Been So Good Biblical Review

¹⁶and by you to pass into Macedonia, and again from Macedonia to come to you, and to be sent forward by you on my journey to Judea. ¹⁷When I therefore planned this, did I show fickleness? Or the things that I plan, do I plan according to the flesh, that with me there should be the “Yes, yes” and the “No, no?” ¹⁸But as God is faithful, our word toward you was not “Yes and no.” ¹⁹For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me, Silvanus, and Timothy—was not “Yes and no,” but in him is “Yes.” ²⁰For however many are the promises of God, in him is the “Yes.” Therefore also through him is the “Amen”, to the glory of God through us. ²¹Now he who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, ²²who also sealed us and gave us the down payment of the Spirit in our hearts.

¹⁷Not that I seek for the gift, but I seek for the fruit that increases to your account. ¹⁸But I have all things and abound. I am filled, having received from Epaphroditus the things that came from you, a sweet-smelling fragrance, an acceptable and well-pleasing sacrifice to God. ¹⁹My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. ²⁰Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever! Amen. ²¹Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me greet you. ²²All the saints greet you, especially those who are of Caesar’s household.

¹¹I have spoken these things to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be made full. ¹²“This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you. ¹³Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. ¹⁵No longer do I call you servants, for the servant doesn’t know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you. ¹⁶You didn’t choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you will ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you. ¹⁷“I command these things to you, that you may love one another.

⁵This is the message which we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. ⁶If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie and don’t tell 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 Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin. ⁸If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰If we say that we haven’t sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

⁵having predestined us for adoption as children through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his desire, ⁶to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he freely gave us favor in the Beloved. ⁷In him we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace ⁸which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, ⁹making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him ¹⁰to an administration of the fullness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in him.

¹Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen. ²For by this, the elders obtained approval. ³By faith we understand that the universe has been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen has not been made out of things which are visible. ⁴By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he had testimony given to him that he was righteous, God testifying with respect to his gifts; and through it he, being dead, still speaks. ⁵By faith Enoch was taken away, so that he wouldn’t see death, and he was not found, because God translated him. For he has had testimony given to him that before his translation he had been well pleasing to God. ⁶Without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to him, for he who comes to God must believe that he exists, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him. ⁷By faith Noah, being warned about things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared a ship for the saving of his house, through which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. ⁸By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out to the place which he was to receive for an inheritance. He went out, not knowing where he went.

²⁵Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you don’t believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name, these testify about me. ²⁶But you don’t believe, because you are not of my sheep, as I told you. ²⁷My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹My Father who has given them to me is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand. ³⁰I and the Father are one.” ³¹Therefore the Jews took up stones again to stone him. ³²Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of those works do you stone me?”

¹⁰If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, even as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. ¹¹I have spoken these things to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be made full. ¹²“This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you. ¹³Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. ¹⁵No longer do I call you servants, for the servant doesn’t know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you. ¹⁶You didn’t choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you will ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you. ¹⁷“I command these things to you, that you may love one another.

²⁰My soul still remembers them, and is bowed down within me. ²¹This I recall to my mind; therefore I have hope. ²²It is because of the LORD’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his mercies don’t fail. ²³They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. ²⁴“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul. “Therefore I will hope in him.” ²⁵The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. ²⁶It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.

¹A Psalm. A song for the Sabbath day. It is a good thing to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, Most High, ²to proclaim your loving kindness in the morning, and your faithfulness every night, ³with the ten-stringed lute, with the harp, and with the melody of the lyre. ⁴For you, LORD, have made me glad through your work. I will triumph in the works of your hands. ⁵How great are your works, LORD! Your thoughts are very deep. ⁶A senseless man doesn’t know, neither does a fool understand this: ⁷though the wicked spring up as the grass, and all the evildoers flourish, they will be destroyed forever.

⁶He turned the sea into dry land. They went through the river on foot. There, we rejoiced in him. ⁷He rules by his might forever. His eyes watch the nations. Don’t let the rebellious rise up against him. Selah. ⁸Praise our God, you peoples! Make the sound of his praise heard, ⁹who preserves our life among the living, and doesn’t allow our feet to be moved. ¹⁰For you, God, have tested us. You have refined us, as silver is refined. ¹¹You brought us into prison. You laid a burden on our backs. ¹²You allowed men to ride over our heads. We went through fire and through water, but you brought us to the place of abundance. ¹³I will come into your temple with burnt offerings. I will pay my vows to you, ¹⁴which my lips promised, and my mouth spoke, when I was in distress.

¹But now the LORD who created you, Jacob, and he who formed you, Israel, says: “Don’t be afraid, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name. You are mine. ²When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, and flame will not scorch you. ³For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I have given Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your place. ⁴Since you have been precious and honored in my sight, and I have loved you, therefore I will give people in your place, and nations instead of your life. ⁵Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. I will bring your offspring from the east, and gather you from the west.

⁶But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer. ⁷Our hope for you is steadfast, knowing that, since you are partakers of the sufferings, so you are also of the comfort. ⁸For we don’t desire to have you uninformed, brothers, concerning our affliction which happened to us in Asia: that we were weighed down exceedingly, beyond our power, so much that we despaired even of life. ⁹Yes, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead, ¹⁰who delivered us out of so great a death, and does deliver, on whom we have set our hope that he will also still deliver us, ¹¹you also helping together on our behalf by your supplication; that, for the gift given to us by means of many, thanks may be given by many persons on your behalf. ¹²For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience that in holiness and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we behaved ourselves in the world, and more abundantly toward you.

⁴³But it shall not be so among you, but whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant. ⁴⁴Whoever of you wants to become first among you shall be bondservant of all. ⁴⁵For the Son of Man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” ⁴⁶They came to Jericho. As he went out from Jericho with his disciples and a great multitude, the son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the road. ⁴⁷When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, you son of David, have mercy on me!”

¹⁶because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” ¹⁷If you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man’s work, pass the time of your living as foreigners here in reverent fear, ¹⁸knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things like silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers, ¹⁹but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish or spot, the blood of Christ, ²⁰who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in this last age for your sake, ²¹who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope might be in God. ²²Seeing you have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth through the Spirit in sincere brotherly affection, love one another from the heart fervently, ²³having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which lives and remains forever.

⁵having predestined us for adoption as children through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his desire, ⁶to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he freely gave us favor in the Beloved. ⁷In him we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace ⁸which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, ⁹making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him ¹⁰to an administration of the fullness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in him.

¹⁴As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. ¹⁶For God so loved the world, that he gave his only born Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him. ¹⁸He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn’t believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only born Son of God. ¹⁹This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light, for their works were evil.

¹Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary! Praise him in his heavens for his acts of power! ²Praise him for his mighty acts! Praise him according to his excellent greatness! ³Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet! Praise him with harp and lyre! ⁴Praise him with tambourine and dancing! Praise him with stringed instruments and flute! ⁵Praise him with loud cymbals! Praise him with resounding cymbals! ⁶Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!

¹³Let’s therefore go out to him outside of the camp, bearing his reproach. ¹⁴For we don’t have here an enduring city, but we seek that which is to come. ¹⁵Through him, then, let’s offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which proclaim allegiance to his name. ¹⁶But don’t forget to be doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. ¹⁷Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they watch on behalf of your souls, as those who will give account, that they may do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be unprofitable for you. ¹⁸Pray for us, for we are persuaded that we have a good conscience, desiring to live honorably in all things.

¹⁶redeeming the time, because the days are evil. ¹⁷Therefore, don’t be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. ¹⁸Don’t be drunken with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, ¹⁹speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; ²⁰giving thanks always concerning all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; ²¹subjecting yourselves to one another in the fear of Christ. ²²Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.

¹¹I have spoken these things to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be made full. ¹²“This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you. ¹³Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. ¹⁵No longer do I call you servants, for the servant doesn’t know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you. ¹⁶You didn’t choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you will ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you. ¹⁷“I command these things to you, that you may love one another.