House Of The Lord Biblical Review

¹Now I declare to you, brothers, the Good News which I preached to you, which also you received, in which you also stand, ²by which also you are saved, if you hold firmly the word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. ³For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, ⁵and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. ⁶Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers at once, most of whom remain until now, but some have also fallen asleep. ⁷Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, ⁸and last of all, as to the child born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also. ⁹For I am the least of the apostles, who is not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the assembly of God. ¹⁰But by the grace of God I am what I am. His grace which was given to me was not futile, but I worked more than all of them; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

¹⁹For it is commendable if someone endures pain, suffering unjustly, because of conscience toward God. ²⁰For what glory is it if, when you sin, you patiently endure beating? But if when you do well, you patiently endure suffering, this is commendable with God. ²¹For you were called to this, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example, that you should follow his steps, ²²who didn’t sin, “neither was deceit found in his mouth.” ²³When he was cursed, he didn’t curse back. When he suffered, he didn’t threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously. ²⁴He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness. You were healed by his wounds. ²⁵For you were going astray like sheep; but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

¹⁴The LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says: “For your sake, I have sent to Babylon, and I will bring all of them down as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships of their rejoicing. ¹⁵I am the LORD, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.” ¹⁶The LORD, who makes a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters, ¹⁷who brings out the chariot and horse, the army and the mighty man (they lie down together, they shall not rise; they are extinct, they are quenched like a wick) says: ¹⁸“Don’t remember the former things, and don’t consider the things of old. ¹⁹Behold, I will do a new thing. It springs out now. Don’t you know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. ²⁰The animals of the field, the jackals and the ostriches, shall honor me, because I give water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen, ²¹the people which I formed for myself, that they might declare my praise.

⁷For you who believe therefore is the honor, but for those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,” ⁸and, “a stumbling stone and a rock of offense.” For they stumble at the word, being disobedient, to which also they were appointed. ⁹But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. ¹⁰In the past, you were not a people, but now are God’s people, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. ¹¹Beloved, I beg you as foreigners and pilgrims to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, ¹²having good behavior among the nations, so in that of which they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good works and glorify God in the day of visitation.

¹⁰that you may walk worthily of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, ¹¹strengthened with all power, according to the might of his glory, for all endurance and perseverance with joy, ¹²giving thanks to the Father, who made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, ¹³who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the Kingdom of the Son of his love, ¹⁴in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins. ¹⁵He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶For by him all things were created in the heavens and on the earth, visible things and invisible things, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things have been created through him and for him.

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, ⁴even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and without defect before him in love, 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.

¹⁷If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the assembly. If he refuses to hear the assembly also, let him be to you as a Gentile or a tax collector. ¹⁸Most certainly I tell you, whatever things you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever things you release on earth will have been released in heaven. ¹⁹Again, assuredly I tell you, that if two of you will agree on earth concerning anything that they will ask, it will be done for them by my Father who is in heaven. ²⁰For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the middle of them.” ²¹Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times?” ²²Jesus said to him, “I don’t tell you until seven times, but, until seventy times seven.

¹⁴If any man’s work remains which he built on it, he will receive a reward. ¹⁵If any man’s work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, but as through fire. ¹⁶Don’t you know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? ¹⁷If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, which you are. ¹⁸Let no one deceive himself. If anyone thinks that he is wise among you in this world, let him become a fool that he may become wise. ¹⁹For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He has taken the wise in their craftiness.”

¹⁷If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the assembly. If he refuses to hear the assembly also, let him be to you as a Gentile or a tax collector. ¹⁸Most certainly I tell you, whatever things you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever things you release on earth will have been released in heaven. ¹⁹Again, assuredly I tell you, that if two of you will agree on earth concerning anything that they will ask, it will be done for them by my Father who is in heaven. ²⁰For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the middle of them.” ²¹Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times?” ²²Jesus said to him, “I don’t tell you until seven times, but, until seventy times seven.

¹⁴If any man’s work remains which he built on it, he will receive a reward. ¹⁵If any man’s work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, but as through fire. ¹⁶Don’t you know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? ¹⁷If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, which you are. ¹⁸Let no one deceive himself. If anyone thinks that he is wise among you in this world, let him become a fool that he may become wise. ¹⁹For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He has taken the wise in their craftiness.”