Book of Common Prayer

Peace and hope

5 The result is this: since we have been declared “in the right” on the basis of faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus the Messiah. ² Through him we have been allowed to approach, by faith, into this grace in which we stand; and we celebrate the hope of the glory of God.

³ That’s not all. We also celebrate in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces patience, ⁴ patience produces a well-formed character, and a character like that produces hope. ⁵ Hope, in its turn, does not make us ashamed, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the holy spirit who has been given to us.

Jesus’ death reveals God’s love and guarantees final salvation

⁶ This is all based on what the Messiah did: while we were still weak, at that very moment he died on behalf of the ungodly. ⁷ It’s a rare thing to find someone who will die on behalf of an upright person—though I suppose someone might be brave enough to die for a good person. ⁸ But this is how God demonstrates his own love for us: the Messiah died for us while we were still sinners.

⁹ How much more, in that case—since we have been declared to be in the right by his blood—are we going to be saved by him from God’s coming anger! ¹⁰ When we were enemies, you see, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son; if that’s so, how much more, having already been reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. ¹¹ And that’s not all. We even celebrate in God, through our Lord Jesus the Messiah, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.

The light of the world

¹² Jesus spoke to them again.

“I am the light of the world,” he said. “People who follow me won’t go around in the dark; they’ll have the light of life!”

¹³ “You’re giving evidence in your own case!” said the Pharisees. “Your evidence is false!”

¹⁴ “Even if I do give evidence about myself,” replied Jesus to them, “my evidence is true, because I know where I came from and where I’m going to. But you don’t know where I come from or where I’m going to. ¹⁵ You are judging in merely human terms; I don’t judge anyone. ¹⁶ But even if I do judge, my judgment is true, because I’m not a lone voice; I have on my side the father who sent me. ¹⁷ It is written in your law that the evidence of two people is true. ¹⁸ I’m giving evidence about myself, and the father who sent me is giving evidence about me.”

¹⁹ “Where is your father?” they said to him.

“You don’t know me,” replied Jesus, “and you don’t know my father! If you had known me, you would have known my father as well.”

²⁰ He said all this in the treasury, while he was teaching in the Temple. Nobody arrested him, though, because his time hadn’t yet come.