The Nature of True Apostleship

4 This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants^(A) of Christ and as those entrusted^(B) with the mysteries^(C) God has revealed. ² Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. ³ I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. ⁴ My conscience^(D) is clear, but that does not make me innocent.^(E) It is the Lord who judges me.^{(F) 5} Therefore judge nothing^(G) before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes.^(H) He will bring to light^(I) what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.^(J)

Jesus Questioned About Fasting^(A)

³³ They said to him, “John’s disciples^(B) often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”

³⁴ Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom^(C) fast while he is with them? ³⁵ But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them;^(D) in those days they will fast.”

³⁶ He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. ³⁷ And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. ³⁸ No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. ³⁹ And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”