Israel’s Only Savior

The Way of the Cross

³⁴ Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.^{(A) 35} For whoever wants to save their life^[a] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.^{(B) 36} What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? ³⁷ Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? ³⁸ If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man^(C) will be ashamed of them^(D) when he comes^(E) in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed^(A) in his name,^(B) he gave the right to become children of God^(C)— ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.^(D)

⁵ Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.^{(A) 6} Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit^[a] gives birth to spirit.^{(B) 7} You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You^[b] must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”^[c](C)

Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit

¹⁵ “If you love me, keep my commands.^{(A) 16} And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate^(B) to help you and be with you forever— ¹⁷ the Spirit of truth.^(C) The world cannot accept him,^(D) because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be^[a] in you. ¹⁸ I will not leave you as orphans;^(E) I will come to you.^{(F) 19} Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me.^(G) Because I live, you also will live.^{(H) 20} On that day^(I) you will realize that I am in my Father,^(J) and you are in me, and I am in you.^{(K) 21} Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me.^(L) The one who loves me will be loved by my Father,^(M) and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

²² Then Judas^(N) (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”^(O)

²³ Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching.^(P) My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.^{(Q) 24} Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.^(R)

²⁵ “All this I have spoken while still with you. ²⁶ But the Advocate,^(S) the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name,^(T) will teach you all things^(U) and will remind you of everything I have said to you.^{(V) 27} Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.^(W) I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled^(X) and do not be afraid.

²⁸ “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’^(Y) If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father,^(Z) for the Father is greater than I.^{(AA) 29} I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe.^{(AB) 30} I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world^(AC) is coming. He has no hold over me, ³¹ but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.^(AD)

“Come now; let us leave.

The Vine and the Branches

15 “I am^(AE) the true vine,^(AF) and my Father is the gardener. ² He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit,^(AG) while every branch that does bear fruit^(AH) he prunes^[b] so that it will be even more fruitful. ³ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.^{(AI) 4} Remain in me, as I also remain in you.^(AJ) No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit;^(AK) apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.^{(AL) 7} If you remain in me^(AM) and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.^{(AN) 8} This is to my Father’s glory,^(AO) that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.^(AP)

⁹ “As the Father has loved me,^(AQ) so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commands,^(AR) you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.^{(AS) 12} My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.^{(AT) 13} Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.^{(AU) 14} You are my friends^(AV) if you do what I command.^{(AW) 15} I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.^{(AX) 16} You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you^(AY) so that you might go and bear fruit^(AZ)—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.^{(BA) 17} This is my command: Love each other.^(BB)

The World Hates the Disciples

¹⁸ “If the world hates you,^(BC) keep in mind that it hated me first. ¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you^(BD) out of the world. That is why the world hates you.^{(BE) 20} Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’^[c](BF) If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.^(BG) If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. ²¹ They will treat you this way because of my name,^(BH) for they do not know the one who sent me.^{(BI) 22} If I had not come and spoken to them,^(BJ) they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.^{(BK) 23} Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. ²⁴ If I had not done among them the works no one else did,^(BL) they would not be guilty of sin.^(BM) As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. ²⁵ But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law:^(BN) ‘They hated me without reason.’^[d](BO)

The Work of the Holy Spirit

²⁶ “When the Advocate^(BP) comes, whom I will send to you from the Father^(BQ)—the Spirit of truth^(BR) who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.^{(BS) 27} And you also must testify,^(BT) for you have been with me from the beginning.^(BU)

16 “All this^(BV) I have told you so that you will not fall away.^{(BW) 2} They will put you out of the synagogue;^(BX) in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God.^{(BY) 3} They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me.^{(BZ) 4} I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember^(CA) that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you,^{(CB) 5} but now I am going to him who sent me.^(CC) None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’^{(CD) 6} Rather, you are filled with grief^(CE) because I have said these things. ⁷ But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate^(CF) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.^{(CG) 8} When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹ about sin,^(CH) because people do not believe in me; ¹⁰ about righteousness,^(CI) because I am going to the Father,^(CJ) where you can see me no longer; ¹¹ and about judgment, because the prince of this world^(CK) now stands condemned.

¹² “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.^{(CL) 13} But when he, the Spirit of truth,^(CM) comes, he will guide you into all the truth.^(CN) He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. ¹⁵ All that belongs to the Father is mine.^(CO) That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

The Disciples’ Grief Will Turn to Joy

¹⁶ Jesus went on to say, “In a little while^(CP) you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.”^(CQ)

¹⁷ At this, some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,’^(CR) and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?”^{(CS) 18} They kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.”

¹⁹ Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? ²⁰ Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn^(CT) while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.^{(CU) 21} A woman giving birth to a child has pain^(CV) because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. ²² So with you: Now is your time of grief,^(CW) but I will see you again^(CX) and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.^{(CY) 23} In that day^(CZ) you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.^{(DA) 24} Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive,^(DB) and your joy will be complete.^(DC)

²⁵ “Though I have been speaking figuratively,^(DD) a time is coming^(DE) when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. ²⁶ In that day you will ask in my name.^(DF) I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf.

Life Through the Spirit

8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation^(A) for those who are in Christ Jesus,^{(B) 2} because through Christ Jesus^(C) the law of the Spirit who gives life^(D) has set you^[a] free^(E) from the law of sin^(F) and death. ³ For what the law was powerless^(G) to do because it was weakened by the flesh,^[b](H) God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh^(I) to be a sin offering.^[c](J) And so he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement^(K) of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.^(L)

⁵ Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires;^(M) but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.^{(N) 6} The mind governed by the flesh is death,^(O) but the mind governed by the Spirit is life^(P) and peace. ⁷ The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God;^(Q) it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. ⁸ Those who are in the realm of the flesh^(R) cannot please God.

⁹ You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh^(S) but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.^(T) And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ,^(U) they do not belong to Christ. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you,^(V) then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life^[d] because of righteousness. ¹¹ And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead^(W) is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies^(X) because of^[e] his Spirit who lives in you.

¹² Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it.^{(Y) 13} For if you live according to the flesh, you will die;^(Z) but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body,^(AA) you will live.^(AB)

¹⁴ For those who are led by the Spirit of God^(AC) are the children of God.^{(AD) 15} The Spirit^(AE) you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again;^(AF) rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.^[f] And by him we cry, “Abba,^[g] Father.”^{(AG) 16} The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit^(AH) that we are God’s children.^{(AI) 17} Now if we are children, then we are heirs^(AJ)—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings^(AK) in order that we may also share in his glory.^(AL)

Present Suffering and Future Glory

¹⁸ I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.^{(AM) 19} For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God^(AN) to be revealed. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it,^(AO) in hope ²¹ that^[h] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay^(AP) and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.^(AQ)

²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning^(AR) as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³ Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit,^(AS) groan^(AT) inwardly as we wait eagerly^(AU) for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.^{(AV) 24} For in this hope we were saved.^(AW) But hope that is seen is no hope at all.^(AX) Who hopes for what they already have? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.^(AY)

²⁶ In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit^(AZ) himself intercedes for us^(BA) through wordless groans. ²⁷ And he who searches our hearts^(BB) knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes^(BC) for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good^(BD) of those who love him, who^[i] have been called^(BE) according to his purpose.^{(BF) 29} For those God foreknew^(BG) he also predestined^(BH) to be conformed to the image of his Son,^(BI) that he might be the firstborn^(BJ) among many brothers and sisters. ³⁰ And those he predestined,^(BK) he also called;^(BL) those he called, he also justified;^(BM) those he justified, he also glorified.^(BN)

More Than Conquerors

³¹ What, then, shall we say in response to these things?^(BO) If God is for us,^(BP) who can be against us?^{(BQ) 32} He who did not spare his own Son,^(BR) but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ³³ Who will bring any charge^(BS) against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who then is the one who condemns?^(BT) No one. Christ Jesus who died^(BU)—more than that, who was raised to life^(BV)—is at the right hand of God^(BW) and is also interceding for us.^{(BX) 35} Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?^(BY) Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?^{(BZ) 36} As it is written:

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors^(CB) through him who loved us.^{(CC) 38} For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^[k] neither the present nor the future,^(CD) nor any powers,^{(CE) 39} neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God^(CF) that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.^(CG)

² Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.

Living as Those Made Alive in Christ

3 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ,^(A) set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.^{(B) 2} Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.^{(C) 3} For you died,^(D) and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ, who is your^[a] life,^(E) appears,^(F) then you also will appear with him in glory.^(G)