Book of Common Prayer
The coming of faith
23 Before this faithfulness arrived, we were kept under guard by the law, in close confinement until the coming faithfulness should be revealed. 24 Thus the law was like a babysitter for us, looking after us until the coming of the Messiah, so that we might be given covenant membership on the basis of faithfulness.
25 But now that faithfulness has come, we are no longer under the rule of the babysitter. 26 For you are all children of God, through faith, in the Messiah, Jesus.
27 You see, every one of you who has been baptized into the Messiah has put on the Messiah. 28 There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no “male and female”; you are all one in the Messiah, Jesus.
29 And, if you belong to the Messiah, you are Abraham’s family. You stand to inherit the promise.
The son and the spirit
4 Let me put it like this. As long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave—even if, in fact, he is master of everything! 2 He is kept under guardians and stewards until the time set by his father.
3 Well, it’s like that with us. When we were children, we were kept in “slavery” under the “elements of the world.” 4 But when the fullness of time arrived, God sent out his son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 so that he might redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
6 And, because you are sons, God sent out the spirit of his son into our hearts, calling out “Abba, Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son! And, if you’re a son, you are an heir, through God.
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.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.