¹² So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you,^(A) for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.^(B)

³⁴ “A new command^(A) I give you: Love one another.^(B) As I have loved you, so you must love one another.^(C)

The Great Commission

¹⁶ Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.^{(A) 17} When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. ¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.^{(B) 19} Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,^(C) baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,^{(D) 20} and teaching^(E) them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you^(F) always, to the very end of the age.”^(G)

The Word Became Flesh

1 In the beginning was the Word,^(A) and the Word was with God,^(B) and the Word was God.^{(C) 2} He was with God in the beginning.^{(D) 3} Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.^{(E) 4} In him was life,^(F) and that life was the light^(G) of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness,^(H) and the darkness has not overcome^[a] it.^(I)

⁶ There was a man sent from God whose name was John.^{(J) 7} He came as a witness to testify^(K) concerning that light, so that through him all might believe.^{(L) 8} He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

⁹ The true light^(M) that gives light to everyone^(N) was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and though the world was made through him,^(O) the world did not recognize him. ¹¹ He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.^{(P) 12} Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed^(Q) in his name,^(R) he gave the right to become children of God^(S)— ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.^(T)

¹⁴ The Word became flesh^(U) and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory,^(V) the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace^(W) and truth.^(X)

In Athens

¹⁶ While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. ¹⁷ So he reasoned in the synagogue^(A) with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. ¹⁸ A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news^(B) about Jesus and the resurrection.^{(C) 19} Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus,^(D) where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching^(E) is that you are presenting? ²⁰ You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” ²¹ (All the Athenians^(F) and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)

²² Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus^(G) and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.^{(H) 23} For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship^(I)—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.

²⁴ “The God who made the world and everything in it^(J) is the Lord of heaven and earth^(K) and does not live in temples built by human hands.^{(L) 25} And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.^{(M) 26} From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.^{(N) 27} God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.^{(O) 28} ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’^[a](P) As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’^[b]

²⁹ “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.^{(Q) 30} In the past God overlooked^(R) such ignorance,^(S) but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.^{(T) 31} For he has set a day when he will judge^(U) the world with justice^(V) by the man he has appointed.^(W) He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”^(X)

³² When they heard about the resurrection of the dead,^(Y) some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” ³³ At that, Paul left the Council. ³⁴ Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus,^(Z) also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.