Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. | Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. |
But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life. | But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. |
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For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. | For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. |
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 then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” |
Do what is good and run from evil so that you may live! Then the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies will be your helper, just as you have claimed. | Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said. |
Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. | If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. |
I have given them to you for food, just as I have given you grain and vegetables. But you must never eat any meat that still has the lifeblood in it. | Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. |
Rumors are dainty morsels that sink deep into one’s heart. | The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels; they go down into the inner parts of the body. |
Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak! | Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. |
For I know that as you pray for me and the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will lead to my deliverance. | For I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance. |
You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’ But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. | You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. |
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. | And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. |
For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. | For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. |
Do not add to or subtract from these commands I am giving you. Just obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you. | You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you. |
Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him. | For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. |
But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” | But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” |
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. | Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. |
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. |
Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt, but the Lord your God brought you out with his strong hand and powerful arm. That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to rest on the Sabbath day. | You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. |
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. | Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. |
He is the one all the prophets testified about, saying that everyone who believes in him will have their sins forgiven through his name. | To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. |
But you may wonder, ‘How will we know whether or not a prophecy is from the Lord?’ If the prophet speaks in the Lord’s name but his prediction does not happen or come true, you will know that the Lord did not give that message. That prophet has spoken without my authority and need not be feared. | And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’— when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him. |
Don’t you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly? | Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? |
But the Scriptures declare that we are all prisoners of sin, so we receive God’s promise of freedom only by believing in Jesus Christ. | But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. |
We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. | Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. |