cultural difference

²⁸There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither servant nor free; there is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

¹⁴Do not choose to bear the yoke with unbelievers. For how can justice be a participant with iniquity? Or how can the fellowship of light be a participant with darkness?

¹⁶All Scripture, having been divinely inspired, is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in justice,

²⁰And so, to the Jews, I became like a Jew, so that I might gain the Jews.

¹⁶For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that all who believe in him may not perish, but may have eternal life.

²⁶And he has made, out of one, every family of man: to live upon the face of the entire earth, determining the appointed seasons and the limits of their habitation,

⁶Jesus said to him: “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.

⁹After these things, I saw a great crowd, which no one could number, from all the nations and tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and in sight of the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰And they cried out, with a great voice, saying: “Salvation is from our God, who sits upon the throne, and from the Lamb.”

²And do not choose to be conformed to this age, but instead choose to be reformed in the newness of your mind, so that you may demonstrate what is the will of God: what is good, and what is well-pleasing, and what is perfect.

¹Now when they had walked through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they arrived at Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. ²Then Paul, according to custom, entered to them. And for three Sabbaths he disputed with them about the Scriptures, ³interpreting and concluding that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise again from the dead, and that “this is the Jesus Christ, whom I am announcing to you.” ⁴And some of them believed and were joined to Paul and Silas, and a great number of these were from the worshipers and the Gentiles, and not a few were noble women. ⁵But the Jews, being jealous, and joining with certain evildoers among the common men, caused a disturbance, and they stirred up the city. And taking up a position near the house of Jason, they sought to lead them out to the people. ⁶And when they had not found them, they dragged Jason and certain brothers to the rulers of the city, crying out: “For these are the ones who have stirred up the city. And they came here,

⁹And they were singing a new canticle, saying: “O Lord, you are worthy to receive the book and to open its seals, because you were slain and have redeemed us for God, by your blood, from every tribe and language and people and nation.

¹⁶For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that all who believe in him may not perish, but may have eternal life. ¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world, in order to judge the world, but in order that the world may be saved through him.

¹¹where there is neither Gentile nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian nor Scythian, servant nor free. Instead, Christ is everything, in everyone.

³Jesus responded and said to him, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one has been reborn anew, he is not able to see the kingdom of God.”

¹My brothers, within the glorious faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, do not choose to show favoritism toward persons. ²For if a man has entered your assembly having a gold ring and splendid apparel, and if a poor man has also entered, in dirty clothing, ³and if you are then attentive to the one who is clothed in excellent apparel, so that you say to him, “You may sit in this good place,” but you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit below my footstool,” ⁴are you not judging within yourselves, and have you not become judges with unjust thoughts?

¹⁶For in him was created everything in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominations, or principalities, or powers. All things were created through him and in him. ¹⁷And he is before all, and in him all things continue.

¹But accept those who are weak in faith, without disputing about ideas. ²For one person believes that he may eat all things, but if another is weak, let him eat plants. ³He who eats should not despise him who does not eat. And he who does not eat should not judge him who eats. For God has accepted him. ⁴Who are you to judge the servant of another? He stands or falls by his own Lord. But he shall stand. For God is able to make him stand.

¹¹For I know the thoughts that I think over you, says the Lord: thoughts of peace and not of affliction, so that I may give you patience and an end.