²⁰ and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.^(A)

¹³ And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God^[a] made you^[b] alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses,^{(A) 14} erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ He disarmed^[c] the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it.^(B)

¹⁴ Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,^{(A) 15} and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death.^(B)

The True Wisdom of God

⁶ Yet among the mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are being destroyed.^{(A) 7} But we speak God’s wisdom, a hidden mystery, which God decreed before the ages for our glory ⁸ and which none of the rulers of this age understood, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.