Book of Common Prayer

²¹ So now God has shown how people can be put right with him without the law. The law and the prophets said he would do it.

²² God puts people right with himself when they believe in Jesus Christ. He does this for all who believe. They are all alike.

²³ All have done wrong and all are far from being as good as God.

²⁴ But God is kind and makes them right with himself. It is a gift. He does it because Christ Jesus paid the price to set them free.

²⁵ God gave him as a sacrifice. When people believe in him, his blood pays for the wrong things they have done. This shows that God is good and right. He was right when he forgave the wrong things that people did long ago.

²⁶ God also shows that he is right now. He does this when he makes right any person who believes in Jesus.

²⁷ Then what have we to be proud of? Nothing at all. Why not? Does God put us right with himself because of anything we have done? No. He does it because we believe.

²⁸ We know that if a person believes in Christ, God makes him right again. It is not because that person has obeyed the law.

²⁹ Is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of other people also? Yes, he is. There is only one God of all peoples.

³⁰ He will put right people who have been circumcised [the Jews] because they believe. And he will also put right people who are not circumcised when they believe.

³¹ When we believe, does that make the law no good to us? No. That is not so. When we believe, we show that the law is right.

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

¹⁴ But Jesus said, `Let the children come to me. Do not try to stop them. The kingdom of heaven belongs to people like them.'

¹⁵ So he put his hands on the children. Then he went away.

¹⁶ A man came to Jesus and said, `Teacher, what good thing must I do so that I will live for ever?'

¹⁷ Jesus said, `Why do you ask me about what is good? Only God is good. If you want to live for ever, you must keep God's laws.'

¹⁸ The man said, `Which laws?' Jesus said, `Do not kill. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not tell lies.

¹⁹ Respect your father and your mother. Love your neighbour as you love yourself.'

²⁰ The young man said, `I have kept all those laws. What more must I do?'

²¹ Jesus said, `If you want to be all right, go and sell everything you have. Give the money to poor people. For this you will be rich in heaven. Then come and go with me.'

²² When the young man heard that, he was sad, because he was very rich. So he went away.