Warning Against Worldliness

4 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions^[a] are ^(A)at war within you?^{[b] 2} You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. ³ You ask and do not receive, because you ask ^(B)wrongly, to spend it on your passions. ^4 (C)You adulterous people!^[c] Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? ^(D)Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit ^(E)that he has made to dwell in us”? ⁶ But ^(F)he gives more grace. Therefore it says, ^(G)“God opposes the proud but ^(H)gives grace to the humble.” ⁷ Submit yourselves therefore to God. ^(I)Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ^8 (J)Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. ^(K)Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and ^(L)purify your hearts, ^(M)you double-minded. ^9 (N)Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. ^10 (O)Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Peace with God Through Faith

5 ^(A)Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, ^(B)we^[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. ² Through him we have also ^(C)obtained access by faith^[b] into this grace ^(D)in which we stand, and ^(E)we^[c] rejoice^[d] in hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only that, but we ^(F)rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering ^(G)produces endurance, ⁴ and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵ and ^(H)hope does not put us to shame, because God's love ^(I)has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

⁶ For ^(J)while we were still weak, at the right time ^(K)Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— ⁸ but ^(L)God shows his love for us in that ^(M)while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Since, therefore, ^(N)we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from ^(O)the wrath of God. ¹⁰ For if ^(P)while we were enemies ^(Q)we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by ^(R)his life. ¹¹ More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received ^(S)reconciliation.

¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is ^(A)in Christ, he is ^(B)a new creation.^{[a] (C)}The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. ¹⁸ All this is from God, ^(D)who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us ^(E)the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹ that is, in Christ God was reconciling^[b] the world to himself, ^(F)not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us ^(G)the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ Therefore, ^(H)we are ambassadors for Christ, ^(I)God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. ^21 (J)For our sake he made him to be sin ^(K)who knew no sin, so that in him we might become ^(L)the righteousness of God.