Thematic Bible


Thematic Bible



But how can people call upon One in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in One about whom they have not heard? And how can people hear without someone to preach to them? Verse ConceptsNot Believing The GospelDoubting GodUnhearingpreachingCall To Action



And the Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called 'The Straight Street,' and ask at the house of Judas for one named Saul, from Tarsus, for he is now praying there. He has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, to restore his sight." But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard many people tell of this man, especially the great sufferings he has brought on your people in Jerusalem. read more.
Now he is here and has authority from the high priests to put in chains all who call upon your name." But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name to the heathen and their kings, and to the descendants of Israel.

While in this business I once was on my way to Damascus with authority based on a commission from the high priests, and on the road at noon, your Majesty, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, flash around me and my fellow-travelers. We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice say to me in Hebrew, 'Saul! Saul! Why do you continue to persecute me? It is hurting you to keep on kicking against the goad.' read more.
'Who are you, Sir?' said I. 'I am Jesus,' the Lord said, 'whom you are persecuting. But get up and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for the very purpose of appointing you my servant and a witness to me of the things which you have seen and those which I shall yet enable you to see. I will continue to rescue you from the Jewish people and from the heathen to whom I am going to send you, to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from Satan's power to God, so as to have their sins forgiven and have a possession among those that are consecrated by faith in me.'

Yes, I now am speaking to you who are a part of the heathen peoples. As I am an apostle to the heathen peoples, I am making the most of my ministry to them, to see Verse ConceptsGentiles, In NtMission, Of The ChurchPreaching Gospel To ForeignersGentilesMinistry

You have heard, indeed, of my former conduct as an adherent of the Jewish religion, how I kept on furiously persecuting the church of God, and tried to destroy it, and how I outstripped many of my own age among my people in my devotion to the Jewish religion, because I surpassed all others in my zeal for the traditions handed down by my forefathers. But when God, who had already set me apart from my birth, and had called me by His unmerited favor, read more.
chose to unveil His Son in me, so that I might preach the good news about Him among the heathen, at once, before I conferred with any human creatures,

This is why I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of the heathen -- that is, if you have heard how God's favor has been entrusted to me for you, and how by revelation the secret was made known to me, as I have briefly written before. read more.
By reading this you will be able to understand my insight into the secret about the Christ -- 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 -- that the heathen through union with Christ Jesus are fellow-heirs with the Jews, are members with them of the same body, and sharers with them of the promise through the good news, for which I was called to serve in accordance with the gift of God's unmerited favor which was bestowed on me by the exercise of His power-- yes, on me, the very least of all His people, this unmerited favor was bestowed -- that I might preach as good news to the heathen the boundless riches of Christ,




"I am the real vine, and my Father is the cultivator. He cuts away any branch on me that stops bearing fruit, and He repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it bear more. You are already pruned because of the teaching that I have given you. read more.
You must remain in union with me and I will remain in union with you. Just as no branch by itself can bear fruit unless it remains united to the vine, so you cannot unless you remain in union with me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in union with me and I in union with him will bear abundant fruit, because you cannot do anything cut off from union with me. If anyone does not remain in union with me, he is thrown away as a mere branch and is dried up; then it is picked up and thrown into the fire and burned up. If you remain in union with me and my words remain in you, you may ask whatever you please and you shall have it. By your continuously bearing abundant fruit and in this way proving yourselves to be real disciples of mine, my Father is glorified. I have loved you just as the Father has loved me. You must remain in my love. If you continue to keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in His love. "I have told you these things, that the joy which I have had may remain in you and that your joy may be complete. This is my command to you, to keep on loving one another as I have loved you. No one can show greater love than this, the giving of his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you keep on doing what I command you to do. I no longer call you slaves, because the slave does not know what his master is doing; I now call you friends, because I have told you everything that I have learned from my Father. You have not chosen me; I have chosen you, and appointed you to go and bear fruit, that your fruit may remain too, so that the Father may grant you, as bearers of my name, whatever you ask Him for.




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 -- Verse ConceptsApostles, Basis Of AuthorityPaul As An ApostleGod, Unity OfGod Raising ChristThe FatherMan's Relation To GodLeadership Qualitiesmanhoodvocation

But when God, who had already set me apart from my birth, and had called me by His unmerited favor, chose to unveil His Son in me, so that I might preach the good news about Him among the heathen, at once, before I conferred with any human creatures,



Paul, by God's will an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Timothy, Verse ConceptsApostles, Basis Of AuthorityLettersWhat God's Will Is


Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, in accordance with the promise of the life that comes through union with Christ Jesus, Verse Conceptseternal life, gift ofApostles, Basis Of AuthorityLettersSonsLife Is In ChristWhat God's Will IsLife Purpose


Paul, a slave of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to stimulate faith in God's chosen people and to lead them on to a full knowledge of religious truth, Verse ConceptsApostles, Function In Early ChurchFaith, Nature OfChristiansLettersPaul, Apostle To GentilesNames And Titles For The ChristianMaintaining FaithKnowing God's TruthThe Truth Of The Gospel

Show 6 more verses
For I belong to the lowest rank of the apostles, and am not fit to bear the title apostle, because I once persecuted the church of God. Verse ConceptsGuilt, Human Aspects OfPainful MemoriesSelf AbasementUnworthinessInferiorityThe Church UniversalChurch Of GodPersecutionGoing To Churchimportance

but at the proper time made known as His message through the message that I preach with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Saviour; Verse ConceptsCommands, in NTPreaching, Importance OfStewardshipA Time Of SalvationEntrustingGod's Things RevealedGod's OrdersTrinityWork EthicSeasons Changingspringtime


and he said, 'The God of our forefathers has appointed you to learn His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear Him speak, because you are to be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. And now, why are you waiting? Get up and be baptized and wash your sins away by calling on His name.' read more.
After I had come back to Jerusalem, one day while I was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance, and saw Him saying to me, 'Make haste and at once get out of Jerusalem, because they will not accept your testimony about me.' So I said, 'Lord, they know for themselves that from one synagogue to another I used to imprison and flog those who believed in you, and when the blood of your martyr Stephen was being shed, I stood by and approved it, and held the clothes of those who killed him.' Then He said to me, 'Go, because I am to send you out and far away among the heathen.'"

But get up and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for the very purpose of appointing you my servant and a witness to me of the things which you have seen and those which I shall yet enable you to see. I will continue to rescue you from the Jewish people and from the heathen to whom I am going to send you, to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from Satan's power to God, so as to have their sins forgiven and have a possession among those that are consecrated by faith in me.'

Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the product of my work for the Lord? If I am not an apostle to other people, I certainly am one to you, for you yourselves, by virtue of your union with the Lord, are the proof of my apostleship.

But how can people call upon One in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in One about whom they have not heard? And how can people hear without someone to preach to them? Verse ConceptsNot Believing The GospelDoubting GodUnhearingpreachingCall To Action



I am telling the truth as a Christian man. I am telling no lie, because my conscience enlightened by the Holy Spirit is bearing me witness to this fact, Verse ConceptsClear ConsciencesKnowledge Of Good And EvilThe Witness Of The SpiritNot LyingTelling The TruthconsciencelieingClear Conscience Before God