²⁷ So God created man ^(A)in His own image, in the image of God He created him; ^(B)male and female He created them.

^28 (A)There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is ^[a]neither male nor female; for ^(B)you are all one in ^(C)Christ Jesus.

^24 (A)The God who made the world and everything that is in it, since He is ^(B)Lord of heaven and earth, does not ^(C)dwell in temples made by hands; ²⁵ nor is He served by human hands, ^(D)as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; ²⁶ and ^(E)He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having ^(F)determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, ²⁷ that they would seek God, if perhaps they might feel around for Him and find Him, ^(G)though He is not far from each one of us; ²⁸ for ^(H)in Him we live and move and ^[a]exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His descendants.’ ²⁹ Therefore, since we are the descendants of God, we ^(I)ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by human skill and thought.

⁵ Now there were Jews residing in Jerusalem, ^(A)devout men from every nation under heaven. ⁶ And when ^(B)this sound occurred, the crowd came together and they were bewildered, because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own ^[a]language. ^7 (C)They were amazed and astonished, saying, “^[b]Why, are not all these who are speaking ^(D)Galileans? ⁸ And how is it that we each hear them in our own ^[c]language ^[d]to which we were born? ⁹ Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, and ^(E)Cappadocia, ^(F)Pontus and ^[e](G)Asia, ^10 (H)Phrygia and ^(I)Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya around ^(J)Cyrene, and ^[f](K)visitors from Rome, both Jews and ^[g](L)proselytes, ¹¹ Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own ^[h]tongues of the mighty deeds of God.”

²³ if indeed you continue in ^[a]the faith firmly ^(A)established and steadfast, and not shifting from the ^(B)hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed ^(C)in all creation under heaven, ^(D)and of which I, Paul, ^[b]was made a ^[c](E)minister.

An Ethiopian Receives Christ

²⁵ So, when they had solemnly ^(A)testified and spoken ^(B)the word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem, and were ^(C)preaching the gospel to many villages of the ^(D)Samaritans.

²⁶ But ^(E)an angel of the Lord spoke to ^(F)Philip, saying, “Get ready and go ^[a]south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to ^(G)Gaza.” (^[b]This is a desert road.) ²⁷ So he got ready and went; and ^[c](H)there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of ^[d]Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he ^(I)had come to Jerusalem to worship, ²⁸ and he was returning and sitting in his ^[e]chariot, and was reading Isaiah the prophet. ²⁹ Then ^(J)the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this ^[f]chariot.” ³⁰ Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” ³¹ And he said, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. ³² Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this:

³⁴ The eunuch answered Philip and said, “Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself, or of someone else?” ³⁵ Then Philip ^(M)opened his mouth, and ^(N)beginning from this Scripture he ^(O)preached Jesus to him. ³⁶ As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch *said, “Look! Water! ^(P)What prevents me from being baptized?”^{[i] 38} And he ordered that the ^[j]chariot stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him. ³⁹ When they came up out of the water, ^(Q)the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, ^[k]but went on his way rejoicing.

The Sin of Partiality

2 ^(A)My brothers and sisters, ^(B)do not hold your faith in our ^(C)glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of ^(D)personal favoritism. ² For if a man comes into your ^[a]assembly with a gold ring and is dressed in ^(E)bright clothes, and a poor man in ^(F)dirty clothes also comes in, ³ and you ^[b]pay special attention to the one who is wearing the ^(G)bright clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” ⁴ have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges ^(H)with evil ^[c]motives? ⁵ Listen, ^(I)my beloved brothers and sisters: did ^(J)God not choose the poor ^[d]of this world to be ^(K)rich in faith and ^(L)heirs of the kingdom which He ^(M)promised to those who love Him? ⁶ But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and ^[e]personally ^(N)drag you into ^[f]court? ^7 (O)Do they not blaspheme the good name ^[g]by which you have been called?

⁸ If, however, you ^(P)are fulfilling the ^[h]royal law according to the Scripture, “^(Q)You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. ⁹ But if you ^(R)show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the Law as violators.

^16 (A)Be of the same mind toward one another; ^(B)do not be ^[a]haughty in mind, but ^[b]associate with the lowly. ^(C)Do not be wise in your own estimation.

⁹ I wrote to you in my letter ^(A)not to associate with sexually immoral people; ¹⁰ I did not at all mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the greedy and swindlers, or with ^(B)idolaters, for then you would have to leave the world. ¹¹ But ^[a]actually, I ^[b]wrote to you not to associate ^[c]with any so-called ^(C)brother if he is a sexually immoral person, or a greedy person, or ^(D)an idolater, or is verbally abusive, or habitually drunk, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a person. ¹² For what business of mine is it to judge ^(E)outsiders? ^(F)Do you not judge those who are within the church? ¹³ But those who are outside, God ^[d]judges. ^(G)Remove the evil person from among yourselves.