¹⁸ And I tell you that you are Peter,^[a](A) and on this rock I will build my church,^(B) and the gates of Hades^[b] will not overcome it.

¹⁷ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church;^(A) and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.^(B)

³¹ Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria^(A) enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.^(B)

⁵ So the churches were strengthened^(A) in the faith and grew daily in numbers.^(B)

²⁷ For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.^{(A) 28} Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock^(B) of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.^(C) Be shepherds of the church of God,^[a](D) which he bought^(E) with his own blood.^{[b](F) 29} I know that after I leave, savage wolves^(G) will come in among you and will not spare the flock.^(H)

Unity and Diversity in the Body

¹² Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body,^(A) so it is with Christ.^{(B) 13} For we were all baptized^(C) by^[a] one Spirit^(D) so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free^(E)—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.^(F)

² I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband,^(A) to Christ, so that I might present you^(B) as a pure virgin to him.

¹³ All God’s people here send their greetings.^(A)

¹⁴ May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,^(B) and the love of God,^(C) and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit^(D) be with you all.

¹⁹ Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers,^(A) but fellow citizens^(B) with God’s people and also members of his household,^{(C) 20} built^(D) on the foundation^(E) of the apostles and prophets,^(F) with Christ Jesus himself^(G) as the chief cornerstone.^{(H) 21} In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple^(I) in the Lord. ²² And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.^(J)