Thematic Bible


Thematic Bible





But each one of us has been given mercy in Christ's generous measure. So it says, "When he went up on high, he led a host of captives, And gave gifts to mankind."


For just as there are many parts united in our human bodies, and the parts do not all have the same function, so, many as we are, we form one body through union with Christ, and we are individually parts of one another. We have gifts that differ with the favor that God has shown us, whether it is that of preaching, differing with the measure of our faith, read more.
or of practical service, differing in the field of service, or the teacher who exercises his gift in teaching, the speaker, in his exhortation, the giver of charity, with generosity, the office-holder, with devotion, the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

Do you not know that your bodies are parts of Christ's body? Am I then to take away from Christ parts of his body, and make them parts of a prostitute's? Never! Or do you not know that a man who has to do with a prostitute makes one body with her? For "The two," says the Scripture, "shall become physically one." But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.

Does not the consecrated cup which we bless mean that in drinking it we share in the blood of Christ? Does not the bread that we break mean that in eating it we share in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, many as we are, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.

For just as the body is one and yet has many parts, and all the parts of the body, many as they are, form one body, so it is with Christ. For we have all??ews or Greeks, slaves or free men??een baptized in one spirit to form one body, and we have all been saturated with one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one part but of many. read more.
If the foot says, "As I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body," that does not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear says, "As I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body," that does not make it any less a part of the body. If all the body were eye, how would we hear? If it were all ear, how could we have a sense of smell? As it is, God has arranged the parts, every one of them in the body as he wished them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I do not need you," or the head to the feet, "I do not need you." On the contrary, the parts of the body that are considered most delicate are indispensable, and the parts of it that we think common, we dress with especial care, and our unpresentable parts receive especial attention which our presentable parts do not need. God has so adjusted the body and given such especial distinction to its inferior parts that there is no clash in the body, but its parts all alike care for one another. If one part suffers, all the parts share its sufferings. If a part has honor done it, all the parts enjoy it too. Now you are Christ's body, and individually parts of it. And God has placed people in the church, first as apostles, second as inspired preachers, third as teachers, then wonder-workers; then come ability to cure the sick, helpfulness, administration, ecstatic speaking. Is everyone an apostle? Is everyone an inspired preacher? Is everyone a teacher? Is everyone a wonder-worker? Is everyone able to cure the sick? Can everyone speak ecstatically? Can everyone explain what it means? But you must cultivate the higher endowments.

and how surpassingly great his power is for us who believe; like the mighty strength he exerted in raising Christ from the dead, and seating him at his right hand in heaven, far above all hierarchies, authorities, powers, and dominions, and all titles that can be bestowed not only in this world but in the world to come. read more.
He has put everything under his feet and made him the indisputable head of the church, which is his body, filled by him who fills everything everywhere.

So I, the prisoner for the Lord's sake, appeal to you to live lives worthy of the summons you have received; with perfect humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another lovingly. Make every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit through the tie of peace. read more.
There is but one body and one Spirit, just as there is but one hope that belongs to the summons you received. There is but one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above us all, pervades us all, and is within us all. But each one of us has been given mercy in Christ's generous measure. So it says, "When he went up on high, he led a host of captives, And gave gifts to mankind." What does "he went up" mean, except that he had first gone down to the under parts of the earth? It is he who went down who has also gone up above all the heavens, to fill the universe. And he has given us some men as apostles, some as prophets, some as missionaries, some as pastors and teachers, in order to fit his people for the work of service, for building the body of Christ, until we all attain unity in faith, and in the knowledge of the Son of God, and reach mature manhood, and that full measure of development found in Christ. We must not be babies any longer, blown about and swung around by every wind of doctrine through the trickery of men with their ingenuity in inventing error. We must lovingly hold to the truth and grow up into perfect union with him who is the head??hrist himself. For it is under his control that the whole system, adjusted and united by each ligament of its equipment, develops in proportion to the functioning of each particular part, and so builds itself up through love.

You married women must subordinate yourselves to your husbands, as you do to the Lord, for a husband is the head of his wife, just as Christ is the head of the church, which is his body, and is saved by him. Just as the church is in subjection to Christ, so married women must be, in everything, to their husbands. read more.
You who are husbands must love your wives, just as Christ loves the church and gave himself for her, to consecrate her, after cleansing her with the bath in water through her confession of him, in order to bring the church to himself in all her beauty, without a flaw or a wrinkle or anything of the kind, but to be consecrated and faultless. That is the way husbands ought to love their wives??s if they were their own bodies; a man who loves his wife is really loving himself, for no one ever hates his own person, but he feeds it and takes care of it, just as Christ does with the church, for we are parts of his body. Therefore a man must leave his father and mother and attach himself to his wife, and they must become one. This is a great secret, but I understand it of Christ and the church. But each one of you must love his wife just as he loves himself, and the wife, too, must respect her husband.




But each one of us has been given mercy in Christ's generous measure. So it says, "When he went up on high, he led a host of captives, And gave gifts to mankind." What does "he went up" mean, except that he had first gone down to the under parts of the earth? read more.
It is he who went down who has also gone up above all the heavens, to fill the universe. And he has given us some men as apostles, some as prophets, some as missionaries, some as pastors and teachers, in order to fit his people for the work of service, for building the body of Christ,


But each one of us has been given mercy in Christ's generous measure. So it says, "When he went up on high, he led a host of captives, And gave gifts to mankind."





For it is by his mercy that you have been saved through faith. It is not by your own action, it is the gift of God. It has not been earned, so that no one can boast of it. For he has made us, creating us through our union with Christ Jesus for the life of goodness which God had predestined us to live.



But Peter said to him, "Go to destruction with your money, for thinking you could buy God's gift with it! Verse ConceptsBuying and sellingPeter, The ApostlePurchasingMoneyThe Holy Spirit Described As God's GiftBuying God's GiftGod Giving FreelyMoney Blessings

Still death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned as Adam had, in the face of an express command. So Adam foreshadowed the one who was to come. But there is no comparison between God's gift and that offense. For if one man's offense made the mass of mankind die, God's mercy and his gift given through the favor of the one man Jesus Christ have far more powerfully affected mankind. Nor is there any comparison between the gift and the effects of that one man's sin. That sentence arose from the act of one man, and was for condemnation; but God's gift arose out of many offenses and results in acquittal. read more.
For if that one man's offense made death reign through that one man, all the more will those who receive God's overflowing mercy and his gift of uprightness live and reign through the one individual Jesus Christ. So as one offense meant condemnation for all men, just so one righteous act means acquittal and life for all men.





For I am the least important of the apostles, and am not fit to be called an apostle, because I once persecuted God's church. But by God's favor I have become what I am, and the favor he showed me has not gone for nothing, but I have worked harder than any of them, although it was not really I but the favor God showed me.

for which I became a worker by virtue of the gift of God's mercy which by the exercise of his power he has given me. To me, the very least of all his people, this favor has been given, of preaching to the heathen the inexhaustible wealth of the Christ,

So I, the prisoner for the Lord's sake, appeal to you to live lives worthy of the summons you have received; with perfect humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another lovingly. Make every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit through the tie of peace. read more.
There is but one body and one Spirit, just as there is but one hope that belongs to the summons you received. There is but one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above us all, pervades us all, and is within us all. But each one of us has been given mercy in Christ's generous measure.





Jesus said to her, "You must not cling to me, for I have not yet gone up to my Father, but go to my brothers and say to them that I am going up to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." Verse ConceptsGod, Fatherhood OfClothingJesus Christ, Ascension OfNames And Titles For The ChristianBrotherhoodAdmirationClinging To PeopleJesus Returning To The FatherRelationship Of Father And SonYou Are Our GodChrist Our BrotherChristians Being Called Brothers

So the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was caught up into heaven and took his seat at God's right hand. Verse ConceptsGospel, Historical Foundation OfJesus Christ, Ascension OfExaltation Of ChristRight SidesGoing To Heaven

Then he opened their minds to the understanding of the Scriptures, and said to them, "The Scriptures said that Christ should suffer as he has done, and rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance leading to the forgiveness of sins should be preached to all the heathen in his name. read more.
You are to be witnesses to all this, beginning at Jerusalem. And I will send down upon you what my Father has promised. Wait here in the city until you are clothed with power from on high." And he led them out as far as Bethany. Then he lifted up his hands and blessed them. And as he was blessing them, he parted from them.

Yet no one has gone up into heaven except the Son of Man who came down from heaven. And just as Moses in the desert lifted the serpent up in the air, the Son of Man must be lifted up,

Before the Passover Festival began, Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father, but he had loved those who were his own in the world, and he loved them to the last. So at supper??he devil having by this time put the thought of betraying Jesus into the mind of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son??3 Jesus, fully aware that the Father had put everything into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God,

But each one of us has been given mercy in Christ's generous measure. So it says, "When he went up on high, he led a host of captives, And gave gifts to mankind." What does "he went up" mean, except that he had first gone down to the under parts of the earth? read more.
It is he who went down who has also gone up above all the heavens, to fill the universe.

Baptism, which corresponds to it, now saves you also (not as the mere removing of physical stain, but as the craving for a conscience right with God)??hrough the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone to heaven and is at God's right hand, with angels, hierarchies, and powers made subject to him.

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread that gives life. No one who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty. But as I have told you, although you have seen me, you will not believe. All that my Father gives to me will come to me, and I will never refuse anyone who comes to me, read more.
for I have come down from heaven not to do what I please but what pleases him who has sent me.

Yet no one has gone up into heaven except the Son of Man who came down from heaven. And just as Moses in the desert lifted the serpent up in the air, the Son of Man must be lifted up,

But each one of us has been given mercy in Christ's generous measure. So it says, "When he went up on high, he led a host of captives, And gave gifts to mankind." What does "he went up" mean, except that he had first gone down to the under parts of the earth? read more.
It is he who went down who has also gone up above all the heavens, to fill the universe.

Then he said to them again, "I am going away, and you will look for me, but you will die in the midst of your sin. You cannot come where I am going." So the Jews said, "Is he going to kill himself, and is that why he says, 'You cannot come where I am going'?" He said to them, "You are from below; I am from above. You belong to this world; I do not belong to this world.