• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, “‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord.” (Rom. 12:14-19)

• 1 & 2 Corinthians

During Paul’s lifetime, the Greek city of Corinth was one of the most important cities in the Roman empire. A commercial bridge between East and West, it attracted merchants, traders, and visitors from all around the Mediterranean area, making it something like the “Times Square” of its day. This gave the Corinthians something of a “reputation.” In fact, one of the Greek verbs for “fornication” was korinthiazomai, derived from the city’s name. In other words, Paul was addressing a church planted in an atmosphere of temptation and immoral sexual practices. Paul says he has heard of one man who is sexually involved with his stepmother. He also singles out for condemnation the “sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, the self-indulgent, sodomites, thieves, misers, drunkards, slanderers and swindlers,” leaving the impression that Corinth was a very hot town.

There are two letters to the church in this Greek city. The first epistle may have been written as early as 54 CE; the second was probably written a year later. In the first, Paul calls for unity as factions within the Corinthian church are already splintering these Christians among several leaders. Paul also addresses sexual morality, marriage, divorce, the Eucharist, and the importance of love. 1 Corinthians contains some of Paul’s most timeless expressions, and when read in context, Paul is far more of an equal rights advocate for women than he is supposed to be.

The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. (Rom. 7:3-4)

Nevertheless in the Lord woman is not independent of man or man independent of woman. For just as woman came from man, so man comes through woman; but all things come from God. (1 Cor. 11:11-12)

If I speak in the tongues or mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. (1 Cor. 13:1-3)

Listen I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. (1 Cor. 15:51-52)

So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal. (2 Cor. 4:16-18)

For God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Cor. 9:7)

• Galatians

Written to churches Paul had personally founded in Galatia, a Roman province in what is now Turkey, this letter is believed to be among the earliest written by Paul. Despite extensive research, the exact location of the churches addressed by Paul is unknown.

Paul was apparently writing in response to Jewish-Christian teachers who had arrived in the Galatian churches and were insisting on circumcision as a requirement for