Book of Common Prayer

¹⁴ We are not like some people. They tell God's message to make money. But we tell it with a true heart just as God told it to us. We tell it as if we stood before God. And we tell it with Christ's help.

3 Do you think we are starting again to tell how good we are? Do we need letters to tell about us, as some teachers do? We do not need letters to you or from you to praise us.

² You yourselves are our letter. This letter has been written in our hearts. All people can read it and understand it.

³ All can see that you are a letter from Christ written by us. It is not written in ink, but it is written in the Spirit of the living God. It is not written on pieces of rock, but on the hearts of people.

⁴ We can say this because we trust in God. And we trust in God because of Christ.

⁵ We are not good enough to think we can do anything ourselves. But God makes us able to do it.

⁶ God has made a new start with people. He has given us a new way back to God. It is not a written law. The Spirit gives it to us. The written law brings death, but the Spirit gives life.

10 Jesus left that place and went through the country of Judea on the other side of the Jordan river. Many people came to him there again. He taught them as he always did.

² The Pharisees came to him and asked, `Is it right for a man to send his wife away from him?' They asked this to test Jesus.

³ Jesus answered, `What law did Moses give you?'

⁴ They said, `Moses allowed a man to write a paper to show that he does not want her any more. Then he may send her away.'

⁵ Jesus said to them, `Moses wrote that law because your hearts are so hard.

⁶ From the time God first made people, he made them man and woman.

⁷ That is why a man must leave his father and mother and stay with his wife.

⁸ The two of them will be like one person. So they are not two people any more, but they are one person.

⁹ Man must not separate what God has joined together.'

¹⁰ When they were in the house, the disciples asked Jesus about this matter.

¹¹ So Jesus said, `If any man sends away his wife and marries another woman, he commits adultery against her. [He takes another woman who is not his wife.]

¹² If a woman sends away her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.'

¹³ They brought children to Jesus. They wanted him to put his hands on them. The disciples tried to stop the people.

¹⁴ When Jesus saw what the disciples did, he did not like it. He said, `Let the children come to me. Do not try to stop them.

¹⁵ I tell you the truth. If anyone does not believe in the kingdom of God like a child, he will never go in.'

¹⁶ Jesus took the children up in his arms. He put his hands on them and blessed them.