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Paul’s letters

Read formation, gifts, grace, humility and love in the Pauline letters.

1. 1. Read and discover - Read lesson

   World English Bible

   2 Timothy 3:16-17

   ¹⁶ Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness,

   ¹⁷ that each person who belongs to God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

   Read the full chapter

   Understanding the passage

   Paul presents Scripture as training that equips for good works; learning includes correction and changed conduct.

   Reflect

   • How does Scripture prepare a person to do good?

   Put it into practice

   Review one action your reading invites you to improve.

   Next lesson →

2. 2. One life and many gifts - Read lesson

   World English Bible

   Romans 12:1-8

   ¹ Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.

   ² Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.

   ³ For I say through the grace that was given me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think; but to think reasonably, as God has apportioned to each person a measure of faith.

   ⁴ For even as we have many members in one body, and all the members don’t have the same function,

   ⁵ so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another,

   ⁶ having gifts differing according to the grace that was given to us: if prophecy, let’s prophesy according to the proportion of our faith;

   ⁷ or service, let’s give ourselves to service; or he who teaches, to his teaching;

   ⁸ or he who exhorts, to his exhorting; he who gives, let him do it with generosity; he who rules, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

   Read the full chapter

   Understanding the passage

   Paul joins offering one’s life, renewed judgment and diverse gifts; the community needs cooperation without superiority.

   Reflect

   • How does Paul invite people to use different gifts to help others?

   Put it into practice

   Identify a gift and a practical way to use it for the common good.

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3. 3. Grace and good works - Read lesson

   World English Bible

   Ephesians 2:1-10

   ¹ You were made alive when you were dead in transgressions and sins,

   ² in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the children of disobedience.

   ³ We also all once lived among them in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

   ⁴ But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us,

   ⁵ even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

   ⁶ and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

   ⁷ that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus;

   ⁸ for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,

   ⁹ not of works, that no one would boast.

   ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.

   Read the full chapter

   Understanding the passage

   Paul presents salvation as gift and good works as a prepared way of life; this order resists competition over merit.

   Reflect

   • How does Paul connect receiving grace with doing good?

   Put it into practice

   Do a good work from gratitude rather than comparison.

   Next lesson →

4. 4. Christ’s humility - Read lesson

   World English Bible

   Philippians 2:1-11

   ¹ If therefore there is any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion,

   ² make my joy full by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind;

   ³ doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself;

   ⁴ each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.

   ⁵ Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus,

   ⁶ who, existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped,

   ⁷ but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.

   ⁸ And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, yes, the death of the cross.

   ⁹ Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name,

   ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,

   ¹¹ and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

   Read the full chapter

   Understanding the passage

   Paul confronts rivalry and conceit by pointing to Christ’s self-giving; humility cares for others without justifying imposed humiliation.

   Reflect

   • Which community problem introduces Christ’s example?

   Put it into practice

   Step back to recognize another person’s contribution.

   Next lesson →

5. 5. Love that gives meaning - Read lesson

   World English Bible

   1 Corinthians 13:1-7

   ¹ If I speak with the languages of men and of angels, but don’t have love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.

   ² 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.

   ³ If I give away all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but don’t have love, it profits me nothing.

   ⁴ Love is patient and is kind. Love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud,

   ⁵ doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil;

   ⁶ doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;

   ⁷ bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.

   Read the full chapter

   Understanding the passage

   Paul places love within a discussion of gifts and community; extraordinary abilities do not replace patience, kindness and truth.

   Reflect

   • Why do gifts and service need to be accompanied by love?

   Put it into practice

   Serve patiently even when your ability receives no attention.