I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to visit you, but I was prevented until now. I want to work among you and see spiritual fruit, just as I have seen among other Gentiles.

For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile.

When people work, their wages are not a gift, but something they have earned.

But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners.

David also spoke of this when he described the happiness of those who are declared righteous without working for it:

When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death.

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

he calls people, but not according to their good or bad works.) She was told, “Your older son will serve your younger son.”

So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it.

And since it is through God’s kindness, then it is not by their good works. For in that case, God’s grace would not be what it really is—free and undeserved.

Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.

Pay your taxes, too, for these same reasons. For government workers need to be paid. They are serving God in what they do.

Don’t tear apart the work of God over what you eat. Remember, all foods are acceptable, but it is wrong to eat something if it makes another person stumble.

Yet I dare not boast about anything except what Christ has done through me, bringing the Gentiles to God by my message and by the way I worked among them.

Paul’s Travel Plans

But now I have finished my work in these regions, and after all these long years of waiting, I am eager to visit you.

Give my greetings to Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in the ministry of Christ Jesus.

Give my greetings to Mary, who has worked so hard for your benefit.

Greet Urbanus, our co-worker in Christ, and my dear friend Stachys.

Give my greetings to Tryphena and Tryphosa, the Lord’s workers, and to dear Persis, who has worked so hard for the Lord.

Timothy, my fellow worker, sends you his greetings, as do Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my fellow Jews.

After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us.

The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work.

For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building.

But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value.

If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward.