1 Corinthians 4:1

For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He said, “Go, and tell this people, ‘You hear indeed, but don’t understand. You see indeed, but don’t perceive.’

This is what Yahweh, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Yahweh of Armies, says: “I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God.

that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying, “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.”

The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.

not a drinker, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous;

who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before times eternal,

At that time, Jesus answered, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you hid these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to infants.

for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to withstand or to contradict.

I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that he may know your circumstances and comfort your hearts,

His Son is the radiance of his glory, the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, who, when he had by himself purified us of our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high,

but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as he declared to his servants, the prophets.

Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust, and will not be afraid; for Yah, Yahweh, is my strength and song; and he has become my salvation.”

They don’t know, neither do they consider: for he has shut their eyes, that they can’t see; and their hearts, that they can’t understand.

“His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

that ‘seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest perhaps they should turn again, and their sins should be forgiven them.’ ”

No longer do I call you servants, for the servant doesn’t know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you.

Now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness,

When they had arrived, and had gathered the assembly together, they reported all the things that God had done with them, and that he had opened a door of faith to the nations.

For what do I have to do with also judging those who are outside? Don’t you judge those who are within?

how that by revelation the mystery was made known to me, as I wrote before in few words,

if it is so that you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the Good News which you heard, which is being proclaimed in all creation under heaven, of which I, Paul, was made a servant.

the mystery which has been hidden for ages and generations. But now it has been revealed to his saints,

For in him all the fullness of the Deity dwells bodily,

Moreover he must have good testimony from those who are outside, to avoid falling into reproach and the snare of the devil.

The Lord’s servant must not quarrel, but be gentle toward all, able to teach, patient,

“You and your sons are not to drink wine or strong drink whenever you go into the Tent of Meeting, or you will die. This shall be a statute forever throughout your generations.

‘Hear this now, foolish people without understanding, who have eyes, and don’t see, who have ears, and don’t hear:

You have made us an off-scouring and refuse in the middle of the peoples.

“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall give birth to a son. They shall call his name Immanuel;” which is, being interpreted, “God with us.”

In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says, ‘By hearing you will hear, and will in no way understand; Seeing you will see, and will in no way perceive:

But he said to them, “Not all men can receive this saying, but those to whom it is given.

While they were greatly perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling clothing.

He must increase, but I must decrease.

I and the Father are one.”

They will put you out of the synagogues. Yes, the time comes that whoever kills you will think that he offers service to God.

in the day when God will judge the secrets of men, according to my Good News, by Jesus Christ.

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.

who will also confirm you until the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now the natural man doesn’t receive the things of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to him, and he can’t know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Here, moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.

For who makes you different? And what do you have that you didn’t receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

But by the grace of God I am what I am. His grace which was given to me was not futile, but I worked more than all of them; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

Do you look at things only as they appear in front of your face? If anyone trusts in himself that he is Christ’s, let him consider this again with himself, that even as he is Christ’s, so we also are Christ’s.

We were also assigned an inheritance in him, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who does all things after the counsel of his will,

by which, when you read, you can perceive my understanding in the mystery of Christ,

to the intent that now through the assembly the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places,

But to each one of us, the grace was given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time.

that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and may have need of nothing.

holding faith and a good conscience, which some having thrust away made a shipwreck concerning the faith,

Therefore when he comes into the world, he says, “You didn’t desire sacrifice and offering, but you prepared a body for me.

As for you, the anointing which you received from him remains in you, and you don’t need for anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is no lie, and even as it taught you, you will remain in him.

But Yahweh has not given you a heart to know, eyes to see, and ears to hear, to this day.

The friendship of Yahweh is with those who fear him. He will show them his covenant.

Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

“His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

So then the Lord, after he had spoken to them, was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.

For I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name’s sake.”

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For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward. But if not of my own will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me.

who also made us sufficient as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Having therefore such a hope, we use great boldness of speech,

I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know our state and that he may comfort your hearts.

Above all these things, walk in love, which is the bond of perfection.

Brothers, pray for us.

Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be glorified, even as also with you,

The things which you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit the same things to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.

For the overseer must be blameless, as God’s steward, not self-pleasing, not easily angered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for dishonest gain;

Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were afterward to be spoken,

As each has received a gift, employ it in serving one another, as good managers of the grace of God in its various forms.

Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, not for dishonest gain, but willingly;

on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in opening my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the Good News,

holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.

“The duty of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest shall be the oil for the light, the sweet incense, the continual meal offering, and the anointing oil, the requirements of all the tabernacle, and of all that is in it, the sanctuary, and its furnishings.”

But you will be called Yahweh’s priests. Men will call you the servants of our God. You will eat the wealth of the nations. You will boast in their glory.

Put on sackcloth and mourn, you priests! Wail, you ministers of the altar. Come, lie all night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God, for the meal offering and the drink offering are withheld from your God’s house.

He answered them, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them.

“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has set over his household, to give them their food in due season?

He said to them, “To you is given the mystery of God’s Kingdom, but to those who are outside, all things are done in parables,

He said, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of God’s Kingdom, but to the rest in parables; that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’

The Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise steward, whom his lord will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the right times?

that I should be a servant of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, serving as a priest of the Good News of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be made acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom that has been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds for our glory,

Who then is Apollos, and who is Paul, but servants through whom you believed, and each as the Lord gave to him?

Being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world, the dirt wiped off by all, even until now.

If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but don’t have love, I am nothing.

For we don’t preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake,

but in everything commending ourselves, as servants of God, in great endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses,

Are they servants of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself.) I am more so: in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, and in deaths often.

For if I would desire to boast, I will not be foolish; for I will speak the truth. But I refrain, so that no man may think more of me than that which he sees in me or hears from me.

making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him

if it is so that you have heard of the administration of that grace of God which was given me toward you,

that their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love, and gaining all riches of the full assurance of understanding, that they may know the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ,

praying together for us also, that God may open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds,

not a new convert, lest being puffed up he fall into the same condemnation as the devil.

Without controversy, the mystery of godliness is great: God was revealed in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, and received up in glory.

even as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word delivered them to us,