²³ and what if he has done so in order to make known the riches of his glory for the objects of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—

⁴ Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realize that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?^(A)

² who have been chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with his blood:

May grace and peace be yours in abundance.^(A)

A Living Hope

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead^{(B) 4} and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.^(C)

¹⁶ I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit^(A)

¹⁰ For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we may walk in them.^(A)

²⁰ But law came in, so that the trespass might increase, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,^{(A) 21} so that, just as sin reigned in death, so grace might also reign through justification leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

²¹ All who cleanse themselves of the things I have mentioned^[a] will become special^[b] utensils, dedicated and useful to the owner of the house, ready for every good work.^(A)

²⁷ To them God chose to make known how great among the gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.^(A)

⁷ so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

³ All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, doing the will of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else,^{(A) 4} but God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us^{(B) 5} even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ^[a]—by grace you have been saved—