Let me ask again: Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you do what the law says? Or is it because you believe what you’ve heard?
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.
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.
But how can they call on someone they haven’t believed in? How can they believe in someone they’ve never heard of? How can they hear about him unless someone preaches to them?
You’ve been born again through the living word of God, which lasts forever. You haven’t been born again from a seed that will die, but from one that can’t die.
I, John, am your brother and your partner in the suffering, the kingdom, and the patient endurance of Jesus. I was on the island of Patmos because of God’s word and the testimony of Jesus.
Unlike many people, we aren’t selling God’s word to make money. It’s just the opposite! Because of Christ, we speak honestly before God, as people God has truly sent.
The good news has been preached to us, just as it was to our people of long ago. But the message they heard didn’t do them any good, because they didn’t embrace it by faith when they heard it.