¹⁹ If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but ^(A)I chose you out of the world, ^(B)because of this the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember the word that I said to you, ‘^(C)A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, ^(D)they will persecute you as well; if they ^(E)followed My word, they will follow yours also. ²¹ But all these things they will do to you ^(F)on account of My name, ^(G)because they do not know the One who sent Me.

Jesus’ Warning

16 “^(A)These things I have spoken to you so that you will not ^[a]be ^(B)led into sin.

^11 (A)Beloved, ^(B)I urge you as ^(C)foreigners and strangers to abstain from ^(D)fleshly lusts, which wage ^(E)war against the soul. ^12 (F)Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they ^(G)slander you as evildoers, they may ^[a]because of your good deeds, as they observe them, ^(H)glorify God ^(I)on the day of ^[b]visitation.

¹⁹ So then you are no longer ^(A)strangers and foreigners, but you are ^(B)fellow citizens with the ^[a]saints, and are of ^(C)God’s household, ²⁰ having been ^(D)built on ^(E)the foundation of ^(F)the apostles and prophets, ^(G)Christ Jesus Himself being the ^(H)cornerstone,

Made Alive in Christ

2 And ^[a]you ^[b]were ^(A)dead ^[c]in your offenses and sins, ² in which you ^(B)previously walked according to the ^[d]course of ^(C)this world, according to ^(D)the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in ^(E)the ^[e]sons of disobedience. ³ Among them ^[f]we too all ^(F)previously lived in ^(G)the lusts of our flesh, ^[g]indulging the desires of the flesh and of the ^[h]mind, and were ^(H)by nature ^(I)children of wrath, ^(J)just as the rest. ⁴ But God, being ^(K)rich in mercy, because of ^(L)His great love with which He loved us, ⁵ even when we were ^(M)dead ^[i]in our wrongdoings, made us alive together ^[j]with Christ (^(N)by grace you have been saved), ⁶ and ^(O)raised us up with Him, and ^(P)seated us with Him in ^(Q)the heavenly places in ^(R)Christ Jesus, ⁷ so that in the ages to come He might show the ^[k]boundless ^(S)riches of His grace in ^(T)kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For ^(U)by grace you have been saved ^(V)through faith; and ^[l]this is not of yourselves, it is ^(W)the gift of God; ^9 (X)not a result of works, so that ^(Y)no one may boast.

¹² remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, ^[a](A)excluded from ^[b]the people of Israel, and strangers to ^(B)the covenants of the promise, having ^(C)no hope and ^(D)without God in the world. ¹³ But now in ^(E)Christ Jesus you who ^(F)previously were ^(G)far away ^[c]have ^(H)been brought near ^[d](I)by the blood of Christ.

³ You ask and ^(A)do not receive, because you ask ^[a]with the wrong motives, so that you may spend what you request ^[b]on your pleasures. ⁴ You ^(B)adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with ^(C)the world is ^(D)hostility toward God? ^(E)Therefore whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you think that the Scripture ^(F)says to no purpose, “^[c]He ^[d]jealously desires ^(G)the Spirit whom He has made to dwell in us”? ⁶ But ^(H)He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “^(I)God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

²⁰ For ^(A)our ^[a]citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly ^(B)wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; ²¹ who will ^(C)transform the body of our lowly condition into ^(D)conformity with ^[b]His ^(E)glorious body, ^(F)by the exertion of the power that He has even to ^(G)subject all things to Himself.

Think of Excellence

4 Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, ^[c]whom I ^(H)long to see, my joy and crown, ^(I)stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.

^16 (A)They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ^17 (B)Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.