| You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. | You are already pruned clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. |
| So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. | But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh. |
| Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. | Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God. |
| 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. | By faith even Sarah herself received power to conceive, and she bore a child when she was past age, since she counted him faithful who had promised. |
| Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. | Let every soul be in subjection to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those who exist are ordained by God. |
| When God raised up his servant, Jesus, he sent him first to you people of Israel, to bless you by turning each of you back from your sinful ways. | God, having raised up his servant Jesus, sent him to you first to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your wickedness. |
| The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven. | His Son is the radiance of his glory, the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, who, when he had by himself purified us of our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. |
| That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. | Therefore we don’t faint, but though our outward person is decaying, yet our inward person is renewed day by day. |
| And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness. | Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. |
| For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says, ‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’ | He is ‘the stone which was regarded as worthless by you, the builders, which has become the head of the corner.’ |
| Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! | Surely he has borne our sickness and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted. |
| 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 all things under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. |
| But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) | But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved. |
| For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. | For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. |
| My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. | I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me. |
| For I long to visit you so I can bring you some spiritual gift that will help you grow strong in the Lord. When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours. | For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, to the end that you may be established; that is, that I with you may be encouraged in you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine. |
| Pride leads to conflict; those who take advice are wise. | Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is with people who take advice. |
| But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ. | But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off are made near in the blood of Christ. |
| When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father. | In this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; and so you will be my disciples. |
| But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ. | But the free gift isn’t like the trespass. For if by the trespass of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. |
| And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. | By which he has granted to us his precious and exceedingly great promises; that through these you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust. |
| Yes, I am confirming my covenant with you. Never again will floodwaters kill all living creatures; never again will a flood destroy the earth. | I will establish my covenant with you: All flesh will not be cut off any more by the waters of the flood. There will never again be a flood to destroy the earth. |
| And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. | By this we know that we remain in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. |
| Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. | If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. |
| And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption. | Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. |
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