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God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. 4:5 Greek sons; also in 4:6.

15 That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.

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God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

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18 For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. 19 It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. 20 God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days he has been revealed for your sake.

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And they sang a new song with these words:

“You are worthy to take the scroll
    and break its seals and open it.
For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God
    from every tribe and language and people and nation.

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12 With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.

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26 For you are all children[a] of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

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Footnotes

  1. 3:26 Greek sons.

23 And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children,[a] including the new bodies he has promised us.

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Footnotes

  1. 8:23 Greek wait anxiously for sonship.

He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.

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13 But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”[a]

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Footnotes

  1. 3:13 Deut 21:23 (Greek version).

They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God’s adopted children.[a] God revealed his glory to them. He made covenants with them and gave them his law. He gave them the privilege of worshiping him and receiving his wonderful promises.

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Footnotes

  1. 9:4 Greek chosen for sonship.

13 For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, 14 who purchased our freedom[a] and forgave our sins.

Christ Is Supreme

15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
    He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,[b]
16 for through him God created everything
    in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
    and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
    Everything was created through him and for him.
17 He existed before anything else,
    and he holds all creation together.
18 Christ is also the head of the church,
    which is his body.
He is the beginning,
    supreme over all who rise from the dead.[c]
    So he is first in everything.
19 For God in all his fullness
    was pleased to live in Christ,
20 and through him God reconciled
    everything to himself.
He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth
    by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.

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Footnotes

  1. 1:14 Some manuscripts add with his blood.
  2. 1:15 Or He is the firstborn of all creation.
  3. 1:18 Or the firstborn from the dead.

Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child.[a] And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.

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Footnotes

  1. 4:7 Greek son; also in 4:7b.

19 For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are.

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12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.

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14 He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds.

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Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us[a] and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.

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Footnotes

  1. 5:2 Some manuscripts read loved you.

Abraham’s Two Children

21 Tell me, you who want to live under the law, do you know what the law actually says?

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68 “Praise the Lord, the God of Israel,
    because he has visited and redeemed his people.

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The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.

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28 “So guard yourselves and God’s people. Feed and shepherd God’s flock—his church, purchased with his own blood[a]—over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as leaders.[b]

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Footnotes

  1. 20:28a Or with the blood of his own [Son].
  2. 20:28b Or overseers, or bishops.

28 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

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18 Christ suffered[a] for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit.[b]

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Footnotes

  1. 3:18a Some manuscripts read died.
  2. 3:18b Or in spirit.

This great choir sang a wonderful new song in front of the throne of God and before the four living beings and the twenty-four elders. No one could learn this song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.

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