Study Desk

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: Though he was rich, for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.

For he welcomed our appeal and, being very diligent, went out to you by his own choice.

We have sent with him the brother who is praised among all the churches for his gospel ministry.

We have also sent with them our brother. We have often tested him in many circumstances and found him to be diligent—and now even more diligent because of his great confidence in you.

Each person should do as he has decided in his heart—not reluctantly or out of compulsion, since God loves a cheerful giver.

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

For it is said, “His letters are weighty and powerful, but his physical presence is weak and his public speaking amounts to nothing.”

But I fear that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your minds may be seduced from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

So it is no great surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will be according to their works.

So I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped from his hands.

But when God, who from my mother’s womb set me apart and called me by his grace, was pleased

to reveal his Son in me, so that I could preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone.

But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned.

Then the rest of the Jews joined his hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.

Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say “and to seeds,” as though referring to many, but referring to one, and to your seed, who is Christ.

Instead, he is under guardians and trustees until the time set by his father.

When the time came to completion, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,

And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!”

Let each person examine his own work, and then he can take pride in himself alone, and not compare himself with someone else.

For each person will have to carry his own load.