Jesus’ Birth Foretold

²⁶ Now in the sixth month the angel ^(A)Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee named ^(B)Nazareth, ²⁷ to ^(C)a virgin ^[a]betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, ^(D)of the ^[b]descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was ^[c]Mary. ²⁸ And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord ^[d]is with you.” ²⁹ But she ^(E)was very perplexed at this statement, and was pondering what kind of greeting this was. ³⁰ And the angel said to her, “^(F)Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you ^(G)shall name Him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of ^(H)the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him ^(I)the throne of His father David; ^33 (J)and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, ^(K)and His kingdom will have no end.” ³⁴ But Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I ^[e]am a virgin?” ³⁵ The angel answered and said to her, “^(L)The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of ^(M)the Most High will overshadow you; for that reason also ^(N)the ^[f]holy Child will be called ^(O)the Son of God. ³⁶ And behold, even your relative Elizabeth herself has conceived a son in her old age, and ^[g]she who was called infertile is now in her sixth month. ³⁷ For ^(P)nothing will be impossible with God.” ³⁸ And Mary said, “Behold, the Lord’s bond-servant; may it be done to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

⁴ But when ^(A)the fullness of the time came, God sent His Son, ^(B)born of a woman, born ^(C)under ^[a]the Law,

^3 (A)Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who ^(B)according to His great mercy ^(C)has caused us to be born again to ^(D)a living hope through the ^(E)resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

¹⁵ But ^[a]the gracious gift is not like the offense. For if by the offense of ^(A)the one ^(B)the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by ^(C)the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many.

The Fact of Christ’s Resurrection

15 Now ^(A)I make known to you, brothers and sisters, the ^(B)gospel which I preached to you, which you also received, ^(C)in which you also stand, ² by which you also are saved, ^(D)if you hold firmly to ^[a]the word which I preached to you, ^(E)unless you believed in vain.

³ For ^(F)I handed down to you ^[b]as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died ^(G)for our sins ^(H)according to the Scriptures, ⁴ and that He was buried, and that He was ^(I)raised on the third day ^(J)according to the Scriptures,

²¹ For since ^(A)by a man death came, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. ²² For ^(B)as in Adam all die, so also in ^[a]Christ all will be made alive.

The Mystery of Resurrection

⁵⁰ Now I say this, brothers and sisters, that ^(A)flesh and blood cannot ^(B)inherit the kingdom of God; nor does ^[a]the perishable inherit ^[b](C)the imperishable. ⁵¹ Behold, I am telling you a ^[c](D)mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be ^(E)changed, ⁵² in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for ^(F)the trumpet will sound, and ^(G)the dead will be raised ^[d]imperishable, and ^(H)we will be changed. ⁵³ For this ^[e]perishable must put on ^[f](I)the imperishable, and this ^(J)mortal must put on immortality. ⁵⁴ But when this ^[g]perishable puts on ^[h]the imperishable, and this mortal puts on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written: “^(K)Death has been swallowed up in victory. ^55 (L)Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?” ⁵⁶ The sting of ^(M)death is sin, and ^(N)the power of sin is the Law; ⁵⁷ but ^(O)thanks be to God, who gives us the ^(P)victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

^58 (Q)Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be firm, immovable, always excelling in ^(R)the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.