¹⁸ And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ^(A)“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.

The Eternal Word^(A)

1 In the beginning ^(B)was the Word, and the ^(C)Word was ^(D)with God, and the Word was ^(E)God. ^2 (F)He was in the beginning with God. ^3 (G)All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. ^4 (H)In Him was life, and ^(I)the life was the light of men.

¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and ^(A)the world did not know Him. ^11 (B)He came to His ^[a]own, and His ^[b]own did not receive Him. ¹² But ^(C)as many as received Him, to them He gave the ^[c]right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: ^13 (D)who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

The Word Becomes Flesh

^14 (E)And the Word ^(F)became ^(G)flesh and dwelt among us, and ^(H)we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, ^(I)full of grace and truth.

¹⁵ He is ^(A)the image of the invisible God, ^(B)the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶ For ^(C)by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or ^(D)dominions or ^[a]principalities or ^[b]powers. All things were created ^(E)through Him and for Him. ^17 (F)And He is before all things, and in Him ^(G)all things consist. ¹⁸ And ^(H)He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, ^(I)the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

Reconciled in Christ

¹⁹ For it pleased the Father that ^(J)in Him all the fullness should dwell, ²⁰ and ^(K)by Him to reconcile ^(L)all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, ^(M)having made peace through the blood of His cross.

¹⁴ But you must ^(A)continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, ¹⁵ and that from childhood you have known ^(B)the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

^16 (C)All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, ^(D)and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for ^[a]instruction in righteousness, ^17 (E)that the man of God may be complete, ^(F)thoroughly equipped for every good work.

God’s Supreme Revelation^(A)

1 God, who ^[a]at various times and ^(B)in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,

²⁰ knowing this first, that ^(A)no prophecy of Scripture is of any private ^[a]interpretation, ²¹ for ^(B)prophecy never came by the will of man, ^(C)but ^[b]holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

Be Steadfast

¹⁴ Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent ^(A)to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; ¹⁵ and consider that ^(B)the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, ¹⁶ as also in all his ^(C)epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the ^(D)rest of the Scriptures.