¹⁵ just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep.

¹¹ “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep.

⁴ Jesus gave his life for our sins, just as God our Father planned, in order to rescue us from this evil world in which we live.

² He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.

²⁷ “My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

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]

⁵ For,

This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time.

² 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.