Identity in Christ

¹⁷Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come! ¹⁸All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s trespasses against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ: Be reconciled to God. ²¹God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

¹Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. ²For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set you free from the law of sin and death. ³For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, as an offering for sin. He thus condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴so that the righteous standard of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. ⁵Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh; but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. ⁶The mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace, ⁷because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. ⁸Those controlled by the flesh cannot please God. ⁹You, however, are controlled not by the flesh, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. ¹⁰But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. ¹¹And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you. ¹²Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation, but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. ¹³For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. ¹⁴For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. ¹⁵For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption to sonship, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” ¹⁶The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷And if we are children, then we are heirs: heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with Him, so that we may also be glorified with Him.

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. ⁴For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love ⁵He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will, ⁶to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the Beloved One. ⁷In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace ⁸that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. ⁹And He has made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ ¹⁰as a plan for the fullness of time, to bring all things in heaven and on earth together in Christ. ¹¹In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will, ¹²in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, would be for the praise of His glory. ¹³And in Him, having heard and believed the word of truth—the gospel of your salvation—you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴who is the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of His glory.

¹And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, ²in which you used to walk when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience. ³All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath. ⁴But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved! ⁶And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷in order that in the coming ages He might display the surpassing riches of His grace, demonstrated by His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. ⁸For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.

¹Therefore, since you have been raised with Christ, strive for the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. ²Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. ³For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. ⁴When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

⁴As you come to Him, the living stone, rejected by men but chosen and precious in God’s sight, ⁵you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶For it stands in Scripture: “See, I lay in Zion a stone, a chosen and precious cornerstone; and the one who believes in Him will never be put to shame.” ⁷To you who believe, then, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” ⁸and, “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word—and to this they were appointed. ⁹But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. ¹⁰Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

²⁰I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

¹²But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God— ¹³children born not of blood, nor of the desire or will of man, but born of God.

³Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” ⁴“How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time to be born?” ⁵Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. ⁶Flesh is born of flesh, but spirit is born of the Spirit. ⁷Do not be amazed that I said, ‘You must be born again.’ ⁸The wind blows where it wishes. You hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” ¹⁶For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. ¹⁸Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

³⁵Jesus answered, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never hunger, and whoever believes in Me will never thirst. ³⁶But as I stated, you have seen Me and still you do not believe. ³⁷Everyone the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will never drive away. ³⁸For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but to do the will of Him who sent Me. ³⁹And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I shall lose none of those He has given Me, but raise them up at the last day. ⁴⁰For it is My Father’s will that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

³¹So He said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples. ³²Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” ³³“We are Abraham’s descendants,” they answered. “We have never been slaves to anyone. How can You say we will be set free?” ³⁴Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. ³⁵A slave does not remain in the house forever, but a son remains forever. ³⁶So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

²⁷My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. ²⁸I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand. ²⁹My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand. ³⁰I and the Father are one.”

¹“I am the true vine, and My Father is the keeper of the vineyard. ²He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, and every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes to make it even more fruitful. ³You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me. ⁵I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing. ¹⁵No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything I have learned from My Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶You did not choose Me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will remain—so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you.

²⁰I am not asking on behalf of them alone, but also on behalf of those who will believe in Me through their message, ²¹that all of them may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I am in You. May they also be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. ²²I have given them the glory You gave Me, so that they may be one as We are one— ²³I in them and You in Me—that they may be perfectly united, so that the world may know that You sent Me and have loved them just as You have loved Me.

²¹But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, as attested by the Law and the Prophets. ²²And this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no distinction, ²³for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. ²⁵God presented Him as an atoning sacrifice in His blood through faith, in order to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance He had passed over the sins committed beforehand. ²⁶He did this to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and to justify the one who has faith in Jesus.

¹Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. ³Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us. ⁶For at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹Therefore, since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from wrath through Him! ¹⁰For if, when we were enemies of God, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life! ¹¹Not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. ¹⁷For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!

¹What then shall we say? Shall we continue in sin so that grace may increase? ²Certainly not! How can we who died to sin live in it any longer? ³Or aren’t you aware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? ⁴We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may walk in newness of life. ⁵For if we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection. ⁶We know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. ⁷For anyone who has died has been freed from sin. ⁸Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. ⁹For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has dominion over Him. ¹⁰The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God. ¹¹So you too must count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. ¹²Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires. ¹³Do not present the parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and present the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness. ¹⁴For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

²⁸And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose. ²⁹For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified. ³¹What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³²He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things? ³³Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. ³⁴Who is there to condemn us? For Christ Jesus, who died, and more than that was raised to life, is at the right hand of God—and He is interceding for us. ³⁵Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶As it is written: “For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” ³⁷No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. ³⁸For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

¹Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. ²Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

²To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours: ³⁰It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God: our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. ³¹Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”

¹⁶Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? ¹⁷If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. ²¹Therefore, stop boasting in men. All things are yours, ²²whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future. All of them belong to you, ²³and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

¹¹And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. ¹⁷But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with Him in spirit. ¹⁸Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a man can commit is outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. ¹⁹Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; ²⁰you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.

¹²The body is a unit, though it is composed of many parts. And although its parts are many, they all form one body. So it is with Christ. ¹³For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and we were all given one Spirit to drink. ¹⁴For the body does not consist of one part, but of many. ¹⁵If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁶And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁷If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸But in fact, God has arranged the members of the body, every one of them, according to His design. ¹⁹If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰As it is, there are many parts, but one body. ²¹The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you.” Nor can the head say to the feet, “I do not need you.” ²²On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³and the parts we consider less honorable, we treat with greater honor. And our unpresentable parts are treated with special modesty, ²⁴whereas our presentable parts have no such need. But God has composed the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, ²⁵so that there should be no division in the body, but that its members should have mutual concern for one another. ²⁶If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. ²⁷Now you are the body of Christ, and each of you is a member of it.

¹⁷Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ¹⁸And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into His image with intensifying glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

²⁶You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁷For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.

⁴But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, ⁵to redeem those under the law, that we might receive our adoption as sons. ⁶And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” ⁷So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, you are also an heir through God.

¹It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be encumbered once more by a yoke of slavery. ¹³For you, brothers, were called to freedom; but do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. Rather, serve one another in love. ¹⁶So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want. ¹⁸But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. ¹⁹The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; ²⁰idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions, ²¹and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. ²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵Since we live by the Spirit, let us walk in step with the Spirit.

¹⁴But as for me, may I never boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. ¹⁵For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything. What counts is a new creation.

¹⁷that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in your knowledge of Him. ¹⁸I ask that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know the hope of His calling, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, ¹⁹and the surpassing greatness of His power to us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of His mighty strength, ²⁰which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, ²¹far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. ²²And God put everything under His feet and made Him head over everything for the church, ²³which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. ¹⁴For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has torn down the dividing wall of hostility ¹⁵by abolishing in His flesh the law of commandments and decrees. He did this to create in Himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace ¹⁶and reconciling both of them to God in one body through the cross, by which He put to death their hostility. ¹⁷He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. ¹⁹Therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, ²⁰built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone. ²¹In Him the whole building is fitted together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord. ²²And in Him you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God in His Spirit.

¹⁴... for this reason I bow my knees before the Father, ¹⁵from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. ¹⁶I ask that out of the riches of His glory He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Then you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸will have power, together with all the saints, to comprehend the length and width and height and depth ¹⁹of the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. ²⁰Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, ²¹to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

²⁰But this is not the way you came to know Christ. ²¹Surely you heard of Him and were taught in Him—in keeping with the truth that is in Jesus— ²²to put off your former way of life, your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; ²³to be renewed in the spirit of your minds; ²⁴and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

⁸For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light,

⁶being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. ²¹For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

⁷But whatever was gain to me I count as loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸More than that, I count all things as loss compared to the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ ⁹and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God on the basis of faith. ¹⁰I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Him in His death, ¹¹and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. ²⁰But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,

¹²giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. ¹³He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of His beloved Son, ¹⁴in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. ²¹Once you were alienated from God and were hostile in your minds, engaging in evil deeds. ²²But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy, unblemished, and blameless in His presence— ²³if indeed you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope of the gospel you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. ²⁷To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

⁶Therefore, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in Him, ⁷rooted and built up in Him, established in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. ⁸See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, which are based on human tradition and the spiritual forces of the world rather than on Christ. ⁹For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form. ¹⁰And you have been made complete in Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority. ¹¹In Him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of your sinful nature, with the circumcision performed by Christ and not by human hands. ¹²And having been buried with Him in baptism, you were raised with Him through your faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead. ¹³When you were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our trespasses, ¹⁴having canceled the debt ascribed to us in the decrees that stood against us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross! ¹⁵And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

⁹Do not lie to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices, ¹⁰and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. ¹¹Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free, but Christ is all and is in all. ¹²Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with hearts of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. ¹³Bear with one another and forgive any complaint you may have against someone else. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴And over all these virtues put on love, which is the bond of perfect unity. ¹⁵Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, for to this you were called as members of one body. And be thankful. ¹⁶Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. ¹⁷And whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

⁵For you are all sons of the light and sons of the day; we do not belong to the night or to the darkness.

¹³But we should always thank God for you, brothers who are loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning to be saved by the sanctification of the Spirit and by faith in the truth. ¹⁴To this He called you through our gospel, so that you may share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁷For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control. ⁹He has saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but by His own purpose and by the grace He granted us in Christ Jesus before time began. ¹⁰And now He has revealed this grace through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the gospel,

¹⁰For this reason I endure all things for the sake of the elect, so that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. ¹¹This is a trustworthy saying: If we died with Him, we will also live with Him; ¹²if we endure, we will also reign with Him; if we deny Him, He will also deny us; ¹³if we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.

³For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. ⁴But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, ⁵He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. ⁶This is the Spirit He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷so that, having been justified by His grace, we would become heirs with the hope of eternal life.

¹¹For both the One who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. ¹²He says: “I will proclaim Your name to My brothers; I will sing Your praises in the assembly.” ¹³And again: “I will put My trust in Him.” And once again: “Here am I, and the children God has given Me.” ¹⁴Now since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity, so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil, ¹⁵and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. ¹⁶For surely it is not the angels He helps, but the descendants of Abraham. ¹⁷For this reason He had to be made like His brothers in every way, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, in order to make atonement for the sins of the people. ¹⁸Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.

¹⁴Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we profess. ¹⁵For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin. ¹⁶Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

¹⁰And by that will, we have been sanctified through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. ¹⁴because by a single offering He has made perfect for all time those who are being sanctified. ¹⁹Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰by the new and living way opened for us through the curtain of His body, ²¹and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²²let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. ²³Let us hold resolutely to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, reserved in heaven for you, ⁵who through faith are shielded by God’s power for the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in various trials ⁷so that the proven character of your faith—more precious than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ⁸Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy, ⁹now that you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. ¹³Therefore prepare your minds for action. Be sober-minded. Set your hope fully on the grace to be given you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ¹⁴As obedient children, do not conform to the passions of your former ignorance. ¹⁵But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do, ¹⁶for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” ¹⁷Since you call on a Father who judges each one’s work impartially, conduct yourselves in reverent fear during your stay as foreigners. ¹⁸For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers, ¹⁹but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or spot. ²⁰He was known before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in the last times for your sake. ²¹Through Him you believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him; and so your faith and hope are in God. ²²Since you have purified your souls by obedience to the truth so that you have a genuine love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from a pure heart. ²³For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

²⁴He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.”

³His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. ⁴Through these He has given us His precious and magnificent promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, now that you have escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

¹Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. ²Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when Christ appears, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is. ³And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as Christ is pure.

⁴You, little children, are from God and have overcome them, because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. ¹³By this we know that we remain in Him, and He in us: He has given us of His Spirit. ¹⁴And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. ¹⁶And we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love; whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him. ¹⁷In this way, love has been perfected among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment; for in this world we are just like Him. ¹⁸There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. The one who fears has not been perfected in love. ¹⁹We love because He first loved us.

¹Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves those born of Him. ²By this we know that we love the children of God: when we love God and keep His commandments. ³For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome, ⁴because everyone born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith. ⁵Who then overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. ¹¹And this is that testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. ¹²Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. ¹³I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

⁵and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has released us from our sins by His blood, ⁶who has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and power forever and ever! Amen.

⁹And they sang a new song: “Worthy are You to take the scroll and open its seals, because You were slain, and by Your blood You purchased for God those from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. ¹⁰You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign upon the earth.”

¹³You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its savor, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. ¹⁴You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. Instead, they set it on a stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever— ¹⁷the Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you do know Him, for He abides with you and will be in you. ¹⁸I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. ¹⁹In a little while the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you also will live. ²⁰On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you.

⁴Therefore, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. ⁵For when we lived according to the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, bearing fruit for death. ⁶But now, having died to what bound us, we have been released from the law, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

²⁰For all the promises of God are “Yes” in Christ. And so through Him, our “Amen” is spoken to the glory of God. ²¹Now it is God who establishes both us and you in Christ. He anointed us, ²²placed His seal on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a pledge of what is to come.

¹⁶What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.” ¹⁷“Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.” ¹⁸And: “I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”

¹¹For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to everyone. ¹²It instructs us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live sensible, upright, and godly lives in the present age, ¹³as we await the blessed hope and glorious appearance of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. ¹⁴He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.

¹⁸He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of His creation.

¹Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, To those who are called, loved by God the Father, and kept in Jesus Christ: ²⁴Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you unblemished in His glorious presence, with great joy— ²⁵to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority through Jesus Christ our Lord before all time, and now, and for all eternity. Amen.

³And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. ⁴‘He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,’ and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the former things have passed away.” ⁵And the One seated on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” Then He said, “Write this down, for these words are faithful and true.” ⁶And He told me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give freely from the spring of the water of life. ⁷The one who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son.

¹¹They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. And they did not love their lives so as to shy away from death.

¹But now, this is what the LORD says—He who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine! ²When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you go through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched; the flames will not set you ablaze. ³For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place. ⁴Because you are precious and honored in My sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you and nations in place of your life. ⁵Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east and gather you from the west. ⁶I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back!’ Bring My sons from afar, and My daughters from the ends of the earth— ⁷everyone called by My name and created for My glory, whom I have indeed formed and made.”

¹⁰I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom wears a priestly headdress, as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

¹Then the angel showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, with Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. ²And the LORD said to Satan: “The LORD rebukes you, Satan! Indeed, the LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebukes you! Is not this man a firebrand snatched from the fire?” ³Now Joshua was dressed in filthy garments as he stood before the angel. ⁴So the angel said to those standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes!” Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have removed your iniquity, and I will clothe you with splendid robes.” ⁵Then I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So a clean turban was placed on his head, and they clothed him, as the angel of the LORD stood by.