Book of Common Prayer

Do not lose your freedom by giving in to those who urge circumcision

5 Plant your feet firmly therefore within the freedom that Christ has won for us, and do not let yourselves be caught again in the shackles of slavery.

^2-6 Listen! I, Paul, say this to you as solemnly as I can: if you consent to be circumcised then Christ will be of no use to you at all. I will say it again: every man who consents to be circumcised is bound to obey all the rest of the Law! If you try to be justified by the Law you automatically cut yourself off from the power of Christ, you put yourself outside the range of his grace. For it is by faith that we await in his Spirit the righteousness we hope to see. In Jesus Christ there is no validity in either circumcision or uncircumcision; it is a matter of faith, faith which expresses itself in love.

^7-10 You were making splendid progress; who put you off the course you had set for the truth? That sort of “persuasion” does not come from the one who is calling you. Alas, it takes only a little leaven to affect the whole lump! I feel confident in the Lord that you will not take any fatal step. But whoever it is who is worrying you will have a serious charge to answer one day.

^11-12 And as for me, my brothers, if I were still advocating circumcision (as some apparently allege!), why am I still suffering persecution? I suppose if only I would recommend this little rite all the hostility which the preaching of the cross provokes would disappear! I wish those who are so eager to cut your bodies would cut themselves off from you altogether!

^13a It is to freedom that you have been called, my brothers. Only be careful that freedom does not become mere opportunity for your lower nature.

^13b-14 You should be free to serve each other in love. For after all, the whole Law toward others is summed up by this one command, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’.

¹⁵ But if freedom means merely that you are free to attack and tear each other to pieces, be careful that it doesn’t mean that between you, you destroy your fellowship altogether!

Jesus’ question: Peter’s inspired answer

²⁷ Jesus then went away with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who are men saying that I am?”

²⁸ “John the Baptist,” they answered. “But others say that you are Elijah or, some say, one of the prophets.”

²⁹ Then he asked them, “But what about you—who do you say that I am?” “You are Christ!” answered Peter.

³⁰ Then Jesus impressed it upon them that they must not mention this to anyone.

Jesus speaks of the future and of the cost of discipleship

^31-33 And he began to teach them that it was inevitable that the Son of Man should go through much suffering and be utterly repudiated by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He told them all this quite bluntly. This made Peter draw him on one side and take him to task about what he had said. But Jesus turned and faced his disciples and rebuked Peter. “Out of my way, Satan!” he said. “Peter, you are not looking at things from God’s point of view, but from man’s!”

^34-38 Then he called his disciples and the people around him, and said to them, “If anyone wants to follow in my footsteps, he must give up all right to himself, take up his cross and follow me. The man who tries to save his life will lose it; it is the man who loses his life for my sake and the Gospel’s who will save it. What good can it do a man to gain the whole world at the price of his own soul? What can a man offer to buy back his soul once he has lost it? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this unfaithful and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in the Father’s glory with the holy angels around him.”

Jesus foretells his glory

9 Then he added, “Believe me, there are some of you standing here who will know nothing of death until you have seen the kingdom of God coming in its power!”