He then said to his disciple, “Look, here is your mother!” From that very time ¹  the disciple took her into his own home.

And when the blood of your witness ¹  Stephen was shed, ²  I myself was standing nearby, approving, ³  and guarding the cloaks ⁴  of those who were killing him.’ ⁵ 

They know, ¹  because they have known ²  me from time past, ³  if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party ⁴  of our religion, I lived as a Pharisee. ⁵ 

And will not the physically uncircumcised man ¹  who keeps the law judge you who, despite ²  the written code ³  and circumcision, transgress the law?

Do we then nullify ¹  the law through faith? Absolutely not! Instead ²  we uphold the law.

For just as through the disobedience of the one man ¹  many ²  were made sinners, so also through the obedience of one man ³  many ⁴  will be made righteous.

Why not? Because they pursued ¹  it not by faith but (as if it were possible) by works. ²  They stumbled over the stumbling stone, ³ 

The faith ¹  you have, keep to yourself before God. Blessed is the one who does not judge himself by what he approves.

For everything that was written in former times was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and through encouragement of the scriptures we may have hope.

But since we have the same spirit of faith as that shown in ¹  what has been written, “I believed; therefore I spoke,” ²  we also believe, therefore we also speak.

Now because we are fellow workers, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain. ¹ 

And they did this not just as we had hoped, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and to us by the will of God.

The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law ¹  or by believing what you heard? ² 

For if the inheritance is based on the law, it is no longer based on the promise, but God graciously gave ¹  it to Abraham through the promise.

You who are trying to be declared righteous ¹  by the law have been alienated ²  from Christ; you have fallen away from grace!

With every prayer and petition, pray ¹  at all times in the Spirit, and to this end ²  be alert, with all perseverance and requests for all the saints.

In him you also were circumcised – not, however, ¹  with a circumcision performed by human hands, but by the removal ²  of the fleshly body, ³  that is, ⁴  through the circumcision done by Christ.

And we urge you, brothers and sisters, ¹  admonish the undisciplined, comfort the discouraged, help the weak, be patient toward all.

For the hidden power of lawlessness ¹  is already at work. However, the one who holds him back ²  will do so until he is taken out of the way,

not abandoning our own meetings, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and even more so because you see the day ¹  drawing near. ²