Book of Common Prayer

¹² Do not let wrong things rule over your bodies that are going to die. Do not do the things your bodies want.

¹³ Do not use your bodies to do wrong things. But give yourselves to God like men who have been raised from death to life. Give your bodies to God and use them to do good things.

¹⁴ Wrong ways will not be your masters. The law does not rule over you now, but God's loving kindness rules over you.

¹⁵ What then? The law does not rule over us now. God's loving kindness rules over us. So, shall we do wrong things? No, never!

¹⁶ If you give yourselves to be slaves and obey your master, you are not free. You are his slaves. Do you not know this: you may be slaves to wrong things? But you will not live for ever. Or you may be slaves to obey God. Then you will be made good people and live with him.

¹⁷ You were at one time slaves to wrong things. But I praise God that you obeyed what your teachers taught you. And you obeyed because you wanted to obey.

¹⁸ You were made free from doing wrong things. You were made slaves to good things.

¹⁹ I speak the way people would think about such things, because your minds are weak. At one time you gave your bodies to be slaves to your unclean ways, and to do more and more wrong things. So now give your bodies to be slaves to doing what is right, and to being good.

²⁰ When you were slaves to wrong things, you were free from doing good things.

²¹ You are now ashamed of those things. What good did they do you? For the end of those things is death.

²² But now you have been made free from wrong ways and you have been made God's slaves. You are made good and you will live for ever.

²³ The reward that wrong ways give is to die. But the gift which God gives is to live for ever. Christ Jesus our Lord has done this for us.

⁴⁷ The person who comes from God listens to what God says. You do not come from God. That is why you do not listen to me.'

⁴⁸ The leaders of the Jews answered him, `We say what is true. We say that you come from Samaria. And we say that a bad spirit is in you.'

⁴⁹ Jesus said, `I have no bad spirit in me. I respect my Father but you do not respect me.

⁵⁰ I do not want to make myself great. There is one who makes me great. He judges the matter.

⁵¹ I tell you the truth. If anyone obeys my word, he will never die.'

⁵² The leaders of the Jews said to him, `Now we know it is true that a bad spirit is in you. Abraham died. So did the prophets. And yet you say, "If anyone obeys my word, he will never die."

⁵³ Are you greater than our father Abraham and the prophets of God who died long ago? Who do you make yourself out to be?'

⁵⁴ Jesus answered, `If I make myself great, then I am not great. But my Father makes me great. You say he is your God.

⁵⁵ But you do not know God. I know him. If I say, "I do not know him," I am a liar, just as you people are. But I know him and I obey his word.

⁵⁶ Your father Abraham was glad that he would see my coming. He did see it and he was very glad.'

⁵⁷ The Jewish leaders said to him, `You are not fifty years old yet. How could Abraham see you?'

⁵⁸ Jesus answered, `I tell you the truth. I already was before Abraham was born.'

⁵⁹ Then they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus got out of their way. He left the temple and they did not know where he went.