By your endurance ¹  you will gain ²  your lives. ³ 

For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain.

To the Jews I became like a Jew to gain the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) ¹  to gain those under the law.

Now ¹  someone came up to him and said, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to gain eternal life?”

For what benefit is it for a person ¹  to gain the whole world, yet ²  forfeit his life?

Deacons likewise must be dignified, ¹  not two-faced, ²  not given to excessive drinking, ³  not greedy for gain,

who must be silenced because they mislead whole families by teaching for dishonest gain what ought not to be taught.

For since I am free from all I can make myself a slave to all, in order to gain even more people. ¹ 

For those who have served well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves ¹  and great boldness in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. ² 

These people are grumblers and ¹  fault-finders who go ²  wherever their desires lead them, ³  and they give bombastic speeches, ⁴  enchanting folks ⁵  for their own gain. ⁶ 

Jesus ¹  said,] ²  “For judgment I have come into this world, so that those who do not see may gain their sight, ³  and the ones who see may become blind.”

To those free from the law I became like one free from the law (though I am not free from God’s law but under the law of Christ) to gain those free from the law.

To the weak I became weak in order to gain the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that by all means I may save some.

Am I now trying to gain the approval of people, ¹  or of God? Or am I trying to please people? ²  If I were still trying to please ³  people, ⁴  I would not be a slave ⁵  of Christ!

For the overseer ¹  must be blameless as one entrusted with God’s work, ²  not arrogant, not prone to anger, not a drunkard, not violent, not greedy for gain.

More than that, I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things – indeed, I regard them as dung! ¹  – that I may gain Christ,