| Do not deprive each other of sexual relations, unless you both agree to refrain from sexual intimacy for a limited time so you can give yourselves more completely to prayer. Afterward, you should come together again so that Satan won’t be able to tempt you because of your lack of self-control. | Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. |
| They told you that in the last times there would be scoffers whose purpose in life is to satisfy their ungodly desires. These people are the ones who are creating divisions among you. They follow their natural instincts because they do not have God’s Spirit in them. | How they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit. |
| And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers. | And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also. |
| Enjoy prosperity while you can, but when hard times strike, realize that both come from God. Remember that nothing is certain in this life. | In the day of prosperity be joyful, But in the day of adversity consider: Surely God has appointed the one as well as the other, So that man can find out nothing that will come after him. |
| You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” | So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. |
| Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. | In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. |
| And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth. | And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. |
| Think about it: Just as a parent disciplines a child, the Lord your God disciplines you for your own good. | You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you. |
| Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone. | Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. |
| If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him! | If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him. |
| God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. | For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. |
| God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him. | Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent. |
| And do everything with love. | Let all that you do be done with love. |
| Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant. | For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. |
| Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets. | Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. |
| For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him. | For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake. |
| Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery. | Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge. |
| Well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is sinful? Of course not! In fact, it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, “You must not covet.” | What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” |
| Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. | Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. |
| You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people. | But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. |
| I, yes I, am the one who comforts you. So why are you afraid of mere humans, who wither like the grass and disappear? | I, even I, am He who comforts you. Who are you that you should be afraid Of a man who will die, And of the son of a man who will be made like grass? |
| 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. | 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. |
| Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will grant you his blessing. | Not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. |
| He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed. | Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. |
| One Sabbath day as Jesus was teaching in a synagogue, he saw a woman who had been crippled by an evil spirit. She had been bent double for eighteen years and was unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Dear woman, you are healed of your sickness!” Then he touched her, and instantly she could stand straight. How she praised God! But the leader in charge of the synagogue was indignant that Jesus had healed her on the Sabbath day. “There are six days of the week for working,” he said to the crowd. “Come on those days to be healed, not on the Sabbath.” But the Lord replied, “You hypocrites! Each of you works on the Sabbath day! Don’t you untie your ox or your donkey from its stall on the Sabbath and lead it out for water? This dear woman, a daughter of Abraham, has been held in bondage by Satan for eighteen years. Isn’t it right that she be released, even on the Sabbath?” This shamed his enemies, but all the people rejoiced at the wonderful things he did. | Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.” And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, “There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day.” The Lord then answered him and said, “Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?” And when He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame; and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him. |
Related topics
Desires
So I say, let...
Sexuality
God’s will is for...
Law
And you must commit...
Love
Love is patient and...
Father
The LORD is like...
God
For the LORD your...