“The only reason they do what they do is for other people to see them. They make the little Scripture boxes they wear bigger and bigger. And they make the tassels on their prayer clothes long enough for people to notice them.
Without a doubt, the secret of our life of worship is great: Christ was shown to us in human form; the Spirit proved that he was right; he was seen by angels. The message about him was told to the nations; people in the world believed in him; he was taken up to heaven in glory.
We needed to talk about these problems, because some who pretended to be our brothers had come into our group secretly. They came in like spies to find out about the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. They wanted to make us slaves,
I do this because I am afraid that when I come, you will not be what I want you to be. And I am afraid that I will not be what you want me to be. I am afraid that I will find arguing, jealousy, anger, selfish fighting, evil talk, gossip, pride, and confusion there.
I may give away everything I have to help others, and I may even give my body as an offering to be burned. But I gain nothing by doing all this if I don’t have love.
Some of these believers were men from Cyprus and Cyrene. When these men came to Antioch, they began speaking to people who were not Jews. They told them the Good News about the Lord Jesus.
The apostles did not stop teaching the people. They continued to tell the Good News—that Jesus is the Messiah. They did this every day in the Temple area and in people’s homes.