¹⁴ Now when the apostles (special messengers) at Jerusalem heard that [the country of] Samaria had accepted and welcomed the Word of God, they sent Peter and John to them,

¹⁵ And they came down and prayed for them that the Samaritans might receive the Holy Spirit;

¹⁶ For He had not yet fallen upon any of them, but they had only been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.

¹⁷ Then [the apostles] laid their hands on them one by one, and they received the Holy Spirit.

⁴ Such is the reliance and confidence that we have through Christ toward and with reference to God.

⁵ Not that we are fit (qualified and sufficient in ability) of ourselves to form personal judgments or to claim or count anything as coming from us, but our power and ability and sufficiency are from God.

⁶ [It is He] Who has qualified us [making us to be fit and worthy and sufficient] as ministers and dispensers of a new covenant [of salvation through Christ], not [ministers] of the letter (of legally written code) but of the Spirit; for the code [of the Law] kills, but the [Holy] Spirit makes alive.^(A)