1 Thessalonians
Hey Thessalonians!
We're always mentioning you guys! You've set a good example for all of Greece by turning from idol worship to serving the one true God, and awaiting Jesus' return from heaven!
We were so glad that you accepted the word of God for what is (i.e. not the word of man which some people keep saying). You imitated the churches of Jesus in Judea, and have suffered from your countrymen, like the churches in Judea suffered from the Jews!
The Jews: they killed Lord Jesus and the prophets, drove us out... they displease God and oppose all mankind by hindering us from speaking to the gentiles.
We sent Timothy to check on you and strengthen your faith in the face of the your current afflictions. Remember, when we were with you we said that you'd have to suffer afflictions. I was worried you'd given in to temptation and abandoned your faith!
But Timothy came back saying you were doing great. We pray night and day hoping to see you again. May God and Lord Jesus bless you, and increase your love for each other.
Finally, remember the instructions we gave you on how to please God! Abstain from sexual immorality! Control yourself! (Unlike those horny gentiles). Love each other. Live quietly. Mind your own affairs.
Jesus died and rose again, and will come back to raise the dead and take the faithful to Heaven. He will descend, and we the living will be taken up to the clouds to meet the Lord.
That day will come like a thief in the night but, unlike the faithless, you won't be surprised when it comes! Encourage each other and build each other's strength until that day comes!
Respect people. Be at peace with yourselves. Admonish the idle. Encourage the faint-hearted. Help the weak. Be patient. Never repay evil with evil. Do good to one another. Pray constantly. Abstain from all evil. I hope your entire spirit and body is blameless at Jesus' coming!
Pray for us, and please read this letter out to everyone.
Yours faithfully,
Paul, Silvanus and Timothy
Galatians
Dear Galatians,
I am astonished that you are so quickly abandoning your faith and turning to a different gospel! Not that there really is another gospel - it's just people distorting the true gospel of Christ. Even if an angel descended from heaven and preached a gospel contrary to the one we taught, you shouldn't believe it. The angel is accursed.
The gospel that was preached to me was not man's gospel; I received it through direct revelation from Jesus Christ. In my former life in Judaism I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. But God, who chose me before I was born, called me by his grace and revealed his son to me, so that I might preach to the gentiles. I went to Arabia first.
Three years later I visited Cephas in Jerusalem for 15 days, but didn't see any of the other apostles except James, brother of Jesus. Then I went to Syria and Cilicia. I was still an unknown person in the churches of Jesus in Judea.
Fourteen years later I returned to Jerusalem with Barnabas and Titus. I went to proclaim the gospel I had been teaching the gentiles. They saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised. When James, Cephas and John saw the grace given to me, they gave me the hand of fellowship, and said I should continue preaching to the uncircumcised, while they preached to the circumcised.
We know that a person is not justified by obeying the law: only through faith in Jesus Christ. Christ lives in me now. The life I now live I live by faith in Jesus, who loved me and gave himself for me. If righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for no reason! It is those of faith who are the true sons of Abraham!
God told Abraham that through him all nations would be blessed; it is through Abraham's descendant, Jesus, that all nations are blessed. It is not through adherence to the law, which came 430 years later. The law was put in place by angels to keep Abraham's descendants alive until the coming of Jesus! Before Jesus came, we were captives under the law! The law was our guardian until the coming of Jesus! Through Jesus you are all sons of God!
Now you have come to know God, how can you back to your old ways? I am afraid I may have laboured over you in vain!
Look: if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. If you get circumcised, if you want to follow the law, then you must follow all of it. You will be severed from Christ; you will have fallen from grace. In Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision matters, only faith!
Walk in the ways of the spirit, not the flesh. The ways of the flesh are sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, etc. Those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. With such things there is no law.
Bear one another's burdens. If anyone transgresses, restore him to faith in a spirit of gentleness. Whatever one sows, that will he also reap. One who sows to the flesh will reap corruption; one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life!
Yours faithfully,
Paul, an apostle chosen by Lord Jesus and God the Father.
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