But you’ve been set free from sin, and you’ve become slaves of God. You’re gaining a great benefit from that: You’re living in the right way, and the end result will be eternal life.
My brothers and sisters, you were called to be free. But don’t use your freedom as an excuse to live under the power of sin. Instead, serve one another humbly in love.
Someone who was a slave when the Lord called them is now serving the Lord as a free person. But it’s just as true that someone who was free when God called them is now a slave of Christ.
Now do I sound like somebody who wants people to think well of me? Or do I sound like somebody who wants God to think well of me? If I were still trying to please people, I wouldn’t be serving Christ.
My brothers and sisters, when Christ died, you also died, and so you were no longer “married” to the law. Then it became possible for you to belong to Christ instead. He was raised from the dead so that our lives could produce what God wanted.
From Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. God sent me to help his chosen people deepen their faith and understand even better the truth that leads to godly living.
Then you’ll be able to lead a life that is worthy of the Lord and please him in every way. You’ll bear fruit in every good thing you do, you’ll get to know God better,
Thanks be to God, who saves me through Jesus Christ our Lord. So in my mind, I’m a slave to God’s law. But if I follow my sinful desires, then I’m a slave to the law of sin.
You didn’t choose me, I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit that would endure, so that you would receive from the Father anything you ask for in my name.
Everyone who has left houses or fields, brothers or sisters, father or mother, or husband or wife and children because of me will receive 100 times as much. They will also receive eternal life.
Epaphras, who’s from your community and who’s a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He’s always praying hard for you, that you’ll stand firm in the will of God and that you’ll be confident and mature.