Thematic Bible


Thematic Bible





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,




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,





Only, everybody must continue to live in the station which the Lord assigned to him, in that in which God called him. These are my orders in all the churches. Has a man been called after he was circumcised? He must not try to change it. Has a man been called without being circumcised? He must not be circumcised. Being circumcised or not being circumcised has no value, but keeping God's commands is important. read more.
Everybody must remain in the station in which he was called. Were you called while a slave? Stop letting that annoy you. Yet, if you can win your freedom, take advantage of such an opportunity.

May God Himself, who gave you peace, consecrate your whole being. May you be safely kept, spirit, soul, and body, so as to be blameless when our Lord Jesus Christ comes back. He who calls you is trustworthy and He will do this.

Simon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who through the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ have obtained the same precious faith that we have: spiritual blessing and peace be to you in increasing abundance through a full knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; because His divine power has given us everything that is needful for life and piety, through our full knowledge of Him who through His glory and excellence has called us to Him.

Then, fourteen years later, I again went up to Jerusalem, with Barnabas, and took Titus with me too. I went up under the guidance of a divine revelation. Now I laid before them the good news that I was in the habit of preaching among the heathen, but first I did so privately before the leaders, for fear that my course might be or might have been to no purpose. But they did not even try to compel my companion, Titus, although he was a Greek, to be circumcised -- read more.
they did not try it even for the sake of the false brothers who had been smuggled in, who stole in to spy out the freedom we enjoy in Christ Jesus, so as to make us slaves again. But we did not for a moment yield them submission, in order that the truth of the good news might prevail for you. Those who were looked upon as leaders -- what they were makes no difference to me -- God pays no attention to outward appearances these leaders added nothing new to me. On the contrary, because they saw that I had been entrusted with the good news for the heathen, just as Peter had been entrusted with it for the Jews -- for He who had been at work in Peter for his apostleship to the Jews had been at work in me too for the apostleship to the heathen -- and because they recognized the favor God had shown me, James, Cephas, and John, the so-called pillar apostles, gave Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, with the understanding that we should go to the heathen and they to the Jews.

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, and before I went up to Jerusalem to see those who had been apostles before me, I retired to Arabia, and afterwards returned to Damascus. read more.
Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas, but I spent only two weeks with him; and not another single one of the apostles did I see, except James, the Lord's brother. In writing you this, I swear before God, I am telling you the solemn truth. After that I went into the districts of Syria and Cilicia. But I was personally unknown to the Christian churches in Judea; only they kept hearing people say, "Our former persecutor is now preaching as good news the faith which once he tried to destroy," and they kept on praising God for me.



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,



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.

While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul, for the work to which I have called them." So after fasting and praying, they laid their hands upon them and let them go.


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, and before I went up to Jerusalem to see those who had been apostles before me, I retired to Arabia, and afterwards returned to Damascus. read more.
Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas, but I spent only two weeks with him; and not another single one of the apostles did I see, except James, the Lord's brother. In writing you this, I swear before God, I am telling you the solemn truth. After that I went into the districts of Syria and Cilicia. But I was personally unknown to the Christian churches in Judea; only they kept hearing people say, "Our former persecutor is now preaching as good news the faith which once he tried to destroy," and they kept on praising God for 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

For here are the orders that the Lord has given us: 'I have made you a light to the heathen, To be the means of salvation to the very ends of the earth.'" The heathen kept on listening and rejoicing and giving the glory to God's message, and all who had been destined to eternal life believed,

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, read more.
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.'"