For God loved the world so dearly that he gave up his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life, instead of perishing.

All have sinned, all come short of the glory of God,

All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for amendment, and for moral discipline,

Well then, my brothers, I appeal to you by all the mercy of God to dedicate your bodies as a living sacrifice, consecrated and acceptable to God; that is your cult, a spiritual rite.

But the harvest of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, good temper, kindliness, generosity, fidelity,

For it is by grace you have been saved, as you had faith; it is not your doing but God's gift,

We know also that those who love God, those who have been called in terms of his purpose, have his aid and interest in everything.

go and make disciples of all nations, baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the holy Spirit,

Instead of being moulded to this world, have your mind renewed, and so be transformed in nature, able to make out what the will of God is, namely, what is good and acceptable to him and perfect.

Jesus said to him, "I am the real and living way: no one comes to the Father except by means of me.

You will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses at Jerusalem, throughout all Judaea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

"Repent," said Peter, "let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins; then you will receive the gift of the holy Spirit.

Sin's wage is death, but God's gift is life eternal in Christ Jesus our Lord.

On those who have accepted him, however, he has conferred the right of being children of God, that is, on those who believe in his Name,

THE Logos existed in the very beginning, the Logos was with God, the Logos was divine.

and he saved us, not for anything we had done but from his own pity for us, by the water that means regeneration and renewal under the holy Spirit

Confess with your mouth that 'Jesus is Lord,' believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, and you will be saved;

So the Logos became flesh and tarried among us; we have seen his glory ??glory such as an only son enjoys from his father ??seen it to be full of grace and reality.

But God proves his love for us by this, that Christ died for us when we were still sinners.

he granted some men to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to shepherd and teach,

They devoted themselves to the instruction given by the apostles and to fellowship, breaking bread and praying together.

Come to me, all who are labouring and burdened, and I will refresh you.

if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, he forgives our sins and cleanses us from all iniquity;

Jesus replied, "Truly, truly I tell you, no one can see God's Realm unless he is born from above."

The thief only comes to steal, to slay, and to destroy: I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.

Thus, then, sin came into the world by one man, and death came in by sin; and so death spread to all men, inasmuch as all men sinned.

And he said to them, "Go to all the world and preach the gospel to every creature:

There is no salvation by anyone else, nor even a second Name under heaven appointed for us men and our salvation."

There is a new creation whenever a man comes to be in Christ; what is old is gone, the new has come.

Let not your hearts be disquieted; you believe ??believe in God and also in me.

The real Light, which enlightens every man, was coming then into the world:

Then Jesus came forward to them and said, "Full authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth;

As we are justified by faith, then, let us enjoy the peace we have with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

In him who strengthens me I am able for anything.

Never be anxious, but always make your requests known to God in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving;

Thus there is no doom now for those who are in Christ Jesus;

Two days later a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee; the mother of Jesus was present,

During the course of the day of Pentecost they were all together,

I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, Christ lives in me; the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me.

For I am proud of the gospel; it is God's saving power for everyone who has faith, for the Jew first and for the Greek as well.

I give you a new command, to love one another ??as I have loved you, you are to love one another.

Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, who belonged to the Jewish authorities;

Do your utmost to let God see that you at least are a sound workman, with no need to be ashamed of the way you handle the word of the Truth.

Seek God's Realm and his goodness, and all that will be yours over and above.

and I will ask the Father to give you another Helper to be with you for ever,

Therefore, with all this host of witnesses encircling us, we must strip off every handicap, strip off sin with its clinging folds, to run our appointed course steadily,

God is Spirit, and his worshippers must worship him in Spirit and in reality."

Treat one another with the same spirit as you experience in Christ Jesus.

Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock of which the holy Spirit has appointed you guardians; shepherd the church of the Lord which he has purchased with his own blood.

Everyone who invokes the name of the Lord shall be saved.

If you love me you will keep my commands,

But God's anger is revealed from heaven against all the impiety and wickedness of those who hinder the Truth by their wickedness.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me: for he has consecrated me to preach the gospel to the poor, he has sent me to proclaim release for captives and recovery of sight for the blind, to set free the oppressed,

Jesus replied, "Truly, truly I tell you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter God's Realm.

Now when the Lord learned that the Pharisees had heard of Jesus gaining and baptizing more disciples than John

Now faith means we are confident of what we hope for, convinced of what we do not see.

you will understand the truth, and the truth will set you free."

For the Logos of God is a living thing, active and more cutting than any sword with double edge, penetrating to the very division of soul and spirit, joints and marrow ??scrutinizing the very thoughts and conceptions of the heart.

So confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed; the prayers of the righteous have a powerful effect.

Next day he observed Jesus coming towards him and exclaimed, "Look, there is the lamb of God, who is to remove the sin of the world!

And as with us so with you. You were dead in the trespasses and sins

However, when the Spirit of truth comes, he will lead you into all the truth; for he will not speak of his own accord, he will say whatever he is told, and he will disclose to you what is to come.

Every subject must obey the government-authorities, for no authority exists apart from God; the existing authorities have been constituted by God.

Now I tell you, Peter is your name and on this rock I will build my church; the powers of Hades shall not succeed against it.

When the Son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory,

through him all existence came into being, no existence came into being apart from him.

where the people were more amenable than at Thessalonica; they were perfectly ready to receive the Word and made a daily study of the scriptures to see if it was really as Paul said.

but the Helper, the holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and recall to you everything I have said.

You belong to your father the devil, and you want to do what your father desires; he was a slayer of men from the very beginning, and he has no place in the truth because there is no truth in him: when he tells a lie, he is expressing his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

he came for the purpose of witnessing, to bear testimony to the Light, so that all men might believe by means of him.

For the grace of God has appeared to save all men,

Do not imagine I have come to destroy the Law or the prophets; I have not come to destroy but to fulfil.

To conclude. Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might;

He replied, "You must love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole soul, and with your whole mind.

He is the likeness of the unseen God, born first before all the creation ??16 for it was by him that all things were created both in heaven and on earth, both the seen and the unseen, including Thrones, angelic Lords, celestial Powers and Rulers; all things have been created by him and for him;

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who remains in me, as I in him, bears rich fruit (because apart from me you can do nothing).

Truly, truly I tell you, he who listens to my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life; he will incur no sentence of judgment, he has already passed from death across to life.

Finally, brothers, keep in mind whatever is true, whatever is worthy, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is attractive, whatever is high-toned, all excellence, all merit.

and apart from faith it is impossible to satisfy him, for the man who draws near to God must believe that he exists and that he does reward those who seek him.

awaiting the blessed hope of the appearance of the Glory of the great God and of our Saviour Christ Jesus,

(You see, faith must come from what is heard, and what is heard comes from word of Christ.)

Making a scourge of cords, he drove them all, sheep and cattle together, out of the temple, scattered the coins of the brokers and upset their tables,

Greet it as pure joy, my brothers, when you come across any sort of trial,

and they were all filled with the holy Spirit ??they began to speak in foreign tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to express themselves.

he who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he who will not believe shall be condemned.

Consecrate them by thy truth: thy word is truth.

"Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ," they said, "and then you will be saved, you and your household as well."

Whoever of you is defective in wisdom, let him ask God who gives to all men without question or reproach, and the gift will be his.

Jesus said to her, "I am myself resurrection and life: he who believes in me will live, even if he dies,

So those who accepted what he said were baptized; about three thousand souls were brought in, that day.

On saying this he was lifted up while they looked on, and a cloud took him out of sight.

On the first day of the week we met for the breaking of bread; Paul addressed them, as he was to leave next day, and he prolonged his address till midnight

but reverence Christ as Lord in your own hearts. Always be ready with a reply for anyone who calls you to account for the hope you cherish, but answer gently and with a sense of reverence;

And this is eternal life, that they know thee, the only real God, and him whom thou hast sent, even Jesus Christ.

What! do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the Realm of God? Make no mistake about it; neither the immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor catamites nor sodomites

and a Samaritan woman came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink"

"Truly, truly I tell you," said Jesus, "I have existed before Abraham was born."

But you are the elect race, the royal priesthood, the consecrated nation, the People who belong to Him, that you may proclaim the wondrous deeds of Him who has called you from darkness to his wonderful light ??10 you who once were no people and now are God's people, you who once were unpitied and now are pitied.

Many were the forms and fashions in which God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets,

There was a rich man, clad in purple and fine linen, who lived sumptuously every day.

Lo, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and sup with him, and he with me.

It is not everyone who says to me 'Lord, Lord!', who will get into the Realm of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven.

The wind blows where it wills; you can hear its sound, but you never know where it has come from or where it goes: it is the same with everyone who is born of the Spirit."

The invalid replied, "Sir, I have nobody to put me into the bath, when the water is disturbed; and while I am getting down myself, someone else gets in before me."

So Jesus addressed the Jews who had believed him, saying, "If you abide by what I say, you are really disciples of mine:

He who believes in him is not sentenced; he who will not believe is sentenced already, for having refused to believe in the name of the only Son of God.

Keep your life free from the love of money; be content with what you have, for He has said, Never will I fail you, never will I forsake you.

Then Jesus again addressed them, saying, "I am the light of the world: he who follows me will not walk in darkness, he will enjoy the light of life."

Store up no treasures for yourselves on earth, where moth and rust corrode, where thieves break in and steal:

I and my Father are one ??."

For we have to struggle, not with blood and flesh but with the angelic Rulers, the angelic Authorities, the potentates of the dark present, the spirit-forces of evil in the heavenly sphere.

to let you know the solid truth of what you have been taught.

[Chapters

And just as it is appointed for men to die once and after that to be judged,

You have had a taste of the kindness of the Lord:

for the sake of the Truth which remains within us and will be with us for ever:

Ask and the gift will be yours, seek and you will find, knock and the door will open to you;

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazaret,

he came one night to Jesus and said, "Rabbi, we know you have come from God to teach us, for no one could perform these Signs of yours unless God were with him."

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who in Christ has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly sphere!

And on hearing what he said, they went away one by one, beginning with the older men, till Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.

You are the light of the world. A town on the top of a hill cannot be hidden.

The birth of [Jesus] Christ came about thus. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they came together she was discovered to be pregnant by the holy Spirit.

Do not believe every spirit, beloved, but test the spirits to see if they come from God; for many false prophets have emerged in the world.

There is no room for Jew or Greek, there is no room for slave or freeman, there is no room for male and female; you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Is anyone ill? let him summon the presbyters of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;

Now a jurist got up to tempt him. "Teacher," he said, "what am I to do to inherit life eternal?"

We would like you, brothers, to understand about those who are asleep in death. You must not grieve for them, like the rest of men who have no hope.

all we are given is good, and all our endowments are faultless, descending from above, from the Father of the heavenly lights, who knows no change of rising and setting, who casts no shadow on the earth.

For our sakes He made him to be sin who himself knew nothing of sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

I have said all this to you that in me you may have peace; in the world you have trouble, but courage! I have conquered the world.

You also have heard the message of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, and in him you also by your faith have been stamped with the seal of the long-promised holy Spirit

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her

amid the darkness the Light shone, but the darkness did not master it.

The Lord is not slow with what he promises, according to certain people's idea of slowness; no, he is longsuffering for your sake, he does not wish any to perish but all to betake them to repentance.

He was not the Light; it was to bear testimony to the Light that he appeared.

The angel answered her, "The holy Spirit will come upon you, the power of the Most High will overshadow you; hence what is born will be called holy, Son of God.

Pure, unsoiled religion in the judgment of God the Father means this: to care for orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself from the stain of the world.

He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who disobeys the Son shall not see life ??God's anger broods over him."

Wives, be subject to your husbands as to the Lord,

If your brother sins [against you], go and reprove him, as between you and him alone. If he listens to you, then you have won your brother over;

who said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up to heaven? This Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come back, just as you have seen him depart to heaven."

Repent then, and turn to have your sins blotted out, so that a breathing-space may be vouchsafed you,

God has made us what we are, creating us in Christ Jesus for the good deeds which are prepared beforehand by God as our sphere of action.

My brothers, what is the use of anyone declaring he has faith, if he has no deeds to show? Can his faith save him?

God did not send his Son into the world to pass sentence on it, but to save the world by him.

Surely you know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death!

Let this be how you pray: 'our Father in heaven, thy name be revered,

Tell the older women also to be reverent in their demeanour and not to be slanderers or slaves to drink;

Now what are we to infer from this? That we are to 'remain on in sin, so that there may be all the more grace'?

and do not get drunk with wine ??that means profligacy ??but be filled with the Spirit,

Then I saw the new heaven and the new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away; and the sea is no more.

But the time is coming, it has come already, when the real worshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and in reality; for these are the worshippers that the Father wants.

Now in those days an edict was issued by Caesar Augustus for a census of the whole world.

For "there is one God" and "one intermediary between God and men,

Then Jesus was led into the desert by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil.

You search the scriptures, imagining you possess eternal life in their pages ??and they do testify to me ??40 but you refuse to come to me for life.

in whom we enjoy our redemption, the forgiveness of our trespasses, by the blood he shed.

Do not wonder at this; for there is a time coming when all who are in the tombs will listen to his voice

but if we live and move within the light, as he is within the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from every sin.

Nobody has ever seen God, but God has been unfolded by the divine One, the only Son, who lies upon the Father's breast.

As the Lord's prisoner, then, I beg of you to live a life worthy of your calling,

Judge not, that you may not be judged yourselves;

First and foremost, I passed on to you what I had myself received, namely, that Christ died for our sins as the scriptures had said,

To lay life down for his friends, man has no greater love than that.

They belong to the world, therefore they speak as inspired by the world, and the world listens to them:

I mean, lead the life of the Spirit; then you will never satisfy the passions of the flesh.

But you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells within you. Anyone who does not possess the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him.

On the evening of that same day ??the first day of the week ??though the disciples had gathered within closed doors for fear of the Jews, Jesus entered and stood among them, saying, "Peace be with you!"

asking, "Where is His promised advent? Since the day our fathers fell asleep, things remain exactly as they were from the beginning of creation."

No one is able to come to me unless he is drawn by the Father who sent me (and I will raise him up on the last day).

After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Indeed the Son of man must be lifted on high, just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,

Enter by the narrow gate: for [the gate] is broad and the road is wide that leads to destruction, and many enter that way.

Such ages of ignorance God overlooked, but he now charges men that they are all everywhere to repent,

Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter his mother's womb over again and be born?"

Since then you have been raised with Christ, aim at what is above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God;

For he decreed of old that those whom he predestined should share the likeness of his Son ??that he might be the firstborn of a great brotherhood.

Act on the Word, instead of merely listening to it and deluding yourselves.

He also said: "There was a man who had two sons,

As God's own chosen, then, as consecrated and beloved, be clothed with compassion, kindliness, humility, gentleness, and good temper ??13 forbear and forgive each other in any case of complaint; as Christ forgave you, so must you forgive.

Christ himself died for sins, once for all, a just man for unjust men, that he might bring us near to God; in the flesh he was put to death but he came to life in the Spirit.

During these days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists began to complain against the Hebrews, on the ground that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.

Peace I leave to you, my peace I give to you; I give it not as the world gives its 'Peace!' Let not your hearts be disquieted or timid.

My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them and they follow me;

for every one who asks receives, the seeker finds, the door is opened to anyone who knocks.

he bore our sins in his own body on the gibbet, that we might break with sin and live for righteousness; and by his wounds you have been healed.

Well then, submit yourselves to God; resist the devil, and he will fly from you:

Yet ??I am telling you the truth ??my going is for your good. If I do not depart, the Helper will not come to you; whereas if I go, I will send him to you.

I am the good shepherd; a good shepherd lays down his own life for the sheep.

for ours is no high priest who is incapable of sympathizing with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every respect like ourselves, yet without sinning.

and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.

You are the salt of the earth. But if salt becomes insipid, what can make it salt again? After that it is fit for nothing, fit only to be thrown outside and trodden by the feet of men.

He, reflecting God's bright glory and stamped with God's own character, sustains the universe with his word of power; when he had secured our purification from sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high;

Keep cool, keep awake. Your enemy the devil prowls like a roaring lion, looking out for someone to devour.

So too the Spirit assists us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray aright, but the Spirit pleads for us with sighs that are beyond words,

Beloved, let us love one another, for love belongs to God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God;

All those will come to me who are the Father's gift to me, and never will I reject one of them;

Love not the world, nor yet what is in the world; if anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.

(his disciples had gone to the town to buy some food).

When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth which issues from the Father, he will bear witness to me;

'Born of him!' Think what a love the Father has for us, in letting us be called 'children of God!' That is what we are. The world does not recognize us? That is simply because it did not recognize him.

On the first day of the week Mary of Magdala went early to the tomb, when it was still dark; but as she saw the boulder had been removed from the tomb,

Then Peter opened his lips and said, "I see quite plainly that God has no favourites,

He said to all, "If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross day after day, and so follow me;

Philip answered, "Seven pounds' worth of bread would not be enough for them, for everybody to get even a morsel."

Now when he entered the house of a ruler who belonged to the Pharisees to take a meal, they watched him closely.

Then he came to Nazaret, where he had been brought up, and on the sabbath he entered the synagogue as was his custom. He stood up to read the lesson

I left you behind in Crete in order to finish putting things right and to appoint presbyters in every town as I told you,

So Jesus made this answer to them: "Truly, truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, nothing but what he sees the Father doing; for whatever he does, the Son also does the same.

Now when Jesus was born at Bethlehem, belonging to Judaea, in the days of king Herod, magicians from the East arrived at Jerusalem,

you are all sons of God by your faith in Christ Jesus

Let the inspiration of Christ dwell in your midst with all its wealth of wisdom; teach and train one another with the music of psalms, with hymns, and songs of the spiritual life; praise God with thankful hearts.

Nor do I pray for them alone, but for all who believe in me by their spoken word;

My dear children, I am writing this to you that you may not sin; but if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father in Jesus Christ the just;

Now on the last day, the great day, of the festival, Jesus stood and cried aloud, "If anyone is athirst, let him come to me and drink;

Now the deeds of the flesh are quite obvious, such as sexual vice, impurity, sensuality,

Jesus answered, "If you knew what is the free gift of God and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked him instead, and he would have given you 'living' water."

with the freedom for which Christ set us free. Make a firm stand then, do not slip into any yoke of servitude.

Then the brothers at once sent off Paul and Silas by night to Beroea. When they arrived there, they betook themselves to the Jewish synagogue,

For I am certain neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future,

The Spirit is the witness to this, for the Spirit is truth.

For the sons of God are those who are guided by the Spirit of God.

So your light is to shine before men, that they may see the good you do and glorify your Father in heaven.

IN my former volume, Theophilus, I treated all that Jesus began by doing and teaching

Later on Jesus met him in the temple, and said to him, "See, you are well and strong; commit no more sins, in case something worse befalls you."

grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is always the same, yesterday, to-day, and for ever.

Now what follows from all this? If God is for us, who can be against us?

of this I am confident, that he who has begun the good work in you will go on completing it until the day of Jesus Christ.

Now before the passover festival Jesus knew the time had come for him to pass from this world to the Father. He had loved his own in this world and he loved them to the end;

for prophecy never came by human impulse, it was when carried away by the holy Spirit that the holy men of God spoke.

Our baptism in his death made us share his burial, so that, as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live and move in the new sphere of Life.

So everyone went to be registered, each at his own town,

Have you had all that experience for nothing (if it has really gone for nothing)?

In the course of their journey he entered a certain village, and a woman called Martha welcomed him to her house.