| For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. | For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. |
| How I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house. | I never shrank back from telling you what you needed to hear, either publicly or in your homes. |
| Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. | He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession. |
| For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. | God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. |
| To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. | For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory. |
| “Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets preached, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Turn now from your evil ways and your evil deeds.” ’ But they did not hear nor heed Me,” says the Lord. | Don’t be like your ancestors who would not listen or pay attention when the earlier prophets said to them, ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Turn from your evil ways, and stop all your evil practices.’ |
| Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave. | But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. |
| For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it? | But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? |
| For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. | The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. |
| Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. | Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place. |
| For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. | Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. |
| By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. | It was by faith that even Sarah was able to have a child, though she was barren and was too old. She believed that God would keep his promise. |
| I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, As much as in all riches. | I have rejoiced in your laws as much as in riches. |
| So we fasted and entreated our God for this, and He answered our prayer. | So we fasted and earnestly prayed that our God would take care of us, and he heard our prayer. |
| For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. | 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 the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age. | For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God. |
| For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. | 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. |
| You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. | For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace. |
| But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.” | Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying.” |
| So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” | “You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.” |
| So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done.” | Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen.” |
| Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” | Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me.” |
| For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. | If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. |
| And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” | He sat down, called the twelve disciples over to him, and said, “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.” |
| Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. | If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. |
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