Book of Common Prayer

Children of God, led by the spirit

¹² So then, my dear family, we are in debt—but not to human flesh, to live our life in that way. ¹³ If you live in accordance with the flesh, you will die; but if, by the spirit, you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

¹⁴ All who are led by the spirit of God, you see, are God’s children. ¹⁵ You didn’t receive a spirit of slavery, did you, to go back again into a state of fear? But you received the spirit of sonship, in whom we call out “Abba, Father!” ¹⁶ When that happens, it is the spirit itself giving supporting witness to what our own spirit is saying, that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ And if we’re children, we are also heirs: heirs of God, and fellow heirs with the Messiah, as long as we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

Creation renewed and patient hope

¹⁸ This is how I work it out. The sufferings we go through in the present time are not worth putting in the scale alongside the glory that is going to be unveiled for us. ¹⁹ Yes: creation itself is on tiptoe with expectation, eagerly awaiting the moment when God’s children will be revealed. ²⁰ Creation, you see, was subjected to pointless futility, not of its own volition, but because of the one who placed it in this subjection, in the hope ²¹ that creation itself would be freed from its slavery to decay, to enjoy the freedom that comes when God’s children are glorified.

²² Let me explain. We know that the entire creation is groaning together, and going through labor pains together, up until the present time. ²³ Not only so: we too, we who have the first fruits of the spirit’s life within us, are groaning within ourselves, as we eagerly await our adoption, the redemption of our body. ²⁴ We were saved, you see, in hope. But hope isn’t hope if you can see it! Who hopes for what they can see? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we don’t see, we wait for it eagerly—but also patiently.

Prayer, sonship and the sovereignty of God

²⁶ In the same way, too, the spirit comes alongside and helps us in our weakness. We don’t know what to pray for as we ought to; but that same spirit pleads on our behalf, with groanings too deep for words. ²⁷ And the Searcher of Hearts knows what the spirit is thinking, because the spirit pleads for God’s people according to God’s will.

⁴¹ The Judaeans then grumbled about him because he had said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.”

⁴² “Isn’t this Jesus, Joseph’s son?” they said. “We know his father and mother, don’t we? So how can he say ‘I came down from heaven’?”

⁴³ “Don’t grumble among yourselves,” answered Jesus. ⁴⁴ “No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws them—and I will raise them up on the last day. ⁴⁵ It is written in the prophets, ‘They shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to what comes from the father, and learns from it, comes to me. ⁴⁶ Not that anyone has seen the father except the one who is from God; he has seen the father.”

Eating and drinking the son of man

⁴⁷ “I’m telling you the solemn truth,” Jesus went on. “Anyone who believes in me has the life of God’s coming age. ⁴⁸ I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹ Your ancestors in the wilderness ate the manna, and they died. ⁵⁰ This is the bread which comes down from heaven, so that people can eat it and not die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats from this bread, they will live forever. And the bread which I shall give is my flesh, given for the life of the world.”