For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! | For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. |
Joyful is the person who finds wisdom, the one who gains understanding. | Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding. |
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Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” | So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” |
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, I am he who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass. |
You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things. | Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. |
And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much! | And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. |
Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. | Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. |
A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken. | And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken. |
Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. | Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. |
This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” | For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” |
Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. | Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. |
The Lord will stay with you as long as you stay with him! Whenever you seek him, you will find him. But if you abandon him, he will abandon you. | The Lord is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. |
But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. | You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. |
The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed. | Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered. |
But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. | But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. |
Stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world’s standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise. | Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. |
This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! | Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. |
A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences. | The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it. |
You and I are Jews by birth, not ‘sinners’ like the Gentiles. Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law. | We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. |
If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person? | But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? |
If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. | If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. |
So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. | So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. |
For you, a thousand years are as a passing day, as brief as a few night hours. | For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night. |
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. | Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. |
But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. | Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. |