Does God give you the Spirit and work mighty deeds among you because you have kept the Law or because you believed what you have heard? | So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? |
He brought you low, allowing you to suffer from hunger. He then fed you with manna, something with which your fathers were not familiar, so that you might come to know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the Lord. | He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. |
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Not because of any righteous deeds on our part but because of his mercy, he saved us through the bath of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. | He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. |
Who among you is wise and understanding? Prove by your good life that your works are done with the humility that comes from wisdom. | Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. |
An ignorant man causes strife by his insolence, but wisdom is found with those who take advice. | Where there is strife, there is pride, but wisdom is found in those who take advice. |
This is ‘the stone rejected by you, the builders, that has become the cornerstone.’ | Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ |
And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who are peacemakers. | Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness. |
There is no salvation in anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to men by which we can be saved. | Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. |
Hence, I advise you to be guided by the Spirit, so that you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. | So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. |
I will establish my covenant with you: never again will all living creatures be cut off by the waters of a flood, nor will the earth be laid waste by a flood again. | I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth. |
The upright are guarded by their integrity; the treacherous are destroyed by their own duplicity. | The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity. |
All those who have sinned outside the Law will perish outside the Law, and all who sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law. | All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. |
You have already been cleansed by the word I have spoken to you. | You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. |
Therefore, we do not lose heart. Even though our outer self is continuing to decay, our inner self is being renewed day by day. | Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. |
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. | Beyond all question, the mystery from which true godliness springs is great: He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory. |
For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more certain it is that, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. | For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! |
By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. | This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. |
For it is by grace that you have been saved through faith. This has not come from you but from the gift of God. It does not come from works, so that no one can boast. | For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. |
Although it was our afflictions that he bore, our sufferings that he endured, we thought of him as stricken, as struck down by God and afflicted. | Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. |
He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live in righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. | “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” |
All those who keep his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And the proof that he abides in us is the Spirit that he has given us. | The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us. |
But he is to ask with faith, without doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed about by the wind. | But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. |
By his own choice he gave us birth through the way of truth so that we may be a kind of firstfruits of all his creation. | He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created. |
This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples: if you love one another. | By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. |
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her in order to sanctify her by cleansing her with water and the word. | Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word. |