Book of Common Prayer

Off with the old, on with the new

¹⁷ So this is what I want to say; I am bearing witness to it in the Lord. You must no longer behave like the Gentiles, foolish-minded as they are. ¹⁸ Their understanding is darkened; they are cut off from God’s life because of their deep-seated ignorance, which springs from the fact that their hearts are hard. ¹⁹ They have lost all moral sensitivity, and have given themselves over to whatever takes their fancy. They go off greedily after every kind of uncleanness.

²⁰ But that’s not how you learned the Messiah!— ²¹ if indeed you did hear about him, and were taught in him, in accordance with the truth about Jesus himself. ²² That teaching stressed that you should take off your former lifestyle, the old humanity. That way of life is decaying, as a result of deceitful lusts. ²³ Instead, you must be renewed in the spirit of your mind, ²⁴ and you must put on the new humanity, which is being created the way God intended it, displaying justice and genuine holiness.

The kindness that imitates God himself

²⁵ Put away lies, then. “Each of you, speak the truth with your neighbor,” because we are members of one another. ²⁶ “Be angry, but don’t sin”; don’t let the sun go down on you while you’re angry, ²⁷ and don’t leave any loophole for the devil. ²⁸ The thief shouldn’t steal any longer, but should rather get on with some honest manual work, so as to be able to share with people in need.

²⁹ Don’t let any unwholesome words escape your lips. Instead, say whatever is good and will be useful in building people up, so that you will give grace to those who listen.

³⁰ And don’t disappoint God’s holy spirit—the spirit who put God’s mark on you to identify you on the day of freedom. ³¹ All bitterness and rage, all anger and yelling, and all blasphemy—put it all away from you, with all wickedness. ³² Instead, be kind to one another, cherish tender feelings for each other, forgive one another, just as God forgave you in the Messiah.

The healing of the paralytic

9 Jesus got into the boat, and crossed back over to his own town.

² Some people brought to him a paralyzed man lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Cheer up, my son! Your sins are forgiven!”

³ “This fellow’s blaspheming!” said some of the scribes to themselves.

⁴ Jesus read their thoughts. “Why let all this wickedness fester in your hearts?” he said. ⁵ “Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ⁶ But, to let you know that the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he spoke to the paralyzed man—“Get up, pick up your bed, and go home!”

⁷ And he got up, and went away to his home. ⁸ When the crowds saw it they were frightened, and praised God for giving authority like this to humans.