Thematic Bible


Thematic Bible









On the contrary, friend, who are you anyway that you would answer back to God? Can the clay that is molded ask the man who molds it, "Why did you make me like this?" Has not the potter the right with his clay to make of the same lump one vessel for ornamental purposes, another for degrading service? And what if God, though wishing to display His anger and make known His power, yet, has most patiently borne with the objects of His anger, already ripe for destruction, read more.
so as to make known the riches of His glory for the objects of His mercy, whom He prepared in ages past to share His glory -- even us whom He has called, not only from among the Jews but from among the heathen too? Just as He says in Hosea: "I will call a people that was not mine, my people, and her who was not beloved, my beloved, And in the place where it was said, 'You are no people of mine,' they shall be called sons of the living God."

For as I was going here and there and looking at the things you worship, I even found an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' So it is about the Being whom you are in ignorance already worshiping that I am telling you. The God who made the world and all that it contains, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made by human hands, nor is He served by human hands as though He were in need of anything, for He Himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. read more.
From one forefather He made every nation of mankind, for living all over the face of the earth, fixing their appointed times and the limits of their lands, so that they might search for God, possibly they might grope for Him, and find Him, though He is really not far from any of us. For it is through union with Him that we live and move and exist, as some of your own poets have said, "'For we are His offspring too.' Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to suppose that His nature is like gold or silver or stone or anything carved by man's art and thought.

For all who are guided by God's Spirit are God's sons. For you do not have a sense of servitude to fill you with dread again, but the consciousness of adopted sons by which we cry, "Abba," that is, "Father." The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirits that we are God's children; read more.
and if children, then also heirs, heirs of God and fellow-heirs with Christ if in reality we share His sufferings, so that we may share His glory too.

Stop forming intimate and inconsistent relations with unbelievers. What partnership can right-doing have with law-breaking, or how can light participate with darkness? What harmony exists between Christ and Belial, or what is common between a believer and an unbeliever? And what agreement can a temple of God make with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said: "I will live in them and walk in them, and I will be their God and they will be my people." read more.
Therefore: "'Come out of company with them, and separate from them,' the Lord has said, 'And stop touching what is unclean; then I will welcome you, I will be a Father to you, and you will be sons and daughters of mine,' The Lord Almighty said."

Practice doing everything without grumbling and disputing, so that you may prove to be blameless and spotless, faultless children of God in a crooked and perverted age, in which you shine as light-bearers in the world as you continue

See what wonderful love the Father has bestowed on us in letting us be called God's children, and that is what we are! This is why the world does not know what we are, because it has never come to know Him. Dearly beloved, we are now God's children, but what we are going to be has not been unveiled. We know that if it is unveiled, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.

For all who are guided by God's Spirit are God's sons. For you do not have a sense of servitude to fill you with dread again, but the consciousness of adopted sons by which we cry, "Abba," that is, "Father." The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirits that we are God's children; read more.
and if children, then also heirs, heirs of God and fellow-heirs with Christ if in reality we share His sufferings, so that we may share His glory too.

Stop forming intimate and inconsistent relations with unbelievers. What partnership can right-doing have with law-breaking, or how can light participate with darkness? What harmony exists between Christ and Belial, or what is common between a believer and an unbeliever? And what agreement can a temple of God make with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said: "I will live in them and walk in them, and I will be their God and they will be my people." read more.
Therefore: "'Come out of company with them, and separate from them,' the Lord has said, 'And stop touching what is unclean; then I will welcome you, I will be a Father to you, and you will be sons and daughters of mine,' The Lord Almighty said."

While He was still speaking to the crowds, His mother and His brothers had taken their stand outside, trying hard to get to speak to Him. Omitted Text. But He answered the man who told Him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" read more.
And with a gesture toward His disciples He said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my mother and sister and brother."

Then His mother and His brothers came. They were standing outside and sent word to call Him. And a crowd was sitting around Him when they told Him, "Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you." He answered them, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" read more.
Then looking around at the people sitting about Him, He said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother."

His mother and His brothers came to see Him, but they could not get in touch with Him, on account of the crowd. So it was reported to Him, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside; they want to see you." Then He answered them, "My mother and my brothers are those who listen to God's message and practice it."

but we do see Jesus, who was made inferior to the angels for a little while, crowned with glory and honor because He suffered death, so that by God's favor He might experience death for every human being. For it was appropriate for Him, who is the Final Goal and the First Cause of the universe, in bringing many children to glory, to make the Leader in their salvation perfect through the process of sufferings. For both He who is purifying them and those who are being purified all spring from one Father; so He is not ashamed to call them brothers,


For all who are guided by God's Spirit are God's sons. For you do not have a sense of servitude to fill you with dread again, but the consciousness of adopted sons by which we cry, "Abba," that is, "Father." The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirits that we are God's children; read more.
and if children, then also heirs, heirs of God and fellow-heirs with Christ if in reality we share His sufferings, so that we may share His glory too.



And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, "Abba," that is, "Father." So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir by God's own act.








But if Christ lives in you, although your bodies must die because of sin, your spirits are now enjoying life because of right standing with God. If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead has His home within you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give your mortal bodies life through His Spirit that has His home within you. So, brothers, we are under obligations, but not to our lower nature to live by the standard set by it; read more.
for if you live by such a standard, you are going to die, but if by the Spirit you put a stop to the doings of your lower nature, you will live. For all who are guided by God's Spirit are God's sons.

You too were dead because of the shortcomings and sins in which you once lived in accordance with the spirit of this present world, and the mighty prince of the air, who is always at work in the disobedient, among whom all of us, we Jews as well as you heathen, once lived while gratifying the cravings of our lower nature, as we continued to carry out the impulses of our lower nature and its thoughts, and by nature we were exposed to God's wrath, as the rest of mankind. read more.
But God, who is so rich in mercy on account of the great love He has for us, has made us, though dead because of our shortcomings, live again in fellowship with Christ -- it is by His unmerited favor that you have been saved.

Then Peter opened his mouth and said, "Now I really see that God shows no partiality, but in every nation the man who reveres God and practices doing right is acceptable to Him.


But you, dearly beloved, must continue to build yourselves up on the groundwork of your most holy faith and to pray in the Holy Spirit; you must keep yourselves in the love of God and continue to wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, to bring you to eternal life.

Now for this very reason you must do your level best to supplement your faith with moral character, moral character with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with patient endurance, patient endurance with piety, piety with brotherly affection, brotherly affection with universal love. read more.
For if you have these qualities and they continue to increase in you, they will make you neither idle nor unproductive in attaining a full knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is blind -- or short-sighted-- and forgetful of the cleansing that he has received from his former sins.

"Teacher, what sort of command is greatest in the law?" And He answered him, "'You must love the Lord your God with your whole heart, your whole soul, and your whole mind.' This is the greatest command, and is first in importance. read more.
The second is like it: 'You must love your neighbor as you do yourself.' The essence of the whole law and the prophets is packed into these two commands."

So then there is no condemnation at all for those who are in union with Christ Jesus. For the life-giving power of the Spirit through union with Christ Jesus has set us free from the power of sin and death. For though the law could not do it, because it was made helpless through our lower nature, yet God, by sending His own Son in a body similar to that of our lower nature, and as a sacrifice for sin, passed sentence upon sin through His body, read more.
so that the requirement of the law might be fully met in us who do not live by the standard set by our lower nature, but by the standard set by the Spirit. For people who live by the standard set by their lower nature are usually thinking the things suggested by that nature, and people who live by the standard set by the Spirit are usually thinking the things suggested by the Spirit. For to be thinking the things suggested by the lower nature means death, but to be thinking the things suggested by the Spirit means life and peace. Because one's thinking the things suggested by the lower nature means enmity to God, for it does not subject itself to God's law, nor indeed can it. The people who live on the plane of the lower nature cannot please God. But you are not living on the plane of the lower nature, but on the spiritual plane, if the Spirit of God has His home within you. Unless a man has the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. But if Christ lives in you, although your bodies must die because of sin, your spirits are now enjoying life because of right standing with God. If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead has His home within you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give your mortal bodies life through His Spirit that has His home within you. So, brothers, we are under obligations, but not to our lower nature to live by the standard set by it; for if you live by such a standard, you are going to die, but if by the Spirit you put a stop to the doings of your lower nature, you will live. For all who are guided by God's Spirit are God's sons. For you do not have a sense of servitude to fill you with dread again, but the consciousness of adopted sons by which we cry, "Abba," that is, "Father." The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirits that we are God's children; and if children, then also heirs, heirs of God and fellow-heirs with Christ if in reality we share His sufferings, so that we may share His glory too. For I consider all that we suffer in this present life is nothing to be compared with the glory which by-and-by is to be uncovered for us.

Brothers, my heart's good will goes out for them, and my prayer to God is that they may be saved. For I can testify that they are zealous for God, but they are not intelligently so. For they were ignorant of God's way of right standing and were trying to set up one of their own, and so would not surrender to God's way of right standing. read more.
For Christ has put an end to law as a way to right standing for everyone who puts his trust in Him. For Moses says of the law-way to right standing with God that whoever can perform the law will live by it. But here is what the faith-way to right standing says, "Do not say to yourself, 'Who will go up to heaven?'" that is, to bring Christ down; or "'Who will go down into the depths?'" that is, to bring Christ up from the dead. But what does it say? "God's message is close to you, on your very lips and in your heart"; that is, the message about faith which we preach. For if with your lips you acknowledge the fact that Jesus is Lord, and in your hearts you believe that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For in their hearts people exercise the faith that leads to right standing, and with their lips they make the acknowledgment which means salvation. For the Scripture says, "No one who puts his faith in Him will ever be put to shame." But there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is over them all, because He is infinitely kind to all who call upon Him. For everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

But the product of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Jesus the Christ have crucified the lower nature with its passions and evil cravings. read more.
If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk where the Spirit leads.

Take care that none of you ever pays back evil for evil, but always keep looking for ways to show kindness to one another and everybody. Always be joyful. Never stop praying. read more.
Make it a habit to give thanks for everything, for this is God's will for you through Christ Jesus. Stop stifling the Spirit. Stop treating the messages of prophecy with contempt, but continue to prove all things until you can approve them, and then hold on to what is good. Continue to abstain from every sort of evil. 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.

But if you really observe the law of the King in accordance with the Scripture, "You must love your neighbor as you do yourself," you are doing right; but if you show partiality, you are committing sin, because you are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. For whoever obeys the whole law, except to slip in a single instance, is guilty of breaking it all. read more.
For He who said, "You must not commit adultery," also said, "You must not commit murder." Now if you do not commit adultery but you do commit murder, you are just the same a lawbreaker. You must continue talking and acting like people who are to be judged by the law that treats them as free. For merciless judgment will be the portion of the merciless man; yet mercy will triumph over judgment. My brothers, what good is there in a man's saying that he has faith, if he has no good deeds to prove it? Such faith cannot save him, can it? If some brother or sister is thinly clad and has no food for the day, and one of you says to him, "Blessings on you, keep warm, eat until you have aplenty," without giving him the things that are needed for the body, what good does it do? So faith by itself, if it has no deeds to back it up, is dead. But someone may say, "You have faith, and I have good deeds. Show me your faith without any good deeds, but I will show you mine by my good deeds." Do you believe in one God? Very well; the demons, too, believe that, and shudder. But, O senseless man, are you willing to learn that faith without good deeds is worthless? Was not our forefather Abraham shown to be upright by his good deeds, namely, by offering Isaac his son upon the altar? You see that faith cooperated with his good deeds, and by his good deeds faith was made complete; and so the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham put his faith in God, and it was credited to him for uprightness, and he was called God's friend." You see that a man is shown to be upright by his good deeds, and not merely by his faith. Was not even Rahab the prostitute shown to be upright by her good deeds, namely, by entertaining the scouts and sending them off by a different road? Just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without good deeds is dead.












For all who are guided by God's Spirit are God's sons. For you do not have a sense of servitude to fill you with dread again, but the consciousness of adopted sons by which we cry, "Abba," that is, "Father." The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirits that we are God's children; read more.
and if children, then also heirs, heirs of God and fellow-heirs with Christ if in reality we share His sufferings, so that we may share His glory too.

So then, since Christ has suffered in our physical form, you too must arm yourselves with the same determination. For whoever suffers in his physical form has done with sin, Verse ConceptsConformityChristlikenessSpiritual Warfare, ArmourThinking ArightThe Fact Of Christ's DeathMind BattlesAttitudeHuman Nature, OvercomingSuffering


For this reason I am bearing anything for the sake of His chosen people, so that they too may obtain the salvation that comes through Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory. This message is to be trusted: "If we indeed have died with Him, we will live with Him too. "If we patiently endure, we will reign with Him too. If we disown Him, He will disown us too.

"To the messenger of the church in Smyrna write: "'The First and the Last, who once was dead but came to life again, speaks as follows: "I know your pressing trouble and poverty, but still you are rich; I know how you are abused by those who claim to be Jews although they are not, but are only a synagogue of Satan. Do not be so afraid of what you are to suffer. See! The devil is going to throw some of you into prison to be tested there and for ten days to suffer pressing troubles. Each one of you must prove to be faithful, even if you have to die, and I will give you the crown of life.

Then I saw thrones and those who were seated on them, and permission was granted them to pass judgment, even those who had been beheaded for bearing testimony to Jesus and for preaching the word of God, who refused to worship the wild beast and his statue, and would not let his mark be stamped upon their foreheads and upon their hands. They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years had ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the man who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death will have no power, but they will be priests of God and Christ, and reign with Him the thousand years.

But for Christ's sake I have counted all that was gain to me as loss. Yes, indeed, I certainly do count everything as loss compared with the priceless privilege of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have lost everything, and value it all as mere refuse, in order to gain Christ and be actually in union with Him, not having a supposed right standing with God which depends on my doing what the law commands, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the real right standing with God which originates from Him and rests on faith. read more.
Yes, I long to come to know Him; that is, the power of His resurrection and so to share with Him his sufferings as to be continuously transformed by His death,

Because the eyes of the Lord are on upright men, and His ears listen to their pleading cries, but His face is against them that do wrong." And who is it that will harm you if you are enthusiastic to do right? Instead, you are happy, even if you should suffer for doing right. Never be afraid of their threats, and never be disturbed, read more.
but in your hearts be consecrated to Christ as Lord, and always be ready to make your defense to anyone who asks a reason for the hope you have. But you must do it in gentleness and reverence, and keep your conscience clear, so that those who bitterly abuse your excellent conduct as Christians may be ashamed of slandering you. For it is better, if the will of God should plan it so, to suffer for doing right than for doing wrong.