Mystery and Victory

⁵⁰ I tell you this, brothers: ^(A)flesh and blood ^(B)cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

³ Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is ^(A)born ^(B)again^[a] he cannot ^(C)see the kingdom of God.” ⁴ Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” ⁵ Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born ^(D)of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ^6 (E)That which is born of the flesh is ^(F)flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.^[b]

¹⁷ And Jesus answered him, ^(A)“Blessed are you, ^(B)Simon Bar-Jonah! For ^(C)flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, ^(D)but my Father who is in heaven.

The New Life

¹⁷ Now this I say and ^(A)testify in the Lord, ^(B)that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, ^(C)in the futility of their minds.

Keep in Step with the Spirit

¹⁶ But I say, ^(A)walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify ^(B)the desires of the flesh.

¹⁷ This is what I mean: the law, which came ^(A)430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as ^(B)to make the promise void.

Our Heavenly Dwelling

5 For we know that if ^(A)the tent that is ^(B)our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, ^(C)a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

^13 (A)“Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one ^(B)and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but ^(C)for the Lord, and ^(D)the Lord for the body.

⁴ I say this in order ^(A)that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.