| A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. | There are “friends” who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother. |
| Therefore receive one another, just as Christ also received us, to the glory of God. | Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory. |
| My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. | Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. |
| Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. | Accept other believers who are weak in faith, and don’t argue with them about what they think is right or wrong. |
| No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. | No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. |
| With all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love. | Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. |
| For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. | Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous. |
| That I may come to you with joy by the will of God, and may be refreshed together with you. | 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. |
| Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion. | Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all! |
| Who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting. | They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved. Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. |
| Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way. | 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. |
| For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. | Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way. |
| These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers. | They all met together and were constantly united in prayer, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus. |
| But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. | But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. |
| Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. | 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. |
| For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. | 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 as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. | Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. |
| He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. | He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. |
| Let brotherly love continue. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels. | Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters. Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it! |
| Finally, brethren, farewell. Become complete. Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. | Dear brothers and sisters, I close my letter with these last words: Be joyful. Grow to maturity. Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you. |
| Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. | Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. |
| Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. | I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose. |
| But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. | But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love. |
| But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. | But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ. |
| Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. | When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. |
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