Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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Preserve Your Freedom
1 Freedom is what we have—
Christ has set us free! Stand,
then, as free people, and do not allow
yourselves to become slaves
again.
2 Listen! I, Paul, tell you that if
you allow yourselves to be circumcised,
it means that Christ is of no
use to you at all.
3 Once more I warn
any man who allows himself to be
circumcised that he is obliged to
obey the whole Law.
4 Those of you
who try to be put right with God by
obeying the Law have cut yourselves
off from Christ. You are outside
God's grace.
5 As for us, our
hope is that God will put us right
with him; and this is what we wait
for by the power of God's Spirit
working through our faith.
6 For
when we are in union with Christ
Jesus, neither circumcision nor the
lack of it makes any difference at all;
what matters is faith that works
through love.
7 You were doing so well! Who
made you stop obeying the truth?
How did he persuade you?
8 It was
not done by God, who calls you.
9 “It takes only a little yeast to make
the whole batch of dough rise,” as
they say. note
10 But I still feel confident
about you. Our life in union with the
Lord makes me confident that you
will not take a different view and
that the man who is upsetting you,
whoever he is, will be punished by
God.
11 But as for me, my brothers, if I
continue to preach that circumcision
is necessary, why am I still being
persecuted? If that were true, then
my preaching about the cross of
Christ would cause no trouble.
12 I
wish that the people who are upsetting
you would go all the way; let
them go on and castrate themselves!
13 As for you, my brothers, you
were called to be free. But do not let
this freedom become an excuse for
letting your physical desires control
you. Instead, let love make you
serve one another.
14 For the whole
Law is summed up in one commandment:
“Love your neighbor as you
love yourself.” note
15 But if you act like
wild animals, hurting and harming
each other, then watch out, or you
will completely destroy one another.
The Spirit and Human Nature
16 What I say is this: let the Spirit
direct your lives, and you will not
satisfy the desires of the human nature.
17 For what our human nature
-- --
wants is opposed to what the Spirit
wants, and what the Spirit wants is
opposed to what our human nature
wants. These two are enemies, and
this means that you cannot do what
you want to do. note
18 If the Spirit leads
you, then you are not subject to the
Law.
19 What human nature does is
quite plain. It shows itself in immoral,
filthy, and indecent actions;
20 in worship of idols and witchcraft.
People become enemies and they
fight; they become jealous, angry,
and ambitious. They separate into
parties and groups;
21 they are envious,
get drunk, have orgies, and do
other things like these. I warn you
now as I have before: those who do
these things will not possess the
Kingdom of God.
22 But the Spirit produces love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness,
23 humility, and self-control.
There is no law against such
things as these.
24 And those who belong
to Christ Jesus have put to
death their human nature with all its
passions and desires.
25 The Spirit
has given us life; he must also control
our lives.
26 We must not be
proud or irritate one another or be
jealous of one another.
Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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