⁷ or because of these surpassingly great revelations.^(A) Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh,^(B) a messenger of Satan,^(C) to torment me.

¹³ Not even those who are circumcised keep the law,^(A) yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your circumcision in the flesh.^(B)

¹⁵ by setting aside in his flesh^(A) the law with its commands and regulations.^(B) His purpose was to create in himself one^(C) new humanity out of the two, thus making peace,

³¹ “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”^[a](A)

¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood,^(A) but against the rulers, against the authorities,^(B) against the powers^(C) of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.^(D)

Paul’s Labor for the Church

²⁴ Now I rejoice^(A) in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions,^(B) for the sake of his body, which is the church.^(C)

¹⁴ Since the children have flesh and blood,^(A) he too shared in their humanity^(B) so that by his death he might break the power^(C) of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil^(D)—

³ Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days.^(A)

² This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh^(A) is from God,^(B)