Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹⁸ Take these commands to heart and keep them in mind, tying them as reminders on your arm and as bands on your forehead. ¹⁹ Teach them to your children, talking about them while sitting in your house, walking on the road, or when you are about to lie down or get up. ²⁰ Also write them upon the doorposts of your house and gates,^{[a] 21} so that you and your children may live a long time in the land that the Lord promised to give your ancestors—as long as the sky remains above the earth.”

²⁶ Look! I’m about to grant you a blessing and a curse— ²⁷ a blessing if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I’m giving you today, ²⁸ or a curse if you don’t obey the commands of the Lord your God, by turning from the way that I’m commanding you today and following other gods whom you have not known.”

To the Director: A Davidic Psalm.

Prayer and Thanksgiving

¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel,^[a] because it is God’s power for the salvation of everyone who believes, of the Jew first and of the Greek as well. ¹⁷ For in the gospel^[b] God’s righteousness is being revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, “The righteous will live by faith.”^[c]

²² God’s righteousness through the faithfulness of Jesus^[a] the Messiah^[b]— for all who believe. For there is no distinction among people,^{[c] 23} since all have sinned and continue to fall short of God’s glory. ²⁴ By his grace they are justified freely through the redemption that is in the Messiah^[d] Jesus, ²⁵ whom God offered as a place where atonement by the Messiah’s^[e] blood would occur through faith. He did this^[f] to demonstrate his righteousness, because he had waited patiently to deal with sins committed in the past. ²⁶ He wanted^[g] to demonstrate at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies anyone who has the faithfulness of Jesus.^[h]

²⁷ What, then, is there to boast about? That has been eliminated. On what principle? On that of actions? No, but on the principle of faith. ²⁸ For^[i] we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the actions prescribed by the Law.

²⁹ Is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of the gentiles, too? Yes, of the gentiles, too, ³⁰ since there is only one God who will justify the circumcised on the basis of faith and the uncircumcised by that same faith. ³¹ Do we, then, abolish the Law by this faith? Of course not! Instead, we uphold the Law.

I Never Knew You^(A)

²¹ “Not everyone who keeps saying to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will get into the kingdom from^[a] heaven, but only the person who keeps doing the will of my Father in heaven. ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name, drove out demons in your name, and performed many miracles in your name, didn’t we?’ ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who practice evil!’”^[b]

The Two Foundations^(B)

²⁴ “Therefore, everyone who listens to these messages^[c] of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on a rock. ²⁵ The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, but it did not collapse because its foundation was on the rock.

²⁶ “Everyone who keeps on hearing these messages^[d] of mine and never puts them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷ The rain fell, the floods came, the winds blew and battered that house, and it collapsed—and its collapse was total.”

²⁸ When Jesus had finished saying all these things,^[e] the crowds were utterly amazed at his teaching, ²⁹ because he was teaching them like a person who had authority, and not like their scribes.