Book of Common Prayer
God’s covenant with Abraham
4 What shall we say, then? Have we found Abraham to be our ancestor in a human, fleshly sense? 2 After all, if Abraham was reckoned “in the right” on the basis of works, he has grounds to boast—but not in God’s presence!
3 So what does the Bible say? “Abraham believed God, and it was calculated in his favor, putting him in the right.” 4 Now when someone “works,” the “reward” they get is not calculated on the basis of generosity, but on the basis of what they are owed. 5 But if someone doesn’t “work,” but simply believes in the one who declares the ungodly to be in the right, that person’s faith is calculated in their favor, putting them in the right.
6 We see the same thing when David speaks of the blessing that comes to someone whom God calculates to be in the right apart from works:
7 Blessed are those whose lawbreaking is forgiven
and whose sins have been covered over;
8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not calculate sin.
Abraham the father of both uncircumcised and circumcised
9 So, then, does this blessing come on circumcised people or on uncircumcised? This is the passage we quoted: “His faith was calculated to Abraham as indicating that he was in the right.” 10 How was it calculated? When he was circumcised or when he was uncircumcised? It wasn’t when he was circumcised; it was when he was uncircumcised! 11 He received circumcision as a sign and seal of the status of covenant membership, on the basis of faith, which he had when he was still uncircumcised. This was so that he could be the father of all who believe even when uncircumcised, so that the status of covenant membership can be calculated to their account as well. 12 He is also, of course, the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who follow the steps of the faith which Abraham possessed while still uncircumcised.
14 About the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the Temple and began to teach. 15 The Judaeans were astonished.
“Where does this fellow get all his learning from?” they asked. “He’s never been trained!”
16 “My teaching isn’t my own,” replied Jesus. “It comes from the one who sent me! 17 If anyone wants to do what God wants, they will know whether this teaching is from God, or whether I’m just speaking on my own account. 18 Anyone who speaks on his own behalf is trying to establish his own reputation. But if what he’s interested in is the reputation of the one who sent him, then he is true, and there is no injustice in him.”
Moses and the Messiah
19 “Moses gave you the law, didn’t he?” Jesus continued. “But none of you obeys the law. Why are you wanting to kill me?”
20 The crowd responded to this.
“You must have a demon inside you!” they said. “Who is trying to kill you?”
21 “Look here,” replied Jesus. “I did one single thing, and you are all amazed. 22 Moses commanded you to practice circumcision (not that it starts with Moses, of course; it comes from the patriarchs), and you circumcise a man on the sabbath. 23 Well, then, if a man receives circumcision on the sabbath, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, how can you be angry with me if I make an entire man healthy on the sabbath? 24 Don’t judge by appearances! Judge with proper and right judgment!”
25 Some Jerusalem residents commented, “Isn’t this the man they’re trying to kill? 26 Look—he’s speaking quite openly, and nobody is saying anything to him. You don’t suppose our rulers really know he’s the Messiah, do you? 27 The thing is, we know where he comes from—but when the Messiah appears, nobody will know where he comes from.”
28 As Jesus was teaching in the Temple, he shouted out, “You know me! You know where I come from! I haven’t come on my own behalf—but the one who sent me is true, and you don’t know him! 29 I know him, because I come from him, and he sent me!”
30 So they tried to arrest him. But nobody laid hands on him, because his time had not yet come.
Rivers of living water
31 Many people from the crowd believed in Jesus.
“When the Messiah comes,” they were saying, “will he do more signs than this man has done?”
32 The Pharisees heard that the crowd was full of this rumor about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent servants to arrest him.
33 So Jesus said, “I’m just with you for a little while, and then I’m going to the one who sent me. 34 You will look for me and you won’t find me, and you can’t come where I am.”
35 “Where does he think he’s going,” said the Judaeans to one another, “if we won’t be able to find him? He’s not going to go off abroad, among the Greeks, is he, and teach the Greeks? 36 What does he mean when he says, ‘You’ll look for me and you won’t find me,’ and ‘Where I am, you can’t come’?”
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.