Book of Common Prayer

8 So now those who belong to Christ Jesus will not be judged.

² The Spirit gives life in Christ Jesus. And the law of the Spirit has set me free from the law of wrong things, and the law of death.

³ God has done what the law could not do. The things people did made the law weak. God sent his own Son in a body of man. His body was like the bodies which others use to do wrong things. He sent him because people have done wrong things. And he judged the wrong things people have done in their bodies.

⁴ He did this so that we might be good people as the law said we should be. We are good people if we live the way the Spirit wants us to live, not the way our bodies want to live.

⁵ Some people live the way their bodies want to live. They think only about the things their bodies want to do. Other people live the way the Spirit wants them to live. They think about the things the Spirit wants them to do.

⁶ If you keep your mind on the things your bodies want to do, you will die. But if you keep your mind on the things the Spirit wants, you will live and have peace.

⁷ People who think about the things of this life are God's enemies. They do not obey God's law. They cannot obey it.

⁸ People who do what their bodies want cannot please God.

⁹ Does God's Spirit live in you? If he does, then you are not living the way the body wants, but you are living the way the Spirit wants. If anyone does not have Christ's Spirit, he does not belong to Christ.

¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, your bodies are dead because of the wrong things you have done. But your spirits live because you have been made right with God.

¹¹ God raised Christ Jesus from death. Does God's Spirit live in you? Then God will also give life to your bodies which die. He does this through his Spirit who lives in you.

22 Jesus told them other stories.

² He said, `The kingdom of heaven is like this. A king made a wedding for his son.

³ The king sent his servants to call the people who had been asked to the wedding. But they would not come.

⁴ `He sent other servants to call them. He said, "Tell those who were asked to the wedding that my dinner is cooked. The cows and bullocks have been killed. Everything is ready. Come now to the wedding."

⁵ `The people did not listen, but went away. One went to his farm. One went to his business.

⁶ The others caught his servants, treated them very badly, and killed them.

⁷ `The king was very angry. He sent his soldiers to kill the men who had killed his servants. And he burned their city.

⁸ Then he said to his servants, "The wedding is ready. But those who were asked to come were not good enough.

⁹ Go out on the roads. Call all the people you find to come to the wedding."

¹⁰ `So those servants went out on the roads. They brought all the people they could find, both bad and good people. Then the room was full of people for the wedding.

¹¹ `The king came in to look at the people. He saw one man there who was not wearing the right clothes for a wedding.

¹² The king said to him, "My friend, why did you come here without putting on the right clothes for a wedding?" The man did not answer.

¹³ Then the king said to his servants, "Tie his hands and his feet. Put him in a dark place outside. People there will cry and grind [make a noise with] their teeth."

¹⁴ `Many people are asked to come, but only a few are chosen.'