Dear friends, since we have these promises from God, let’s purify ourselves from everything that could make our bodies and spirits impure. Let’s be completely holy, to honor God.
that has come to you. In the same way, the good news is bearing fruit and growing all over the world, as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace.
Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. The church respected and obeyed the Lord and was encouraged by the Holy Spirit, and it grew even larger.
We were all baptized by one Spirit into one body. It didn’t matter whether we were Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free people. We were all given the same Spirit to drink.
We’re the ones who have truly been circumcised: We serve God by his Spirit, we boast in Christ Jesus, and we don’t put our trust in who we are or what we can do—although I myself could do that for many reasons.
He told them, “You know it’s against our law for a Jew to enter a Gentile home or have any close contact with a Gentile. But God has shown me that I shouldn’t say anyone isn’t pure and clean.
The Gentiles don’t have the law, but sometimes they naturally do what the law requires. When that happens, they’re being a law for themselves, even though they don’t have the law.