So I ask, God has not rejected his people, has he? Absolutely not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.

God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew! Do you not know what the scripture says about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?

Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, ¹  by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice – alive, holy, and pleasing to God ²  – which is your reasonable service.

One person regards one day holier than other days, and another regards them all alike. ¹  Each must be fully convinced in his own mind.

But just as it is written, “Things that no eye has seen, or ear heard, or mind imagined, ¹  are the things God has prepared for those who love him.” ² 

The unbeliever ¹  does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. And he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

It is actually reported that sexual immorality exists among you, the kind of immorality that is not permitted even among the Gentiles, so that someone is cohabiting with ¹  his father’s wife.

But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who calls himself a Christian ¹  who is sexually immoral, or greedy, or an idolater, or verbally abusive, ²  or a drunkard, or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person.

and those members we consider less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our unpresentable members are clothed with dignity, ¹ 

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been in vain. In fact, I worked harder than all of them – yet not I, but the grace of God with me.

And we all, with unveiled faces reflecting the glory of the Lord, ¹  are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, ²  which is from ³  the Lord, who is the Spirit. ⁴ 

Therefore, because we know the fear of the Lord, ¹  we try to persuade ²  people, ³  but we are well known ⁴  to God, and I hope we are well known to your consciences too.

So then, even though I wrote to you, it was not on account of the one who did wrong, or on account of the one who was wronged, but to reveal to you your eagerness on our behalf ¹  before God.

Therefore we have been encouraged. And in addition to our own encouragement, we rejoiced even more at the joy of Titus, because all of you have refreshed his spirit. ¹ 

But as you excel ¹  in everything – in faith, in speech, in knowledge, and in all eagerness and in the love from us that is in you ²  – make sure that you excel ³  in this act of kindness ⁴  too.

Therefore I thought it necessary to urge these brothers to go to you in advance and to arrange ahead of time the generous contribution ¹  you had promised, so this may be ready as a generous gift ²  and not as something you feel forced to do. ³ 

Each one of you should give ¹  just as he has decided in his heart, ²  not reluctantly ³  or under compulsion, ⁴  because God loves a cheerful giver.

even because of the extraordinary character of the revelations. Therefore, ¹  so that I would not become arrogant, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to trouble ²  me – so that I would not become arrogant. ³ 

For indeed he was crucified by reason of weakness, but he lives because of God’s power. For we also are weak in him, but we will live together with him, because of God’s power toward you.

Until ¹  certain people came from James, he had been eating with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he stopped doing this ²  and separated himself ³  because he was afraid of those who were pro-circumcision. ⁴