And he said to them, For this reason every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house, who gives out from his store things new and old.
As it is said in the holy Writings, I have made you a father of a number of nations before him in whom he had faith, that is, God, who gives life to the dead, and to whom the things which are not are as if they were.
But now we are free from the law, having been made dead to that which had power over us; so that we are servants in the new way of the spirit, not in the old way of the letter.
And God has put some in the church, first, Apostles; second, prophets; third, teachers; then those with wonder-working powers, then those with the power of taking away disease, helpers, wise guides, users of strange tongues.
In the measure of the grace given to me, I, as a wise master-builder, have put the base in position, and another goes on building on it. But let every man take care what he puts on it.
Are they servants of Christ? I am talking foolishly I am more so; I have had more experience of hard work, of prisons, of blows more than measure, of death.
But their minds were made hard: for to this very day at the reading of the old agreement the same veil is still unlifted; though it is taken away in Christ.
For you are clearly a letter of Christ, the fruit of our work, recorded not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in stone, but in hearts of flesh.
For if the operation of the law, giving death, recorded in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the eyes of the children of Israel had to be turned away from the face of Moses because of its glory, a glory which was only for a time:
Is the law then against the words of God? in no way; because if there had been a law which was able to give life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.
If you keep these things before the minds of the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, trained in the words of the faith and of the right teaching which has been your guide:
Now may the God of peace, who made that great keeper of his flock, even our Lord Jesus, come back from the dead through the blood of the eternal agreement,
Because Christ once went through pain for sins, the upright one taking the place of sinners, so that through him we might come back to God; being put to death in the flesh, but given life in the Spirit;
That which was from the first, which has come to our ears, and which we have seen with our eyes, looking on it and touching it with our hands, about the Word of life