M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Healing of the man with the withered hand
3 Once more Jesus went to the synagogue. There was a man there with a withered hand. 2 People were watching to see if Jesus would heal him on the sabbath, so that they could frame a charge against him.
3 “Stand up,” said Jesus to the man with the withered hand, “and come out here.” And he said to them, 4 “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath, or to do evil? To save life or to kill?” They stayed quiet.
5 He was deeply upset at their hard-heartedness, and looked round at them angrily. Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out—and his hand was restored. 6 The Pharisees went out right away and began to plot with the Herodians against Jesus, trying to find a way to destroy him.
The Twelve are appointed
7 Jesus went off towards the sea with his disciples, and a large crowd from Galilee followed him. A great company, too, from Judaea, 8 Jerusalem, Idumaea, Transjordan, and the region of Tyre and Sidon, heard what he was doing and came to him.
9 There was a real danger that he might be crushed by the crowd, so he told his disciples to get a boat ready for him. 10 He healed large numbers, and sick people were pushing towards him to touch him. 11 Whenever unclean spirits saw him, they fell down in front of him and yelled out, “You are the son of God!” 12 He gave them strict orders not to reveal his identity.
13 Jesus went up the mountain, and summoned the people he wanted, and they came to him. 14 He appointed twelve (naming them “apostles”) to be with him and to be sent out as heralds, 15 and to have authority to cast out demons. 16 In appointing the Twelve, he named Simon “Peter”; 17 James, son of Zebedee, and his brother John, he named “Boanerges,” which means “sons of thunder.” The others were 18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Cananaean, 19 and Judas Iscariot (the one who handed him over).
Jesus and Beelzebul
20 He went into the house. A crowd gathered again, so that they couldn’t even have a meal. 21 When his family heard it, they came to restrain him. “He’s out of his mind,” they said.
22 Experts who had come from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! He casts out demons by the prince of demons!”
23 Jesus summoned them and spoke to them in pictures. “How can the Accuser cast out the Accuser? 24 If a kingdom splits into two factions, it can’t last; 25 if a household splits into two factions, it can’t last. 26 So if the Accuser revolts against himself and splits into two, he can’t last—his time is up! 27 But remember: no one can get into a strong man’s house and steal his property unless first they tie up the strong man; then they can plunder his house.
28 “I’m telling you the truth: people will be forgiven all sins, and all blasphemies of whatever sort. 29 But people who blaspheme the holy spirit will never find forgiveness. They will be guilty of an eternal sin.” 30 That was his response to their claim that he had an unclean spirit.
Jesus’ family
31 Jesus’ mother and brothers appeared. They waited outside the house, and sent in a message, asking for him.
32 “Look!” said the crowd sitting around Jesus. “Your mother, your brothers, and your sisters are outside! They’re searching for you!”
33 “Who is my mother?” replied Jesus. “Who are my brothers?”
34 He looked around him at the people sitting there in a ring. “Here is my mother!” he said. “Here are my brothers! 35 Anybody who does God’s will is my brother! And my sister! And my mother!”
God’s determined faithfulness
3 What advantage, then, does the Jew possess? What, indeed, is the point of circumcision? 2 A great deal, in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with God’s oracles. 3 What follows from that? If some of them were unfaithful to their commission, does their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness? 4 Certainly not! Let God be true, and every human being false! As the Bible says,
So that you may be found in the right in what you say, and may win the victory when you come to court.
5 But if our being in the wrong proves that God is in the right, what are we going to say? That God is unjust to inflict anger on people? (I’m reducing things to a human scale!) 6 Certainly not! How then could God judge the world? 7 But if God’s truthfulness grows all the greater and brings him glory in and through my falsehood, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? 8 And why not “do evil so that good may come”—as some people blasphemously say about us, and as some allege that we say? People like that, at least, deserve the judgment they get!
Jews as well as Gentiles are guilty of sin
9 What then? Are we in fact better off? No, certainly not. I have already laid down this charge, you see: Jews as well as Greeks are all under the power of sin. 10 This is what the Bible says:
No one is in the right—nobody at all!
11 No one understands, or goes looking for God;
12 all of them alike have wandered astray,
together they have all become futile;
none of them behaves kindly, no, not one.
13 Their throat is an open grave,
they use their tongues to deceive,
the poison of vipers is under their lips.
14 Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness,
15 their feet are quick when there’s blood to be shed,
16 disaster and wretchedness are in their paths,
17 and they did not know the way of peace.
18 They have no fear of God before their eyes.
19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it is speaking to those who are “in the law.” The purpose of this is that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be brought to the bar of God’s judgment. 20 No mere mortal, you see, can be declared to be in the right before God on the basis of the works of the law. What you get through the law is the knowledge of sin.
The unveiling of God’s covenant justice
21 But now, quite apart from the law (though the law and the prophets bore witness to it), God’s covenant justice has been displayed. 22 God’s covenant justice comes into operation through the faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah, for the benefit of all who have faith. For there is no distinction: 23 all sinned, and fell short of God’s glory— 24 and by God’s grace they are freely declared to be in the right, to be members of the covenant, through the redemption which is found in the Messiah, Jesus.
Jesus’ death reveals God’s covenant justice
25 God put Jesus forth as the place of mercy, through faithfulness, by means of his blood. He did this to demonstrate his covenant justice, because of the passing over (in divine forbearance) of sins committed beforehand. 26 This was to demonstrate his covenant justice in the present time: that is, that he himself is in the right, and that he declares to be in the right everyone who trusts in the faithfulness of Jesus.
The God of both Jew and Gentile
27 So what happens to boasting? It is ruled out! Through what sort of law? The law of works? No: through the law of faith! 28 We calculate, you see, that a person is declared to be in the right on the basis of faith, apart from works of the law. 29 Or does God belong only to Jews? Doesn’t he belong to the nations as well? Yes, of course, to the nations as well, 30 since God is one. He will make the declaration “in the right” over the circumcised on the basis of faith, and over the uncircumcised through faith.
31 Do we then abolish the law through faith? Certainly not! Rather, we establish the law.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.