They wrote what we have been told by those who saw these things from the beginning and who proclaimed the message.

And so, Your Excellency, because I have carefully studied all these matters from their beginning, I thought it would be good to write an orderly account for you.

but the angel said to them, "Don't be afraid! I am here with good news for you, which will bring great joy to all the people.

This very day in David's town your Savior was born---Christ the Lord!

Dear Theophilus: In my first book I wrote about all the things that Jesus did and taught from the time he began his work

until the day he was taken up to heaven. Before he was taken up, he gave instructions by the power of the Holy Spirit to the men he had chosen as his apostles.

But these have been written in order that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through your faith in him you may have life.

From Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus and an apostle chosen and called by God to preach his Good News.

It is about his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ: as to his humanity, he was born a descendant of David;

We write to you about the Word of life, which has existed from the very beginning. We have heard it, and we have seen it with our eyes; yes, we have seen it, and our hands have touched it.

What we have seen and heard we announce to you also, so that you will join with us in the fellowship that we have with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

The testimony is this: God has given us eternal life, and this life has its source in his Son.

Whoever has the Son has this life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

"I will announce," says the king, "what the LORD has declared. He said to me: 'You are my son; today I have become your father.

Then a voice said from heaven, "This is my own dear Son, with whom I am pleased."

Then the disciples in the boat worshiped Jesus. "Truly you are the Son of God!" they exclaimed.

While he was talking, a shining cloud came over them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my own dear Son, with whom I am pleased---listen to him!"

The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come on you, and God's power will rest upon you. For this reason the holy child will be called the Son of God.

The Word became a human being and, full of grace and truth, lived among us. We saw his glory, the glory which he received as the Father's only Son.

I have seen it," said John, "and I tell you that he is the Son of God."

"Teacher," answered Nathanael, "you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!"

For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life.

And now we believe and know that you are the Holy One who has come from God."

What the Law could not do, because human nature was weak, God did. He condemned sin in human nature by sending his own Son, who came with a nature like our sinful nature, to do away with sin.

Certainly not God, who did not even keep back his own Son, but offered him for us all! He gave us his Son---will he not also freely give us all things?

In the past God spoke to our ancestors many times and in many ways through the prophets,

but in these last days he has spoken to us through his Son. He is the one through whom God created the universe, the one whom God has chosen to possess all things at the end.