| But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. | But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God’s children, to those who believe in his name. |
| If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. | That if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. |
| “The time promised by God has come at last!” he announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!” | And saying, “The time is fulfilled, and God’s Kingdom is at hand! Repent, and believe in the Good News.” |
| Accept other believers who are weak in faith, and don’t argue with them about what they think is right or wrong. | Now accept one who is weak in faith, but not for disputes over opinions. |
| Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all. | Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. There were added that day about three thousand souls. |
| Paul said, “John’s baptism called for repentance from sin. But John himself told the people to believe in the one who would come later, meaning Jesus.” | Paul said, “John indeed baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe in the one who would come after him, that is, in Christ Jesus.” |
| 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 compels us; because we judge thus: that one died for all, therefore all died. He died for all, that those who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who for their sakes died and rose again. |
| Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. | With all prayer and requests, praying at all times in the Spirit, and being watchful to this end in all perseverance and requests for all the saints. |
| All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. | The multitude of those who believed were of one heart and soul. Not one of them claimed that anything of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. |
| And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. | Without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to him, for he who comes to God must believe that he exists, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him. |
| And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. | He who searches the hearts knows what is on the Spirit’s mind, because he makes intercession for the saints according to God. |
| All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. | They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and prayer. |
| Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place. | Now I declare to you, brothers, the Good News which I preached to you, which also you received, in which you also stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold firmly the word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. |
| For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ. | For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence firm to the end. |
| 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 sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. Always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, with humility and fear. |
| I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ. | He therefore who supplies the Spirit to you and does miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law, or by hearing of faith? |
| So let’s stop condemning each other. Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not cause another believer to stumble and fall. | Therefore let’s not judge one another any more, but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block in his brother’s way, or an occasion for falling. |
| Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world. | Beloved, don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. |
| I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. | For most certainly I tell you, whoever may tell this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and doesn’t doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is happening, he shall have whatever he says. |
| For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers, as you still do. | For God is not unrighteous, so as to forget your work and the labor of love which you showed toward his name, in that you served the saints, and still do serve them. |
| It was by faith that even Sarah was able to have a child, though she was barren and was too old. She believed that God would keep his promise. | By faith even Sarah herself received power to conceive, and she bore a child when she was past age, since she counted him faithful who had promised. |
| Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. | Let no man despise your youth; but be an example to those who believe, in word, in your way of life, in love, in spirit, in faith, and in purity. |
| If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back. | If your brother sins against you, go, show him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained back your brother. |
| If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? | If a man says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who doesn’t love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? |
| 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. | However, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first, Jesus Christ might display all his patience for an example of those who were going to believe in him for eternal life. |
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