Rank in the Kingdom

18 ^(A)At that ^[a]time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “^(B)Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” ² And He called a child to Himself and set him among them, ³ and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you ^[b]change and ^(C)become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ So whoever will humble himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. ⁵ And whoever receives one such child in My name, receives Me; ⁶ but ^(D)whoever ^(E)causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to ^[c]sin, it is better for him that a ^[d]heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depths of the sea.

Stumbling Blocks

⁷ “Woe to the world because of its ^[e]stumbling blocks! For ^(F)it is inevitable that ^[f]stumbling blocks come; but woe to the person through whom the ^[g]stumbling block comes!

⁸ “And ^(G)if your hand or your foot is causing you to sin, cut it off and throw it away from you; it is better for you to enter life maimed or without a foot, than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into the eternal fire. ⁹ And ^(H)if your eye is causing you to sin, tear it out and throw it away from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be thrown into the ^[h](I)fiery hell.

¹⁰ “See that you do not look down on one of these little ones; for I say to you that ^(J)their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.^[i]

Ninety-nine Plus One

¹² “What do you think? ^(K)If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains, and go and search for the one that is lost? ¹³ And if it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that have not gone astray. ¹⁴ So it is not the will ^[j]of your Father who is in heaven for one of these little ones to perish.

Discipline and Prayer

¹⁵ “Now ^(L)if your brother sins^[k], go and ^[l]show him his fault ^[m]in private; if he listens to you, you have gained your brother. ¹⁶ But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that ^(M)on the ^[n]testimony of two or three witnesses every ^[o]matter may be confirmed. ¹⁷ And if he refuses to listen to them, ^(N)tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, ^(O)he is to be to you as ^[p]a Gentile and ^[q]a tax collector. ¹⁸ Truly I say to you, ^(P)whatever you ^[r]bind on earth ^[s]shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you ^[t]loose on earth ^[u]shall have been loosed in heaven.

¹⁹ “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, ^(Q)it shall be done for them ^[v]by My Father who is in heaven. ²⁰ For where two or three have gathered together in My name, ^(R)I am there in their midst.”

The Temporal and Eternal

5 For we know that if our ^[a](A)earthly ^(B)tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house ^(C)not made by hands, eternal in the heavens. ² For indeed, in this tent we ^(D)groan, longing to be ^(E)clothed with our ^[b]dwelling from heaven, ³ since in fact after putting it on, we will not be found naked. ⁴ For indeed, we who are in this tent ^(F)groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be ^(G)clothed, so that what is ^(H)mortal will be swallowed up by life. ⁵ Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who ^(I)gave us the Spirit as a ^[c]pledge.

⁶ Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that ^(J)while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— ⁷ for ^(K)we walk by faith, not by ^[d]sight— ⁸ but we are of good courage and ^(L)prefer rather to be absent from the body and ^(M)to be at home with the Lord. ⁹ Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be ^(N)pleasing to Him. ¹⁰ For we must all appear before ^(O)the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive compensation for ^[e]his deeds done through the body, in accordance with what he has done, whether good or bad.

¹¹ Therefore, knowing the ^(P)fear of the Lord, we persuade people, but we are well known to God; and I hope that we are also ^(Q)well known in your consciences. ¹² We are not commending ourselves to you ^(R)again, but are giving you an ^(S)opportunity to be proud of us, so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in appearance and not in heart. ¹³ For if we have ^(T)lost our minds, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you. ¹⁴ For the love of Christ ^(U)controls us, having concluded this, that ^(V)one died for all, therefore all died; ¹⁵ and He died for all, so that those who live would no longer ^(W)live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose on their behalf.

¹⁶ Therefore from now on we recognize no one ^[f](X)by the flesh; even though we have known Christ by the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore if anyone is ^(Y)in Christ, this person is ^(Z)a new ^[g]creation; ^(AA)the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. ¹⁸ Now ^(AB)all these things are from God, ^(AC)who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ^(AD)ministry of reconciliation, ¹⁹ namely, that ^(AE)God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, ^(AF)not counting their wrongdoings against them, and ^[h]He has ^[i]committed to us the word of reconciliation.

²⁰ Therefore, we are ^(AG)ambassadors for Christ, ^(AH)as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be ^(AI)reconciled to God. ²¹ He made Him who ^(AJ)knew no sin to be ^[j](AK)sin in our behalf, so that we might become the ^(AL)righteousness of God in Him.