| For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. | For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. |
| Love prospers when a fault is forgiven, but dwelling on it separates close friends. | Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends. |
| As I learn your righteous regulations, I will thank you by living as I should! | I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules. |
| Everyone enjoys a fitting reply; it is wonderful to say the right thing at the right time! | To make an apt answer is a joy to a man, and a word in season, how good it is! |
| For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil. | Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. |
| Avoiding a fight is a mark of honor; only fools insist on quarreling. | It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife, but every fool will be quarreling. |
| Don’t envy violent people or copy their ways. Such wicked people are detestable to the Lord, but he offers his friendship to the godly. | Do not envy a man of violence and do not choose any of his ways, for the devious person is an abomination to the Lord, but the upright are in his confidence. |
| Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it. | But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect. |
| For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. | For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. |
| Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt, but the Lord your God brought you out with his strong hand and powerful arm. That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to rest on the Sabbath day. | You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. |
| Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may live according to your truth! Grant me purity of heart, so that I may honor you. | Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name. |
| Then, by the will of God, I will be able to come to you with a joyful heart, and we will be an encouragement to each other. | So that by God's will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company. |
| But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life. | But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. |
| Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ. | Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. |
| But in your great mercy, you did not destroy them completely or abandon them forever. What a gracious and merciful God you are! | Nevertheless, in your great mercies you did not make an end of them or forsake them, for you are a gracious and merciful God. |
| If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. | Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. |
| Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. | Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. |
| The rich think of their wealth as a strong defense; they imagine it to be a high wall of safety. | A rich man's wealth is his strong city, and like a high wall in his imagination. |
| You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of complete rest, an official day for holy assembly. It is the Lord’s Sabbath day, and it must be observed wherever you live. | Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwelling places. |
| Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God. | And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. |
| I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified. | But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. |
| The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. | The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. |
| But most of all, my brothers and sisters, never take an oath, by heaven or earth or anything else. Just say a simple yes or no, so that you will not sin and be condemned. | But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation. |
| After supper he took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.” | And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” |
| And that water is a picture of baptism, which now saves you, not by removing dirt from your body, but as a response to God from a clean conscience. It is effective because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. | Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. |
Related topics
Life
The LORD keeps you...
Speaking
The tongue can bring...
Love
Love is patient and...
Jesus
Jesus looked at them...
Freedom
So Christ has truly...
Humility
Always be humble and...