As it is, however, God put every different part in the body just as he wanted it to be.

All of you are Christ's body, and each one is a part of it.

But Israel is saved by the LORD, and her victory lasts forever; her people will never be disgraced.' "

"I am the real vine, and my Father is the gardener.

You have been made clean already by the teaching I have given you.

"I am the vine, and you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will bear much fruit; for you can do nothing without me.

I pray that they may all be one. Father! May they be in us, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they be one, so that the world will believe that you sent me.

I in them and you in me, so that they may be completely one, in order that the world may know that you sent me and that you love them as you love me.

There is no condemnation now for those who live in union with Christ Jesus.

In the same way, though we are many, we are one body in union with Christ, and we are all joined to each other as different parts of one body.

Greetings also to Andronicus and Junia, fellow Jews who were in prison with me; they are well known among the apostles, and they became Christians before I did.

Greetings to Herodion, a fellow Jew, and to the Christians in the family of Narcissus.

Anyone who is joined to Christ is a new being; the old is gone, the new has come.

I know a certain Christian man who fourteen years ago was snatched up to the highest heaven (I do not know whether this actually happened or whether he had a vision---only God knows).

Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! For in our union with Christ he has blessed us by giving us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly world.

Even before the world was made, God had already chosen us to be his through our union with Christ, so that we would be holy and without fault before him. Because of his love

This plan, which God will complete when the time is right, is to bring all creation together, everything in heaven and on earth, with Christ as head.

God has made us what we are, and in our union with Christ Jesus he has created us for a life of good deeds, which he has already prepared for us to do.

For all things were created by him, and all things exist through him and for him. To God be the glory forever! Amen.

All this is done by God, who through Christ changed us from enemies into his friends and gave us the task of making others his friends also.

Here we are, then, speaking for Christ, as though God himself were making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ's behalf: let God change you from enemies into his friends!

but for those whom God has called, both Jews and Gentiles, this message is Christ, who is the power of God and the wisdom of God.

The Spirit gives one person a message full of wisdom, while to another person the same Spirit gives a message full of knowledge.

Listen! Wisdom is calling out in the streets and marketplaces,

It is the LORD who gives wisdom; from him come knowledge and understanding.

Are you immature? Learn to be mature. Are you foolish? Learn to have sense.

"God is wise and powerful! Praise him forever and ever.

because I will give you such words and wisdom that none of your enemies will be able to refute or contradict what you say.

No one has ever seen God. The only Son, who is the same as God and is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

Jesus spoke to the Pharisees again. "I am the light of the world," he said. "Whoever follows me will have the light of life and will never walk in darkness."

Jesus answered him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one goes to the Father except by me.

I gave them the message that you gave me, and they received it; they know that it is true that I came from you, and they believe that you sent me.

I made you known to them, and I will continue to do so, in order that the love you have for me may be in them, and so that I also may be in them."

The God who said, "Out of darkness the light shall shine!" is the same God who made his light shine in our hearts, to bring us the knowledge of God's glory shining in the face of Christ.

and ask the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, to give you the Spirit, who will make you wise and reveal God to you, so that you will know him.

I ask that your minds may be opened to see his light, so that you will know what is the hope to which he has called you, how rich are the wonderful blessings he promises his people,

and of making all people see how God's secret plan is to be put into effect. God, who is the Creator of all things, kept his secret hidden through all the past ages,

in order that at the present time, by means of the church, the angelic rulers and powers in the heavenly world might learn of his wisdom in all its different forms.

I do this in order that they may be filled with courage and may be drawn together in love, and so have the full wealth of assurance which true understanding brings. In this way they will know God's secret, which is Christ himself.

He is the key that opens all the hidden treasures of God's wisdom and knowledge.

Christ's message in all its richness must live in your hearts. Teach and instruct one another with all wisdom. Sing psalms, hymns, and sacred songs; sing to God with thanksgiving in your hearts.

and you remember that ever since you were a child, you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

so that the person who serves God may be fully qualified and equipped to do every kind of good deed.

But if any of you lack wisdom, you should pray to God, who will give it to you; because God gives generously and graciously to all.

I will tell of your goodness; all day long I will speak of your salvation, though it is more than I can understand.

I will go in the strength of the LORD God; I will proclaim your goodness, yours alone.

"They will say that only through me are victory and strength to be found; but all who hate me will suffer disgrace.

I, the LORD, will rescue all the descendants of Jacob, and they will give me praise.

But no weapon will be able to hurt you; you will have an answer for all who accuse you. I will defend my servants and give them victory." The LORD has spoken.

The LORD says, "The time is coming when I will choose as king a righteous descendant of David. That king will rule wisely and do what is right and just throughout the land.

When he is king, the people of Judah will be safe, and the people of Israel will live in peace. He will be called 'The LORD Our Salvation.'

The people of Judah and of Jerusalem will be rescued and will live in safety. The city will be called 'The LORD Our Salvation.'

"Seven times seventy years is the length of time God has set for freeing your people and your holy city from sin and evil. Sin will be forgiven and eternal justice established, so that the vision and the prophecy will come true, and the holy Temple will be rededicated.

For the gospel reveals how God puts people right with himself: it is through faith from beginning to end. As the scripture says, "The person who is put right with God through faith shall live."

But now God's way of putting people right with himself has been revealed. It has nothing to do with law, even though the Law of Moses and the prophets gave their witness to it.

everyone has sinned and is far away from God's saving presence.

This is what David meant when he spoke of the happiness of the person whom God accepts as righteous, apart from anything that person does:

Because of our sins he was given over to die, and he was raised to life in order to put us right with God.

And just as all people were made sinners as the result of the disobedience of one man, in the same way they will all be put right with God as the result of the obedience of the one man.

So then, just as sin ruled by means of death, so also God's grace rules by means of righteousness, leading us to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Christ was without sin, but for our sake God made him share our sin in order that in union with him we might share the righteousness of God.

and be completely united with him. I no longer have a righteousness of my own, the kind that is gained by obeying the Law. I now have the righteousness that is given through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God and is based on faith.

From Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ--- To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have been given a faith as precious as ours:

To the church of God which is in Corinth, to all who are called to be God's holy people, who belong to him in union with Christ Jesus, together with all people everywhere who worship our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:

Some of you were like that. But you have been purified from sin; you have been dedicated to God; you have been put right with God by the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

She will have a son, and you will name him Jesus---because he will save his people from their sins."

Dedicate them to yourself by means of the truth; your word is truth.

And for their sake I dedicate myself to you, in order that they, too, may be truly dedicated to you.

You are to open their eyes and turn them from the darkness to the light and from the power of Satan to God, so that through their faith in me they will have their sins forgiven and receive their place among God's chosen people.'

But you do not live as your human nature tells you to; instead, you live as the Spirit tells you to---if, in fact, God's Spirit lives in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have put to death their human nature with all its passions and desires.

God has made us what we are, and in our union with Christ Jesus he has created us for a life of good deeds, which he has already prepared for us to do.

He did this to dedicate the church to God by his word, after making it clean by washing it in water,

You were chosen according to the purpose of God the Father and were made a holy people by his Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be purified by his blood. May grace and peace be yours in full measure.

Jesus Christ is the one who came with the water of his baptism and the blood of his death. He came not only with the water, but with both the water and the blood. And the Spirit himself testifies that this is true, because the Spirit is truth.

So when this takes place, and the mortal has been changed into the immortal, then the scripture will come true: "Death is destroyed; victory is complete!"

Death gets its power to hurt from sin, and sin gets its power from the Law.

I will not save this people from the world of the dead or rescue them from the power of death. Bring on your plagues, death! Bring on your destruction, world of the dead! I will no longer have pity for this people.

But by the free gift of God's grace all are put right with him through Christ Jesus, who sets them free.

But it is not just creation alone which groans; we who have the Spirit as the first of God's gifts also groan within ourselves as we wait for God to make us his children and set our whole being free.

In order to set us free from this present evil age, Christ gave himself for our sins, in obedience to the will of our God and Father.

But by becoming a curse for us Christ has redeemed us from the curse that the Law brings; for the scripture says, "Anyone who is hanged on a tree is under God's curse."

For by the blood of Christ we are set free, that is, our sins are forgiven. How great is the grace of God,

And do not make God's Holy Spirit sad; for the Spirit is God's mark of ownership on you, a guarantee that the Day will come when God will set you free.

by whom we are set free, that is, our sins are forgiven.

He gave himself for us, to rescue us from all wickedness and to make us a pure people who belong to him alone and are eager to do good.

When Christ went through the tent and entered once and for all into the Most Holy Place, he did not take the blood of goats and bulls to offer as a sacrifice; rather, he took his own blood and obtained eternal salvation for us.

For you know what was paid to set you free from the worthless manner of life handed down by your ancestors. It was not something that can be destroyed, such as silver or gold;

it was the costly sacrifice of Christ, who was like a lamb without defect or flaw.

They sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to break open its seals. For you were killed, and by your sacrificial death you bought for God people from every tribe, language, nation, and race.

They are the men who have kept themselves pure by not having sexual relations with women; they are virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They have been redeemed from the rest of the human race and are the first ones to be offered to God and to the Lamb.