Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
To look up a word in a dictionary, select the word with your mouse and press 'd' on your keyboard.
1 For we know that when this tent
we live in—our body here on
earth—is torn down, God will have a
house in heaven for us to live in, a
home he himself has made, which
will last forever. note
2 And now we sigh,
so great is our desire that our home
which comes from heaven should be
put on over us;
3 by being clothed
with it we shall not be without a
body.
4 While we live in this earthly
tent, we groan with a feeling of oppression;
it is not that we want to get
rid of our earthly body, but that we
want to have the heavenly one put
on over us, so that what is mortal
will be transformed by life.
5 God is
the one who has prepared us for this
change, and he gave us his Spirit as
the guarantee of all that he has in
store for us.
6 So we are always full of courage.
We know that as long as we are
at home in the body we are away
from the Lord's home.
7 For our life
is a matter of faith, not of sight.
8 We
are full of courage and would much
prefer to leave our home in the body
and be at home with the Lord.
9 More than anything else, however,
we want to please him, whether in
our home here or there.
10 For all of
us must appear before Christ, to be
judged by him. Each one will receive
what he deserves, according to
everything he has done, good or bad,
in his bodily life. note
Friendship with God through Christ
11 We know what it means to fear
the Lord, and so we try to persuade
others. God knows us completely,
and I hope that in your hearts you
know me as well.
12 We are not trying
again to recommend ourselves to
you; rather, we are trying to give
you a good reason to be proud of us,
so that you will be able to answer
those who boast about a man's appearance
and not about his character.
13 Are we really insane? It is for
God's sake. Or are we sane? Then it
is for your sake.
14 We are ruled by
the love of Christ, now that we recognize
that one man died for everyone,
which means that they all share
in his death.
15 He died for all, so that
those who live should no longer live
for themselves, but only for him who
died and was raised to life for their
sake.
16 No longer, then, do we judge
anyone by human standards. Even if
at one time we judged Christ according
to human standards, we no
longer do so.
17 When anyone is
joined to Christ, he is a new being;
the old is gone, the new has come.
18 All this is done by God, who
through Christ changed us from enemies
into his friends and gave us
the task of making others his friends
also.
19 Our message is that God was
making all mankind his friends
through Christ. noteGod did not keep an
account of their sins, and he has given
us the message which tells how
he makes them his friends.
20 Here we are, then, speaking for
Christ, as though God himself were
making his appeal through us. We
plead on Christ's behalf: let God
change you from enemies into his
friends!
21 Christ was without sin,
but for our sake God made him
-- --
share our sin in order that in union
with him we might share the righteousness
of God.
Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
|