The Way It Is

rubber meets road, outcome of faith in Jesus

^Jam2:18 ..... I will show you my faith by what I do.

 
^Luk1:37“For nothing is impossible with God.”

- angel Gabriel talking with Mary about the birth of Christ,
 who was conceived in her by the Holy Spirit.

^Mat3:1In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea ²and saying, “Repent^4a, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

^Luk1:17“And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” - angel of the Lord speaking about John the Baptist

^Luk3:16“ ..... He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. ¹⁷His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” - John the Baptist speaking of Jesus

^Luk3:8“Produce fruit in keeping with repentance^4b. ..... ⁹The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

 ¹⁰“What should we do then?” the crowd asked.

 ¹¹John answered, “The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.”

^Mar1:14 ..... Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ¹⁵ ..... “The kingdom of God is near. Repent^4c and believe the good news!”

^Mat5:3“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
               for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

            .....

           ⁵Blessed are the meek,
                for they will inherit the earth.

           ⁶Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
                for they will be filled.

           ⁷Blessed are the merciful,
                for they will be shown mercy.

           ⁸Blessed are the pure in heart,
                for they will see God.

           ⁹Blessed are the peacemakers,
                for they will be called sons of God.”

^Mat5:13“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.”

.....

 ²²“But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.”

.....

  ²⁸“But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. ²⁹If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.”

.....

 ⁴⁴“But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. ..... ⁴⁸Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

^Luk6:35“But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. ³⁶Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

^Mat6:14“For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

.....

²⁴“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”

  ^Luk12:33“Sell your possessions and give to the poor.”

^Mat7:1“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. ²For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

^Luk6:37“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.�

^Mat7:13“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

^Luk6:43“No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. ⁴⁴Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. ⁴⁵The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”

^Mat7:19“Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

.....

 ²¹“Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

^Luk6:46“Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? ⁴⁷I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. ⁴⁸He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. ⁴⁹But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”

 

^Luk13:23Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”

   He said to them, ²⁴“Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.”

^Mat10:32“Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. ³³But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.”

..... ³⁷“Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; ³⁸and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

^Luk14:25Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: ²⁶“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. ²⁷And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”

 ..... ³³ ..... “any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.”

^Mat11:12�From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.�

^Luk13:6Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. ⁷So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, 'For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?' ”

 ⁸“ 'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. ⁹If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.' ”

^Mat12:33“Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. ³⁴You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. ..... ³⁶But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. ³⁷For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

^Mat12:50“For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

^Luk8:21He replied, “My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put it into practice.”

 

^Luk8:13“Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. ..... ¹⁵But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.”

^Luk17:20Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, �The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, ²¹nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you.� 

^Mat13:40“As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. ⁴¹The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. ⁴²They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. ..... ”

 ⁴⁵“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. ⁴⁶When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”

 ⁴⁷“Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. ⁴⁸When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. ⁴⁹This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous ⁵⁰and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

^Mar7:21“For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, ²²greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, [false testimony  Mat15:19], slander, arrogance and folly. ²³All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.' ”

^Mar8:34 ..... “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross [daily Luk9:23] and follow me. ³⁵For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. ³⁶What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul [very self Luk9:25]? ³⁷Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”

^Mat16:27“For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.”

^Mar9:23“ ..... Everything is possible for him who believes.”

^Mat21:43“Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.”

^Mar12:28 ..... “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

 ²⁹“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

  ³⁰Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' (Deu 6:4-5)

  ³¹The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' (Lev 19:18) There is no commandment greater than these.”

^Mat25:31“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. ³²All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.”

 ³⁴“Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' ”

 ³⁷�Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ..... ' �

..... ⁴⁰“ .....'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' ”

 ⁴¹“Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴²For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' ”

..... ⁴⁵“ ..... 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' ”

 ⁴⁶“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

 

^Mat28:18Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” - after Jesus' resurrection from the dead 

^Joh1:1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was with God in the beginning.

 ³Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴In him was life, and that life was the light of men.

.....

¹⁶From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.

.....

 ³³“ 'The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' ” - John the Baptist saying what God told Him about Jesus

^Joh3:6“Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.”

^Joh3:16“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

.....

 ³⁶“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him.” - John the Baptist speaking about Jesus

^Joh5:28“ ..... a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his* voice ²⁹and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.”

    * Jesus'

^Joh5:42“ ..... I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. ..... ⁴⁴How can you believe if you ..... make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?”

^Joh6:27“Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. ..... ”

 ²⁸Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

 ²⁹Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

.....

 ³³“For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

.....

 ³⁵Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”

.....

 ⁶³“The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing.”

^Joh7:37On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. ³⁸Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” ³⁹By this he meant the Spirit, .....

^Joh8:31To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. ³²Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

..... 

 ³⁴Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. ³⁵Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. ³⁶So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

    - a man born blind who Jesus healed, speaking about Jesus to the Jewish religious leaders who were questioning him

^Joh9:31“We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will.”

^Joh12:25“The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

^Joh12:47�As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, ..... ⁴⁸There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day.�

^Joh13:34“A new command I give you: Love one another.

 As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

  ³⁵By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

^Joh14:6Jesus answered,

�I am the way and the truth and the life.

  No one comes to the Father except through me.”

^Joh14:11“Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.

 ¹²I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

 ¹³And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. ¹⁴You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”

 ¹⁵“If you love me, you will obey what I command.

 ¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— ¹⁷the Spirit of truth. ..... you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. ..... ¹⁹Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. ²⁰On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.

 ²¹Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.

He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”

.....

 ²³Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.

My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

 ²⁴He who does not love me will not obey my teaching.”

.....

 ³⁰“I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me,

  ³¹but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.”

^Joh15:1“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ²He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. .....

 ⁴Remain in me, and I will remain in you.

 ⁵If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit;

..... ⁶If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

  ⁷If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.

 ⁸This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

 ⁹“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.

 ¹⁰If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love,

  just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.

 

¹¹I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

  ¹²My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

 ¹³Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

  ¹⁴You are my friends if you do what I command.”

.....

 ¹⁶“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last.

Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.

  ¹⁷This is my command: Love each other.”

^Act3:22“For Moses said, 'The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. ²³Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people.' (Deu 18:15,18,19)” - speaking about Jesus

..... ²⁶“When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.” - speaking about Jesus

^Act5:32“ ..... the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

^Act10:34Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism ³⁵but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.”

^Act14:21 ..... they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, ²²strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said.

^Act15:8“God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, ..... ⁹ ..... he purified their hearts by faith.”

^Act26:17“ ' ..... I am sending you to them ¹⁸to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified^1a by faith in me.' ” - Jesus speaking to Paul

.....

 ²⁰“First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent^4d and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds.”

^Jam1:12Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

.....

 ¹⁹My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, ²⁰for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.

.....

 ²¹ ..... get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

 ²²Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

.....

 ²⁶If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. ²⁷Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

.....

^Jam2:12Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, ¹³because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!

^Jam2:14What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? ¹⁵Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

 ¹⁸ ..... Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.

 ¹⁹You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

 ²⁰You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? ²¹Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²²You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. ²³And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” (Gen 15:6) and he was called God's friend. ²⁴You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.

..... ²⁶As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

^Jam3:2We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.

.....

 ⁵ ..... the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. ⁶The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. ⁸ ..... It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

.....

 ¹⁴But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. ¹⁵Such �wisdom� does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. 

^Jam4:1What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? ²You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. ³When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

 ⁴You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. ⁵Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? ⁶But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

   “God opposes the proud
      but gives grace to the humble.” (Pro 3:34)

 ⁷Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

.....

 ¹⁷Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.

^Jam5:9Don't grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!

.....

 ¹²Above all, my brothers, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your “Yes” be yes, and your “No,” no, or you will be condemned.

^1Pet1:1Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
      To God's elect, strangers in the world, ..... ²who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying¹ⁱ work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood:
      Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

.....

 ⁴ ..... you, ⁵who through faith are shielded by God's power .....

.....

 ¹³Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. ¹⁴As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. ¹⁵But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; ¹⁶for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” (Lev 11:44,45; 19:2; 20:7)

 ¹⁷Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.

....

 ²²Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. ²³For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

^1Pet2:1 ..... rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. ² ..... crave pure spiritual milk .....

^1Pet2:21 ..... Christ suffered for you .....

  ²⁴He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.

^1Pet3:8Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. ⁹Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. ¹⁰For,

    “Whoever would love life
        and see good days
      must keep his tongue from evil
        and his lips from deceitful speech.
   ¹¹He must turn from evil and do good;
        he must seek peace and pursue it.
   ¹²For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
        and his ears are attentive to their prayer,
     but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” (Psa 34:12-16)

^1Pet3:15But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, ¹⁶keeping a clear conscience, .....

^1Pet4:1Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. ²As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. ³For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery^2b, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. ⁴They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation^6a, and they heap abuse on you. ⁵But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

.....

 ⁷The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. ⁸Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

^1Pet4:17For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? ¹⁸And,

   “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved,
      what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” (Pro 11:31)

 ¹⁹So then, those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.

 

 

 

^1Pet5:5 ..... All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,

   “God opposes the proud
      but gives grace to the humble.” (Pro 3:34)

  ⁶Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. ⁷Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

^2Pet1:2Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

 ³His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. ⁴Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

 ⁵For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; ⁶and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; ⁷and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. ⁸For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

.....

 ¹⁰Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, ¹¹and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

^2Pet2:4For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment; ⁵if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; ⁶if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; ⁷and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men ..... ⁹if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment. ¹⁰This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings; .....

.....

 ¹³They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you. ¹⁴With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed—an accursed brood! ¹⁵They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness.  

.....

 ¹⁷These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. ¹⁸For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. ¹⁹They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity^5d—for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. ²⁰If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. ²¹It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. ²²Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” (Pro 26:11) and, “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.”

^2Pet3:3 ..... you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.

 ⁷ ..... the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

.....

 ¹⁰But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.

 ¹¹Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives ¹²as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. .....

  ¹³ ..... in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

 ¹⁴So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. ¹⁵Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. ¹⁶ ..... His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

^1Joh1:1That which was from the beginning, 

which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched

 � this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. ²The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. .....

 ⁵This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you:

  God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.

 ⁶If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.

  ⁷But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

^1Joh2:1 ..... Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. ²He is the atoning^3b sacrifice for our sins, .....

³We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.

 ⁴The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

  ⁵But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him.

  This is how we know we are in him: ⁶Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

.....

 ⁹Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.

  ¹⁰Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble.

 ¹¹But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.

.....

  ¹⁴  .....

       I write to you, young men,
       because you are strong,
       and the word of God lives in you,
       and you have overcome the evil one.

 ¹⁵Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. ¹⁷The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

 ²⁸And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.

 ²⁹If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.

^1Joh3:2Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known.

  But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

  ³Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

.....

  ⁵But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin.

 

 ⁶No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

 ⁷Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray.

  He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.

 ⁸He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.

 

 ⁹No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.

 ¹⁰This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.

 ¹¹This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. .....

  ¹⁴We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers.

  Anyone who does not love remains in death. ¹⁵Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.

 ¹⁶This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. ¹⁷If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? ¹⁸Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. ¹⁹This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence ²⁰whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

 ²¹Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God ²²and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.

  ²³And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.

 ²⁴Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

^1Joh4:7Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.

          Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

 ⁸Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning^3a sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

 
  ¹²No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

 ¹³We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

.....

      ¹⁶ ..... God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

 ¹⁷In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. ¹⁸There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

 ¹⁹We love because he first loved us. ²⁰If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. ²¹And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

^1Joh5:1Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. .....

  ³This is love for God: to obey his commands.

  And his commands are not burdensome, ⁴for everyone born of God overcomes the world.

  This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. ⁵Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

 ¹³I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

.....

 ¹⁸We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him.

^3Joh1:11 .....

          Anyone who does what is good is from God.

          Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God.

^Jud1:5Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. ⁶And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. ⁷In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

 ⁸In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings.

.....

 ¹²These men are ..... shepherds who feed only themselves. ..... ¹³ They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.

 ¹⁴Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones ¹⁵to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” ¹⁶These men are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.

 ²⁰But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. ²¹Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

.....

 ²⁴To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— ²⁵to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

^Rom1:4 ..... Jesus Christ our Lord. ⁵Through him and for his name's sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.

 ¹⁸The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, ¹⁹since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ²⁰For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities�his eternal power and divine nature�have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

 ²¹For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²²Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools .....

.....

 ²⁴Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. ²⁵They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator�who is forever praised. Amen.

 ²⁶Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. ²⁷In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

 ²⁸Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved^5a mind, to do what ought not to be done. ²⁹They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, ³⁰slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; ³¹they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. ³²Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

^Rom2:5But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. ⁶God “will give to each person according to what he has done.” (Psa 62:12; Pro 24:12) ⁷To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. ⁸But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.

.....

  ¹⁶God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.

^Rom2:29No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, .....

^Rom3:21But now a righteousness from God ..... has been made known, .....

 ²²This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.

^Rom6:6For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with,

  that we should no longer be slaves to sin .....

.....

 ¹²Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.

  ¹³Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness,

 but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.

 ¹⁴For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

^Rom6:15What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! ¹⁶Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are

  slaves to sin, which leads to death,

  or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?

 ¹⁷But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.

 ¹⁸You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

 ¹⁹I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body

in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness,

so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.

  ²⁰When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.

  ²¹What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!

  ²²But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God,

 the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.

 ²³For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

^Rom7:4So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.

 ⁵For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death.

 ⁶But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

^Rom8:1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,

  ²because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

 ³For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, ⁴in order that

the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us,

who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

 ⁵Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires;

 but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.

⁶The mind of sinful man is death,

 but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;

 ⁷the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. ⁸Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

 ⁹You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit,

  if the Spirit of God lives in you.

 And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.

.....

 ¹²Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it.

¹³For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die;

 but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live,

 ¹⁴because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. ..... ¹⁶The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. ¹⁷Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

.....

 ²⁸And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. ²⁹For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

 

^Rom10:4Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

^Rom11:18 ..... consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. ¹⁹You will say then, “Branches were broken off* so that I could be grafted in.” ²⁰Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. ²¹For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

 ²²Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.  

   * the Israelites

^Rom12:1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. ²Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

.....

 ⁹Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.

.....

 ¹¹Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

.....

 ²¹Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

 

 

^Rom13:14 ..... clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

 

 

^Rom14:10 ..... For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. ¹¹It is written:

   “ 'As surely as I live,' says the Lord,
   'every knee will bow before me;
      every tongue will confess to God.' ” (Isa 45:23)

 ¹²So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.

 

 

 

.....
 ²³ ..... everything that does not come from faith is sin.

 

 

 

 

^Rom15:16 ..... so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified^1b by the Holy Spirit.

..... ¹⁸I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God .....

 

 

 

^Rom16:25Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, ..... ²⁶ ..... so that all nations might believe and obey him— ²⁷to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.

 

 

 

^1Cor1:4I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. ..... ⁸He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.

 

 

^1Cor4:4 ..... It is the Lord who judges me. ⁵ ..... the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.

^1Cor5:11But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. ..... ¹³ ..... “Expel the wicked man from among you.” (Deu 17:7, 19:19, 21:21, 22:21,24, 24:7)

^1Cor6:9Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders ¹⁰nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified^1c, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

  ¹³ ..... The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. .....

¹⁷But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.

 ¹⁸Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. ¹⁹Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; ²⁰you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

^1Cor7:19 ..... Keeping God's commands is what counts.

.....

²² ..... he who was a free man when he was called is Christ's slave.

  ²³You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.

^1Cor8:3But the man who loves God is known by God.

^1Cor10:1For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. ²They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. ³They all ate the same spiritual food ⁴and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. ⁵Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.

 ⁶Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. ⁷Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry.” (Exo 32:6) ⁸We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. ⁹We should not test the Lord, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. ¹⁰And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.

 ¹¹These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.

..... ¹³No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

^1Cor13:6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

  ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

 ⁸Love never fails. .....

^1Cor15:1Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. ²By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

 

.....

 ⁴⁵So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being” (Gen 2:7); the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. ..... ⁴⁹And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.

 

.....

 ⁵⁸Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, ..... 

^1Cor16:13Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.

  ¹⁴Do everything in love.

 

^2Cor1:12 ..... Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God. We have done so not according to worldly wisdom but according to God's grace.

..... 

 ²¹Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, ²²set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

.....

 ²⁴ ..... it is by faith you stand firm.

^2Cor2:14But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.

^2Cor3:18And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

^2Cor4:13It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” (Psa 116:10) With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, .....

.....

 ¹⁸So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

^2Cor5:7We live by faith, not by sight. ..... ⁹So we make it our goal to please him, ..... ¹⁰For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

^2Cor5:11Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. .....

..... ¹⁶So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.

^2Cor5:17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! ¹⁸All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ ..... ²¹God made him who had no sin to be sin for us [OR, be a sin offering], so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

^2Cor6:4 ..... as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; ⁵in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; ⁶in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; ⁷in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; .....

.....

 ¹⁶ ..... For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” (Lev 26:12; Jer 32:38; Eze 37:27)

   ¹⁷“Therefore come out from them
           and be separate, says the Lord.
        Touch no unclean thing,
           and I will receive you.” (Isa 52:11; Eze 20:34,41)
   ¹⁸“I will be a Father to you,
           and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” (2Sam 7:14; 7:8)

^2Cor7:1Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.

 

 

^2Cor10:5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

 

^2Cor12:15 ..... I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well.

 

^2Cor13:3 ..... Christ is speaking through me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. 

^2Cor13:5Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? ..... ⁷Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong. .....  ⁸For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. ⁹We are glad whenever we are weak but you are strong; and our prayer is for your perfection.

^Gal2:20“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

^Gal3:11 ..... �The righteous will live by faith.� (Hab 2:4) .....

 ¹⁴ ..... by faith we ..... receive the promise of the Spirit.

.....

 ²²But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.

.....

 ²⁶You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, ..... 

^Gal4:6Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts .....

 

^Gal5:5But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. 

 

^Gal5:6 ..... The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

.....

 ¹³ ..... serve one another in love.

.....

 ¹⁶So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. ¹⁷For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.

.....

 ¹⁹The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery^2a; ²⁰idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

 ²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. ²⁵Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

^Gal6:2Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. ..... ⁴Each one should test his own actions.

^Gal6:7Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.

⁸The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction;

the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

 ⁹Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. ¹⁰Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

.....

 ¹⁴May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. ¹⁵ ..... what counts is a new creation.

^Eph1:3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, .....

  ⁴For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

.....

  ¹⁸I pray ..... that you may know ..... ¹⁹his incomparably great power for us who believe.

^Eph2:10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

^Eph4:2Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

^Eph4:13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

^Eph4:17So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. ¹⁸They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. ¹⁹Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.

 ²⁰You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. ²¹Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.

  ²²You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;

 ²³to be made new in the attitude of your minds; ²⁴and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

.....

 ³²Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

^Eph5:1Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children ²and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

 ³But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people.

.....

  ⁵For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

 

  ⁶Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. ⁷Therefore do not be partners with them.

^Eph5:21Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

^Eph5:25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

 

^Eph6:5Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. ⁶Obey them ..... like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. ⁷Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, ..... 

 

^Eph6:16 ..... take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

^Phi1:9And this is my prayer:

  that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,

  ¹⁰so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ,

  ¹¹filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—

to the glory and praise of God.

 

^Phi2:3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

^Phi2:12Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed ..... continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

 ¹⁴Do everything without complaining or arguing, ¹⁵so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved^5b generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe ¹⁶as you hold out the word of life .....

^Phi3:7But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.

   I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ ⁹and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.

.....

 ¹⁸For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. ¹⁹Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. ²⁰But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, .....

^Phi4:4Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

  ⁵Let your gentleness be evident to all.

 The Lord is near.

^Col1:21Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. ²²But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— ²³if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.

 ²⁷ ..... God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

 ²⁸We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. ²⁹To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.

^Col2:9For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, ¹⁰and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. ¹¹In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, ¹²having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

 

^Col3:1Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. ²Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. ³For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. ⁴When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

 ⁵Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. ⁶Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. ⁷You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. ⁸But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. ⁹Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices ¹⁰and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

.....

 ¹² ..... clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

 

 

^1The2:10You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. ¹¹For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, ¹²encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.

^1The3:12May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. ¹³May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.

^1The4:3It is God's will that you should be sanctified^1d: that you should avoid sexual immorality; ⁴that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, ⁵not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; ..... ⁷For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. ⁸Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.

^1The5:13 ..... Live in peace with each other. ..... ¹⁴ ..... be patient with everyone.

 ¹⁵Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.

 ¹⁶Be joyful always; ¹⁷pray continually; ¹⁸give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

.....

 ²¹ ..... Hold on to the good. ²²Avoid every kind of evil.

^1The5:23May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify^1e you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.

^2The1:3We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing. ⁴Therefore, among God's churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.

 ⁵All this is evidence that God's judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. ⁶God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you ⁷and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. ⁸He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. ⁹They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power ¹⁰on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.

 ¹¹With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. ¹²We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

^2The2:9The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, ¹⁰and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. ¹¹For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie ¹²and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.

^Heb1:8But about the Son he^* says,

   “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever,
        and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom.
   ⁹You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
        therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions
        by anointing you with the oil of joy.” (Psa 45:6,7)

      ^* God

^Heb2:1We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. ²For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, ³how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?

.....

 ¹⁰In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. ¹¹Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.

^Heb2:18Because he* himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

   * Christ

^Heb3:1Therefore ..... fix your thoughts on Jesus .....

..... ⁶But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.

^Heb3:12See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. ¹³But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. ¹⁴We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. ¹⁵As has just been said: 

   “Today, if you hear his voice,
        do not harden your hearts
     as you did in the rebellion.” (Psa 95:7,8)

  ¹⁶Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? ¹⁷And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? ¹⁸And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? ¹⁹So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.

^Heb4:1Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. ²For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. ³Now we who have believed enter that rest, .....

..... ⁶It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience.  

..... ⁹There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; ¹⁰for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. ¹¹Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.

 ¹²For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. ¹³Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

 ¹⁴Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.

^Heb5:7During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. ⁸Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered ⁹and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him .....

^Heb6:4It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, ⁵who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, ⁶if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance^4f, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.

 ⁷Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. ⁸But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.

 ⁹Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are confident of better things in your case—things that accompany salvation. ¹⁰God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. ¹¹We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. ¹²We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

^Heb9:13The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify^1g them so that they are outwardly clean. ¹⁴How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

.....

 ²⁶ ..... But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. ²⁷Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, .....

^Heb10:5Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:

   ⁷“ ..... 'Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—
        I have come to do your will, O God.' ” (Psa 40:6-8)

.....

  ¹⁰And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

..... ¹²But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. ¹³Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, ¹⁴because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

.....

 ²³Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

.....

 ²⁶If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, ²⁷but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. ²⁸Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. ²⁹How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified^1h him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? ³⁰For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” (Deu 32:35) and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” (Deu 32:36; Psa 135:14) ³¹It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

..... 

 ³⁵So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. ³⁶You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. ³⁷For in just a very little while,

  “He who is coming will come and will not delay.
    ³⁸But my righteous one will live by faith.
   And if he shrinks back,
       I will not be pleased with him.” (Hab 2:3,4)

  ³⁹But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.

^Heb12:1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. ²Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, .....

^Heb12:7Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? ⁸If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. ⁹ ..... submit to the Father of our spirits and live! ¹⁰Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. ¹¹No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

 ¹²Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. ¹³�Make level paths for your feet,� (Pro 4:26) so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.

.....

 ¹⁴Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. ¹⁵See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. ¹⁶See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. ¹⁷Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears.

.....

 ²²But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, ²³to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, ²⁴to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, .....

^Heb13:12 ..... Jesus ..... suffered ..... to make the people holy through his own blood.

 

^Heb13:18Pray for us. We are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way.

^1Tim1:4 ..... God's work—which is by faith. ⁵The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

.....

 ¹⁸ ..... fight the good fight, ¹⁹holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith.

^1Tim4:7 ..... train yourself to be godly.

.....

 ¹² ..... set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.

..... 

 ¹⁵Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. ¹⁶Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

^1Tim5:1Treat ..... ² ..... younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.

.....

 ⁸If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

^1Tim6:11 ..... pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. ¹²Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called ..... ¹³In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus ..... I charge you ¹⁴to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, .....

^2Tim1:7For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

 ⁸So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, ..... join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, ⁹who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace.

 

 

^2Tim2:3Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. ⁴No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer. ⁵Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor's crown unless he competes according to the rules.

^2Tim2:19 ..... God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,” (Num 16:5) and, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.”

 ²⁰In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. ²¹If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.

 ²²Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

 

.....

 ²⁴And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. ²⁵Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance^4e leading them to a knowledge of the truth, ²⁶and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.

^2Tim3:1But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. ²People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, ⁴treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— ⁵having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

 ⁶They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, ⁷always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. ⁸Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth—men of depraved^5c minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected.

.....

 ¹⁰You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, ¹¹persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. ¹²In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, ¹³while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

^Tit1:1Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness— ²a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time, .....

.....

 ¹⁵To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. ¹⁶They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.

^Tit2:11For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. ¹²It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, ¹³while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, ¹⁴who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

^Tit3:2 .....  show true humility toward all men.

.....

 ³At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. ⁴But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, ⁵he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, ⁶whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. ⁸This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.

^Rev1:5 ..... To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, ⁶and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.

.....

 ¹⁷When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. ¹⁸I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.”

^Rev2:1“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:

      These are the words of him who ..... walks among the seven golden lampstands*: ²I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. ³You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. ⁴Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. ⁵Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent^4g and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. ⁶But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. ⁷ ..... To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.”

    * the lampstands are the churches

.....

 ¹¹“ ..... He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death.”

.....

 ¹⁷“ ..... To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.”

.....

 ¹⁸“To the angel of the church in Thyatira write:

      These are the words of the Son of God, ..... ¹⁹I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first. ²⁰Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. ²¹I have given her time to repent^4h of her immorality, but she is unwilling. ²²So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. ²³I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that

I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.

 ²⁴Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan's so-called deep secrets (I will not impose any other burden on you): ²⁵Only hold on to what you have until I come. ²⁶To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations— 

 ²⁷'He will rule them with an iron scepter;
       he will dash them to pieces like pottery' (Psa 2:9)

— just as I have received authority from my Father. ²⁸I will also give him the morning star.”

^Rev3:1“To the angel of the church in Sardis write:

      ..... I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. ²Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. ³Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent⁴ⁱ. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. ⁴Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. ⁵He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.”

 ⁷“To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:

      These are the words of him who is holy and true, ..... ⁸I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. ..... ¹⁰Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth. ¹¹I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. ¹²Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name.”

 ²⁰“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. ²¹To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.”

^Rev4:8 ..... �Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,
                   who was, and is, and is to come.�

^Rev12:9The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

.....

   ¹²“ ..... 
     He is filled with fury,
        because he knows that his time is short.”

.....

 ¹⁷Then the dragon ..... went off to make war against ..... those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

^Rev14:9A third angel ..... said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, ¹⁰he, too, will drink of the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. ¹¹And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. ..... ” ¹²This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God's commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.

 ¹³Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”

      “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”

^Rev15:2And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name. They ..... ³ ..... sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb:

   “Great and marvelous are your deeds,
        Lord God Almighty.
     Just and true are your ways,
        King of the ages.
    ⁴Who will not fear you, O Lord,
        and bring glory to your name?
     For you alone are holy.
     All nations will come
        and worship before you,
     for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

^Rev16:15“Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed.”

^Rev19:6Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:

   “Hallelujah!
        For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
   ⁷Let us rejoice and be glad
        and give him glory!
     For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
        and his bride has made herself ready.
   ⁸Fine linen, bright and clean,
        was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)

 ⁹Then the angel said to me, �Write: 'Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!' ” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”

 ¹⁰“ ..... hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

^Rev20:10And the devil ..... was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

^Rev21:1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. ²I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

 ⁵He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

 ⁶He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.”

 “To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.”

 ⁷“He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.”

 ⁸“But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

.....

 ²²I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. ²³The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. ²⁴The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. ²⁵On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. ²⁶The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. ²⁷Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.

^Rev22:3No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. ⁴They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. ⁵ ..... And they will reign for ever and ever.

^Rev22:10Then he told me, “..... the time is near. ¹¹Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do right; and let him who is holy continue to be holy.” - angel speaking to John

 ¹²“Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. ¹³I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”

 ¹⁴“Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. ¹⁵Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.”

 ¹⁶“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. ..... ”

¹⁷ ..... Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.

1 - sanctify: to free from sin, purify, and set apart for a sacred purpose.   1a: ^  1b: ^  1c: ^  1d: ^  1e: ^  1f: ^  1g: ^  1h: ^  1i: ^

2 - debauchery: indulgence in pleasure that lacks moral restraint, extreme indulgence in sensual pleasure.   2a: ^  2b: ^

3 - atonement: to restore to friendship or harmony, settle, resolve  ---  to repair, the act of making amends or giving satisfaction for a wrong or injury, something done or given as amends or satisfaction, the payment of damages for an offense or injury  ---  the reconciliation of God and humankind through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ.   3a: ^  3b: ^

4 - repent: to turn from sin/harmdoing and dedicate oneself to the correction of one's life to God's principles: to feel regret and sorrow, to change one's mind.   4a: ^  4b: ^  4c: ^  4d: ^  4e: ^  4f: ^  4g: ^  4h: ^  4i: ^

5 - deprave: to make bad, to corrupt morally, degrade with unsound principles or moral values.   5a: ^  5b: ^  5c: ^  5d: ^

6 - dissipation: spending or using up wastefully or foolishly, causing to spread thin or scatter and gradually vanish.   6a: ^

Faith   and   Love

Index  

Scripture quotations are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION�. NIV�. Copyright�1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.