But some in the crowd shouted one thing, and others something else, ¹  and when the commanding officer ²  was unable ³  to find out the truth ⁴  because of the disturbance, ⁵  he ordered Paul ⁶  to be brought into the barracks. ⁷ 

So they began to leave, ¹  unable to agree among themselves, after Paul made one last statement: “The Holy Spirit spoke rightly to your ancestors ²  through the prophet Isaiah

And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised, ¹  so that he would become ²  the father of all those who believe but have never been circumcised, ³  that they too could have righteousness credited to them.

For this reason it is by faith so that it may be by grace, ¹  with the result that the promise may be certain to all the descendants – not only to those who are under the law, but also to those who have the faith of Abraham, ²  who is the father of us all

(I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh.) ¹  For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

So, my brothers and sisters, ¹  you also died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you could be joined to another, to the one who was raised from the dead, to bear fruit to God. ² 

For when we were in the flesh, ¹  the sinful desires, ²  aroused by the law, were active in the members of our body ³  to bear fruit for death.

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! Certainly, I ¹  would not have known sin except through the law. For indeed I would not have known what it means to desire something belonging to someone else ²  if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” ³ 

Thanks be ¹  to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, ²  I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but ³  with my flesh I serve ⁴  the law of sin.

For God achieved what the law could not do because ¹  it was weakened through the flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,

Moreover if the Spirit of the one ¹  who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ ²  from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive through his Spirit who lives in you. ³ 

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.

For by the grace given to me I say to every one of you not to think more highly of yourself than you ought to think, but to think with sober discernment, as God has distributed to each of you ¹  a measure of faith. ² 

For these are the kind who do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By their smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds ¹  of the naive.

I have applied these things to myself and Apollos because of you, brothers and sisters, ¹  so that through us you may learn “not to go beyond what is written,” so that none of you will be puffed up in favor of the one against the other.

For this reason, I have sent Timothy to you, who is my dear and faithful son in the Lord. He will remind you of my ways in Christ, ¹  as I teach them everywhere in every church.

Do not deprive each other, except by mutual agreement for a specified time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. ¹  Then resume your relationship, ²  so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

From Paul, ¹  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the church of God that is in Corinth, ²  with all the saints who are in all Achaia. ³ 

who comforts us in all our troubles ¹  so that we may be able to comfort those experiencing any trouble ²  with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

For out of great distress and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not to make you sad, but to let you know the love that I have especially for you. ¹