In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and barren, and darkness covered the abyss while the Spirit of God hovered over the waters.
You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am wonderfully made; awesome are your works, as I know very well.
Do not lie to one another, since you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self that is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
For us there is one God, the Father, from whom all things are and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things are and through whom we exist.
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Every good act of giving and every perfect gift are from above, coming down from the Father of all light. With him there is no alteration or shadow caused by change.
Ever since the creation of the world the invisible attributes of God’s eternal power and divine nature have been clearly understood and perceived through the things he has made. Therefore, the conduct of these people is inexcusable.
Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying: “To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever.”
He replied, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female’ and said: ‘That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two become one flesh’? And so they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and offered worship and service to the creature rather than to the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. That is why God abandoned them to their shameful passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural practices. Likewise, men gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameful acts with men and received in their own persons the fitting penalty for their perversion. Furthermore, since these people did not see fit to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their depraved way of thinking and to all types of vile behavior.
Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and give you help, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.