77 Bible Verses about Paul, Apostle To Gentiles

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,

As he traveled on he finally approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He dropped to the ground; then he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" He asked, "Who are you, sir?" And He said, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.read more.
But get up and go into the city, and there it will be told you what you ought to do." His fellow-travelers stood speechless, for they heard the voice but could not see anyone. Then Saul got up off the ground, but he could not see anything, although his eyes were wide open. So they took him by the hand and led him into Damascus, and for three days he could not see, and he did not eat or drink anything. Now there was in Damascus a disciple named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias!" And he answered, "Yes, Lord, I am here." 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. 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. For I am going to show him how great are the sufferings he must endure for my name's sake." So Ananias left and went to that house, and there he laid his hands upon Saul, and said, "Saul, my. brother, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road on which you were coming here, has sent me that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." And all at once something like scales fell from his eyes, he regained his sight, got up and was baptized, and after taking some food he felt strong again. For several days he stayed with the disciples at Damascus,

But on my way, just before I reached Damascus, suddenly about noon a blaze of light from heaven flashed around me, and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, 'Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?' I answered, 'Who are you, Sir?' He said to me, 'I am Jesus of Nazareth whom you are persecuting.'read more.
The men who were with me saw the light, but they did not hear the voice of Him who was speaking to me. Then I asked, 'What am I to do, Lord?' And the Lord answered, 'Get up and go into Damascus, and there it will be told you what you are destined to do.' Since I could not see because of the dazzling sheen of that light, I was led by the hand by my companions and in this way I reached Damascus. There a man named Ananias, a man devout in strict accordance with the law, of good reputation among all the Jews who lived there, came to see me, and standing by my side said to me, 'Saul, my brother, recover your sight!' Then instantly I did recover it and looked at him, 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.'

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.'

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?

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.

Then He said to me, 'Go, because I am to send you out and far away among the heathen.'"

For I would venture to mention only what Christ has accomplished through me in bringing the heathen peoples to obedience, by word and by work, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Holy Spirit. So I have completed the telling of the good news of Christ all the way from Jerusalem around to Illyricum. In this matter it has ever been my ambition to tell the good news where Christ's name had never been mentioned, so as not to build upon foundations laid by other men,read more.
but, as the Scripture says: "They will see who were never told of Him, and they will understand who have not heard."

But I shall never go too far in my boasting; no, I shall stay within the limits of the sphere which God apportioned me, so as to reach even you. For I am not overstepping my authority as though I should not reach you, for I was the very first to reach as far as you with the good news of Christ. I am not going too far in my boasting, and actually boasting of other men's labors, but I am cherishing the hope that your faith may so continue to grow that through you my work within my sphere may be so enlarged as to run over,read more.
so that I can preach the good news in the regions beyond you, without boasting in another man's sphere of work already done by him.

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, and to make clear how is to be carried out the trusteeship of this secret which has for ages been hidden away in God, the Creator of all things,

For if I do preach the good news, I have no ground for boasting of it, for I cannot help doing it. Yes, indeed, I am accursed if I do not preach the good news.

To Greeks and to all the other nations, to cultured and to uncultured people alike, I owe a duty. So, as far as I can, I am eager to preach the good news to you at Rome, too.

So, since I know what the fear of God can do, I am trying to win men. My inner self is perfectly known to God, and I hope, to your consciences too. I am not trying to recommend myself to you again. I am giving you ground for speaking well of me, that you may have something to say to those who are constantly prating about external privileges and not concerned about the state of the heart. For if I did go crazy, it was for God's glory; and if I am keeping my head cool, it is for your good.read more.
For the love of Christ continuously constrains me, because I am convinced that as One died for all, all have died,

We never sought praise from men, either from you or from anyone else; although as apostles we could have stood on our official dignity. Instead we were little children among you; we were like a mother nursing her children. Because we were yearning for you so tenderly, we were willing, not only to share with you God's good news, but to lay down our very lives too for you, all because you were so dearly loved by us.read more.
You remember, brothers, our hard labor and toil. We kept up our habit of working night and day, in order not to be a burden to any of you when we preached to you.

My vindication of myself to those who are investigating me is this: It cannot be that we have no right to our food and drink, can it? It cannot be that we have no right to take a Christian wife about with us, can it, as well as the rest of the apostles and the Lord's brothers, and Cephas?read more.
Or is it Barnabas and I alone who have no right to refrain from working for a living? What soldier ever goes to war at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat any of its grapes? Who shepherds a flock and does not drink any of the milk the flock produces? I am not saying this only by way of human illustrations, am I? Does not the law say so too? For in the law of Moses it is written, "You must not muzzle an ox that is treading out your grain." Is it that God is concerned about oxen only? Is He not really speaking on our behalf? Yes, indeed, this law was written on our behalf, because the plowman ought to plow and the thresher ought to thresh, in the hope of sharing in the crop. If we have sown the spiritual seed for you, is it too great for us to reap a material support from you? If others share this right with you, have we not a stronger claim? Yet, we have never used this right; no, we keep on bearing everything, to keep from hindering the progress of the good news of Christ. Do you not know that those who do the work about the temple get their living from the temple, and those who constantly attend on the altar share its offerings? Just so the Lord has issued orders that those who preach the good news shall get their living out of it. But I myself have never used any of these rights. And I am not writing this just to make it so in my case, for I had rather die than do that. No one shall rob me of this ground of boasting. For if I do preach the good news, I have no ground for boasting of it, for I cannot help doing it. Yes, indeed, I am accursed if I do not preach the good news. For if I do it of my own accord, I get my pay; but if I am unwilling to do it, I still am entrusted with trusteeship. Then what is the pay that I am getting? To be able to preach the good news without expense to anybody, and so never to make full use of my rights in preaching the good news.

In what respect, then, were you inferior to the rest of the churches, except for the fact that I, and I only, never received from you any financial support? Please forgive me this wrong.

For I am not proclaiming myself but Christ Jesus as Lord, and myself a slave of yours for Jesus' sake.

I am telling the truth as a Christian man. I am telling no lie, because my conscience enlightened by the Holy Spirit is bearing me witness to this fact, that I have deep grief and constant anguish in my heart; for I could wish myself accursed, even cut off from Christ, for the sake of my brothers, my natural kinsmen.

Yes, indeed, though I am free from any human power, I have made myself a slave to everybody, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I have become like a Jew for the winning of Jews; to men under the law, like one under the law, though I am not under the law myself, to win the men under the law; to men who have no written law, like one without any law, though I am not without God's law but specially under Christ's law, to win the men who have no written law.read more.
To the overscrupulous I have become overscrupulous, to win the overscrupulous; yes, I have become everything to everybody, in order by all means to save some of them. And I do it all for the sake of the good news, so as to share with others in its blessings.

Now I want you to rest assured, brothers, that those things which have befallen me have actually resulted in the progress of the good news; in this way it has become well known throughout the Imperial Guard and to all the rest here that I am a prisoner in the service of Christ, and that most of the Christian brothers have grown confident enough, because of my imprisonment, to dare to tell God's message without being afraid.read more.
Some, indeed, are actually preaching Christ because they are moved by jealousy and partisanship, but others are doing so from the motive of good will; the latter, indeed, are doing so from love to me, for they know that I am providentially put here to defend the good news; the former are preaching Christ from the motive of rivalry, not in sincerity, supposing that this is making it harder for me to bear my imprisonment. What difference then does it make? In one way or another, whether in pretense or in sincerity, Christ is being preached, and that is the thing that makes me glad; yes, more too, I will continue to be glad of it, for I know that through your prayers and a bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my spiritual welfare, in accordance with my eager expectation and hope that I shall never disgrace myself, but that now as always hitherto, by my all-conquering courage, whether by living or dying, Christ will be honored in me. For to me living means Christ and dying brings gain. But if to keep on living here means fruit from my labor, I cannot tell which to choose. I am hesitating between two desires, for I long to depart and to be with Christ, for that is far, far better, And yet for your sakes it is very necessary for me to stay on here. Now since I am certain of this, I know that I shall stay on and stay by you all to promote the progress of your faith which will result in your joy; so that, through union with Christ Jesus, you may have more than sufficient ground for boasting about me, through my being with you again.

So, to keep me from being over-elated, there was sent upon me a physical disease, sharp as a piercing stake, a messenger of Satan, to continue afflicting me, and so to keep me, I repeat, from being over-elated. Three times I begged the Lord about this to make it go away and leave me, but He said to me, "My spiritual strength is sufficient, for it is only by means of conscious weakness that perfect power is developed."read more.
So I most happily boast about my weaknesses, so that the strength of Christ may overshadow me. That is why I take such pleasure in weaknesses, insults, distresses, persecution, and difficulties, which I endure for Christ's sake, for it is when I am consciously weak that I am really strong.

But I am keeping this jewel in an earthen jar, to prove that its surpassing power is God's, not mine. On every side I am ever hard-pressed, but never hemmed in; always perplexed, but never to the point of despair; always being persecuted, but not deserted; always getting a knockdown, but never a knockout;read more.
always being exposed to death as Jesus was, so that in my body the life of Jesus may be clearly shown.

To keep my ministry from being found fault with, I am trying not to put a single hindrance in anybody's way. On the contrary, I am trying in everything to prove to people that I am a true servant of God: by my tremendous endurance in sorrows, distresses, difficulties; in floggings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, and hunger;read more.
through my personal purity, my knowledge, my patience, my kindness; through the Holy Spirit, my genuine love, my message of truth, and the power of God; with the weapons of right-doing in my right hand and my left; in honor or dishonor, in slander or praise; considered a deceiver and yet true, obscure and yet well-known, on the point of dying and yet I go on living, punished and yet not put to death, sad but always glad, poor but making many people rich, penniless but really possessing everything.

I am ashamed to say that I was, as it were, so weak in the matter. And yet in whatever respect anyone else is daring to boast -- I am talking like a fool -- I too will dare to boast. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? So am I. I am talking like a man that has gone crazy -- as such I am superior! -- serving Him with labors greater by far, with far more imprisonments, with floggings vastly worse, and often at the point of death.read more.
Five times I have taken thirty-nine lashes from the Jews, three times I have been beaten by the Romans, once I was pelted with stones; three times I have been shipwrecked, and once I have spent a day and a night adrift at sea. I have served Him on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from the heathen, dangers in the city, dangers in the desert, dangers at sea, dangers from false brothers, through toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, through hunger and thirst, through many a fasting season, poorly clad and exposed to cold. Besides all other things, there is my concern for all the churches. Who is weak without my being weak too? Who is caused to fall without my being fired with indignation?

I have made a fool of myself, but you have forced me to do it, for I am the man who ought to have been constantly approved by you. For I am not a single bit inferior to your surpassingly superior apostles, though really I am "nobody." The marks that signify the genuine apostle were exhibited among you in my perfect patience, in signs, wonders, and wonder-works.

Then they went through the whole island as far as Paphos, and there they found a Jewish magician and false prophet whose name was Barjesus. He was an intimate friend of the governor, Sergius Paulus, who was an intelligent man. The governor sent for Barnabas and Saul and in this way tried to hear God's message. But Elymas the magician -- for this is the meaning of his name -- continued to oppose them by trying to keep the governor from accepting the faith.read more.
Then Saul, who was also called Paul, because he was full of the Holy Spirit, looked him straight in the eye and said, "You expert in every form of deception and sleight-of-hand, you son of the devil, you enemy of all that is right, will you never stop trying to make the Lord's straight paths crooked! Right now the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be so blind that you cannot see the sun for a time." And suddenly a dark mist fell upon him, and he kept groping about begging people to lead him by the hand. The governor, because he saw what had occurred, was thunderstruck at the Lord's teaching, and so came to believe.

God also continued to do such wonder-works through Paul as an instrument that the people carried off to the sick, towels or aprons used by him, and at their touch they were cured of their diseases, and the evil spirits went out of them.

For I would venture to mention only what Christ has accomplished through me in bringing the heathen peoples to obedience, by word and by work, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Holy Spirit. So I have completed the telling of the good news of Christ all the way from Jerusalem around to Illyricum.

and my language and the message I preached were not adorned with pleasing words of worldly wisdom, but they were attended with proof and power given by the Spirit, so that your faith might not be in men's wisdom, but in God's power.

For we know, brothers so beloved by God, that He has chosen you, for our preaching of the good news came to you not entirely in words but with power and with the Holy Spirit and with absolute certainty (for you know the kind of men we were among you for your own sakes).

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, in the hope of attaining, in some measure, the resurrection that lifts me out from among the dead.

So I am always cheerful and confident, although I know that as long as I am at home in the body I am away from home and the Lord (for here I live by what I believe and not by what I see), and yet I am cheerful and confident, but really I prefer to be away from home in the body and to be at home with the Lord.read more.
So whether I am at home or away from home, it is my constant ambition to please Him. For we must all appear before the judgment-bar of Christ, that each may get his pay for what he has done, whether it be good or bad.

in accordance with my eager expectation and hope that I shall never disgrace myself, but that now as always hitherto, by my all-conquering courage, whether by living or dying, Christ will be honored in me. For to me living means Christ and dying brings gain. But if to keep on living here means fruit from my labor, I cannot tell which to choose.read more.
I am hesitating between two desires, for I long to depart and to be with Christ, for that is far, far better, And yet for your sakes it is very necessary for me to stay on here.

My life, indeed, is already ebbing out, and the time has come for me to sail away. I have fought the fight for the good, I have run my race, I have kept faith. Now the crown for doing right awaits me, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award me on that day, and not only me but also all who have loved His appearing.

For by experience you know the unmerited favor shown by our Lord Jesus Christ; that although He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, in order that by His poverty you might become rich.

It is the duty of us who are strong to bear with the weaknesses of those who are not strong, and not merely to please ourselves. Each one of us must practice pleasing his neighbor, to help in his immediate upbuilding for his eternal good. Christ certainly did not please Himself; instead, as the Scripture says, "The reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen upon me."

Keep on fostering the same disposition that Christ Jesus had. Though He was existing in the nature of God, He did not think His being on an equality with God a thing to be selfishly grasped, but He laid it aside as He took on the nature of a slave and became like other men.read more.
Because He was recognized as a man, in reality as well as in outward form, He finally humiliated Himself in obedience so as to die, even to die on a cross. This is why God has highly exalted Him, and given Him the name that is above every other name, so that in the name of Jesus everyone should kneel, in heaven, on earth, and in the underworld, and everyone should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the praise of God the Father.

You must follow my example, just as I myself am following Christ's.

I do not write this to make you blush with shame but to give you counsel as my dear children. For though you have ten thousand teachers in the Christian life, you certainly could not have many fathers. For it was I myself who became your father through your union with Christ Jesus, which resulted from my telling you the good news. So I beg you, make it your habit to follow my example,read more.
This is why I have sent Timothy to you. He is a dear child of mine and trustworthy in the Lord's work; he will call to your minds my methods in the work of Christ Jesus, just as I teach them everywhere in every church.

It is not a fact that I have already secured it or already reached perfection, but I am pressing on to see if I can capture it, the ideal for which I was captured by Christ Jesus. Brothers, I do not think that I have captured it yet, but here is my one aspiration, so forgetting what is behind me and reaching out for what is ahead of me, I am pressing onward toward the goal, to win the prize to which God through Jesus Christ is calling us upward.read more.
So let us all who are mature have this attitude. If you have a different attitude, God will make it clear to you. However, we must continue to live up to that degree of success that we have already reached. Follow my example, brothers, and keep your eyes on those who practice living by the pattern we have set you.

Now, brothers, practice thinking on what is true, what is honorable, what is right, what is pure, what is lovable, what is high-toned, yes, on everything that is excellent or praiseworthy. Practice the things you learned, received, and heard from me, things that you saw me do, and then the God who gives us peace will be with you.

Now we charge you, brothers, on the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, to hold yourselves aloof from any brother who is living as a shirker instead of following the teachings you received from us. You know yourselves how you ought to follow my example; for I was not a shirker when I was with you; I did not eat any man's bread without paying for it, but with toil and hard labor I worked night and day, in order not to be a burden to any of you.read more.
Not that I have no right to be supported, but to make myself an example for you to follow.

I am now glad to be suffering for you, and in my own person I am filling in what is lacking in Christ's sufferings for His body, that is, the church.

For just as my sufferings for Christ are running over the cup, so through Christ my comfort is running over too. If I am in sorrow, it is on behalf of your comfort and salvation; if I am comforted, it is for the comfort that is experienced by you in your patient endurance of the same sort of sufferings that I am enduring too. My hope for you is well founded; because I know that just as you, brothers, are sharers of my sufferings, so you will be sharers of my comfort too.read more.
For I do not want you to be uninformed about the sorrow that I suffered in Asia, because I was so crushed beyond any power to endure that I was in dire despair of life itself. Yes, I felt within my very self the sentence of death, to keep me from depending on myself instead of God who raises the dead.

But I am keeping this jewel in an earthen jar, to prove that its surpassing power is God's, not mine. On every side I am ever hard-pressed, but never hemmed in; always perplexed, but never to the point of despair; always being persecuted, but not deserted; always getting a knockdown, but never a knockout;read more.
always being exposed to death as Jesus was, so that in my body the life of Jesus may be clearly shown. For all the time I continue to live I am being given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that in my mortal lower nature the life of Jesus may be clearly shown. So it is death that works in me, but it is life that works in you.

Let nobody trouble me after this, for I carry on my body the scars that mark me as Jesus' slave.

For my boast is this, to which my conscience testifies, that before the world, but especially before you, I have acted from pure motives and in sincerity before God, not depending on worldly wisdom but on God's unmerited favor.

From Miletus he sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. When they arrived, he said to them: "You know how I lived among you all the time from the day I first set foot in the province of Asia, and how I continued to serve the Lord with all humility and in tears, through the trials that befell me because of the plots of the Jews.read more.
I never shrank from telling you anything that was for your good, nor from teaching you in public and in private, but constantly and earnestly I urged Greeks as well as Jews to turn with repentance to God and to have faith in our Lord Jesus.

Now who is qualified for such a task? I am, for I am not a peddler of God's message, like the most of them, but like a man of sincerity, like a man that is sent from God and living in His presence, in union with Christ I speak His message.

So, because I hold a place in this ministry and that because I have had God's mercy shown me, I never give up. On the other hand, I have renounced all underhanded, disgraceful methods; I neither practice cunning nor do I tamper with God's message, but by clear and candid statements of truth I try to commend myself to every human conscience in God's sight.

You can testify, and God too, with what pure, upright, and irreproachable motives I dealt with you who believed; for you know how, as a father deals with his children, we used to encourage you, cheer you on, and charge each of you to live lives worthy of God who calls you into His kingdom and His glory.

For God is my witness how I never stop yearning for all of you with the affection Christ Jesus inspires.

Did I do wrong in taking a lowly place to let you have an exalted one, in that I preached the good news about God to you without accepting any pay? I sponged on other churches by taking pay from them to render service to you, and when I was with you and needed money, I never burdened a single one of you for a cent, for the brothers came from Macedonia and supplied what I needed. And so I kept myself, as I shall always do, from being a burden to you in any way.read more.
But the truth of Christ in me, this boasting of mine shall never be stopped in the boundaries of Greece. Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do.

It is now the third time that I have been ready to come to see you, and I will never ask you for financial support, for it is not your money but you yourselves that I want; for children are not by duty bound to lay up money for their parents, but parents for their children. So in my own case, I will most happily spend my money and myself for your sakes. If I love you much more than I love others, am I to be loved less by you?

May the Lord make you increase and overflow in love for one another and for all men, as my love for you does,

We always thank God for you all as we continually mention you in our prayers,

First, through Jesus Christ I thank my God for you all, because the report of your faith is spreading all over the world. Indeed, my witness is God, whom I serve in my spirit by telling the good news about His Son, that I never fail to mention you every time I pray, always entreating God that somehow by His will I may some day at last succeed in getting to see you.

This is why I myself, since I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and in all His people, never cease to thank God for you when I mention you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may grant you the Spirit to give wisdom and revelation which come through a growing knowledge of Him,read more.
by having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, so that you may know what the hope is to which He calls you, how glorious rich God's portion in His people is, and how surpassingly great is His power for us who believe, measured by His tremendously mighty power

With this in view we are always praying for you too, that our God may make you worthy of His call, and by His power fully satisfy your every desire for goodness, and complete every activity of your faith, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you through union with Him, in accordance with the favor of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Brothers, pray for us.

Now I beg you, brothers, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love that the Spirit inspires, to wrestle with me in prayers to God on my behalf, that I may be delivered from those in Judea who are disobedient, and that the help which I am taking to Jerusalem may be well received by God's people there, so that, if it is God's will, I may come with a happy heart to see you and have a refreshing rest while with you.

and for me that a message may be given me when I open my lips, so that I may boldly make known the open secret of the good news, for the sake of which I am an envoy in prison: so that, when I tell it, I may speak as courageously as I ought.

So I am an envoy to represent Christ, because it is through me that God is making His appeal. As one representing Christ I beg you, be reconciled to God.

In this matter it has ever been my ambition to tell the good news where Christ's name had never been mentioned, so as not to build upon foundations laid by other men,

As a skilled architect, in accordance with God's unmerited favor given to me, I laid a foundation, and now another is building upon it. But every builder must be careful how he builds upon it;

Then what is Apollos? Or what is Paul? Mere servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord gave each of us his task. I did the planting, Apollos did the watering, but it was God who kept the plants growing. So neither the planter nor the waterer counts for much, but God is everything in keeping the plants growing.read more.
The planter and the waterer are one in aim, and yet each of us will get his own pay in accordance with his own work, for we belong to God as His fellow-workers; you belong to God as His field to be tilled, as His building to be built.

For though you have ten thousand teachers in the Christian life, you certainly could not have many fathers. For it was I myself who became your father through your union with Christ Jesus, which resulted from my telling you the good news.

for you know how, as a father deals with his children, we used to encourage you, cheer you on, and charge each of you to live lives worthy of God who calls you into His kingdom and His glory.

O my dear children, I am suffering a mother's birth pangs for you again, until Christ is formed in you.

We never sought praise from men, either from you or from anyone else; although as apostles we could have stood on our official dignity. Instead we were little children among you; we were like a mother nursing her children.

For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on exhibition at the disgraced end of the procession, as they do with men who are doomed to die in the arena.

But thanks be to God, for He always leads me in His triumphal train, through union with Christ, and everywhere through me keeps spreading the perfume of the knowledge of Him. Indeed, I am the fragrance of Christ to God, alike for those who are being saved and for those who are perishing; to the one a deadly perfume that leads to death, to the other a living perfume that leads to life.

Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ, called as an apostle, set apart to preach God's good news,

Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus, to all God's people in union with Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and assistants:

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,

So you, my son, must keep renewing your strength in the spiritual blessing that comes through union with Christ Jesus. The things you learned from me before many witnesses you must commit to trustworthy men who will be competent to teach others too.

Continue to be an example in wholesome instructions which you learned from me, in the faith and love that come through union with Christ Jesus. Guard this fine deposit of truth by the aid of the Holy Spirit who has His home in our hearts.