Now what I mean [when I talk about children and their guardians] is this: as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave even though he is the [future owner and] master of all [the estate];

Therefore you are no longer a slave (bond-servant), but a son; and if a son, then also an heir through [the gracious act of] God [through Christ].

But now, knowing God, but rather are known by God, how do you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements to which you again desire to slave anew?

What then has become of that sense of blessing and the joy that you once had [from your salvation and your relationship with Christ]? For I testify of you that, if possible, you would have torn out your own eyes and given them to me [to replace mine].

For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the female slave and one by the free woman.

But the child of the slave woman was born according to the flesh and had an ordinary birth, while the son of the free woman was born in fulfillment of the promise.

Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is a slave with her children.

But what does the Scripture say?

“Cast out the bondwoman [Hagar] and her son [Ishmael],
For never shall the son of the bondwoman be heir and share the inheritance with the son of the free woman.”

So then, believers, we [who are born again—reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, and set apart for His purpose] are not children of a slave woman [the natural], but of the free woman [the supernatural].

Remember, Brothers, to you the Call came to give you freedom. Only do not make your freedom an opportunity for self-indulgence, but serve one another in a loving spirit.

But the fruit produced by the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindliness, generosity, trustfulness, gentleness, self-control.

meekness, self-control; against such there is no law.

We must not become conceited, challenging or provoking one another, envying one another.

For any person who thinks he is someone [important], when he is really nothing, is self-deceived.

Let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in his own self, and not in another.

Let nobody interfere with me after this, for I bear on my body the scars that mark me as a slave of Jesus.

from whom the whole body, fitted together, and connected by every joint of supply, according to the working in its measure of each one part, works for itself the increase of the body to its self-building up in love.

for their [moral] understanding is darkened and their reasoning is clouded; [they are] alienated and self-banished from the life of God [with no share in it; this is] because of the [willful] ignorance and spiritual blindness that is [deep-seated] within them, because of the hardness and insensitivity of their heart.

that, regarding your previous way of life, you put off your old self [completely discard your former nature], which is being corrupted through deceitful desires,

and put on the new self [the regenerated and renewed nature], created in God’s image, [godlike] in the righteousness and holiness of the truth [living in a way that expresses to God your gratitude for your salvation].

and walk in love, as the Christ also loved us, and gave him self for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet odor.

However, each man among you [without exception] is to love his wife as his very own self [with behavior worthy of respect and esteem, always seeking the best for her with an attitude of lovingkindness], and the wife [must see to it] that she respects and delights in her husband [that she notices him and prefers him and treats him with loving concern, treasuring him, honoring him, and holding him dear].

knowing that whatever good thing each one does, he will receive this back from the Lord, whether [he is] slave or free.

You slave-owners, too, must maintain the same attitude toward your slaves, and stop threatening them, for you know that their real Lord and yours is in heaven, and that He never shows partiality.

the former from self-seeking are proclaiming Christ insincerely, thinking that they will add affliction to my bonds.

Doing nothing through envy or through pride, but with low thoughts of self let everyone take others to be better than himself;

but emptied Himself [without renouncing or diminishing His deity, but only temporarily giving up the outward expression of divine equality and His rightful dignity] by assuming the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men [He became completely human but was without sin, being fully God and fully man].

So then, my dear ones, just as you have always obeyed [my instructions with enthusiasm], not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation [that is, cultivate it, bring it to full effect, actively pursue spiritual maturity] with awe-inspired fear and trembling [using serious caution and critical self-evaluation to avoid anything that might offend God or discredit the name of Christ].

But you know his character, and how like a son helping his father he has worked like a slave with me in preaching the good news.

Beware of 'the dogs,' the bad workmen, the self-mutilators.

and may be found in Him [believing and relying on Him], not having any righteousness of my own derived from [my obedience to] the Law and its rituals, but [possessing] that [genuine righteousness] which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.

I can do all things [which He has called me to do] through Him who strengthens and empowers me [to fulfill His purpose—I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency; I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses me with inner strength and confident peace.]

just as you learned [it] from Epaphras, our dear fellow slave who is a faithful minister of Christ [on] our behalf,

Let no one defraud you of your prize [your freedom in Christ and your salvation] by insisting on mock humility and the worship of angels, going into detail about visions [he claims] he has seen [to justify his authority], puffed up [in conceit] by his unspiritual mind,

These practices indeed have the appearance [that popularly passes as that] of wisdom in self-made religion and mock humility and severe treatment of the body (asceticism), but are of no value against sinful indulgence [because they do not honor God].

So put to death and deprive of power the evil longings of your earthly body [with its sensual, self-centered instincts] immorality, impurity, sinful passion, evil desire, and greed, which is [a kind of] idolatry [because it replaces your devotion to God].

Do not lie to one another, for you have stripped off the old self with its evil practices,

and have put on the new [spiritual] self who is being continually renewed in true knowledge in the image of Him who created the new self—

a renewal in which there is no [distinction between] Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, [nor between nations whether] barbarian or Scythian, [nor in status whether] slave or free, but Christ is all, and in all [so believers are equal in Christ, without distinction].

For he who does wrong will be punished for his wrongdoing, and [with God] there is no partiality [no special treatment based on a person’s position in life].

Tychicus, my dear brother and faithful servant and fellow slave in the Lord, will make known to you all {my circumstances},

Epaphras, who is [one] of you, greets you, a slave of Christ always struggling on behalf of you in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.

We never resorted to flattery (you know that), nor to any pretext for self-seeking (God is witness to that);

For this reason, when I could no longer contain my self, I sent to know your faith, lest by any means the tempter had tempted you, and our labor should be in vain.

so that you will behave properly toward outsiders [exhibiting good character, personal integrity, and moral courage worthy of the respect of the outside world], and be dependent on no one and in need of nothing [be self-supporting].

So then, we must not sleep like the rest, but must be on the alert and be self-controlled.

But let us who are of the day be self-controlled, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.

who opposes and exalts himself above every one that is called God, or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, openly showing him self that he is God.

for the sexually immoral, for homosexuals, for slave-traders, for liars, for perjurers, and for any other thing contrary to the sound doctrine;

Likewise also the women should adorn themselves in appropriate clothing, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold jewelry or pearls or expensive clothing,

But women will be preserved (saved) through [the pain and dangers of] the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and holiness with self-control and discretion.

Now an overseer must be blameless and beyond reproach, the husband of one wife, self-controlled, sensible, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,

Women must likewise be worthy of respect, not malicious gossips, but self-controlled, [thoroughly] trustworthy in all things.

If you point out these instructions to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished [through study] on the words of the faith and of the good [Christian] doctrine which you have closely followed.

But she that lives in habits of self-indulgence is dead while living.

Those whose masters are Christian believers must not treat them with disrespect, because they are brothers; nay, rather slave for them the better because those who get the benefit of their services are believing and beloved. Continue to teach and preach this.

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity or cowardice or fear, but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of sound judgment and personal discipline [abilities that result in a calm, well-balanced mind and self-control].

If, therefore, any one will cleanse him self from these strifes about words, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, highly useful to the master, prepared for every good work.

And the slave of the Lord must not quarrel, but be kind toward everyone, skillful in teaching, tolerant,

For men shall be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, haughty, railers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

without natural affection, implacable, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, no lovers of good,

traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of [sensual] pleasure rather than lovers of God,

But you, be self-controlled in all [things], bear hardship patiently, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

Paul, a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of the chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth that [is] according to godliness,

wherever there is a man of blameless life, true to his one wife, having children who are themselves believers and are free from every reproach of profligacy or of stubborn self-will.

For the bishop must be blameless, as God's steward; not self-willed, not soon angry, no brawler, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre;

but given to hospitality, as lover of good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled;

For there are many rebellious men who are empty talkers [just windbags] and deceivers; especially those of the circumcision [those Jews who insist that Gentile believers must be circumcised and keep the Law in order to be saved].

They profess to know God, but by their actions they disown him. They are degraded and self-willed; and, as far as anything good is concerned, they are utterly worthless.

Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love, in steadfastness [Christlike in character].

That old women are to be self-respecting in behaviour, not saying evil of others, not given to taking much wine, teachers of that which is good,

to be sensible, pure, makers of a home [where God is honored], good-natured, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.

In a similar way urge the young men to be sensible and self-controlled and to behave wisely [taking life seriously].

And in all things show yourself to be an example of good works, with purity in doctrine [having the strictest regard for integrity and truth], dignified,

It teaches us to reject ungodliness and worldly (immoral) desires, and to live sensible, upright, and godly lives [lives with a purpose that reflect spiritual maturity] in this present age,

knowing that such a one is perverted, and sinneth, being self-condemned.

[Now] I am sending him back to you in person, [as though he were] part of my very self.

no longer as a slave, but [as someone] more than a slave, as a brother [in Christ], especially dear to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh [as a servant] and in the Lord [as a fellow believer].

I Paul have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it: albeit I do not say to thee how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides.

And like a robe You will roll them up;
Like a garment they will be changed.
But You are the same [forever],
And Your years will never end.”

Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, like the high priest entering the holy place every year with blood that was not his own: ??26 for in that case he would have had to suffer repeatedly, ever since the world was founded. Nay, once for all, at the end of the world, he has appeared with his self-sacrifice to abolish sin.

James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the dispersion. Greetings!

If anyone considers himself to be religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, this person is self-deceived and his religion is worthless.

The religious service which is pure and stainless in the sight of our God and Father is to visit fatherless children and widowed women in their time of trouble, and to keep one's own self unspotted from the world.

if you should respectfully say to the suit of fine cloths, sit you there, that's for quality; and to the poor man, stand thou there, or place your self at my feet:

If, agreeably to the scriptures, you observe that royal law, "thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self," you do well.

Not many [of you] should become teachers [serving in an official teaching capacity], my brothers and sisters, for you know that we [who are teachers] will be judged by a higher standard [because we have assumed greater accountability and more condemnation if we teach incorrectly].

That kind of wisdom does not come from above. No, it is worldly, self-centered, and demonic.

The wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peaceful, courteous, not self-willed, full of compassion and kind actions, free from favouritism and from all insincerity.

But as it is, you boast [vainly] in your pretension and arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

On the earth you have lived luxuriously and abandoned yourselves to soft living and led a life of wanton pleasure [self-indulgence, self-gratification]; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.

Therefore, {when you have prepared your minds for action} [by] being self-controlled, put your hope completely in the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

The end and culmination of all things is near. Therefore, be sound-minded and self-controlled for the purpose of prayer [staying balanced and focused on the things of God so that your communication will be clear, reasonable, specific and pleasing to Him.]

Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

The God of all grace - which called you unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus - shall his own self, after ye have suffered a little affliction, make you perfect: shall settle, strengthen, and establish you.

Simeon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a faith equal in value to ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.

and in your knowledge self-control; and in your'self-control patience; and in your patience godliness;

Of this, first, taking note - that, no prophecy of scripture, becometh, self-solving;

but chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement, and despise dominion. Daring, self-willed, they tremble not to rail at dignities: