Thematic Bible: Christian


Thematic Bible





And Agrippa said to Paul, "In a short time you think to persuade me to become a Christian!"




And this they did, sending it to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.



And when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question.



But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. read more.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake.

And not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I have to the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. read more.
Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous or boastful, it is not arrogant or rude, it does not seek its own, it is not provoked, it keeps no record of wrongs, it does not rejoice in evil, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails; but where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge, and to knowledge, self-control, and to self-control, perseverance, and to perseverance, godliness, and to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, love. read more.
For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these things is blind and shortsighted, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.


Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brethren who are with them.


Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren, and they sent the following letter with them: "The apostles and the brethren who are elders, to the brethren in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia who are from the Gentiles, greetings. Since we have heard that some persons from us have disturbed you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, read more.
it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials: that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication. If you keep yourselves free from these, you will do well. Farewell." So when they were sent off, they went down to Antioch; and having gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter. And when they read it, they rejoiced at its encouragement. And Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, encouraged the brethren with many words and strengthened them.


Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he journeyed he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. read more.
And he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" And he said, "Who are you, Lord?" And he said, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do." The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul got up from the ground; and when his eyes were opened, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank. Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." And he said, "Here I am, Lord." And the Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying, and in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight." But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to your saints at Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name." But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name." So Ananias departed and entered the house. And after laying his hands on him said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight. And he got up and was baptized, and he took food and was strengthened. Now for several days he was with the disciples who were at Damascus. And immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "He is the Son of God." All those who heard him were amazed, and said, "Is this not he who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called on this name, and who had come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?" But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived at Damascus by proving that this Jesus is the Christ. When many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night, to kill him; but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket. When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. And he was with them moving about freely in Jerusalem, speaking out boldly in the name of the Lord. And he was talking and arguing with the Hellenistic Jews; but they were seeking to kill him. But when the brethren learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus. So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace and was built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase.



Now in the church that was at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.




He had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John.

But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.