John 8
1But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
2Early in the morning He went back into the temple courts. All the people came to Him, and He sat down to teach them.
3The scribes and Pharisees, however, brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before them
4and said, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.
5In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such a woman. So what do You say?”
6They said this to test Him, in order to have a basis for accusing Him. But Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with His finger.
7When they continued to question Him, He straightened up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to cast a stone at her.”
8And again He bent down and wrote on the ground.
9When they heard this, they began to go away one by one, beginning with the older ones, until only Jesus was left, with the woman standing there.
10Then Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you?”
11“No one, Lord,” she answered. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Now go and sin no more.”
12Once again, Jesus spoke to the people and said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”
13So the Pharisees said to Him, “You are testifying about Yourself; Your testimony is not valid.”
14Jesus replied, “Even if I testify about Myself, My testimony is valid, because I know where I came from and where I am going. But you do not know where I came from or where I am going.
15You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.
16But even if I do judge, My judgment is true, because I am not alone; I am with the Father who sent Me.
17Even in your own Law it is written that the testimony of two men is valid.
18I am One who testifies about Myself, and the Father, who sent Me, also testifies about Me.”
19“Where is Your Father?” they asked Him. “You do not know Me or My Father,” Jesus answered. “If you knew Me, you would know My Father as well.”
20He spoke these words while teaching in the temple courts, near the treasury. Yet no one seized Him, because His hour had not yet come.
21Again He said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for Me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.”
22So the Jews began to ask, “Will He kill Himself, since He says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?”
23Then He told them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.
24That is why I told you that you would die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”
25“Who are You?” they asked. “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied.
26“I have much to say about you and much to judge. But the One who sent Me is truthful, and what I have heard from Him, I tell the world.”
27They did not understand that He was telling them about the Father.
28So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing on My own, but speak exactly what the Father has taught Me.
29He who sent Me is with Me. He has not left Me alone, because I always do what pleases Him.”
30As Jesus spoke these things, many believed in Him.
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.
37I know you are Abraham’s descendants, but you are trying to kill Me because My word has no place within you.
38I speak of what I have seen in the presence of the Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”
39“Abraham is our father,” they replied. “If you were children of Abraham,” said Jesus, “you would do the works of Abraham.
40But now you are trying to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham never did such a thing.
41You are doing the works of your father.” “We are not illegitimate children,” they declared. “Our only Father is God Himself.”
42Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on My own, but He sent Me.
43Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you are unable to accept My message.
44You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, because he is a liar and the father of lies.
45But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me!
46Which of you can prove Me guilty of sin? If I speak the truth, why do you not believe Me?
47Whoever belongs to God hears the words of God. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”
48The Jews answered Him, “Are we not right to say that You are a Samaritan and You have a demon?”
49“I do not have a demon,” Jesus replied, “but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me.
50I do not seek My own glory. There is One who seeks it, and He is the Judge.
51Truly, truly, I tell you, if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death.”
52“Now we know that You have a demon!” declared the Jews. “Abraham died, and so did the prophets, yet You say that anyone who keeps Your word will never taste death.
53Are You greater than our father Abraham? He died, as did the prophets. Who do You claim to be?”
54Jesus answered, “If I glorify Myself, My glory means nothing. The One who glorifies Me is My Father, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’
55You do not know Him, but I know Him. If I said I did not know Him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know Him, and I keep His word.
56Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see My day. He saw it and was glad.”
57Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and You have seen Abraham?”
58“Truly, truly, I tell you,” Jesus declared, “before Abraham was born, I am!”
59At this, they picked up stones to throw at Him. But Jesus was hidden and went out of the temple area.
Romans 6-7
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.
15What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law, but under grace? Certainly not!
16Do you not know that when you offer yourselves as obedient slaves, you are slaves to the one you obey, whether you are slaves to sin leading to death, or to obedience leading to righteousness?
17But thanks be to God that, though you once were slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were committed.
18You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
19I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to escalating wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.
20For when you were slaves to sin, you were free of obligation to righteousness.
21What fruit did you reap at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The outcome of those things is death.
22But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the fruit you reap leads to holiness, and the outcome is eternal life.
23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1Do you not know, brothers (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives?
2For instance, a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.
3So then, if she is joined to another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.
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.
7What then shall we say? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed, I would not have been mindful of sin if not for the law. For I would not have been aware of coveting if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”
8But sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from the law, sin is dead.
9Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.
10So I discovered that the very commandment that was meant to bring life actually brought death.
11For sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through the commandment put me to death.
12So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.
13Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Certainly not! But in order that sin might be exposed as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
14We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.
15I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do.
16And if I do what I do not want to do, I admit that the law is good.
17In that case, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
19For I do not do the good I want to do. Instead, I keep on doing the evil I do not want to do.
20And if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21So this is the principle I have discovered: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
22For in my inner being I delight in God’s law.
23But I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me.
24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
25Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
Philippians 2
1Therefore if you have any encouragement in Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and compassion,
2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being united in spirit and purpose.
3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves.
4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
5Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus:
6Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness.
8And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross.
9Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name above all names,
10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
12Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.
13For it is God who works in you to will and to act on behalf of His good purpose.
14Do everything without complaining or arguing,
15so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine as lights in the world
16as you hold forth the word of life, in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.
17But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.
18So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.
19Now I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I learn how you are doing.
20I have nobody else like him who will genuinely care for your needs.
21For all the others look after their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.
22But you know Timothy’s proven worth, that as a child with his father he has served with me to advance the gospel.
23So I hope to send him as soon as I see what happens with me.
24And I trust in the Lord that I myself will come soon.
25But I thought it necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger and minister to my needs.
26For he has been longing for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill.
27He was sick indeed, nearly unto death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow.
28Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again you may rejoice, and I may be less anxious.
29Welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor men like him,
30because he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up for your deficit of service to me.
