How he was taken up into Paradise, and words came to his ears which may not be said, and which man is not able to say.

I have been forced by you to become foolish, though it was right for my praise to have come from you: for in no way was I less than the chief of the Apostles, though I am nothing.

Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.

I urged Titus to come, and I sent the brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Didn’t we walk in the same spirit and in the same footsteps?

Are you thinking all this time that I am defending myself to you? It is in the very presence of God and as one who is in union with Christ that I am speaking. And it is all for building you up, beloved, for I am apprehensive that, somehow or other, when I come I shall find you not as I want to find you, and that you may find me not as you want to find me.

For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:

And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed.

This third time do I come unto you; on the mouth of two witnesses or three shall every saying be established;

I told you before, and foretell you, as if I were present, the second time; and being absent now I write to them which heretofore have sinned, and to all other, that, if I come again, I will not spare:

And verily, though it came of weakness that he was crucified, yet liveth he through the power of God: and we no doubt are weak in him; but we shall live with him, by the might of God among you.

I hope, however, that ye shall come to know, that, we, fail not in the testing!

and I pray to God that you may not go wrong ??not to prove I am a success, that is not the point, but that you should come right, even if I seemed to be a failure.

For this reason I am writing these things while absent from you, so that when I come, I will not need to deal severely [with you], in my use of the authority which the Lord has given me [to be used] for building you up and not for tearing you down.

Paul, an Apostle (not from men, and not through man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who made him come back from the dead),

who gave himself for our sins, so that he might rescue us, according to the will of our God and Father, out of the evil age that has come,

I am surprised that you are being so quickly turned away from him whose word came to you in the grace of Christ, to good news of a different sort;

For neither did I receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through revelation of Jesus Christ.

For news has come to you of my way of life in the past in the Jews' religion, how I was cruel without measure to the church of God, and did great damage to it:

Nor did I [even] go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia and stayed awhile, and afterward returned once more to Damascus.

Then after three years I came up to Jerusalem to examine Peter, and remained with him fifteen days.

Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia;

Only it came to their ears that he who at one time was cruel to us is now preaching the faith which before had been attacked by him;

And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:

But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.

For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.

yet we know that no one is justified by the works of the law but by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by the faithfulness of Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.

Now if, in our efforts to come into right standing with God through union with Christ, we have proved ourselves to be sinners like the heathen themselves, does that make Christ a party to our sin? Of course not.

I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

Give me an answer to this one question, Did the Spirit come to you through the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Now this I say: A covenant confirmed beforehand by God, the law, which came four hundred and thirty years after, doth not disannul, so as to make the promise of none effect.

For if the inheritance [of never ending life] can be obtained by [obeying the requirements of] the law of Moses, it would not come from the promise [of God]; but God provided [this inheritance] for Abraham according to [His] promise.

Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.

Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a system of law had been given which could impart life, then righteousness (right standing with God) would actually have been based on law.

But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.

with the result that the Law has become our tutor and our disciplinarian to guide us to Christ, so that we may be justified [that is, declared free of the guilt of sin and its penalty, and placed in right standing with God] by faith.

But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

But at that time, when you did not know [the true] God and were unacquainted with Him, you [Gentiles] were slaves to those [pagan] things which by [their very] nature were not and could not be gods at all.

but now that ye have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how turn ye back again to the weak and beggarly rudiments, whereunto ye desire to be in bondage over again?

Believers, I beg of you, become as I am [free from the bondage of Jewish ritualism and ordinances], for I have become as you are [a Gentile]. You did me no wrong [when I first came to you; do not do it now].

But you are aware [I am sure] that when I first came preaching the Gospel [message] to you, I had a physical handicap.

*We* have not, for through the Spirit we wait with longing hope for an acceptance with God which is to come through faith.

This persuasion came not of him that calleth you.

I have confidence in you in the Lord that you will adopt no other view [contrary to mine on the matter]; but the one who is disturbing you, whoever he is, will have to bear the penalty.

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 I say, Go on in the Spirit, and you will not come under the rule of the evil desires of the flesh.

Let us not be weary of well doing. For when the time is come we shall reap without weariness.

But far be it from me to have glory in anything, but only in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which this world has come to an end on the cross for me, and I for it.

The ordering of the times when they are complete, so that all things might come to a head in Christ, the things in heaven and the things on the earth; in him, I say,

who is the first installment of our inheritance, so that we may finally come into full possession of the prize of redemption, and praise His glory for it.

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may grant you the Spirit to give wisdom and revelation which come through a growing knowledge of Him,

By which he made Christ come back from the dead, and gave him a place at his right hand in heaven,

Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

So that we came back from death with him, and are seated with him in the heavens, in Christ Jesus;

That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

For it is by grace [God’s remarkable compassion and favor drawing you to Christ] that you have been saved [actually delivered from judgment and given eternal life] through faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [not through your own effort], but it is the [undeserved, gracious] gift of God;

And that the two might come into agreement with God in one body through the cross, so putting an end to that division.

And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.

Because through him the two of us are able to come near in one Spirit to the Father.

If that ordering of the grace of God has come to your knowledge, which was given to me for you,

By whom we come near to God without fear through faith in him.

and [that you may come] to know [practically, through personal experience] the love of Christ which far surpasses [mere] knowledge [without experience], that you may be filled up [throughout your being] to all the fullness of God [so that you may have the richest experience of God’s presence in your lives, completely filled and flooded with God Himself].

in order to equip the saints for the work of serving, for the building up of the Body of Christ??13 till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to the maturity of manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.

Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

But saying true words in love, may come to full growth in him, who is the head, even Christ;

However, that is not the way you came to know the Messiah.

with that new and better self which has been created to resemble God in the righteousness and holiness which come from the truth.

Do not let unwholesome [foul, profane, worthless, vulgar] words ever come out of your mouth, but only such speech as is good for building up others, according to the need and the occasion, so that it will be a blessing to those who hear [you speak].

Take no part in deeds of Darkness, from which no good can come; on the contrary, expose them.

For this reason he says, Be awake, you who are sleeping, and come up from among the dead, and Christ will be your light.

That it may come to be, well with thee, and thou shalt be long-lived upon the land.

Pray also for me, so that, when I begin to speak, the right words will come to me. Then I will boldly make known the secret of the gospel,

I thank my God, I say, for your cooperation in spreading the Good News, from the time it first came to you even until now.

filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God [so that His glory may be both revealed and recognized].

And I wish you to know, brethren, that the things concerning me, rather to an advancement of the good news have come,

so that, because of me, your confidence may grow in Christ Jesus when I come to you again.

Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;

Instead He emptied Himself
by assuming the form of a slave,
taking on the likeness of men.
And when He had come as a man
in His external form,

But I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly.

However, I thought it necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, [who has been] my brother and companion and fellow soldier, who was also sent as your messenger to take care of my needs.

because for the work of Christ he came nigh unto death, hazarding his life to supply that which was lacking in your service toward me.

But whatever former things were gains to me [as I thought then], these things [once regarded as advancements in merit] I have come to consider as loss [absolutely worthless] for the sake of Christ [and the purpose which He has given my life].

And this, so that I may know Him [experientially, becoming more thoroughly acquainted with Him, understanding the remarkable wonders of His Person more completely] and [in that same way experience] the power of His resurrection [which overflows and is active in believers], and [that I may share] the fellowship of His sufferings, by being continually conformed [inwardly into His likeness even] to His death [dying as He did];

Not as if I had even now got the reward or been made complete: but I go on in the hope that I may come to the knowledge of that for which I was made the servant of Christ Jesus.

Brothers, it is clear to me that I have not come to that knowledge; but one thing I do, letting go those things which are past, and stretching out to the things which are before,

Then let us all, who have come to full growth, be of this mind: and if in anything you are of a different mind, even this will God make clear to you:

but to what we have come -- by the same rule walk, the same thing think;

For our country is in heaven; from where the Saviour for whom we are waiting will come, even the Lord Jesus Christ:

The things which came to you by my teaching and preaching, and which you saw in me, these things do, and the God of peace will be with you.

But I am very glad in the Lord that your care for me has come to life again; though you did in fact take thought for me, but you were not able to give effect to it.

And know also ye, O Philippians, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I came out of Macedonia, no assembly communicated anything to me in the way of giving and receiving save ye alone;

But I have all things, and abound: I am filled, having received from Epaphroditus the things that came from you, and odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God.

because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Long ago you heard of this hope in the message which came to you of the truth of the gospel.

Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth:

and really came to know it, in the form in which Epaphras, my dear fellow-slave, taught it to you. He is my faithful representative as a servant of Christ,

He is also the head of the body, the church;
He is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead,
so that He might come to have
first place in everything.

If you keep yourselves safely based in the faith, not moved from the hope of the good news which came to you, and which was given to every living being under heaven; of which I, Paul, was made a servant.

[For my hope is] that their hearts may be encouraged as they are knit together in [unselfish] love, so that they may have all the riches that come from the full assurance of understanding [the joy of salvation], resulting in a true [and more intimate] knowledge of the mystery of God, that is, Christ,

Beware lest any man come and spoil you through philosophy and deceitful vanity, through the traditions of men, and ordinances after the world, and not after Christ.