The Lord is more pleased when we do what is right and just than when we offer him sacrifices. | To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. |
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. |
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The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God. | The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. |
Then he added, “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.” | Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. |
But I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise, and I will fulfill all my vows. For my salvation comes from the Lord alone. | But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord! |
He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world. | He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. |
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. | I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. |
This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. | In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. |
So also Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him. | So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. |
Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. | How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. |
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.” |
There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. | Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. |
If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. | For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. |
And I know it is important to love him with all my heart and all my understanding and all my strength, and to love my neighbor as myself. This is more important than to offer all of the burnt offerings and sacrifices required in the law. | And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. |
And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, “Each of you drink from it, for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many.” | And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” |
I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. | For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. |
He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds. | Who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. |
So, what about eating meat that has been offered to idols? Well, we all know that an idol is not really a god and that there is only one God. | Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.” |
For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many. | For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. |
They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. They wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head, and they placed a reed stick in his right hand as a scepter. Then they knelt before him in mockery and taunted, “Hail! King of the Jews!” | And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” |
Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly. | O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch. |
Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? | He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? |
Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce. | Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce. |
When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. | For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. |
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. | Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. |