⁷ For this I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I am telling the truth;^[a] I am not lying), a teacher of the gentiles in faith and truth.^(A)

¹¹ For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher,^[a](A)

¹⁵ But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel;^(A)

⁷ Of this gospel I have become a servant according to the gift of God’s grace that was given me by the working of his power. ⁸ Although I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to me to bring to the gentiles the news of the boundless riches of Christ^(A)

God’s Election of Israel

9 I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience confirms it by the Holy Spirit^(A)—

⁵ and if he did not spare the ancient world, even though he saved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood on the world of the ungodly;^(A)

¹¹ that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I was entrusted.

Gratitude for Mercy

¹² I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because he considered me faithful and appointed me to his service,^(A)

⁹ For this reason, those who believe are blessed with Abraham who believed.

¹⁶ yet we know that a person is justified^[a] not by the works of the law but through the faith of Jesus Christ.^[b] And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by the faith of Christ^[c] and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law.^(A)

⁹ and when James and Cephas and John, who were acknowledged pillars, recognized the grace that had been given to me, they gave to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that we should go to the gentiles and they to the circumcised.^(A)