| Rumors are dainty morsels that sink deep into one’s heart. | The whispers of a gossiper are tasty morsels that corrode one’s inner being. |
| Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. | For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall also be united with him in his resurrection. We know that our old self was crucified with him, so that our sinful body might be destroyed and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. |
| Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God. | Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from anything that can defile flesh or spirit, and thereby make our holiness perfect in the fear of God. |
| God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor— not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways. | It is the will of God that you should lead a life of sanctity. You must refrain from sexual immorality. Each of you must learn to acquire a wife from pure and honorable motives, not to gratify passion like the Gentiles who do not know God. |
| Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. | Nor should you present any part of your body as an instrument for wickedness leading to sin. Rather, present yourselves to God as having been raised from death to life and the parts of your body to God as instruments for righteousness. |
| Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. | Rather, professing truth and love, we will in all things grow into him who is the head, Christ. |
| O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water. | O God, you are my God, for whom I have been searching earnestly. My soul yearns for you and my body thirsts for you, like the earth when it is parched, arid and without water. |
| 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. | Now we know that if the earthly tent in which we live is destroyed, we have a dwelling prepared for us by God, a dwelling in the heavens, not made with human hands, that will be eternal. |
| Dear friend, I hope all is well with you and that you are as healthy in body as you are strong in spirit. | Beloved, I pray that everything is going well with you and that your bodily health is equal to that of your soul. |
| Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak! | Stay awake and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak. |
| My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. | And now it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. The life I live now in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. |
| So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin. | Therefore, since Christ suffered in the flesh, you should arm yourselves also with the same intention. For anyone who has suffered in the flesh has finished with sin. |
| And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. | I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you. I will remove from your body a heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh in its place. |
| Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind or the mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things. | Just as you do not know the path of the wind or how the body is formed in a woman’s womb, so you do not know the work of God, the Creator of all. |
| I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me. But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live. | I am pulled in opposite directions. My desire is to depart and to be with Christ, for that is far better, but, it is a more urgent need for you that I remain in the body. |
| So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality. | Therefore, do not allow anyone to pass judgment on you in regard to what you eat or drink, or about the observance of Festivals, New Moons, or Sabbaths. These are only a shadow of what is to come. The reality is Christ. |
| “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.) | He said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not realize that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not into the heart but into the stomach and is discharged into the sewer?” Thus, he pronounced all foods clean. |
| But the angel said, “Don’t be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Look, this is where they laid his body.” | He said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised. He is not here. See the place where they laid him.” |
| For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority. | For it is in him that the entire fullness of deity dwells in bodily form, and you share this fullness in him who is the head of every ruler and power. |
| You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. | You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am wonderfully made; awesome are your works, as I know very well. |
| Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying.” | But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid! I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised, as he promised he would be. Come and see the place where he lay.” |
| Without question, this is the great mystery of our faith: Christ was revealed in a human body and vindicated by the Spirit. He was seen by angels and announced to the nations. He was believed in throughout the world and taken to heaven in glory. | Without any doubt, the mystery of our religion is great: He was made visible in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed to the Gentiles, believed in throughout the world, taken up in glory. |
| Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. | Stand firm, then, with the belt of truth fastened around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness clothing you, and with your feet shod in zeal to proclaim the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, hold in your hand the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. |
| This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here. | This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist, about whose coming you have been told, and that it is already in the world. |
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