Book of Common Prayer
Nothing shall separate us from God’s love
31 What then shall we say to all this?
If God is for us, who is against us?
32 God, after all, did not spare his own son; he gave him up for us all!
How then will he not, with him, freely give all things to us?
33 Who will bring a charge against God’s chosen ones?
It is God who declares them in the right.
34 Who is going to condemn?
It is the Messiah, Jesus, who has died, or rather has been raised;
who is at God’s right hand, and who also prays on our behalf!
35 Who shall separate us from the Messiah’s love?
Suffering, or hardship, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As the Bible says,
Because of you we are being killed all day long; we are regarded as sheep destined for slaughter.
37 No: in all these things we are completely victorious through the one who loved us. 38 I am persuaded, you see, that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor the present, nor the future, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Messiah Jesus our Lord.
Condemnation of scribes and Pharisees (1)
13 “Woe betide you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites!” Jesus continued. “You slam the door of heaven’s kingdom in people’s faces. You don’t go in yourselves, and when other people try to enter, you stop them.
15 “Woe betide you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You cross sea and land to make one single Gentile take up Jewish practices, and when that happens you make the convert twice as much a child of Gehenna as you are yourselves.
16 “Woe betide you, you blind guides! This is what you say: ‘If anyone swears by the Temple, it’s nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold in the Temple, the oath is valid.’ 17 How crazy and blind can you get! Which is greater, the gold, or the Temple that makes the gold sacred? 18 And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it’s nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, the oath is valid.’ 19 How blind you are! Which is greater, the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And whoever swears by the Temple swears by it and by the one who lives in it. 22 And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by the one who sits on it.”
Condemnation of scribes and Pharisees (2)
23 “Woe betide you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites!” Jesus went on. “You tithe mint and dill and cumin, and you omit the serious matters of the law like justice, mercy and loyalty. You should have done these, without neglecting the others. 24 You’re blind guides! You filter out a gnat, but you gulp down a camel!
25 “Woe betide you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You scrub the outside of the cup and the dish, but the inside is full of extortion and moral flabbiness. 26 You blind Pharisee, first make the inside of the cup clean, and then the outside will be clean as well.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.