Thematic Bible: Partaking


Thematic Bible



You must submit to it as discipline. God is dealing with you as his sons. For where is there a son whom his father does not discipline? But if you have none of that discipline which all sons undergo, you are illegitimate children, and not true sons. When our earthly fathers disciplined us we treated them with respect; should we not far more submit to the Father of our spirits, and so have life? read more.
For they disciplined us for a short time and as they thought proper, but he does it for our good, to make us share his holiness.

This is why I, Paul, whom Jesus the Christ has made a prisoner for the sake of you heathen??2 if at least you have heard how I dealt with the mercy of God that was given me for you, and how the secret was made known to me by revelation, as I have just briefly written. As you read that, you will be able to understand the insight I have into the secret of the Christ read more.
(which in past ages was not disclosed to mankind as fully as it has now been revealed through the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets) that through union with Christ Jesus the heathen are fellow-heirs with the Jews, belong to the same body and share the promise with them, through the good news

I ask then, has God repudiated his people? By no means. Why, I am an Israelite myself, I am descended from Abraham, and I belong to the tribe of Benjamin. God has not repudiated his people, which he had marked out from the first. Do you not know what the Scripture says in speaking of Elijah, how he appealed to God against Israel? "Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, I am the only one left and they are trying to take my life." read more.
But what is God's reply? "I have left myself seven thousand men who have never knelt to Baal!" So too at the present time there is a remnant selected by God's mercy. But if it is by his mercy, it is not for anything they have done. Otherwise, his mercy would not be mercy at all. What follows? Israel failed to get what it sought, but those whom God selected got it. The rest became callous; as the Scripture says, "God has thrown them into a state of spiritual insensibility, with eyes that cannot see and cars that cannot hear, that has lasted down to this day." And David said, "Let their feasting prove a snare and a trap to them, Their ruin and their retribution. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see; Make their backs bend forever under their burden!" I ask then, has their stumbling led to their absolute ruin? By no means. Through their false step salvation has gone to the heathen, so as to make the Israelites jealous. But if their false step has so enriched the world, and their defeat has so enriched the heathen, how much more good the addition of their full number will do! But it is to you who are of the heathen that I am speaking. So far then as I am an apostle to the heathen, I make the most of my ministry, in the hope of making my countrymen jealous, and thus saving some of them. For if their rejection has meant the reconciling of the world, what can the acceptance of them mean but life from the dead? If the first handful of dough is consecrated, the whole mass is, and if the root of a tree is consecrated, so are its branches. If some of the branches have been broken off, and you who were only a wild olive shoot have been grafted in, in place of them, and made to share the richness of the olive's root,

Therefore, my dear brothers, have nothing to do with the worship of idols. I appeal to your good sense. Make up your minds about what I say. 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? read more.
Because there is one loaf, we, many as we are, are one body, for we all share the one loaf. Think of the Israelites' practices. Do not those who eat what is sacrificed have divine fellowship at the sacrificial altar?

That is why, from the day I first heard of it, I have never given up praying for you and asking God to fill you, through full spiritual wisdom and insight, with a clear knowledge of what his will is, so that the lives you live may be worthy of your Master and wholly pleasing to him, and you may be fruitful in all kinds of good deeds, and may grow into fuller knowledge of God. Then, so mighty is his majesty, he will nerve you perfectly with strength for the cheerful exercise of endurance and forbearance in every situation, read more.
and you will thank the Father who has entitled you to share the lot of God's people in the realm of light. He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness, and has transferred us into the realm of his dear Son, by whom we have been ransomed from captivity through having our sins forgiven.

All who are under the yoke of slavery must treat their masters with the greatest respect, so that the name of God and our teaching may not be abused. Those who have Christian masters must not think lightly of them because they are brothers; they must serve them all the more faithfully, because those who benefit by it are believers and hence dear to them. These are the things you must teach and preach.

Dear friends, do not be surprised that a test of fire is being applied to you, as though a strange thing were happening to you, but be glad that you are in a measure sharing the sufferings of the Christ, so that when his glory is revealed you may be triumphantly happy. If you are being abused for the sake of Christ, you are blessed, because the glorious Spirit of God is resting upon you.

Simon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who through the uprightness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have been given a faith as privileged as ours; God bless you and give you perfect peace through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. For his divine power has given us every requisite for life and piety, through our coming to know him who through his glory and excellence called us to him. read more.
Thus he has given us his precious and splendid promises so that through them you may escape the corrupting influences that exist in the world through passion, and come to share in the divine nature.

For you may be sure that no one who is immoral, or greedy for gain (for that is idolatry) can have any share in the Kingdom of Christ and God. Whatever anyone may say in the way of worthless arguments to deceive you, these are the things that are bringing God's anger down upon the disobedient. Therefore have nothing to do with them.

Afterward I saw another angel come down from heaven. He possessed great authority and his splendor lighted up the earth. He cried out with a mighty voice, "She is fallen! Mighty Babylon is fallen! She has become the haunt of demons, and a dungeon for every foul spirit and every unclean and loathsome bird, for after drinking the wine of the passion of her immorality all the heathen have fallen; the kings of the earth have joined in her idolatry, and the traders of the earth have grown rich from her excessive luxury!" read more.
Then I heard another voice from heaven say, "Come out of her, my people, so that you may not share in her sins, and suffer from her plagues. For her sins are piled up to the sky, and God has remembered her crimes.

Anyone who goes too far and does not keep to the teaching of Christ has not God. It is the man who holds to the teaching who has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you without bringing this teaching, do not let him come into the house or bid him good morning. For anyone who bids him good morning shares in his wicked work.


What am I saying then? That there is any such thing as being offered to an idol, or any such thing as an idol? No, but that what the heathen sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot eat at the table of the Lord and at the table of demons.