You also came to belong to Christ when you heard the message of truth, the good news about how you could be saved. When you believed, God stamped you with an official mark, the Holy Spirit that he promised.
Now there’s a crown waiting for me, the crown that’s given to those who are right with God. The Lord, who judges fairly, will give it to me on the day he returns, and not only to me, but also to all those who are longing for him to return.
God has chosen to make known to them the glorious riches of that mystery among the Gentiles. And here’s what it is: Christ is in you, the hope of glory.
But you must keep your faith steady and firm and not move away from the hope that the good news is offering you. This is the good news that you heard. It has been preached to every creature under heaven and I, Paul, am its servant.
We also thank God constantly for the way you received his word when you heard it from us. You didn’t accept it as a human word, but for what it is, the word of God. And that word is truly at work in you who believe.
God was bringing the world back to himself through Christ and not holding people’s sins against them. God has trusted us with this message about how people can be brought back to him.
Paul knew that some of them were Sadducees and others were Pharisees. So he called out to the members of the Sanhedrin, “My brothers, I’m a Pharisee. I come from a family of Pharisees. I’m on trial because I believe that people will rise from the dead.”
But make sure that you honor Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope you have. But do this gently and with respect.
May our Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father encourage your hearts and make you strong in every good thing that you do and say. God loved us and by his grace he has given us good hope and encouragement that will last forever.
Let the message about Christ live among you richly as you teach and correct one another with great wisdom. Sing psalms and hymns and songs from the Spirit to God with gratitude in your hearts.
So sell what you own and give to the poor. That will be like putting your money in a bag that will never wear out. Store up your riches in heaven, where they can never be used up, where no thief can get near them and no moth can destroy them.
When I saw that they were not acting consistently with the truth of the good news, I spoke to Peter in front of everyone. I said, “You’re a Jew, but you live like a Gentile, not a Jew. So why are you trying force the Gentiles to follow Jewish ways?