Galatians 6:11-18
New Catholic Bible
Conclusion[a]
11 The Cross of Christ, Our True Boast. Observe what large letters I make when I am writing to you in my own handwriting. 12 It is those who want to gain human approval who are trying to compel you to be circumcised, their sole purpose being to escape persecution for the cross of Christ. 13 Even the circumcised do not themselves obey the Law. They want you to be circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh.
14 May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world is crucified to me and I to the world. 15 Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is important, but only a new creation.
16 Blessing and a Plea. May peace and mercy be given to all who follow this rule, and to the Israel of God.[b]
17 In the future, let no one make trouble for me, for I bear the marks of Jesus branded on my body.
18 May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen.
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- Galatians 6:11 Paul himself underlines the importance of the Letter (v. 11) and for one last time situates the problem of the Galatians before the mystery of the cross. There is an old world, that of circumcisions and human successes, and a new world, in which God calls the new Israel, i.e., all Christians, true children of Abraham. Christians belong to this world. For them, the cross is something to be shared. They agree to suffer for Christ and with him. It involves more suffering than being circumcised, but they have become “new” people (2 Cor 5:17), delivered from the world, i.e., sin. There is no other way of salvation except the cross of Christ, nor any other assurance before God. Paul knows this from experience, for he bears in his body the traces of the blows received in the exercise of his missionary work (2 Cor 6:5; 11:23-27).
- Galatians 6:16 The Israel of God: i.e., the Church (see Rom 9:6f) as opposed to Israel according to the flesh (see 1 Cor 10:18).
Romans 6:1-6
New Catholic Bible
Death and Life with Christ[a]
Chapter 6
Baptized in Christ Jesus.[b] 1 What then shall we say? Should we persist in sin in order that grace may abound? 2 Of course not! We have died to sin. How can we live in it any longer? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 Through that baptism into his death we were buried with him, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father,[c] so we too might begin to live a new life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall also be united with him in his resurrection. 6 We know that our old[d] self was crucified with him, so that our sinful body might be destroyed and we might no longer be enslaved to sin.
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- Romans 6:1 Salvation is grace that transcends sin and the power of human beings or even of the Law. This passage urges us to reflect on the meaning of Baptism in the life of a Christian.
- Romans 6:1 In the History of Salvation, there is a unique event: the Death and Resurrection of Jesus; it is the departure for a new life. Through Baptism, the believer enters into this experience of Christ and shares its power. Baptism inaugurates a newness of life that will be brought to completion in the future.
- Romans 6:4 Glory of the Father: God who reveals his power and holiness.
- Romans 6:6 The adjective old has a precise meaning for Paul: it describes the reality of a sinful world that is closed against the new life that has its source in Christ (see 1 Cor 5:7-8; 2 Cor 3:14); the old self and the sinful body signify the human being as marked by sin (Gal 3:26-29).
Romans 12:1-8
New Catholic Bible
The Need for Faith in Daily Life[a]
Chapter 12
The New Life and the True Worship. 1 Therefore, brethren, I implore you by the mercies of God to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice that is holy and acceptable to God—a spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewal of your minds, so that you will be able to discern the will of God and to know what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Right Use of the Gifts of the One Body. 3 Through the grace that God has bestowed upon me, I advise every one of you not to think of yourself too highly, but to regard yourself objectively, based on the measure of faith that God has granted. 4 For just as in one body we have many parts, and the parts do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, make up one body in Christ,[b] and individually we are all parts of one another.
6 We all have different gifts according to the grace given to us. If it is a gift of prophecy, we should exercise it in proportion to our faith. 7 If it is a gift of ministry, we should engage in serving others. If it is a gift of teaching, we should teach. 8 If it is a gift of exhortation, we should encourage. Whoever gives alms should do so generously; whoever leads should do so conscientiously; whoever performs acts of mercy should do so cheerfully.
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- Romans 12:1 Following his custom, Paul ends his Letter (before the Epilogue) with a number of ideas and counsels for Christian life in the midst of everyday reality.
- Romans 12:5 One body in Christ: see 1 Cor 12:12-27.
2 Corinthians 4:10
New Catholic Bible
10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body.
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2 Corinthians 5:17
New Catholic Bible
17 Consequently, anyone united to Christ is a new creation. The old order has passed away. Behold, all has become new.
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2 Corinthians 11:23-29
New Catholic Bible
24 Five times I received from the Jews forty lashes minus one.[b] 25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; once I was adrift in the open sea for a night and a day. 26 I have traveled continually and faced dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the desert, dangers at sea, and dangers from false brethren.
27 I have endured toil and hardship, and sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty, and I have often gone without food. I have been cold, and often all but naked.
28 Apart from these external things, I am burdened each and every day with the anxiety of caring for all the Churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not similarly afflicted? Who is led into sinfulness, and I am not filled with indignation?
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- 2 Corinthians 11:23 Ministers of Christ: Paul states that though the false apostles can claim the title, he can claim it with far greater force because of his unremitting labor and ceaseless endurance of trials. Far more brushes with death: a biographical fragment about a dramatic series of sufferings of which Acts says nothing, perhaps because they had been endured in the first decade of Paul’s apostolate.
- 2 Corinthians 11:24 Forty lashes minus one: see Deut 25:3; thirty-nine, in order not to risk going beyond the forty allowed by the Law.
