For I long to visit you so I can bring you some spiritual gift that will help you grow strong in the Lord. When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours. | For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. |
And I want women to be modest in their appearance. They should wear decent and appropriate clothing and not draw attention to themselves by the way they fix their hair or by wearing gold or pearls or expensive clothes. For women who claim to be devoted to God should make themselves attractive by the good things they do. | Likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works. |
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But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. | But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. |
For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps. | For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. |
God will make this happen, for he who calls you is faithful. | He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. |
So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. | So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. |
You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. | Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. |
Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. | He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. |
Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness! | He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. |
For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind. | For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. |
But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too. | And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. |
Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. | Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. |
So you must remain faithful to what you have been taught from the beginning. If you do, you will remain in fellowship with the Son and with the Father. | Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. |
No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. | For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. |
Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. | For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. |
For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ | For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ |
And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. He took with him Mary, to whom he was engaged, who was now expecting a child. | And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. |
You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate. | Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. |
The Lord is a shelter for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. | The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. |
One day when the crowds were being baptized, Jesus himself was baptized. As he was praying, the heavens opened, and the Holy Spirit, in bodily form, descended on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven said, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.” | Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” |
Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory. | Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. |
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing. | I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. |
“Don’t you understand either?” he asked. “Can’t you see that the food you put into your body cannot defile you? Food doesn’t go into your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.” (By saying this, he declared that every kind of food is acceptable in God’s eyes.) | And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) |
Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began! | Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. |
Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. | For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. |