1 Corinthians 13:8-13; 2 Corinthians 3:4-14; Hebrews 8; Hebrews 9:1-11; Philippians 3:7-16; Romans 2:27; Romans 7:6; Matthew 6:1-5; Matthew 6:16; Matthew 23:1-5

1 Corinthians 13:8-13

8 Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

9 For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect;

10 but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away.

11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood.

13 So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

2 Corinthians 3:4-14

4 Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.

5 Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God,

6 who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not in a written code but in the Spirit; for the written code kills, but the Spirit gives life.

7 Now if the dispensation of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such splendor that the Israelites could not look at Moses' face because of its brightness, fading as this was,

8 will not the dispensation of the Spirit be attended with greater splendor?

9 For if there was splendor in the dispensation of condemnation, the dispensation of righteousness must far exceed it in splendor.

10 Indeed, in this case, what once had splendor has come to have no splendor at all, because of the splendor that surpasses it.

11 For if what faded away came with splendor, what is permanent must have much more splendor.

12 Since we have such a hope, we are very bold,

13 not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not see the end of the fading splendor.

14 But their minds were hardened; for to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away.

Hebrews 8

1 Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,

2 a minister in the sanctuary and the true tent which is set up not by man but by the Lord.

3 For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; hence it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.

4 Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law.

5 They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary; for when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, "See that you make everything according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain."

6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry which is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.

7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion for a second.

8 For he finds fault with them when he says: "The days will come, says the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah;

9 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they did not continue in my covenant, and so I paid no heed to them, says the Lord.

10 This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

11 And they shall not teach every one his fellow or every one his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest.

12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more."

13 In speaking of a new covenant he treats the first as obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

Hebrews 9:1-11

1 Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly sanctuary.

2 For a tent was prepared, the outer one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence; it is called the Holy Place.

3 Behind the second curtain stood a tent called the Holy of Holies,

4 having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, which contained a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant;

5 above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.

6 These preparations having thus been made, the priests go continually into the outer tent, performing their ritual duties;

7 but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood which he offers for himself and for the errors of the people.

8 By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the sanctuary is not yet opened as long as the outer tent is still standing

9 (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper,

10 but deal only with food and drink and various ablutions, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.

11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation)

Philippians 3:7-16

7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

8 Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ

9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, based on law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith;

10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,

11 that if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

13 Brethren, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,

14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

15 Let those of us who are mature be thus minded; and if in anything you are otherwise minded, God will reveal that also to you.

16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

Romans 2:27

27 Then those who are physically uncircumcised but keep the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law.

Romans 7:6

6 But now we are discharged from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that we serve not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit.

Matthew 6:1-5

1 "Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them; for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

2 "Thus, when you give alms, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

3 But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

4 so that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

5 "And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

Matthew 6:16

16 "And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

Matthew 23:1-5

1 Then said Jesus to the crowds and to his disciples,

2 "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat;

3 so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice.

4 They bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their finger

5 They do all their deeds to be seen by men; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long,