You Are Children of Light
Paul of Tarsus wrote this letter to the early Christian community in Thessalonica in 49 C.E., making it the earliest surviving Christian text.
Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the assembly of the Thessalonians in God The Father and the Master Jesus the Anointed: Grace to you and peace.
Thanksgiving continually rises to God concerning you,
your lives are marked by the work of faith, labor of love, and the endurance of hope in the Anointed's knowledge of the eternal indestructible Light.
You are known to us as beloved and blessed.
The Good News did not arrive by word of mouth alone, but in power, in the Holy Spirit, and in deep assurance.
You became students of the Master, receiving the word when you were afflicted—yet with joy, the joy of our Mother, the Holy Spirit,
What has taken root here has sounded outward to all who believe in Macedonia and in Achaia.
A Mother Cherishes
You turned away from the false gods of this world to serve the living and true God,
Now we know, brothers, that our visit wasn’t in vain.
After we had been run out of Philippi, we grew bolder in our faith to tell you the Good News of the Kingdom amidst much strife.
So we didn't use any words of flattery or hide anything up our sleeves.
We might have claimed authority as apostles of the Anointed.
Instead we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother cherishes her own children.
A Father Celebrates
What we shared was not only the Good News of the Kingdom, but the Good News of Life itself.
We worked night and day so as not to burden any of you by taking time away from your own struggles. We preached to you out of love.
What manifested among you was God's essential goodness, justice, and integrity.
We celebrated this in each and every one you, as a father does his own children.
We thank God that when you received from us the Good News of the Kingdom, you accepted it as truth.
For you are our pride and our joy.
Brotherly Love
But concerning brotherly love, you have no need that one write to you. For you yourselves were taught to love one another,
or indeed you do it toward all the brothers who are in all Macedonia. But we exhort you, brothers, that you abound in love more and more.
Concerning those who have fallen asleep, so that you don’t grieve like the rest, who have no hope
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, then God will shepherd those who have fallen asleep.
Those who sleep will rise first,
then we who are alive, who are left, will be shepherded. So we will be with the Master forever.
Take comfort knowing this.
Like a Thief in the Night
Need I write you more than these words? "For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven."
For you yourselves know well that the time will come like a thief in the night.
For when the time is for peace, the time is suddenly for war, like the first birth pangs that come in the last moments of pregnancy. Once the time has come, there is nothing you can do but give birth.
But you, brothers, are not without light. The time will not be like this for you.
You are children of light. You are children of the day. We do not belong to the night, nor to darkness,
But we belong to the eternal indestructible Light, and adorn ourselves in the garments of faith, love, hope, and knowledge when the time comes.
For the Father didn’t appoint us to wrath, but to the obtaining of salvation through our Master Jesus the Anointed,
who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.
In Everything Give Thanks
Always rejoice.
Never stop praying.
In everything give thanks, for thanksgiving is the way of the the Anointed Jesus.
Don’t surpress your spirits.
Don’t despise others' prophecies.
Rather, test all things, and hold firmly that which is delightful.
Inoculate yourselves from the plagues of this world.
May the Good King Himself bless you completely. May your whole spirit, soul, and body maintain their integrity before the coming of our Master Jesus the Anointed.
God Faithful King will most certainly bless you.
Brothers, pray for us.
Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.
I solemnly command you by the Master that this letter be read to all the holy brothers.
The grace of our Master Jesus the Anointed be with you. AMN (אמנ).
For Freedom the Anointed Has Set Us Free
A letter from Paul to either the Roman province of Galatia or to an ethnic group of Celtic people in central Anatolia, written 50 C.E..
No Other Gospel
Paul, an apostle—not from men, nor through man, but through Jesus the Anointed, and God The Father, who raised him from the dead—
and all the brothers who are with me, to the assemblies of Galatia:
Grace to you and peace,
Although, I marvel that you are so quickly deserting the grace of the Anointed to a different “good news”,
but there isn’t another “good news.” Only there are some who trouble you and want to distort the Good News of Kingdom
But were an angel from heaven preach to you any “good news” other than that which we preached to you, woe to him.
As we have said before, so I now say again: if any man or angel preaches to you any “good news” other than that which you received, woe to him.
Am I striving to satisfy the whims of men? For if I were, I wouldn’t be a slave of the Anointed.
But the Good News I preached was not delivered to me by a man.
It came to me through a waking vision I had of Jesus the Anointed.
Revealed, Not Taught
You know about my past as a Pharisee, how I persecuted the assembly of God; ravaged it.
I advanced in my study of the law beyond many of my own age among my countrymen, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.
But God had chosen me before I was born and called me through his grace,
to reveal his Child within me, that I might preach Him among the nations. I didn’t immediately confer with my family,
nor did I go up to Jerusalem to consult those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia. Then I returned to Damascus.
The Right Hand of Fellowship
But from those who were reputed to be important—whoever they were, it makes no difference to me; God doesn’t show partiality to man—they, I say, who were respected imparted nothing to me,
but to the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the Good News for the uncircumcised, even as Pebble with the Good News for the circumcised—
for he who worked through Pebble in the apostleship with the circumcised also worked through me with the nations—
and when they perceived the grace that was given to me, James and Pebble and John, those who were reputed to be pillars, gave to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the nations, and they to the circumcision.
They only asked us to remember the poor—which I was also zealous to do.
I Resisted Him to His Face
But when Pebble came to Antioch, I resisted him to his face, because he stood condemned.
For before some people came from James, he ate with the people. But when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision.
And the rest of the Judaeans joined him in his hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.
But when I saw that they didn’t walk uprightly according to the truth of the Good News, I said to Pebble before them all, “If you, being a Judaean, live as the nations do, and not as the Judaeans do, why do you compel the nations to live as the Judaeans do?
We who are Judaeans by birth and not 'debtors of the nations',
yet knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus the Anointed, even we believed in the Anointed Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in the Anointed and not by the works of the law, because nobody can be justified by the works of the law.
But if while we sought to be justified in the Anointed, we ourselves also were found debtors, is the Anointed a slave of debt? Certainly not!
For if I build up again those things which I destroyed, I prove myself a law-breaker.
I became dead to the law by the letter that I might live in harmony with God.
I have been executed with the Anointed, and it is no longer I who live, but the Anointed lives in me. That life which I now live, I live by faith in The Child of God, who loved me and emptied himself for me.
I don’t reject the grace of God. For if justice is through the law, then the Anointed died for nothing!”
Redeemed from the Curse
Foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you not to obey the truth? I told you exactly what happened when Jesus the Anointed was executed!
I just want to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by hearing of faith?
The Anointed redeemed us from the law.
No Longer Slave or Free, Male or Female
Where did the law come from? It was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator.
Before the faith came, we were kept in custody under the law and its many instructions.
But now that faith has come, we are no longer under the law.
For you are all children of God, through faith in the Anointed Jesus.
For as many of you as were baptized into the Anointed have put on the Anointed.
There is neither Judaean nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in the Anointed Jesus.
If you are the Anointed’s, then you are heirs according to The Kingdom.
One Commandment is the Whole of the Law Now
It is for freedom the Anointed has set us free! Stand firm, and don’t be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
Only don’t use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love be slaves to one another.
Now, the whole of the law is fulfilled in one commandment, in this: “Love your neighbor with all your heart, all your mind, and all your strength.”
But if you bite and devour one another, be careful that you don’t consume one another.
Following the Spirit within is seeking love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith,
gentleness, and self-mastery. Against such things there is no law.
If we live by the Spirit, let’s also act by the Spirit.
Let’s not become conceited, provoking one another, and envying one another.
Brothers, even if a man is caught in some fault, you who are spiritual must restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, looking to yourself so that you also aren’t tempted.
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the whole law of the Anointed.
A New Creation
Do not fool yourselves into making light of God's justice: whatever a man sows, he will reap.
He who sows to his own self-interest will reap corruption. But he who sows to following the Spirit will reap eternal life.
Do not tire of doing good, for we will reap in due season if we don’t give up!
Let us each do our part to do what is good toward all.
See with what large letters I write to you with my own hand.
Those who wear their faith on their sleeve will compel you to be circumcised because they fear the curse of having faith in a hanged man. For it is written, "A hanged man brings God's curse to the land..."
For even they who receive circumcision don’t keep the law themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised, so that they may boast in your face.
Far be it from me to boast except about the Tau of our Master Jesus the Anointed, through which the world has been transformed.
For in the Anointed Jesus neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.
As many as walk by this rule, peace and mercy be on them, especially on God’s Israel.
From now on, let no one cause me any trouble, for I bear the marks of the Master Jesus branded on my body.
The grace of our Master Jesus the Anointed be with your spirit, brothers. AMN (אמנ)
All Things Are Yours
The first letter from Paul to the Christian assembly at Corinth, written c. 53–54 C.E. from Ephesus.
Called into Partnership
Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus the Anointed through the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,
to the assembly of God which is at Corinth—those who are sanctified in the Anointed Jesus, called saints, with all who call on the name of our Master Jesus the Anointed in every place, both theirs and ours:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Master Jesus the Anointed.
I always thank my God concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in the Anointed Jesus,
that in everything you were enriched in him, in all speech and all knowledge—
even as the testimony of the Anointed was confirmed in you—
so that you come behind in no gift, waiting for the revelation of our Master Jesus the Anointed,
who will also confirm you until the end, blameless in the day of our Master Jesus the Anointed.
God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of his Child, Jesus the Anointed our Master.
Now I beg you, brothers, through the name of our Master, Jesus the Anointed, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
For it has been reported to me concerning you, my brothers, by those who are from Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you.
Now I mean this, that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” “I follow Apollos,” “I follow Pebble,” and, “I follow the Anointed.”
Is the Anointed divided? Was Paul executed for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul?
The Foolishness of God
For the Anointed sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Good News—not in wisdom of words, so that the Tau of the Anointed wouldn’t be made void.
For the word of the Tau is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
For it is written,
Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
For seeing that in Lady Wisdom, the world through its wisdom didn’t know God, it was God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save those who believe.
For Judaeans ask for signs, Greeks seek after wisdom,
but we preach the Anointed executed, a stumbling block to Judaeans and foolishness to Greeks,
but to those who are called, both Judaeans and Greeks, the Anointed is the power of the Father and Lady Wisdom Herself;
because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
For you see your calling, brothers, that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, and not many noble;
but God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world that he might put to shame the things that are strong.
God chose the lowly things of the world, and the things that are despised, and the things that don’t exist, that he might bring to nothing the things that exist,
that no flesh should boast before God.
Because of him, you are in the Anointed Jesus, who became for us Lady Wisdom, and justice and sanctification, and redemption,
that, as it is written, “He who boasts, let him boast in the Master.”
The Mind of the Anointed
We speak wisdom, however, among those who are full grown, yet a wisdom not of this world nor of the rulers of this world who are coming to nothing.
But we speak of Lady Wisdom, the wisdom that has been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds for our essential goodness,
which none of the rulers of this world has known. For had they known it, they wouldn’t have executed the Master of essential goodness.
But as it is written,
But to us, God the Father revealed them through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God the Father.
For who among men knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God except God’s Spirit.
But we received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that were freely given to us by God.
We also speak these things, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which our Mother, the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things.
Now the natural man doesn’t receive the things of our Mother, for they are foolishness to him; and he can’t know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
But he who is spiritual discerns all things, and he himself is to be judged by no one.
“For who has known the mind of the Master that he should instruct him?” But we have the Anointed’s mind.
All Things Are Yours
Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours,
whether Paul, or Apollos, or Pebble, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come. All are yours,
and you are the Anointed’s, and the Anointed is God’s.
Stewards of the Mysteries
So let a man think of us as the Anointed’s slaves and stewards of God’s mysteries.
Here, moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.
But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you, or by a human court. Yes, I don’t even judge my own self.
For I know nothing against myself. Yet I am not justified by this, but he who judges me is the Master.
Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Master comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each man will get his praise from God.
All Things Are Lawful
I beg you therefore, be imitators of me.
“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are expedient. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be brought under the power of anything.
Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
One God, the Father
Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol is anything in the world, and that there is no other God but one.
For though there are things that are called “gods”, whether in the heavens or on earth—as there are many “gods” and many “masters”—
yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for him; and one Master, Jesus the Anointed, through whom are all things, and we live through him.
All Things to All People
For though I was free from all, I brought myself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more.
To the Judaeans I became as a Judaean, that I might gain Judaeans; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain those who are under the law;
to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward the Anointed), that I might win those who are without law.
To the weak I became as weak, that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some.
Now I do this for the sake of the Good News, that I may be a joint partaker of it.
The Earth and Its Fullness
“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are profitable. “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things build up.
Let no one seek his own, but each one his neighbor’s good.
Whatever is sold in the butcher shop, eat, asking no question for the sake of conscience,
for “the earth is the Master’s, and its fullness.”
But if one of those who don’t believe invites you to a meal, and you are inclined to go, eat whatever is set before you, asking no questions for the sake of conscience.
But if anyone says to you, “This was offered to idols,” don’t eat it for the sake of the one who told you, and for the sake of conscience. For “the earth is the Master’s, with all its fullness.”
Conscience, I say, not your own, but the other’s conscience. For why is my liberty judged by another conscience?
If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced for something I give thanks for?
Whether therefore you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the essential goodness of God.
Give no occasion for stumbling, whether to Judaeans, to Greeks, or to the assembly of God;
even as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many, that they may be saved.
Be imitators of me, even as I also am of the Anointed.
One Body
Now there are various kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.
There are various kinds of service, and the same Master.
There are various kinds of workings, but the same God who works all things in all.
But to each one is given the manifestation of our Mother, THE Hר200 Oו6 Lח8 Yה5 Sק100 Pד4 I Rש300 I Tר200 for the profit of all.
For to one is given through the Mother the word of wisdom, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Mother,
to another faith by the same Mother, and to another gifts of healings by the same Mother,
and to another workings of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of languages, and to another the interpretation of languages.
But the one and the same Mother produces all of these, distributing to each one separately as She desires.
For as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is the Anointed.
For in one Mother we were all baptized into one body, whether Judaeans or Greeks, whether bond or free; and were all given to drink into one Mother.
Love
And moreover, I show a most excellent way to you.
If I speak with the languages of men and of angels, but don’t have love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but don’t have love, I am nothing.
If I give away all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but don’t have love, it profits me nothing.
Love is patient and is kind. Love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud,
doesn’t disrupt decorum, doesn’t demand submission, is not provoked, keeps no ledger of evil;
doesn’t rejoice in injustice, but rejoices with the truth;
bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will be done away with. Where there are various languages, they will cease. Where there is knowledge, it will be done away with.
For we know in part and we prophesy in part;
but when that which is complete has come, then that which is partial will be done away with.
When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things.
For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I was also fully known.
But now faith, hope, and love remain—these three. The greatest of these is love.
God All in All
But now the Anointed has been raised from the dead. He became the first fruit of those who are asleep.
For since death came by man, the resurrection of the dead also came by man.
For as in man all die, so also in the Anointed all will be made alive.
But each in his own order: the Anointed the first fruits, then those who are the Anointed’s at his coming.
Then the end comes, when he will deliver up the Kingdom to God the Father, when he will have abolished all rule and all authority and power.
For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
The last enemy that will be abolished is death.
For, “He put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when he says, “All things are put in subjection”, it is evident that he is excepted who subjected all things to him.
When all things have been subjected to him, then the Child will also himself be subjected to him who subjected all things to him, that God may be all in all.
The Spiritual Body
But someone will say, “How are the dead raised?” and, “With what kind of body do they come?”
You foolish one, that which you yourself sow is not made alive unless it dies.
That which you sow, you don’t sow the body that will be, but a bare grain, maybe of wheat, or of some other kind.
But God gives it a body even as it pleased him, and to each seed a body of its own.
All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds.
There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial differs from that of the terrestrial.
There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.
So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown perishable; it is raised imperishable.
It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.
It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is also a spiritual body.
However, that which is spiritual isn’t first, but that which is natural, then that which is spiritual.
The first man is of the earth, made of dust. The second man is the Master from heaven.
As is the one made of dust, such are those who are also made of dust; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
As we have borne the image of those made of dust, let’s also bear the image of the heavenly.
Now I say this, brothers, that flesh and blood can’t inherit God’s Kingdom; neither does the perishable inherit imperishable.
Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.
For this perishable body must become imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.
But when this perishable body will have become imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then what is written will happen: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“Death, where is your sting?
The sting of death is debt, and the power of debt is the law.
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Master Jesus the Anointed.
Grace
The assemblies of Asia greet you. Aquila and Priscilla greet you warmly in the Master, together with the assembly that is in their house.
All the brothers greet you. Greet one another with a holy kiss.
This greeting is by me, Paul, with my own hand.
If any man doesn’t love the Master Jesus the Anointed, let him be cursed. Come, Master!
The grace of the Master Jesus the Anointed be with you.
My love to all of you in the Anointed Jesus. Amen.
The Spirit Gives Life
The second letter from Paul to the assembly at Corinth, written c. 55–56 C.E.
The Triumph
Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in the Anointed, and reveals through us the sweet aroma of his knowledge in every place.
For we are a sweet aroma of the Anointed to God in those who are being saved and in those who perish:
to the one a stench from death to death, to the other a sweet aroma from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?
For we are not as so many, peddling the word of God. But as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, we speak in the Anointed.
The Letter Kills, but the Spirit Gives Life
Are we beginning again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as do some, letters of commendation to you or from you?
You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men,
being revealed that you are a letter of the Anointed, served by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tablets of stone, but in tablets that are hearts of flesh.
Such confidence we have through the Anointed toward God,
not that we are sufficient of ourselves to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God,
who also made us sufficient as slaves of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
But if the service of death, written engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the children of Israel could not look steadfastly on the face of Moses for the glory of his face, which was passing away,
won’t service of the Spirit be with much more glory?
For if the service of condemnation has glory, the service of justice exceeds much more in glory.
For most certainly that which has been made glorious has not been made glorious in this respect, by reason of the glory that surpasses.
For if that which passes away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.
Having therefore such a hope, we use great boldness of speech,
and not as Moses, who put a veil on his face so that the children of Israel wouldn’t look steadfastly on the end of that which was passing away.
But their minds were hardened, for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains, because in the Anointed it passes away.
But to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.
But whenever someone turns to the Master, the veil is taken away.
Now the Master is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Master is, there is liberty.
But we all, with unveiled face seeing the glory of the Master as in a mirror, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Master, the Spirit.
Treasure in Clay Jars
Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, even as we obtained mercy, we don’t faint.
But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
Even if our Good News is veiled, it is veiled in those who are dying,
in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the Good News of the glory of the Anointed, who is the image of God, should not dawn on them.
For we don’t preach ourselves, but the Anointed Jesus as Master, and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake,
seeing it is God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus the Anointed.
But we have this treasure in clay vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves.
We are pressed on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not to despair;
pursued, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed;
always carrying in the body the putting to death of the Master Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus may be revealed in our mortal flesh.
So then death works in us, but life in you.
But having the same spirit of faith, according to that which is written, “I believed, and therefore I spoke.” We also believe, and therefore we also speak,
knowing that he who raised the Master Jesus will raise us also through Jesus, and will present us with you.
For all things are for your sakes, that the grace, being multiplied through the many, may cause the thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.
Therefore we don’t faint, but though our outward person is decaying, yet our inward person is renewed day by day.
For our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory,
while we don’t look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
A New Creation
For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.
For most certainly in this we groan, longing to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven,
if indeed being clothed, we will not be found naked.
For indeed we who are in this tent do groan, being burdened, not that we desire to be unclothed, but that we desire to be clothed, that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
Now he who made us for this very thing is God, who also gave to us the down payment of the Spirit.
Therefore we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Master;
for we walk by faith, not by sight.
We are courageous, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Master.
Therefore also we make it our aim, whether at home or absent, to be well pleasing to him.
For the love of the Anointed compels us; because we judge thus: that one died for all, therefore all died.
He died for all, that those who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who for their sakes died and rose again.
Therefore we know no one according to the flesh from now on. Even though we have known the Anointed according to the flesh, yet now we know him so no more.
Therefore if anyone is in the Anointed, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.
But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Jesus the Anointed, and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation;
namely, that God was in the Anointed reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, and having committed to us the word of reconciliation.
We are therefore ambassadors on behalf of the Anointed, as though God were entreating by us: we beg you on behalf of the Anointed, be reconciled to God.
For him who knew no debt he made to be debt on our behalf, so that in him we might become the justice of God.
Now Is the Day of Salvation
Working together, we entreat also that you do not receive the grace of God in vain.
For he says,
Our mouth is open to you, Corinthians. Our heart is enlarged.
You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections.
Now in return—I speak as to my children—you also open your hearts.
Power Made Perfect in Weakness
A third "severe" letter from Paul to the assembly at Corinth, and written c. 55-56 C.E.
The Weapons of Our Warfare
Now I Paul, myself, entreat you by the humility and gentleness of the Anointed, I who in your presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you.
Yes, I beg you that I may not, when present, show courage with the confidence with which I intend to be bold against some, who consider us to be walking according to the flesh.
For though we walk in the flesh, we don’t wage war according to the flesh;
for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds,
throwing down imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of the Anointed,
and being in readiness to avenge all disobedience when your obedience is made full.
Boast in the Master
But “he who boasts, let him boast in the Master.”
For it isn’t he who commends himself who is approved, but whom the Master commends.
If I must boast, I will boast of the things that concern my weakness.
The Third Heaven
It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast, but I will come to visions and revelations of the Master.
I know a man in the Anointed who was caught up into the third heaven fourteen years ago—whether in the body, I don’t know, or whether out of the body, I don’t know; God knows.
I know such a man (whether in the body, or outside of the body, I don’t know; God knows),
how he was caught up into Paradise and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
On behalf of such a one I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except in my weaknesses.
For if I would desire to boast, I will not be foolish; for I will speak the truth. But I refrain, so that no man may think more of me than that which he sees in me or hears from me.
The Thorn in the Flesh
By reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations, that I should not be exalted excessively, a thorn in the flesh was given to me: a messenger of the ruler of this world to torment me, that I should not be exalted excessively.
Concerning this thing, I begged the Master three times that it might depart from me.
He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of the Anointed may rest on me.
Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, and in distresses, for the Anointed’s sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong.
Building You Up
But all things, beloved, are for your edifying.
Examine Yourselves
Examine your own selves, whether you are in the faith. Test your own selves. Or don’t you know about your own selves, that Jesus the Anointed is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.
But I hope that you will know that we aren’t disqualified.
Now I pray to God that you do no evil; not that we may appear approved, but that you may do that which is honorable, though we may seem to have failed.
For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.
For we rejoice when we are weak and you are strong. We also pray for this: your becoming perfect.
For this cause I write these things while absent, that I may not deal sharply when present, according to the authority which the Master gave me for building up and not for tearing down.
Grace, Love, and Partnership
Finally, brothers, rejoice! Be perfected. Be comforted. Be of the same mind. Live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.
Greet one another with a holy kiss.
All the saints greet you.
The grace of the Master Jesus the Anointed, God’s love, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
The God of All Consolation
A fourth letter of reconciliation from Paul to the assembly at Corinth c. 56-57 C.E.
The God of All Consolation
Paul, an apostle of the Anointed Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the assembly of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Master Jesus the Anointed.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Master Jesus the Anointed, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
who comforts us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
For as the sufferings of the Anointed abound to us, even so our comfort also abounds through the Anointed.
But 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.
Our hope for you is steadfast, knowing that, since you are partakers of the sufferings, so you are also of the comfort.
The Testimony of Conscience
For 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.
Yes, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead,
who 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,
you 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.
For 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.
Every Promise Finds Its Yes
But as God is faithful, our word toward you was not “Yes and no.”
For the Child of God, Jesus the Anointed, who was preached among you by us—by me, Silvanus, and Timothy—was not “Yes and no,” but in him is “Yes.”
For 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.
Now he who establishes us with you in the Anointed and has given us the Chrism is God,
who also sealed us and gave us the down payment of the Spirit in our hearts.
Abundant Love
For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not that you should be made to grieve, but that you might know the love that I have so abundantly for you.
But if any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow not to me, but in part (that I not press too heavily) to you all.
This punishment which was inflicted by the many is sufficient for such a one;
so that, on the contrary, you should rather forgive him and comfort him, lest by any means such a one should be swallowed up with his excessive sorrow.
Therefore I beg you to confirm your love toward him.
Forgiveness
For to this end I also wrote, that I might know the proof of you, whether you are obedient in all things.
Now I also forgive whomever you forgive anything. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of the Anointed,
that no advantage may be gained over us by the ruler of this world, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.
Godly Grief
For though I grieved you with my letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it. For I see that my letter made you grieve, though just for a while.
I now rejoice, not that you were grieved, but that you were grieved to repentance. For you were grieved in a godly way, that you might suffer loss by us in nothing.
For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, which brings no regret. But the sorrow of the world produces death.
For behold, this same thing, that you were grieved in a godly way, what earnest care it worked in you. Yes, what defense, indignation, fear, longing, zeal, and vindication! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be pure in the matter.
The Macedonian Example
Moreover, brothers, we make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia,
how in a severe ordeal of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded to the riches of their generosity.
For according to their power, I testify, yes and beyond their power, they gave of their own accord,
begging us with much entreaty to receive this grace and the fellowship in the service to the saints.
This was not as we had expected, but first they gave their own selves to the Master, and to us through the will of God.
The Grace of the Anointed
So we urged Titus, that as he had made a beginning before, so he would also complete in you this grace.
But as you abound in everything—in faith, utterance, knowledge, all earnestness, and in your love to us—see that you also abound in this grace.
I speak not by way of commandment, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity also of your love.
For you know the grace of our Master Jesus the Anointed, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich.
I give advice in this: it is expedient for you who were the first to start a year ago, not only to do, but also to be willing.
But now complete the doing also, that as there was the readiness to be willing, so there may be the completion also out of your ability.
For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what you have, not according to what you don’t have.
Equality
For this is not that others may be eased and you distressed,
but for equality. Your abundance at this present time supplies their lack, that their abundance also may become a supply for your lack, that there may be equality.
As it is written, “He who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack.”
The Ministry of the Collection
But thanks be to God, who puts the same earnest care for you into the heart of Titus.
For he indeed accepted our exhortation, but being himself very earnest, he went out to you of his own accord.
We have sent together with him the brother whose praise in the Good News is known throughout all the churches.
Not only so, but he was also appointed by the churches to travel with us in this grace, which is served by us to the essential goodness of the Master himself, and to show our readiness.
We are avoiding this, that any man should blame us concerning this abundance which is administered by us.
Having regard for honorable things, not only in the sight of the Master, but also in the sight of men.
We have sent with them our brother whom we have many times proved earnest in many things, but now much more earnest, by reason of the great confidence which he has in you.
As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker for you. As for our brothers, they are the apostles of the churches, the essential goodness of the Anointed.
Therefore show the proof of your love to them before the churches, and of our boasting on your behalf.
God Loves A Cheerful Giver
Achaia's Readiness
It is indeed unnecessary for me to write to you concerning the service to the saints,
for I know your readiness, of which I boast on your behalf to those of Macedonia, that Achaia has been prepared for the past year. Your zeal has stirred up very many of them.
But I have sent the brothers so that our boasting on your behalf may not be in vain in this respect, that, just as I said, you may be prepared,
lest by any means, if anyone from Macedonia comes there with me and finds you unprepared, we (to say nothing of you) would be disappointed in this confident boasting.
I thought it necessary therefore to entreat the brothers that they would go before to you and arrange ahead of time the generous gift that you promised before, that the same might be ready as a matter of generosity, and not of greediness.
The Cheerful Giver
Remember this: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
Let each man give according as he has determined in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that you, always having all sufficiency in everything, may abound to every good work.
His Justice Remains Forever
As it is written, “He has scattered abroad. He has given to the poor. His justice remains forever.”
Now may he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, supply and multiply your seed for sowing, and increase the fruits of your justice,
you being enriched in everything for all generosity, which produces thanksgiving to God through us.
Unspeakable Gift
For this service of giving that you perform not only makes up for lack among the saints, but abounds also through much giving of thanks to God,
seeing that through the proof given by this service, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the Good News of the Anointed and for the generosity of your contribution to them and to all,
while they themselves also, with supplication on your behalf, yearn for you by reason of the exceeding grace of God in you.
Now thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift!
Nothing Can Separate Us
A letter from Paul to the assembly at Rome, written c. 57 C.E. from Corinth.
Greeting
Paul, a slave of Jesus the Anointed, called to be an apostle, set apart for the Good News of God,
which he promised before through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,
concerning his Child, who was born of the offspring of David according to the flesh,
who was declared to be the Child of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus the Anointed our Master,
through whom we received grace and apostleship for obedience of faith among all the nations for his name’s sake;
among whom you are also called to belong to Jesus the Anointed;
to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Master Jesus the Anointed.
The Righteous Shall Live by Faith
For I am not ashamed of the Good News of the Anointed, because it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes, for the Judaean first, and also for the Greek.
For in it is revealed God’s justice from faith to faith. As it is written, “But the just shall live by faith.”
You Have No Excuse When You Judge
Therefore you are without excuse, O man, whoever you are who judge. For in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things.
God Shows No Partiality
For there is no partiality with God.
For as many as have trespassed without the law will also perish without the law. As many as have trespassed under the law will be judged by the law.
For it isn’t the hearers of the law who are just before God, but the doers of the law will be justified
(for when people who don’t have the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law to themselves,
in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying with them, and their thoughts among themselves accusing or else excusing them)
in the day when God will judge the secrets of men, according to my Good News, by Jesus the Anointed.
Circumcision of the Heart
For he is not a Judaean who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh;
but he is a Judaean who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men, but from God.
Apart from Law
Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God.
Because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight; for through the law comes the knowledge of debt.
But now apart from the law, a justice of God has been revealed, being testified by the law and the prophets;
even the justice of God through faith in Jesus the Anointed to all and on all those who believe. For there is no distinction,
for all have trespassed, and fall short of the glory of God;
being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in the Anointed Jesus,
whom God sent to be an atoning sacrifice through faith in his blood, for a demonstration of his justice through the passing over of prior debts, in God’s forbearance;
to demonstrate his justice at this present time, that he might himself be just and the justifier of him who has faith in Jesus.
We maintain therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.
Or is God the God of Judaeans only? Isn’t he the God of nations also? Yes, of nations also,
since indeed there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.
Where There Is No Law
For the promise to Abraham and to his offspring that he would be heir of the world wasn’t through the law, but through the justice of faith.
For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void, and the promise is made of no effect.
For the law produces wrath; for where there is no law, neither is there disobedience.
For this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace, to the end that the promise may be sure to all the offspring, not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.
For while we were yet weak, at the right time the Anointed died for the ungodly.
For one will hardly die for a just man. Yet perhaps for a good person someone would even dare to die.
But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet debtors, the Anointed died for us.
Where Debt Increased, Grace Abounded
Therefore, as debt entered into the world through one man, and death through debt, so death passed to all men because all trespassed.
For until the law, debt was in the world; but debt is not charged when there is no law.
But the free gift isn’t like the trespass. For if by the trespass of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus the Anointed, abound to the many.
The gift is not as through one who trespassed; for the judgment came by one to condemnation, but the free gift followed many trespasses to justification.
For if by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one; so much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of justice reign in life through the one, Jesus the Anointed.
So then as through one trespass, all men were condemned; even so through one act of justice, all men were justified to life.
For as through the one man’s disobedience many were made debtors, even so through the obedience of the one, many will be made just.
The law came in that the trespass might abound; but where debt abounded, grace abounded more exceedingly,
that as debt reigned in death, even so grace might reign through justice to eternal life through Jesus the Anointed our Master.
Dead to the Law
What shall we say then? Shall we continue to trespass, that grace may abound?
May it never be! We who died to debt, how could we live in it any longer?
Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into the Anointed Jesus were baptized into his death?
We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, that just as the Anointed was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.
For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will also be part of his resurrection;
For he who has died has been freed from debt.
But if we died with the Anointed, we believe that we will also live with him,
knowing that the Anointed, being raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him!
For the death that he died, he died to debt one time; but the life that he lives, he lives to God.
Thus consider yourselves also to be dead to debt, but alive to God in the Anointed Jesus our Master.
Also, do not present your members to debt as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of justice to God.
For debt will not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under grace.
Through Law I Came to Know Debt
Or don’t you know, brothers (for I speak to men who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man for as long as he lives?
For the woman that has a husband is bound by law to the husband while he lives, but if the husband dies, she is discharged from the law of the husband.
So then if, while the husband lives, she is joined to another man, she would be called an adulteress. But if the husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she is joined to another man.
Therefore, my brothers, you also were made dead to the law through the body of the Anointed, that you would be joined to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we might produce fruit to God.
For when we were in the flesh, the burdens of debt which were through the law worked in our members to bring out fruit to death.
But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that in which we were held; so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter.
However, I wouldn’t have known debt except through the law. For I wouldn’t have known coveting unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”
No Condemnation
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in the Anointed Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
For the law of the Spirit of life in the Anointed Jesus made me free from the law of debt and of death.
Children of God
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are children of God.
For you didn’t receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God;
and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with the Anointed, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.
For the creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.
For the creation was subjected to decay, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, yet with a view toward hope
that the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the essential goodness of the children of God.
For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.
Not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for adoption.
Nothing Can Separate Us
What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Who could bring a charge (שטן) against God’s chosen ones? It is God who justifies.
Who is he who condemns (דין)? It is the Anointed who died, yes rather, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
Who shall separate us (סוהר) from the love of the Anointed? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Even as it is written,
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from God’s love which is in the Anointed Jesus our Master.
No Distinction
For there is no distinction between Judaean and Greek; for the same Master is Master of all, and is rich to all who call on him.
One Body in the Anointed
For even as we have many members in one body, and all the members don’t have the same function,
so we, who are many, are one body in the Anointed, and individually members of one another,
Let Love Be Genuine
Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil. Cling to that which is good.
In love of the brothers be tenderly affectionate to one another; in honor prefer one another,
not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Master,
rejoicing in hope, enduring in troubles, continuing steadfastly in prayer,
contributing to the needs of the saints, and given to hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you; bless, and don’t curse.
Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep.
Be of the same mind one toward another. Don’t set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Don’t be wise in your own conceits.
Repay no one evil for evil. Respect what is honorable in the sight of all men.
If it is possible, as much as it is up to you, be at peace with all men.
Don’t seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God’s justice.
Therefore
Don’t be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Love Is the Fulfilling of the Law
Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other commandments there are, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Love doesn’t harm a neighbor. Love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.
Nothing Is Unclean in Itself
Now accept one who is weak in faith, but not for disputes over opinions.
One man has faith to eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables.
Don’t let him who eats despise him who doesn’t eat. Don’t let him who doesn’t eat judge him who eats, for God has accepted him.
Who are you who judge another’s slave? To his own master he stands or falls. Yes, he will be made to stand, for God has power to make him stand.
One man esteems one day as more important. Another esteems every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind.
He who observes the day, observes it to the Master; and he who does not observe the day, to the Master he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Master, for he gives God thanks. He who doesn’t eat, to the Master he doesn’t eat, and gives God thanks.
For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself.
For if we live, we live to the Master. Or if we die, we die to the Master. If therefore we live or die, we are the Master’s.
For to this end the Anointed died, rose, and lived again, that he might be Master of both the dead and the living.
But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of the Anointed.
For it is written,
So then each one of us will give account of himself to God.
Therefore let’s not judge one another any more, but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block in his brother’s way, or an occasion for falling.
I know and am persuaded in the Master Jesus that nothing is unclean of itself; except that to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
Yet if because of food your brother is grieved, you walk no longer in love. Don’t destroy with your food him for whom the Anointed died.
Then don’t let your good be slandered,
for God’s Kingdom is not eating and drinking, but justice, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
For he who serves the Anointed in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men.
So then, let’s follow after things which make for peace, and things by which we may build one another up.
Don’t overthrow God’s work for food’s sake. All things indeed are clean, however it is evil for that man who creates a stumbling block by eating.
It is good to not eat meat, drink wine, nor do anything by which your brother stumbles, is offended, or is made weak.
Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who doesn’t judge himself in that which he approves.
But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because it isn’t of faith; and whatever is not of faith is debt.
Live in Harmony
Now the God of perseverance and of encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to the Anointed Jesus,
that with one accord you may with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Master Jesus the Anointed.
Therefore accept one another, even as the Anointed also accepted you, into the essential goodness of God.
Greetings
I commend to you Phoebe, our sister, who is a slave of the assembly that is at Cenchreae,
that you receive her in the Master in a way worthy of the saints, and that you assist her in whatever matter she may need from you, for she herself also has been a helper of many, and of my own self.
Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in the Anointed Jesus,
who risked their own necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the assemblies of the nations.
Greet the assembly that is in their house. Greet Epaenetus, my beloved, who is the first fruits of Achaia to the Anointed.
Greet Mary, who labored much for us.
Greet Andronicus and Junia, my relatives and my fellow prisoners, who are notable among the apostles, who were also in the Anointed before me.
Greet Amplias, my beloved in the Master.
Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in the Anointed, and Stachys, my beloved.
Greet Apelles, the approved in the Anointed. Greet those who are of the household of Aristobulus.
Greet Herodion, my kinsman. Greet them of the household of Narcissus, who are in the Master.
Greet Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who labor in the Master. Greet Persis, the beloved, who labored much in the Master.
Greet Rufus, the chosen in the Master, and his mother and mine.
Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers who are with them.
Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them.
Greet one another with a holy kiss. The assemblies of the Anointed greet you.
Doxology
Now to him who is able to establish you according to my Good News and the preaching of Jesus the Anointed, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret through long ages,
but now is revealed, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, is made known for obedience of faith to all the nations;
to the only wise God, through Jesus the Anointed, to whom be the glory forever! Amen.
The Mind of the Anointed
A letter from Paul and Timothy to the assembly at Philippi, written c. 57–59 C.E. Paul wrote this letter from prison, possibly after many months of detention, while facing the real possibility of execution
Greeting
Paul and Timothy, slaves of Jesus the Anointed, to all the saints in the Anointed Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and slaves:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Master Jesus the Anointed.
The Harvest of Justice
For God is my witness, how I long after all of you in the tender mercies of the Anointed Jesus.
This I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment,
so that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense to the day of the Anointed,
being filled with the fruits of justice which are through Jesus the Anointed, to the glory and praise of God.
Now I desire to have you know, brothers, that the things which happened to me have turned out rather to the progress of the Good News,
To Live Is the Anointed
according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will in no way be disappointed, but with all boldness, as always, now also the Anointed will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.
For to me to live is the Anointed, and to die is gain.
But if I live on in the flesh, this will bring fruit from my work; yet I don’t know what I will choose.
But I am hard pressed between the two, having the desire to depart and be with the Anointed, which is far better.
Yet to remain in the flesh is more needful for your sake.
Having this confidence, I know that I will remain, yes, and remain with you all for your progress and joy in the faith,
that your boasting may abound in the Anointed Jesus in me through my presence with you again.
Only let your way of life be worthy of the Good News of the Anointed, that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your state, that you stand firm in one spirit, with one soul striving for the faith of the Good News;
and in nothing frightened by the adversaries, which is for them a proof of destruction, but to you of salvation, and that from God.
Because it has been granted to you on behalf of the Anointed, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer on his behalf,
having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me.
The Mind of the Anointed
If therefore there is any exhortation in the Anointed, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion,
make my joy full by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind;
doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself;
each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.
Have this in your mind, which was also in the Anointed Jesus,
who, existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped,
but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being made in the likeness of men.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, yes, the death of the Tau.
Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,
and that every tongue should confess that Jesus the Anointed is Master, to the glory of God the Father.
So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
For it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
All Things as Loss
Beware of the false circumcision.
For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in the Anointed Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh;
though I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If any other man thinks that he has confidence in the flesh, I yet more:
circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee;
concerning zeal, persecuting the assembly; concerning the justice which is in the law, found blameless.
However, I consider those things that were gain to me as a loss for the Anointed.
Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be a loss for the excellency of the knowledge of the Anointed Jesus, my Master, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain the Anointed
and be found in him, not having a justice of my own, that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in the Anointed, the justice which is from God by faith,
that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed to his death,
if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, that I may take hold of that for which also I was taken hold of by the Anointed Jesus.
Brothers, I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do: forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before,
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in the Anointed Jesus.
Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, think this way. If in anything you think otherwise, God will also reveal that to you.
Nevertheless, to the extent that we have already attained, let’s walk by the same rule. Let’s be of the same mind.
Brothers, be imitators together of me, and note those who walk this way, even as you have us for an example.
For our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also wait for a Savior, the Master Jesus the Anointed,
who will change the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working by which he is able even to subject all things to himself.
The Peace That Surpasses Understanding
Rejoice in the Master always! Again I will say, “Rejoice!”
Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Master is at hand.
In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in the Anointed Jesus.
Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report: if there is any virtue and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Do the things which you learned, received, heard, and saw in me, and the God of peace will be with you.
But I rejoice in the Master greatly that now at length you have revived your thought for me; in which you did indeed take thought, but you lacked opportunity.
Not that I speak because of lack, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content in it.
I know how to be humbled, and I also know how to abound. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound and to be in need.
I can do all things through the Anointed who strengthens me.
Grace
My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in the Anointed Jesus.
Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever! Amen.
Greet every saint in the Anointed Jesus. The brothers who are with me greet you.
All the saints greet you, especially those who are of Caesar’s household.
The grace of the Master Jesus the Anointed be with you all. Amen.
A Slave No Longer
To Philemon's Household
Paul, a prisoner of the Anointed Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon, our beloved fellow worker,
to the beloved Apphia, to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the assembly in your house:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Good King Jesus the Anointed.
I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers,
hearing of your love and of the faith which you have toward the Good King Jesus and toward all the saints,
that the fellowship of your faith may become effective in the knowledge of every good thing which is in you in the Anointed Jesus.
For we have much joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.
I Appeal, Not Command
Therefore though I have all boldness in the Anointed to command you that which is appropriate,
yet for love’s sake I rather appeal to you, being such a one as Paul, the aged, but also a prisoner of Jesus the Anointed.
I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whom I have become the father of in my chains,
who once was useless to you, but now is useful to you and to me.
I am sending him back. Therefore receive him, that is, my own heart,
whom I desired to keep with me, that on your behalf he might serve me in my chains for the Good News.
But I was willing to do nothing without your consent, that your goodness would not be as of necessity, but of free will.
A Beloved Brother
For perhaps he was therefore separated from you for a while that you would have him forever,
no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother—especially to me, but how much rather to you, both in the flesh and in the Good King.
If then you count me a partner, receive him as you would receive me.
But if he has wronged you at all or owes you anything, put that to my account.
I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it (not to mention to you that you owe to me even your own self besides).
Yes, brother, let me have joy from you in the Good King. Refresh my heart in the Good King.
Final Greetings
Having confidence in your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even beyond what I say.
Also, prepare a guest room for me, for I hope that through your prayers I will be restored to you.
Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in the Anointed Jesus, greets you,
as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.
The grace of our Good King Jesus the Anointed be with your spirit. Amen.