Thematic Bible




Thematic Bible








I might rather ask 'Who are you who are arguing with God?' Does a thing which a man has molded say to him who has molded it 'Why did you make me like this?' Has not the potter absolute power over his clay, so that out of the same lump he makes one thing for better, and another for common, use? And what if God, intending to reveal his displeasure and make his power known, bore most patiently with the objects of his displeasure, though they were fit only to be destroyed, read more.
So as to make known his surpassing glory in dealing with the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared beforehand for glory, And whom he called-even us-Not only from among the Jews but from among the Gentiles also! This, indeed, is what he says in the Book of Hosea-'I will call those my People who were not my People, and her my beloved who was not beloved. And in the very place where it was said to them-"Ye are not my People", they shall be called Sons of the Living God.'

For as I was going about, looking at your sacred shrines, I came upon an altar with this inscription--'To an Unknown God.' What, therefore, you worship in ignorance, that I am now proclaiming to you. The God who made the world and all things that are in it-- he, Lord as he is of Heaven and Earth, does not dwell in temples made by hands, Nor yet do human hands minister to his wants, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives, to all, life, and breath, and all things. read more.
He made all races of the earth's surface--fixing a time for their rise and fall, and the limits of their settlements-- That they might search for God, if by any means they might feel their way to him and find him. And yet he is not really far from any one of us; For in him we live and move and are. To use the words of some of your own poets--'His offspring, too, are we.' Therefore, as the offspring of God, we must not think that the Deity has any resemblance to anything made of gold, or silver, or stone--a work of human art and imagination.

All who are guided by the Spirit of God are Sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of a slave, to fill you once more with fear, but the spirit of a son which leads us to cry 'Abba, Our Father.' The Spirit himself unites with our spirits in bearing witness to our being God's children, read more.
And if children, then heirs-heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ, since we share Christ's sufferings in order that we may also share his Glory.

Do not enter into inconsistent relations with those who reject the Faith. For what partnership can there be between righteousness and lawlessness? or what has light to do with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and Belial? or what can those who accept the Faith have in common with those who reject it? What agreement can thee be between a temple of God and idols? And we are a temple of the Living God. That is what God meant when he said--'I will dwell among them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. read more.
Therefore "Come out from among the nations, and separate yourselves from them," says the Lord, "and touch nothing impure; And I will welcome you; And I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters," says the Lord, the Ruler of all.'

In all that you do, avoid murmuring and dissension, So as to prove yourselves blameless and innocent-- 'faultless children of God, in the midst of an evil-disposed and perverse generation,' in which you are seen shining like stars in a dark world,

Think what love the Father has shown us in allowing us to be called 'Children of God'; as indeed we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it has not learned to know him. Dear friends, we are God's Children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is that, when it is revealed, we shall be like Christ; because we shall see him as he is.