For I handed on to you as of primary importance what I received: that Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried and that he was raised to life on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
But to those of you who are listening to me, I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
For I know full well the plans I have for you, plans for your welfare and not for your misfortune, plans that will offer you a future filled with hope.
For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more certain it is that, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
You shall keep these things that I command you today in your heart. Teach them to your children. You shall talk of them when you are sitting in your home, and when you are walking along the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up.
He is the reflection of God’s glory and the perfect expression of his very being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. Achieving purification from sins, he took his seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
For you are aware that you were ransomed from your futile way of life inherited from your ancestors not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
God saved us and called us to a life of holiness, not because of our works but according to his own purpose and the grace that has been bestowed upon us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.
And now it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. The life I live now in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me.
With our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. For the sake of the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, ignoring its shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
For all have sinned and thereby are deprived of the glory of God, and all are justified by the gift of his grace that is given freely through the redemption in Christ Jesus.
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Pay to each person what is rightfully his—taxes to the one to whom taxes are due, tolls to the one to whom tolls are due, respect to the one to whom respect is due, honor to the one to whom honor is due.
By these he has given us his precious promises, great beyond all price, so that through them you may escape from the corruption with which evil desires have infected the world and thereby may come to share in the divine nature.
I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you. I will remove from your body a heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh in its place.