(SEE 3:25)

Let me put it this way: each one of you says something different. One says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Peter"; and another, "I follow Christ."

Do I imply, then, that an idol or the food offered to it really amounts to anything?

that is, not your own conscience, but the other person's conscience. "Well, then," someone asks, "why should my freedom to act be limited by another person's conscience?

What I mean, friends, is that what is made of flesh and blood cannot share in God's Kingdom, and what is mortal cannot possess immortality.

They are God's people; he made them his children and revealed his glory to them; he made his covenants with them and gave them the Law; they have the true worship; they have received God's promises;

they are descended from the famous Hebrew ancestors; and Christ, as a human being, belongs to their race. May God, who rules over all, be praised forever! Amen.

Then Jesus replied, "I have been sent only to the lost sheep of the people of Israel."

like the Son of Man, who did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life to redeem many people."

He came to his own country, but his own people did not receive him.

The promises of God through his prophets are for you, and you share in the covenant which God made with your ancestors. As he said to Abraham, 'Through your descendants I will bless all the people on earth.'

And so God chose his Servant and sent him to you first, to bless you by making every one of you turn away from your wicked ways."

But Paul and Barnabas spoke out even more boldly: "It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken first to you. But since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we will leave you and go to the Gentiles.

But when the right time finally came, God sent his own Son. He came as the son of a human mother and lived under the Jewish Law,

to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might become God's children.

But what if some of them were not faithful? Does this mean that God will not be faithful?

The LORD announced his victory; he made his saving power known to the nations.

He kept his promise to the people of Israel with loyalty and constant love for them. All people everywhere have seen the victory of our God.

You will show your faithfulness and constant love to your people, the descendants of Abraham and of Jacob, as you promised our ancestors long ago.

He has kept the promise he made to our ancestors, and has come to the help of his servant Israel.

Mary stayed about three months with Elizabeth and then went back home.

He promised through his holy prophets long ago

He said he would show mercy to our ancestors and remember his sacred covenant.

for it is he who is the "Yes" to all of God's promises. This is why through Jesus Christ our "Amen" is said to the glory of God.

of being a servant of Christ Jesus to work for the Gentiles. I serve like a priest in preaching the Good News from God, in order that the Gentiles may be an offering acceptable to God, dedicated to him by the Holy Spirit.

And he also wanted to reveal his abundant glory, which was poured out on us who are the objects of his mercy, those of us whom he has prepared to receive his glory.

For we are the people he called, not only from among the Jews but also from among the Gentiles.

Here we see how kind and how severe God is. He is severe toward those who have fallen, but kind to you---if you continue in his kindness. But if you do not, you too will be broken off.

As for you Gentiles, you disobeyed God in the past; but now you have received God's mercy because the Jews were disobedient.

and those in the East will praise him. The people who live along the sea will praise the LORD, the God of Israel.

From the most distant parts of the world we will hear songs in praise of Israel, the righteous nation. But there is no hope for me! I am wasting away! Traitors continue to betray, and their treachery grows worse and worse.

There are other sheep which belong to me that are not in this sheep pen. I must bring them, too; they will listen to my voice, and they will become one flock with one shepherd.

At that time you were apart from Christ. You were foreigners and did not belong to God's chosen people. You had no part in the covenants, which were based on God's promises to his people, and you lived in this world without hope and without God.

For Christ himself has brought us peace by making Jews and Gentiles one people. With his own body he broke down the wall that separated them and kept them enemies.

By his death on the cross Christ destroyed their enmity; by means of the cross he united both races into one body and brought them back to God.

It is through Christ that all of us, Jews and Gentiles, are able to come in the one Spirit into the presence of the Father.

You, too, are built upon the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, the cornerstone being Christ Jesus himself.

In union with him you too are being built together with all the others into a place where God lives through his Spirit.

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles, pray to God.

God revealed his secret plan and made it known to me. (I have written briefly about this,

In past times human beings were not told this secret, but God has revealed it now by the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets.

I was made a servant of the gospel by God's special gift, which he gave me through the working of his power.

But you are the chosen race, the King's priests, the holy nation, God's own people, chosen to proclaim the wonderful acts of God, who called you out of darkness into his own marvelous light.

At one time you were not God's people, but now you are his people; at one time you did not know God's mercy, but now you have received his mercy.