Abridged Translation of 1 Corinthians

1 Cor 1:1-9
Paul, called to be a missionary of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Sosthénis, our brother. To the community of the people of God in Korinthos, called and set apart to do the work of God in Christ Jesus, with all those who call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ everywhere, their Lord and ours. Grace to you and peace from our God Father and Lord Jesus Christ.

I always thank my God for you because of God’s grace given to you in Christ Jesus, because in every way you have been enriched in Him, in every word and in all knowledge, just as the testimony of the Christ is established in you. Therefore, you do not lack in any spiritual gift as you await the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. And He will strengthen you to the end, blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God bestows the energy of salvation and He calls you into community with His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Cor 1:18-31
The meaning of the Cross to those whose souls are being destroyed is foolishness, but to those being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will nullify the intelligence of the intelligent.”
Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the man of reason of this age? Did God not render the world’s wisdom foolish? Since, by God’s wisdom, the world did not know God by its own wisdom, God determined to save those with the energy of salvation through the foolishness of the proclamation. And since Jews ask for signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we proclaim crucified Christ as the Crosspoint, it is a trap for Jews, foolishness to other nations, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom, because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

Just look at yourselves at the moment of your calling, brothers: not many wise by human standards, not many powerful, not many socially prominent by birth. But God chose the world’s fools to shame the wise, and God chose the world’s weak to shame the strong, and God chose the socially unimportant by physical birth in this world and those looked down on, the have-nots, so that He may render the power of the haves useless so that no mere human may boast before God. It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus Who became for us wisdom from God, our right relationship with God, our setting apart for the work of God, and our release from the captive condition, so that it is as written: “May he who boasts boast in the Lord.”

1 Cor 2:1-16
And I too came to you, brothers, not with eloquent words or superior wisdom, but proclaiming to you the mystery of God. For I did not determine to see anything in you except Jesus Christ, and Christ crucified. And I came to you in weakness and in fear and with much trembling, and my message and my proclamation were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of Spirit and power, so that your energy of salvation may not consist in human wisdom but in God’s power.
Hence we are talking about wisdom among the mature, but not wisdom of this age nor of the rulers of this age who are coming to nothing. Instead we are talking about God’s wisdom in the hidden mystery which God set up before time began for our transformation, which none of the rulers of this age have known; for if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of transformation. But as it is written, “The eye did not see and the ear did not hear and the human heart did not receive what God prepared for those whose energy of salvation is in Him.”

But God revealed it to us through the Spirit: for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who among men has known the thoughts of the man if not the man’s spirit within him? Likewise, no one has known the thoughts of God except God’s Spirit.
Hence we did not receive the spirit from the world, but the Spirit that is from God so that we may understand the things that God has endowed us with. And we are talking about things not by learned words of human wisdom, but by teachings of the Spirit, spiritually interpreting by spiritual teachings. But the physical man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot recognize them because they are spiritually discerned. But the spiritual man examines everything, though he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment. For who knew God’s mind Who will unite him? But we have the mind of Christ.

1 Cor 3:1-23
And I too, brothers, could not speak to you as spiritually mature men, but as to physical organisms, as immature in Christ. I fed you milk, not solid food; nor were you able. But not even now are you able, for you are still physical organisms; for where jealousy and selfish rivalry are in you, are you not physical organisms and do you not move as mere men? For when someone says, “I am of Paul, but the other I am of Apollos”, are you not mere men? For who is Apollos? And who is Paul? They are servants through whom you have realized the energy of salvation, and to each one as the Lord has given. I planted, Apollos watered, but God made it grow; neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but the One Who makes it grow. Though the one who plants and the one who waters are one, each one will receive his own reward according to his own effort. For we are God’s co-workers, God’s cultivated field, you are God’s building.
By the gifts that God gave me, like the wise master-builder I laid down the foundation, but another builds. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay down a foundation other than the one laid down, which is Jesus Christ. Hence if anyone builds on a foundation of gold, silver, precious stones, wood, grass, reed, each one’s work will become clear, for the light of day will make it clear, because it is revealed in fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If the work of the one who builds remains, he will receive a reward. If someone’s work is burnt down, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but as one through fire.
Do you not know that you are a model of God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells within you? If someone corrupts God’s temple, God corrupts him. For God’s temple is set apart for God’s work, and that is who you are.

May no one deceive himself. If someone among you appears to be wise by the standards of this world, may he become a fool so that he may become wise. For this world’s wisdom is foolishness by God’s standards. For it is written, “The one catching the wise in their own craftiness.” And again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are useless.”

Therefore, may no one boast about mere men. For everything is yours, Paul and Apollos and Kiphás, the world and life and death, a present and a future; everything is yours. But you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.

1 Cor 5:5-13
If anyone commits an act in his physical body that is hostile to God, he should be given over to Satan for destruction of the physical body so that the spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.
Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little yeast mixed in ferments the whole batch of dough? Clear out the old hostile energy so that you may start anew, for your Christ is the process by which a man overcomes temptation and focuses as much energy as he can on the soul’s relationship with God. Let us celebrate life in this way, casting aside the old energy, the energy of hateful feelings and hostility, and in the energies of sincerity and truth instead.

I wrote to you in my letter not to mix with sexually immoral people, with people harboring hostile energy, certainly not with the hostile people of this world or with the greedy and graspers or those who assign highest value to superficial things, since in that case you would have to get out of the human race. But now I wrote to you not to mix with anyone called a brother but who harbors hostile energy or is greedy or who assigns highest value to superficial things or is abusive and a slanderer or a drunkard or a grasper: do not even eat with such a person.

It is none of my business to judge those on the outside. But should you not judge those on the inside? In any case, God will judge those on the outside. As for yourselves, remove the hostile energy from within you.

1 Cor 6:12-20
Everything is available to me, but not everything is for my betterment; everything is available to me, but I will not be overpowered by it: food for the stomach, and the stomach for food, but God will consume them both.
Do not direct your free will to waste the σώμα, to consume it, as if it were food, or use it as a machine of consumption, like the stomach; instead the σώμα is an entity that, at least potentially, has an eternal relationship with God, as a marriage bond. For a time, σώμα is intertwined with σάρξ. But God raised up the Lord and He will raise us up by His power. Do you not know that your eternal bodies are members of Christ? Do not take the σώμα and make it a member of an entity that is hostile to God, by indulging in sexual immorality, for example, by throwing away the energy of salvation on things which are not for the betterment of the σώμα; but if you cling to such things, you will lose up both σάρξ and σώμα to them.
Faithfulness in marriage represents proper use of σάρξ so as to be one in σώμα in Spirit with God. Unfaithfulness, throwing away the energy of salvation, turning your back on God, is the worst mistake that you can make against your σώμα, against your spirit, and this is also reflected in what you do with your σάρξ for as long as the two are intertwined.
Your σώμα is a gift from God, the Holy Spirit, not your own, given by the Spirit of love, by God’s feeling and creative energy: transform your σώμα into the likeness of God.

1 Cor 12:1-14, 27-31
Brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant about spiritual matters. You know that when you existed like the nations do, if led at all, you were led towards voiceless idols. That’s why I want you to know that no one in God’s Spirit can say, “Jesus be condemned”, and that no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in Spirit set apart by God to do His work. The same Spirit bestows different kinds of gifts, the same Lord assigns different kinds of services, and the same God distributes different kinds of energies, the same God that works all things in everyone. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the common good. By the Spirit, a message of wisdom is given to one, but to another gifts of healing in the One Spirit, to another operations of powers, to another distinguishing of spirits, to another types of languages, to another interpretation of languages. But the One and the Same Spirit works all these things, distributing individually each to one as it wills.
Likewise, the Christ is one body, one σώμα, with many members; the body’s members are many, but the σώμα is One: for by One Spirit we were all baptized into one σώμα – both Jews and Greeks, both slaves and free – and we were all nourished by One Spirit. At the same time, the body is not one member but many, though each one is in part responsible for the other.
So you are Christ’s body and members individually. And God placed them in the church, first missionaries, second those who speak His word intelligibly, third servants, then miracle-workers, then those having the gifts of healing, helpers, administrators, linguists. Not all are missionaries, not all speak God’s work intelligibly, not all are teachers, not all are miracle-workers, not all have powers of healing, not all speak in languages, not all interpret. But strive for the greater gifts.

1 Cor 13:1-13
And now I show you a far better way. If I speak in human languages and of the angels, but I do not have love, then I have become a noisy brass gong or a loudly wailing cymbal. And if I have an intelligible message from God and I know all the mysteries and possess all the knowledge, and if I have all the energy of salvation so as to move mountains, but I do not have love, then I am nothing.
And if I give away all my possessions and if I give up my body for self-glory, but I do not have love, then I am nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not brag, it does not puff itself up. Love is not rude, it does not seek its own self-interest, it is not irritable, it does not reckon up wrongs. Love does not rejoice over injustice, it shares joy in the truth. Love endures all, it stores up the energy of salvation in all situations, it sees potential in all things, it outlasts everything.
Even intelligible messages from God will be used up, languages will cease, and knowledge will be rendered obsolete, but love never fails. For we know in part and we intelligibly speak God’s messages in part. But when maturity comes, what is partial will no longer matter. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see dimly in a mirror, later we will see face to face; now I know partially, later I will know fully just as I will be fully known. But for now what remains is faith – the energy of salvation –, hope – the potential, and love – the creative energy, these three things. But the greatest of these is love.

1 Cor 14:1-25
Pursue love, be zealous for spiritual things, even more so that you may speak God’s message intelligibly. For the one speaking in language does not speak to human beings but to God. Indeed, no one receives the information, for he speaks mysteries in Spirit. But the one speaking God’s message intelligibly speaks for the building up, encouragement, and comfort of human beings. The one speaking in language builds up himself; the one speaking God’s message intelligibly builds up the church. I want you all to speak in languages, but even more so that you speak God’s message intelligibly: the one who speaks God’s message intelligibly is greater than the one who speaks in languages, unless he interprets so that the church may be built up.

But now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in languages, what will I benefit you if I will not also speak in revelation or in knowledge or God’s message intelligibly or in teaching? Likewise, the soulless flute and harp, for example, making sound are meaningless if they make no distinction in the notes, for how will anyone know what is being played? Or again, if a trumpet blast is indistinct, who will prepare for war? Likewise you too, then, if you do not provide an easily understood message with your language, how will anyone know what you are saying? For you will be speaking to the air. It happens that there are all kinds of sounds among humans and none without meaning. Therefore, if I do not recognize the potential function of the sound, I will be a foreigner to the one speaking and the one speaking a foreigner to me. Likewise you too, since you are earnestly committed to spiritual things, seek to excel for the purpose of building up the church. Therefore, the one speaking in a language should pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a language, my spirit prays, but my mind is fruitless. What is it, then? I will pray with the spirit, but I will also pray with the mind; and I will also sing with the mind. For in spirit you may recognize God as the highest value, but put yourself in the place of the one who does not understand, how will he say αμήν to your thanksgiving? Because he does not understand what you are saying. For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other is not being built up.

I thank God, I speak in languages more than all of you: but in church I want to say five words with my mind, so that I may instruct others, rather than ten thousands words in a language.
Brothers, do not be immature in your understanding, but be innocent to evil and become mature in your understanding.
It is written in the law, “The Lord says, ‘I will speak to those people in other languages and by others’ lips, but just the same they will not heed me.”

Therefore, just as the languages are a sign not for those who recognize the energy of salvation, but for those who do not recognize the energy of salvation, the intelligible message of God is not for those who do not recognize the energy of salvation, but for those who recognize the energy of salvation. Therefore, if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in languages, those coming who are not instructed or do not recognize the energy of salvation, will they not say that you are insane? But if everyone speaks the word of God intelligibly and the uninstructed person or the person who does not recognize the energy of salvation comes in, he is convinced by everyone, he is examined by everyone, the hidden things of his heart become clear, and thus falling to his face, he will recognize that God is the highest value and exclaim that God is really among you.

1 Cor 15:35-58
But someone will say, how are the dead raised? In what body do they come? You fool, what you sow does not come to life unless it dies: you do not sow the σώμα that is to come, but the bare seed, as if of wheat or of some other kind. In any case, God designed the seed to produce the σώμα as He wanted and to each of the seeds its own σώμα. Not all physical organisms are the same: some are human beings, others are cattle, some are birds, others are fish. There are heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies: the heavenly bodies have one kind of transformation, the earthly bodies another kind of transformation; the sun has one kind of transformation, the moon another kind, and the stars yet another, and one star differs in transformation from another.

Likewise the dead change in status for the better: one is sown in organic matter that breaks down, one is raised in a state of integrity; one is sown in a state of humiliation, one is raised in glory; one is sown in weakness, one is raised in power. The σώμα is sown as physical, the σώμα is raised as spiritual. If a physical σώμα exists, then also a spiritual one. Likewise it is also written, “the first human being Adam came as a living creature, the last Adam a life-giving spirit. But the physical is first, not the spiritual; the physical first, then the spiritual. The first man is dust from earth, the second man from heaven: just as the dust generates dust, so the spiritual generates the spiritual; just as we bore the image of the dust, we will bear the image of the Spirit.

I say this, brothers, because physical body and blood cannot have the potential by spiritual law to recover their portion of the direct energy of God, they cannot access the kingdom of God, nor can organic matter avoid decay. Look, I tell you a mystery: not all of you will die, but we will all change, in a flash, in a blinking of an eye, in the last trumpet blast; for the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised undying and we will be changed. For this thing that is subject to decay must enter into a state of integrity; this thing that is subject to death will change in status for the better. And when this thing that is subject to decay enters into a state of integrity and this thing that is subject to death changes in status for the better, then the Word that has been written will come to be, “Death has been swallowed up into victory. Where is, O death, your victory? Where is, O death, your sting?”

The sting of death is errant ways and the power of death is the law. But thanks be to God, Who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Accordingly, my brothers endowed with creative energy, be steadfast, unmovable, overflowing in the work of the Lord always, knowing that your hard work in the Lord is not in vain.

1 Cor 16:13-14, 19,21, 23-24
Be alert, stand firm in the energy of salvation, be courageous, be strong. May everything be yours in creative energy.

The communities of the province of Asia greet you. I, Paul, greet you with my own hand.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My creative energy with all of you in Christ Jesus.

 

Abridged Translation of Galatians

Gal 1:1-5
Paul, a missionary, not from men nor from a man, but from Jesus Christ and God Father Who raised Him from the dead, and all the brothers with me. To the churches of Galatia, grace to you and peace from our God Father and Lord Jesus Christ Who gave Himself to put us back on the straight path, to deliver us from the present evil age by the will of our God and Father, in Whom the transformation for ever and ever. Αμήν.

Gal 1:6-9
I am amazed at how quickly you are turning away from the One Who calls you in grace, the Christ, and to another message of salvation which is none other than some men upsetting you and wanting to distort the message of salvation of Christ. But if we or a messenger from heaven brings you a message of salvation other than the message of salvation that we brought to you, may he be eternally condemned. As we said before and I now say again, if anyone brings to you a message of salvation other than what you accepted, may he be eternally condemned.

Gal 1:10-17
For am I now seeking favor from men or approval from God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, then I would not be a servant of Christ. Because I want you to know, brothers, that the message of salvation that I brought is not in the fashion of men, nor did I accept it from men, nor was I taught it; rather it is the revelation of Jesus Christ.
For you heard about my way of life at one time in Judaism, how I zealously pursued the community of the people of God and was destroying it, and was advancing in Judaism more than many peers in my generation, being more zealous for the traditions of my fathers.
But then God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by His grace, willed to reveal to me His Son, so that I may bring to the nations the message of salvation that is in Christ. And I did not suddenly go to flesh and blood for advice.

Gal 2:16-21
You know that a man is not put right in his relationship with God by complying with the laws of men, but by the energy of salvation in Jesus Christ, and we have had our energy of salvation in Christ Jesus so that we may be put right in our relationship with God by means of the energy of salvation in Christ and not out of compliance with the law, because no one, as a physical organism, is put right in his relationship with God by compliance with the law.

But if, seeking to be put right in our relationship with God in Christ, we make mistakes and go errant ways, does that mean that Christ is the servant of mistakes and errant ways? Of course not. If I build again those things that I destroyed, I prove that I am a law-breaker. For through the law I died to the law that I may live for God. I have been crucified with Christ, so now I no longer live in desolation, instead Christ lives in me; what I now live in the physical body, I live in the energy of salvation of the Son of God Whose creative energy is in me and Who gave Himself over for me. I do not reject God’s grace: if a right relationship with God comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

Gal 3:1-6
O foolish Galatians, who has cast the evil eye on you, you before whose very eyes Jesus Christ was publicly proclaimed as crucified? I want to learn just one thing from you: did you receive the Spirit by compliance with the law or by the energy of salvation that you heard about? Are you so foolish as to have started in spirit but now wind up again in the physical body? Did you go through the experience of overcoming concern over the material world and focus as much energy as you can on your souls’ relationship with God in vain? If it was in vain? Does God provide you with the Spirit and work power in you, then, because you comply with the law or because of the energy of salvation that you heard about? Just as Abraham, “He focused his energy of salvation on God and he received back the highest value by putting right his relationship with God.”

Gal 3:7-14
For you know that those who live by the energy of salvation are sons of Abraham. The Scripture foresaw that God provides highest value to the nations that live by the energy of salvation, He expressed the message of salvation in advance to Abraham saying, “All the nations will receive back the highest value through you.”
As a result, those who live by the energy of salvation receive highest value with the energy of salvation of Abraham. For those who live by compliance with the law are under a curse, for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”
Clearly, then, no one has a right relationship with God through the law because “the one with a right relationship with God will live by the energy of salvation.”
The law, then, does not come through the energy of salvation; on the contrary, “The one who does these things will live by them.”
Christ released us from the curse of the law, becoming for us a curse, for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree”, so that the highest value in Abraham may come to the nations through Christ Jesus, so that we may receive the promise of the Spirit through the energy of salvation.

Gal 3:15-20
Brothers, as a man I say, likewise no one man renders invalid or adds to a covenant in force. The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. It does not say “and to seeds” as if to many, but as to one, “And to your seed”, which is Christ. So I say, God put the covenant in force beforehand. When the law came four-hundred thirty years later, He did not nullify the promise to render it ineffective. For if the potential by spiritual law to recover one’s portion of the direct energy of God is from the law, then it is no longer from a promise. God freely gave to Abraham through a promise.

What about the law, then? It was added because of transgressions, put into effect through messengers in a mediator’s hand, until the sperm to which the promise referred would come. Now the mediator is not of one, but God is one.

Gal 3:21-29
Is the law against God’s promises, then? Of course not. For if a law capable of giving life had been given, then the right relationship with God would be from a law. But the Scripture confines everyone under sin, such that the promise is from the energy of salvation in Jesus Christ given to those who bring to bear the energy of salvation.

Before the energy of salvation came, we were held prisoner by law, confined until the potential energy of salvation was revealed. So the law our guide came into being leading towards Christ, so that we may put right our relationship with God through the energy of salvation; but once the energy of salvation comes, we are no longer under a guide, for you are all sons of God through the energy of salvation in Christ Jesus. For whoever is baptized in Christ bears Christ. There is no Jew or Greek, there is no slave or free, there is no male or female; for you are all in Christ Jesus. If you are of Christ, then, therefore you are a sperm of Abraham, persons who have the potential by spiritual law to recover your portions of the direct energy of God according to a promise.

Gal 4:1-7
I say, then, for as many years as an heir, someone with potential by spiritual law to recover his portion of the direct energy of God, is immature, he is no different than a slave; though he owns everything, he is under supervisors and administrators until the time set by his father. Likewise we too, when we were immature, we were enslaved under the basic elements of this world. But when the age of maturity came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, so that He might set free those under law, so that we might recover our direct relationship with God, our true place as sons. Because you are sons, then, God sent His Son’s Spirit into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out Abba, O Father. Thus you are no longer a slave, but a son. If a son, then also an heir by God, a person who has the potential by spiritual law to recover his portion of the direct energy of God.

Gal 5:1-6
Christ set us free for freedom. Stand firm, then, and never again let yourselves be caught up in a yoke of slavery. Look, I Paul tell you that if you insist on circumcision by human hands, then Christ will be of no value to you. I again testify to every human being who has been circumcised by human hands that he is under obligation to comply with the law in its entirety. Those of you who put right your relationship with God through law rendered ineffective Christ. You fell from grace. For we eagerly await the potential of putting right our relationship with God in Spirit by the energy of salvation. For in Christ neither circumcision by human hands nor non-circumcision has any force, rather an energy of salvation working through creative energy.

Gal 5:13-15
Fut you, brothers, were called to freedom; not freedom to indulge in the physical body, rather work for each other by means of the creative energy. For the entire law is fulfilled in one expression, “Love your neighbor as yourself”. If you instead bite and devour one another, watch out that you do not destroy each other.

Gal 5:16-25
But, I say, move in Spirit, lest you come to an end in a spasm of flesh. For the impulses of the physical body move in contradiction to the Spirit, and the Spirit in contradiction to the physical body. For they are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you conduct yourselves by Spirit, you are not under law. Otherwise the works of the physical body are clear, they are hostile energy, impurity, indecency, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, infighting, jealousy, anger, selfishness, division, false teaching, envy, murder, drunkenness, carousing and the like. These things I told you before, and like I told you before, those who practice such things will destroy their potential by spiritual law to recover their portion of the direct energy of God and enter into His reign.
The fruit of the Spirit, on the other hand, is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, discipline; against these things there is no law. And those who are of Christ crucify the physical body with its desires and impulses. If we live by the Spirit, let us move by the Spirit.

Gal 6:7-10
Do not fool yourselves, God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that he will reap. He who sows in his own physical body will reap decay in the physical body, but he who sows in the Spirit will reap eternal life in the Spirit. Therefore, let us not become rotten while doing good; maintaining our integrity, we will reap at the proper time. Therefore, while we have time, let us work the good for the sake of everyone, and even more so for our fellow workers in the energy of salvation.

Gal 6:11-18
Those who want to put on a good face in the physical body are forcing you to be circumcised only as a smoke screen to avoid pursuing the Cross of the Christ. For those who are circumcised do not even keep the law themselves; yet they want you to be circumcised, but so that they may boast about your physical bodies.
May I never boast except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ through which the world has been crucified to me and I too the world. For neither circumcision nor non-circumcision is worth anything, but what has value is the new creation. And those who will live by this rule, peace and mercy to them and to God’s Israel.

Finally, no one may cause me distress because my eternal body bears the marks of the circumcision of Christ.

May grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your Spirit, brothers. Αμήν.

 

Abridged Translation of Ephesians (NIV 1984 Template)

Eph 1:1-2
Paul, missionary of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to those in Ephesos set apart to do the work of God and in the energy of salvation in Christ Jesus. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and of Lord Jesus Christ.

Eph 1:3-14
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the highest value. He provides for us in endless spiritual giving in the heavens in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before structuring the world, setting us apart to do His work and transparent before Him in creative energy. He designated us beforehand to be members of His community of eternal souls through Jesus Christ, by His good will, for expression of the gift of transformation’s highest value which He gave to us as an expression of His creative energy, love, through Christ Jesus.
We are caught up in the whirlwind of His creation, but we gain release in Christ through His blood, setting us back on the straight path through the richness of His grace which overflows in us, in all wisdom and insight, disclosing to us the mystery of His will in accordance with His desire which He designed in Christ as we enter into fulfillment of His spiritual laws at the proper time, to bring everything in heaven and on earth in Christ, the head of the community of eternal souls, the Christ in whom we have obtained an inheritance, the potential by spiritual law to recover our portion of the direct energy of God, designed beforehand according to plan to work everything in conformity with the purpose of His will so that we, whose first potential is in Christ, may be worthy of His transformation.
You too, then, are in Christ, having heard the word of truth, the good news of your salvation, the Christ in whom, having the energy of salvation, you are sealed in the Holy Spirit of the promise, the Holy Spirit who is a pledge of our potential by spiritual law to recover our portion of the direct energy of God until release from the captive condition into worthiness of His transformation.

Eph 1:15-23
For this reason, when I heard about the energy of salvation within you in the Lord Jesus and the creative energy which is in all those set out to do the work of God, I have not stopped thanking God for you, remembering you in my prayers so that the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of the transformation, may give you spirit of wisdom and of revelation in consciousness of Him, having enlightened the eyes of your heart so that you may see what is the potential of His calling, what is the wealth of the transformation of His potential by spiritual law to recover your portion of the direct energy of God for those set apart to do His work, and what is the overflowing greatness of His power in you who have the energy of salvation mirrored in His intense power.
He worked this power in the Christ, raising him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavens far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and any name that can be uttered, not only in this age but in all ages to come. And God placed everything under His control beneath his feet and appointed Him head over all, for the church, which is His σώμα, the community of eternal souls, the overwhelmingly radiant expression of His fullness in everything in every way, joying!

Eph 2:1-3
For you were dead in your errant ways, without direction under the rules of this world, under the pimp of hostile energy, the energy of short-sightedness working in the sons of disobedience. All of us swayed like puppets under them at one time, pulled by the impulses of our physical bodies, twisted by the whims of the physical body and thoughts. Like listless fools, we were caught up in the whirlwind of hostile energy.

Eph 2:4-10
And so we died in our errant ways. But God is deeply compassionate and considers us an emanation of His creative energy. Therefore, He brought us back to life with the Christ – by grace you are saved – and rose us up and seated us in the heavens together with Christ Jesus, so that He may show in the coming ages the fathomless depth of His grace in kindness for us in Christ Jesus, for by grace you are saved through faith, the energy of salvation. And it does not come from you, it is God’s gift. It is not from deeds, lest no one boast. For we are His creations, founded in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand, so that we may walk in them.

Eph 2:11-22
Therefore, remember that at one time you were outcasts in your physical bodies, called uncircumcised by those circumcised (in the physical body by human hands), because at that time you were without Christ, alienated from the citizenship of Israel and foreign to the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus, you who were once far have become near through the blood of Christ.
For He is our peace, He who made the two one, who brought down the dividing wall, the hostile energy in His physical body, who nullified the law with its commandments and regulations, so that in Himself He might create the two into one new human being, making peace, and so that He may reconcile the both into one community of eternal souls in God through the Cross, killing the enemy in Himself.

He came and proclaimed peace to those of you who are far and those we are near, because through Him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. As a result, then, you are no longer foreigners and exiles, but fellow citizens of those set apart to do God’s work and members of God’s household, built up in the foundation of the apostles and prophets whose cornerstone is Christ Jesus in Whom the entire building, joined together, grows into God’s house of master works, in Whom you too are built together in God’s dwelling place in spirit.

Eph 4:1-16
As a member of the master’s household, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling that you have received in all humility and gentleness, bearing with one another in love, working hard to maintain the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace; one σώμα, and one Spirit, just as you were called to the utmost potential in your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all Who is over all, through all, and in all.
But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ has apportioned it. That is why it says, “when ascending on high, He led captives in His train, and gave life to men.”
But “He ascended” also means that He went down to the lower regions of the earth. The One going down is also the One Who ascended higher than all of the heavens, in order to fulfill everything. And He apportioned apostles on the one hand, prophets on the other, evangelists, but also pastors and teachers, for the training of those set apart for the work of God to do the work of service, the building of the Christ’s σώμα, until we all meet in the unity of the energy of salvation and of the consciousness of the Son of God, at the point of full maturity, at a measure of age that attains the fullness of Christ, no longer immature, tossed about by the sea and blown around by any wind of teaching in the scheming of men, in trickery which is the hallmark of deceit.
Instead, bearing witness to the truth, bringing to bear our energy of salvation in creative energy, we may cause everything to grow in Him Who is the head, Christ, out of Whom the entire σώμα is joined together to form a united coherent entity through all the supporting connections according to the measure of energy of each individual member, causing the σώμα to grow for its own edification in creative energy.

Eph 6:23-24
Peace to the brothers and creative energy with the energy of salvation from God Father and Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all of us who love the Lord Jesus Christ with undying love.

 

Abridged Translation of Colossians (NIV 1984 template)

Col 1:3-11
We always thank God for you in our prayers, having heard of your energy of salvation in Jesus Christ and of your creative energy for all those whom God has set apart to do His creative work by means of the potential stored up for you in heaven that you heard about before in the Word of truth, Christ within you. This Christ within is bearing fruit and growing all over the world, and in you since the day that you heard about it and knew God’s grace in truth, as you learned it from Epaphras, our co-worker and servant of Christ in the creative energy, who transmits the energy of salvation to you, and who has demonstrated to us your creative energy in the Spirit.

For this reason, we too, since the day we heard about you, have not stopped praying for you and petitioning God so that you may be filled with the consciousness of His will in all wisdom and spiritual insight, to conduct yourselves worthily in the Lord, fulfilling all His expectations in all good deeds in all power enabled under His all-encompassing radiance, fully patient and steadfast, bearing fruit and growing in consciousness of God.

Col 1:12-20
We joyfully thank the Father who enables us to share in the potential by spirital law to recover our portion of the direct energy of God held by those set apart for His work in light, the God who delivers us from the power of darkness and brought us into His son’s kingdom of creative energy, Christ, the good shepherd, who releases us from the captive condition and brings us back through the Narrow Gate.
He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation, because everything was created in Him in heaven and on earth, both the seen and the unseen, thrones and powers and rulers and authorities, everything is created through Him and in Him.
He is before all, and everything holds together in Him. And He is the head of the church’s σώμα, the community of eternal souls. He is the beginning,, the supreme spiritual being, such that He is pre-eminent in everything. For God’s joy is for the community of eternal souls to live permanently with Him. Hence everything is reconciled to God through Christ, making peace through the blood of His Cross, both things on earth and things in heaven.

Col 1:21-23
You at one time were alienated, and enemies in your minds because of your hostile energy. But now, through the death of Christ’s physical body, He has reconciled you in the community of eternal souls to bring you into His presence, His σώμα, perfectly fit and pure before Him to do the work of God, if you remain in the energy of salvation, firmly established, rooted and unwavering in the potential of Christ within you which has been transmitted to all creatures in God’s creation, of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

Col 1:24-29
Now I rejoice for you because of the experiences by which you have overcome concern for the material world, not allowing it to come between you and your souls’ relationship with God, and I will fulfill in my physical body what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for His community of eternal souls, the Church, of which I have become a servant under the charge from God given to me for you to implement the word of God, the mystery that was hidden generation after generation for ages but now has been revealed to those set apart to do His work, to those to whom God wanted to reveal to the rest of the world how profound is the transformational power of this mystery, Christ within you, the potential of transformation.
We have proclaimed this mystery, instructing and teaching all men in all wisdom, so that we may present them complete in Christ for whom I expend all my energy, striving just as His energy which powerfully works in me.

Col 2:1-5
I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those in Laodikeia and those who have not seen me face to face, so that their hearts may be comforted, united in creative energy and in the full richness of the certainty of the insight, conscious of the mystery of God, of Christ, in whom are all the hidden treasures and knowledge.
I tell you this so that no one may deceive you with fine-sounding arguments. For though I may be absent from you in body, I am with you in Spirit, rejoicing and seeing how orderly you are in focusing your energy of salvation on Christ.

Col 2:6-13
Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, move in Him, rooted and built in Him, and established in the energy of salvation as you were taught, overflowing in thankfulness. Be alert lest no one captivate you with empty and deceptive philosophy according to human tradition under the basic principles of this world and not from Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of God’s nature in the community of eternal souls, and you are complete in Him who is the head of all beginning and authority. Your souls are shaped by Him in a circumcision not performed by human hands, but in the peeling off of the living soul from the physical body, in the circumcision of Christ, buried together with Him in baptism in which you have been raised up together through the energy of salvation, the energy of God which raised Him from the dead.
For you were mired in the dead-end and uncircumcision of your physical bodies, but God made you alive together with Christ, honing all of your imperfections. He cancelled the code written by the hands of men with its regulations, that was against us and stood opposed to us. He took it away, nailing it to the Cross, exposing those who would lord over your physical bodies, making a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the Cross.

Col 2:16-19
Therefore, may no one judge you by what you eat and drink or participation in feasts or sabbath days; they are a shadow of the things to come, the community of eternal souls in Christ. Some insincerely put on humility and worship of angels, going into great detail about what they have seen, the minds of their physical bodies puffing them up with pride. Let no such person judge you, for they have lost contact with the head from which the entire community of eternal souls, the body of Christ, is supplied and united together, as if by capillaries and ligaments, and grows as God causes it to grow.

Col 2:20-23
If you live in community with Christ and stand above the basic principles of this world, why do you obey its regulations as if you still live in it? Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch; all these things are consumed with use according to the commands and teachings of men. For while human rules and regulations may have only an utterance of wisdom in self-imposed discipline, humility and asceticism of the community of eternal souls, they have no value in disciplining the excesses of the physical body.

Col 3:1-11
Since, then, you have been raised together with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God; when Christ, who is your life, shows His true self, then you too will show your true selves with Him in transformation.
Put to death, then, the tendencies of the physical body that pound you into dust: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed. This is idolatry which, for the sons of disobedience, leads to the consequences of going against God’s spiritual laws. You too used to walk in these ways, in the life that you once lived, but now you must put aside such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouths; do not lie to each other now that you have peeled off the old self with its practices and put on the new self which is being renewed into consciousness in image of its Creator. Here there is no Greek or Jew, the physically circumcised or uncircumcised, foreigner, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

Col 3:12-17
God has endowed you with creative energy and set you apart to do His work. Act like it, then, with the affections of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with each other and forgiving whatever grievances that you may have against one another; forgive as the Lord forgave you; but above all these things, love, which binds them together in perfect unity. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, for you have been called into peace as one community of eternal souls, the body of Christ.
And be thankful. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and instructing one another in all wisdom, with psalms, hymns, and spiritual odes, singing to God with goodwill in your hearts.
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Col 4:2-6
Dedicate yourselves to prayer, being watchful in it in thankfulness. And pray for us too, that God may open for us a door for the message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it plainly, as I should.
Be wise in the way you act towards outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation always be full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

Col 4:7-18
Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. I vouch for him that he is working hard for you and for those at Laodikeia and Hierapolis.

Tell Archippus: “See to it that you complete the work you have received in the Lord.”

I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.

 

Covenant with God (image of my soul)

Discipline and work
Work and culture
Culture and consciousness
Belief and discipline
Image of my soul

Power and identity
Identity and power
Self-determination and freedom
Freedom and faith
Image of my soul

Art and politics
Politics and economics
Economics and morality
Icons and religion
The image of my soul

Luxury and sin
Sin and slavery
Sacrifice and creation
Creation and discipline
Image of my soul

 

Eucharistia

(Psalm 107)

Ignorance, rebellion, spite, iniquity, adventurism, arrogance, wickedness and, in short, anything that is harmful to the human soul, and, in a word, evil, lead to hunger and thirst, gloom, affliction, bitter labor, temptation, instability, calamity, sorrow, fruitlessness, and death.

But to navigate those aspects of the Creation which are harmful to the human soul, the Creator provides His counsel, His Word, stability, fruitfulness and, in a word, a straight way, a Narrow Gate, to Himself within you.

Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His love endures forever.

Now go see Colossians.

Or, to put it another way, make the deal, make the Covenant with God: accept His counsel, His Word, His laws and teachings, and you will navigate through the vicissitudes of the Creation and, with the power of your faith, the energy of salvation, ride the creative power, the love of God, into His peace and joy, into heaven.

 

Proprietary σώμα

(1 Cor 12-20)

Everything in Creation is available to me, but not everything is for my betterment. Εverything is available to me, but I will not be overpowered by it: food for the stomach, and the stomach for food; but God/Nature will consume them both.

Do not direct your free will to waste the σώμα by consuming it as if it were food, or use it as a machine of consumption, like the stomach. Instead it is an entity that, at least potentially, has an eternal relationship with God, as a marriage bond.

For a time, the σώμα is intertwined with σάρξ. Do not take the σώμα and make it a member of an entity which is hostile to God, by engaging in sexual immorality, for example, by throwing away the energy of salvation on things which are not for the betterment of the σώμα; but if you cling to those things, you will lose up both σάρξ and σώμα to them.

Faithfulness in marriage represents proper use of σάρξ so as to be one in σώμα in spirit with God. Unfaithfulness, throwing away the energy of salvation, turning your back on God, is the worst mistake that you can make against your σώμα, against your spirit, and this is also reflected in what you do with your σάρξ for as long as the two are intertwined.

Your σώμα is a gift from God, the Holy Spirit, not your own, given by the spirit of love, by God’s feeling and creative energy.

 

Circumcision is of the Heart by the Spirit

(Ro 2:25-29)

Again, though only the word νόμος is used, there is a distinction between the law of men and the law of God, the letter of the law and the spirit of the law.

Physical circumcision (της σαρκός) represents the laws of men, the letter of the law; circumcision of the heart (του σώματος) represents the law of God, the spirit of the law.

We can also extend this teaching to a general principle: just because you have heard or, by some happenstance of history are the custodian of, something of value (e.g. the law of God), does not mean that you are worthy of that value; to be worthy, you must put the value into use as it was designed to do.

 

Laws of Men, Laws of God

(John 7:1-24)

Christ shows that men do not live according to God’s law, God’s teaching, but, in contrast, that they live against nature. He is the mirror against which they see how they really are in their current state. John 7:7 “εγώ ματυρώ περί αυτού (ο κόσμος) ότι τα έργα αυτού πονηρά έστιν.”

Jesus teaches in the temple. A man who wants to do the will of God will know whether the teaching is from God or man. His teaching is from God.

Moses – a man and elder men before him – gave men (the law of) circumcision, they circumcise someone on the Sabbath, the day set aside for special communion with God, on the holy day. Men circumcise on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses is not broken.

Yet these men, responsible for upholding the law, are angry at Christ when He heals the whole human being on the Sabbath, on the holy day, on the day set aside for special communion with God.

Christ teaches, “do not judge by appearances, rather judge according to what is right.”

In other words, men fail to distinguish between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law, they fail to discern the will of God. And that probably because of laziness and pride, because they want to control the will of other men for their own purposes rather than do the will of God.

 

Art and Justice

We make beautiful music and other art to soothe our need for social and emotional justice, and this too helps in our faith, sustains our energy to fight the good fight.

But remember, art can never be a substitute for sincere faith: it is not art masquerading as faith; it is faith as expressed through art.

Nevertheless, progress in art can accompany progress in faith.

Marcus Aurelius put it this way.

“Any form of nature outrivals art, since every art is no more than an imitation of the natural. This being so, that supreme Nature, which is more perfect and all-inclusive than any other, cannot fail to be pre-eminent in the artist’s craft.

Furthermore, it is only with an eye on something higher that the arts produce their inferior works, and this is what Nature itself also does.

Here, then, we find the origins of justice, for all the other virtues depend on this. We can never achieve true justice while we set our hearts on things of lesser value, and are content to remain credulous, headstrong, and inconstant.”

Your heart is as just as that which it values most. Set your heart, then, on valuing most the spiritual laws of God and putting them into practice. Use the arts or any other human skill or craft, or earthly material, to achieve that purpose, and all will be well between you and God.