And we all, with unveiled faces, reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are ourselves continually being transformed into the same likeness, from glory to glory, as by the Lord, the Spirit.

But I hold this treasure in an earthen vessel, in order that the surpassing greatness of the power may be from God, and not from myself.

For I know that He who raised from the dead the Lord Jesus, will raise me also with Jesus, and set me at your side in his presence.

Therefore I am always of good courage, because I well know that while I am at home in the body, I am in banishment from the Lord,

So I have good courage, and am well pleased rather, to be in banishment from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

And all this is from God, who through Christ reconciled me to himself, and gave me the ministry of reconciliation;

Therefore, Come out from among them and separate yourselves, saith the Lord, touch not what is unclean;

As these promises are ours, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and of spirit, and perfect our holiness in the fear of God.

For your pain came from God, and so you took no harm from me. For the pain which is from God works repentance leading to salvation, a repentance never to be regretted. But the world's pain works death.

As for Titus, remember that he is a partner of mine, and is also my associate in labors for you. As for the other brothers, remember that they are delegates from the churches, men in whom Christ is glorified.

So I have thought that I must ask these brothers to visit you beforehand, and get your promised contribution ready in advance. I want it to be given of your bounty, not extorted from your covetousness.

He who ever supplies seed to the sower, and bread for the food of man, will supply and make plentous your seed, and increase the harvest springing up from your almsgiving.

Would that you could put up with a little "folly" from me! Nay, do bear with me.

But I fear lest, just as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, so your minds should be seduced from your single-mindedness and purity toward Christ.

Even when I lacked the actual necessities of life while I was with you, I was a burden to no one; for whatever I lacked, the brothers from Macedonia supplied, when they came. So I kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so.

I am doing and will continue to do this in order to cut away the ground from under those who wish some cause for slander; and that the ground of their boasting may appear as does mine.

My journeys have been many; in perils of rivers, in perils of bandits; in perils from my countrymen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness; in perils on the sea, in perils among false brothers;

And I know such a man (whether in the body or apart from the body I know not, God knows),

If I should choose to continue boasting I should not be foolish, for I should be speaking the truth. But I refrain, lest by the stupendous grandeur of the revelation any one should estimate me beyond what he sees in me, or hears from me.

Paul, an apostle sent not from men nor by any man, but by Jesus Christ and by God the Father who raised him from the dead;

Grace be to you, and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ,

who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil age in accordance with the will of our God and Father,

But even though I myself or an angel from heaven were to preach any gospel other than that which I did preach to you, let him be accursed.

for neither did I myself receive it from man, nor by man was I taught it, but by a revelation an apocalypse of Jesus Christ.

But when God who had set me apart from my very birth,

For until certain men came from James he used to eat with the Gentile Christians, but when they came, he began to draw back and to separate himself, because he was afraid of the circumcision party.

But if while seeking to be justified in Christ we ourselves also have been found to be sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? Far from it!

Answer me this one question. "When you received the Spirit, was it from doing what the Law commands or from believing the message heard?"

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us (for it is written, Cursed is every one who is hanged upon a tree),

Let me illustrate, brothers, from every-day life. When once a human testament is made, and formally ratified, no one sets it aside or adds to it.

For if the inheritance comes from law, it no longer comes from a promise; but God did give it as a free gift to Abraham by a promise.

Is the Law then opposed to the promises of God? Certainly not; for if a law had been given which could make alive, then righteousness would actually have come from law;

What I mean is this. As long as the heir is a child, he differs in no respect from a slave, though he be the owner of the whole inheritance;

to redeem from captivity those under law, in order that we might receive our sonship.

Now all this is an allegory, for these women are the two covenants; one from Mount Sinai, which is Hagar bearing children into bondage

stand firm then, and do not be again entangled in a yoke of bondage.

If you are being justified by law, you are cut off from Christ; you are fallen away from grace.

You were running your race nobly. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?

The influence brought to bear does not come from him who is calling you.

From this time forth let no one trouble me, for I bear branded in my body the marks of Jesus, my Master.

grace to you and peace from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

For this reason I also, from the time when I heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which prevails among you, and your love to all the saints,

which he exercised in raising Christ from the dead, and in seating him at his right hand in the heavenly heights,

together with him He raised us from the dead, and together with Christ Jesus seated us in the heavenly realm,

were once upon a time without Christ, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of the Promise, without hope and without God in the world.

namely, that in Christ Jesus the Gentiles form one body with us the Jews, and are coheirs and copartners in the promise, through the gospel.

and should make all men see the new dispensation of that secret purpose, hidden from eternity in the God who founded the universe,

from whom every fatherhood in heaven and earth is named,

From him the whole body (knit together and compacted by all its joints) makes continual growth of the body so as to build itself up in love, through the energy of his bounteous provision, according to the need of each several part.

having their understanding darkened, alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their hearts.

These being past feeling have given themselves over to sensuality, in order to practise every form of impurity with greedy zest.

From your lips let no evil words come forth, but such as occasion warrants, such as are good for upbuilding and give a blessing to the hearers.

Banish from among you all bitterness and passion and anger and clamor and slander, as well as all malice;

For this reason it is said, "Awake, thou sleeper! Arise from the dead; And Christ shall shine upon thee!"

slaving with good-will from your heart, as for the Lord and not for men;

because you know that whatever good any man does, the same shall he receive from the Lord, whether he be slave or free man.

Stand firm then, girt about with the belt of truth, and wearing the breastplate of righteousness,

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

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

from the first day you heard it until now.

Some indeed are preaching Christ out of envy and contentiousness, but others from good-will.

Only do lead lives worthy of the gospel of Christ; so that whether I come to see you or hear reports concerning you in my absence, I may know that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one soul, enlisted in a common struggle for the faith of the gospel,

who, though from the beginning he had the nature of God, did not reckon equality with God something to be forcibly retained,

but emptied himself of his glory by taking the form of a slave, when he was born in the likeness of men.

More than this, after he had shone himself in human form, he humbled himself in his obedience even to death; yes, and to death on a cross.

circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew sprung from the Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee;

and be found in him; not having my own righteousness of the Law, but that alone which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which comes from God, founded upon faith.

if by any means I might attain to the resurrection from the dead!

But commonwealth is in heaven; and it is from heaven also that we are anxiously awaiting a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ,

to the holy and believing brothers in Christ who are in Colosse. Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father.

And just as it is spreading through the whole world, bearing fruit and increasing, so also is it among you, from the day in which you heard it, and came truly to know the grace of God,

as you learned it from Epaphras, our dearly loved fellow slave. He is a faithful minister of Jesus Christ in your behalf,

For this reason from the day I heard of it I have never ceased to pray for you, asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will with every kind of wisdom and spiritual insight;

He is the head of his Body, the Church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, in order that in all things he may become preeminent.

And this he will do if, indeed, you continue in the faith, firmly founded and stedfast, and never moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, and which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, that gospel of which I, Paul, was made a minister.

that secret truth, which, although hidden from ages and generations of old, has now been made manifest to his saints.

For though I am absent from you in body, I am with you in spirit, happy to note your discipline and the solid front of your faith in Christ.

when you were buried with him in baptism. In baptism also you were raised with him, through your faith in the energy of that God who raised him from the dead.

instead of keeping connection with the Head from the whole body draws nourishment for all its needs by the joints which bind it; and is knit together, and grows with a divine growth.

You know that from the Lord you will receive reward of the inheritance, for you are the Lord Christ's slaves.

Epaphras, one of yourselves, salutes you, a slave of Christ who is always agonizing for you in his prayers, that you may stand firm, mature, and fully assured in all the will of God.

And when this letter has been read to you, see that it is read also in the church of Laodiceans, and that you also read the letter from Laodicea.

For the word of the Lord has been sounded forth from you, and its sound has been heard not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place where the tidings of your faith toward God have been spread abroad, so that I have no need to speak of it.

For others, of their own accord, tell about the welcome I had from you, and how you turned to God from your idols, to be slaved of a true and living God,

and to await for the coming of his Son from the heavens, the Son whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, our Deliverer from the wrath to come.

Now was I seeking glory from men, either yourselves or others, although I might have exercised authority as Christ's apostle.

For this reason also I am giving continual thanks to God, because when you heard from me the spoken word of God, you received it not as the word of men, but as the word of God (which in truth it is), who himself is effectually at work in you believe.

For you, brothers, began to follow the example of the churches of God in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus; and you in your turn suffered at the hands of your fellow citizens persecutions like to those which they endured from the Jews??15 The men who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out??hey are displeasing to God, and are the enemies of all mankind.

But I, my brothers, although torn from you for a short season (in presence, not in heart), made eager efforts to behold you face to face with strong longing.

But now that Timothy has returned from you to me, and has brought good news of your faith and love, and that you are still holding me in affectionate remembrance, always longing to see me as I also am longing to see you.

For now I am really living, if you are standing firm in the Lord.

For this is God's will, even your sanctification; that you should abstain from sexual vice.

So that your conduct may be seemly toward those that are without, and that you may not need help from any man.

For the Lord himself with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God will descend from heaven. Then the dead in Christ will rise first.

Hold aloof from every form of evil.

Grace to you, and peace from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

and give to you, who are now troubled, rest, along with me at the unveiling "apocalypse" of the Lord Jesus from heaven, with his mighty angels,

They shall suffer punishment, even an eternal destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the brightness of his glorious majesty,

not to be "quickly shaken out of your wits" and not to be agitated either by a spirit or by a message, or by an epistle purporting to be from me, saying, "The Day of the Lord is at hand."

But for you, brothers, whom the Lord loves, I ought to give thanks to God continually, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation in consecration of the Spirit and belief of the truth.