A Lame Man Healed

3 Now Peter and John went up together ^(A)to the temple at the hour of prayer, ^(B)the ninth hour. ² And ^(C)a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, ^(D)to ^[a]ask alms from those who entered the temple; ³ who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. ⁴ And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.” ⁵ So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. ⁶ Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: ^(E)In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” ⁷ And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. ⁸ So he, ^(F)leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. ^9 (G)And all the people saw him walking and praising God. ¹⁰ Then they knew that it was he who ^(H)sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

Preaching in Solomon’s Portico

¹¹ Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch ^(I)which is called Solomon’s, greatly amazed. ¹² So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? ^13 (J)The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, ^(K)glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you ^(L)delivered up and ^(M)denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. ¹⁴ But you denied ^(N)the Holy One ^(O)and the Just, and ^(P)asked for a murderer to be granted to you, ¹⁵ and killed the ^[b]Prince of life, ^(Q)whom God raised from the dead, ^(R)of which we are witnesses. ^16 (S)And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

¹⁷ “Yet now, brethren, I know that ^(T)you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers. ¹⁸ But ^(U)those things which God foretold ^(V)by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. ^19 (W)Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, ²⁰ and that He may send ^[c]Jesus Christ, who was ^[d]preached to you before, ^21 (X)whom heaven must receive until the times of ^(Y)restoration of all things, ^(Z)which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since ^[e]the world began. ²² For Moses truly said to the fathers, ^(AA)‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. ²³ And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’ ²⁴ Yes, and ^(AB)all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also ^[f]foretold these days. ^25 (AC)You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ^(AD)‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ ²⁶ To you ^(AE)first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, ^(AF)in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.”

Freed from the Law

7 Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law ^[a]has dominion over a man as long as he lives? ² For ^(A)the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. ³ So then ^(B)if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. ⁴ Therefore, my brethren, you also have become ^(C)dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should ^(D)bear fruit to God. ⁵ For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law ^(E)were at work in our members ^(F)to bear fruit to death. ⁶ But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve ^(G)in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

Sin’s Advantage in the Law

⁷ What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, ^(H)I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ^(I)“You shall not covet.” ⁸ But ^(J)sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For ^(K)apart from the law sin was dead. ⁹ I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. ¹⁰ And the commandment, ^(L)which was to bring life, I found to bring death. ¹¹ For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. ¹² Therefore ^(M)the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

Law Cannot Save from Sin

¹³ Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. ¹⁴ For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, ^(N)sold under sin. ¹⁵ For what I am doing, I do not understand. ^(O)For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. ¹⁶ If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. ¹⁷ But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. ¹⁸ For I know that ^(P)in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. ¹⁹ For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. ²⁰ Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

²¹ I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. ²² For I ^(Q)delight in the law of God according to ^(R)the inward man. ²³ But ^(S)I see another law in ^(T)my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. ²⁴ O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me ^(U)from this body of death? ^25 (V)I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

^16 (A)having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. ¹⁷ For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

Christ’s Suffering and Ours

¹⁸ For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring ^[a]us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, ¹⁹ by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison,

²⁴ By faith ^(A)Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, ²⁵ choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the ^[a]passing pleasures of sin, ²⁶ esteeming ^(B)the ^[b]reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures ^[c]in Egypt; for he looked to the ^(C)reward.

²⁷ By faith ^(D)he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.

Do Not Love the World

^15 (A)Do not love the world or the things in the world. ^(B)If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

¹⁴ We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love ^[a]his brother abides in death.

The Outworking of Love

^16 (A)By this we know love, ^(B)because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

Knowing God Through Love^(A)

^7 (B)Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who ^(C)loves is born of God and knows God. ⁸ He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. ^9 (D)In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten ^(E)Son into the world, that we might live through Him. ¹⁰ In this is love, ^(F)not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son ^(G)to be the propitiation for our sins. ¹¹ Beloved, ^(H)if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Seeing God Through Love

^12 (I)No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. ^13 (J)By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.

¹⁶ And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and ^(A)he who abides in love abides in God, and God ^(B)in him.

The Consummation of Love

¹⁷ Love has been perfected among us in this: that ^(C)we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. ^19 (D)We love ^[a]Him because He first loved us.