israelites could not keep their eyes fixed on Moses' face because of the splendor that was fading from it,

not as Moses did, who used to wear a veil over his face, to keep the Israelites from gazing at the end of what was passing away.

And all of us, with faces uncovered, because we continue to reflect like mirrors the splendor of the Lord, are being transformed into likeness to Him, from one degree of splendor to another, since it comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

In their case, the god of this world has blinded the eyes of the unbelievers, to keep the glorious light of the good news of Christ, who is the likeness of God, from dawning upon them.

because I know that He who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will raise me too in fellowship with you.

So I never give up; instead, although my outer nature is wasting away, my inner nature is constantly renewed from day to day.

For I know that if this earthly tent in which I live is taken down, I have a building in heaven which comes from God, a house not built by human hands but eternal.

So I am always cheerful and confident, although I know that as long as I am at home in the body I am away from home and the Lord

and yet I am cheerful and confident, but really I prefer to be away from home in the body and to be at home with the Lord.

So whether I am at home or away from home, it is my constant ambition to please Him.

So from this moment on, I do not estimate anybody by the standard of outward appearances. Although I once did estimate Christ by this standard, I do not do so any longer.

To keep my ministry from being found fault with, I am trying not to put a single hindrance in anybody's way.

Therefore: "'Come out of company with them, and separate from them,' the Lord has said, 'And stop touching what is unclean; then I will welcome you,

So, since we have such promises as these, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that defiles our bodies and spirits, and in reverence to God carry on our consecration to completeness.

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.

to keep me -- not to mention you -- from being humiliated for having such confidence in you, if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready.

I beg you not to make me too courageous in that confidence in which I think to take a daring stand against some people who try to think that I am acting from the lowest human motives.

But I am apprehensive that, somehow or other, as the serpent by his cunning deceived Eve, your thoughts may be turned aside from single-hearted devotion to Christ.

For if anybody comes along and preaches another Jesus than the one I preached, or you receive another spirit different from the one you did receive or a glad message different from the one you did accept, you listen to it all right!

I sponged on other churches by taking pay from them to render service to you,

and when I was with you and needed money, I never burdened a single one of you for a cent, for the brothers came from Macedonia and supplied what I needed. And so I kept myself, as I shall always do, from being a burden to you in any way.

And I shall keep on doing as I am, in order to cut the ground from under the feet of those who want an opportunity to show themselves on a level with me in the matters of which they boast.

Five times I have taken thirty-nine lashes from the Jews,

I have served Him on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from the heathen, dangers in the city, dangers in the desert, dangers at sea, dangers from false brothers,

but through a hole in the wall I was lowered in a basket, and so escaped from his clutches.

I have to keep on boasting. There is no good to be gotten from it, but I will go on to visions and revelations which the Lord has given me.

However, if I want to boast, I will not play the fool, for it will be nothing but the truth that I will tell. But I refrain from doing so, to keep anybody, on account of the superiority of the revelations, from giving me a higher rating than my actions and teachings deserve.

So, to keep me from being over-elated, there was sent upon me a physical disease, sharp as a piercing stake, a messenger of Satan, to continue afflicting me, and so to keep me, I repeat, from being over-elated.

In what respect, then, were you inferior to the rest of the churches, except for the fact that I, and I only, never received from you any financial support? Please forgive me this wrong.

But let it be granted, you say, that I never received from you financial support, yet, you say, by being a trickster I cheated you by my cunning.

This is why I am writing this while far away from you, that when I do come, I may not have to deal harshly with you in accordance with the authority which the Lord has given me, for building you up, not for tearing you down.

Paul, an apostle sent not from men or by any man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead --

spiritual blessing and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,

who gave Himself for our sins, to save us from the present wicked world in accordance with the will of our God and Father;

I am astonished that you are beginning so soon to turn away from Him who called you by the favor of Christ, to a different good news,

But even if I or an angel from heaven preach a good news that is contrary to the one which I have already preached to you, a curse upon him!

for I did not get it from any man; I was not taught it, but I got it through a revelation given by Jesus Christ.

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

For before the coming of certain people from James, he was in the habit of eating with heathen Christians, but after they came, he began to draw back and hold aloof from them, because he was afraid of the circumcision party.

Christ ransomed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us -- for the Scripture says, "Cursed be everyone who is hanged on a tree" --

These men are paying you special attention, but not sincerely. They want to shut you off from me, so that you may keep on paying them special attention.

This is spoken as an allegory. For these women are two covenants, one coming from Mount Sinai, bearing children that are to be slaves;

You people, whoever you are among you, who try to get into right standing with God, through law have cut yourselves off from Christ, you have missed the way of God's favor.

You were running beautifully! Who was it that cut into your way and kept you from obeying the truth?

Such persuasion never came from Him who called you.

The person who sows to gratify his lower nature will reap destruction from that lower nature, and the person who sows to gratify his higher nature will reap eternal life from the Spirit.

These men who are trying to force you to let yourselves be circumcised simply want to make a fine outward show, only to keep you from being persecuted for the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

spiritual blessing and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

when He raised Christ from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in heaven,

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 --

from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name,

There is but one body and one Spirit, just as there is but one hope resulting from the call you have received;

with darkened understanding, estranged from the life of God because of the ignorance that exists among them and because of the stubbornness of their hearts;

So it is said: "Wake up, sleeper; get up from the dead, and Christ will make day dawn on you."

for you know that everyone, slave or free, will get his reward from the Lord for anything good he has done.

From now on you must grow stronger through union with the Lord and through His mighty power.

Peace to the brothers and love with faith, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

spiritual blessing and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

for your cooperation in spreading the good news, from the first day you heard it until now.

Some, indeed, are actually preaching Christ because they are moved by jealousy and partisanship, but others are doing so from the motive of good will;

the latter, indeed, are doing so from love to me, for they know that I am providentially put here to defend the good news;

the former are preaching Christ from the motive of rivalry, not in sincerity, supposing that this is making it harder for me to bear my imprisonment.

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

Never in the slightest degree be frightened by your opponents, for such fearlessness will be strong evidence to them of their impending destruction, but to you a sure sign, and that from God, of your salvation.

Stop acting from motives of selfish strife or petty ambition, but in humility practice treating one another as your superiors.

For he was so sick that he was on the point of dying, but God took pity on him, and not only on him but on me too, to keep me from having one sorrow after another.

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.

in the hope of attaining, in some measure, the resurrection that lifts me out from among the dead.

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

Practice the things you learned, received, and heard from me, things that you saw me do, and then the God who gives us peace will be with you.

My God will amply supply your every need, through Christ Jesus, from His riches in glory.

to the consecrated and faithful brothers at Colossae who are in union with Christ: spiritual blessing and peace to you from God our Father.

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,

as you learned it from Epaphras, our dearly loved fellow-slave. As a faithful minister of Christ for me

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

So you, who were once estranged from Him, and hostile in disposition as shown by your wrongdoings, He has now reconciled

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.

the open secret, covered up from the people of former ages and generations, but now uncovered to God's people,

I am saying this to keep anyone from misleading you by persuasive arguments.

for you were buried with Him in baptism and raised to life with Him through your faith in the power of God who raised Him from the dead.