By the seed which was sown among the brambles is meant the man who hears the Message, but the cares of life and the glamour of wealth completely choke the Message, so that it gives no return.
Then Jesus took some bread, and, after saying the thanksgiving, broke it and gave to them, with the words: "This is my body, [which is now to be given on your behalf. Do this in memory of me."
I can do nothing of myself; I judge as I am taught; and the judgment that I give is just, because my aim is not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
Do not conform to the fashion of this world; but be transformed by the complete change that has come over your minds, so that you may discern what God's will is--all that is good, acceptable, and perfect.
Yet he who searches all our hearts knows what the Spirit's meaning is, because the pleadings of the Spirit for Christ's People are in accordance with his will.
What Law could not do, in so far as our earthly nature weakened its action, God did, by sending his own Son, with a nature resembling our sinful nature, to atone for sin. He condemned sin in that earthly nature,
For at the very beginning of my teaching I gave you the account which I had myself received-that Christ died for our sins (as the Scriptures had foretold),
Men whose minds have been blinded by the God of this Age, unbelievers as they are, so that the light from the Good News of the glory of the Christ, who is the very incarnation of God, should not shine for them.
I have been crucified with Christ. So it is no longer I that live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and, as for my present earthly life, I am living it by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
But, for my part, may I never boast of anything except the cross of Jesus Christ, our Master, through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
In him, I say, for by our union with him we became God's Heritage, having from the first been destined for this in the intention of him who, in all that happens, is carrying out his own fixed purpose;
For at one time you lived in sin, following the ways of the world, in subjection to the Ruler of the Powers of the air--the Spirit who is still at work among the disobedient.
And live a life of love, following the example of the Christ, who loved you and gave himself for you as 'an offering and a sacrifice to God, that should be fragrant and acceptable.'
For ours is no struggle against enemies of flesh and blood, but against all the various Powers of Evil that hold sway in the Darkness around us, against the Spirits of Wickedness on high.
Recalling continually before our God and Father the efforts that have resulted from your faith, the toil prompted by your love, and the patient endurance sustained by your hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
And so make your hearts strong, and your lives pure beyond reproach, in the sight of our God and Father, at the Coming of our Lord Jesus, with all his Holy Ones.
And may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and, in his loving-kindness, gave us unfailing consolation and good ground for hope,
For he gave himself on our behalf, to deliver us from all wickedness, and to purify for himself a People who should be peculiarly his own and eager to do good.
how much more will the blood of the Christ, who, through his eternal Spirit, offered himself up to God, as a victim without blemish, purify our consciences from a lifeless formality, and fit us for the service of the Living God!
Unfaithful people! Do not you know that to be friends with the world means to be at enmity with God? Therefore whoever chooses to be friends with the world makes himself an enemy to God.
And he 'himself carried our sins' in his own body to the cross, so that we might die to our sins, and live for righteousness. 'His bruising was your healing.'
For Christ himself died to atone for sins once for all--the good on behalf of the bad--that he might bring you to God; his body being put to death, but his spirit entering upon new Life.
We have learned to know what love is from this--that Christ laid down his life on our behalf. Therefore we also ought to lay down our lives on behalf of our Brothers.
and from Jesus Christ, ' the faithful Witness, the First-born from the dead, and the Ruler of all the Kings of the earth.' To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his own blood--
And they are singing a new song--'Thou art worthy to take the book and break its seals, for thou wast sacrificed, and with thy blood thou didst buy for God men of every tribe, and language, and people, and nation,
After this, in my vision, I saw a vast throng which no man could number, of men from every nation and of all tribes, and peoples, and languages. They stood in front of the throne and in front of the Lamb, robed in white, holding palm branches in their hands.