Day 343: Galatians 4 - Ephesians 2
Bible in a year reading for day 343.
Galatians 4
- 16 Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?
- 17 Those people are zealous for you, but not in a good way. Instead, they want to isolate you from us, so that you may be zealous for them.
- 18 Nevertheless, it is good to be zealous if it serves a noble purpose—at any time, and not only when I am with you.
- 19 My children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you,
- 20 how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you.
- 21 Tell me, you who want to be under the law, do you not understand what the law says?
- 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman.
- 23 His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born through the promise.
- 24 These things serve as illustrations, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children into slavery: This is Hagar.
- 25 Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present-day Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children.
- 26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.
- 27 For it is written: “Rejoice, O barren woman, who bears no children; break forth and cry aloud, you who have never travailed; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband.”
- 28 Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.
- 29 At that time, however, the son born by the flesh persecuted the son born by the Spirit. It is the same now.
- 30 But what does the Scripture say? “Expel the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.”
- 31 Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.
Galatians 5
- 1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be encumbered once more by a yoke of slavery.
- 2 Take notice: I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.
- 3 Again I testify to every man who gets himself circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.
- 4 You who are trying to be justified by the law have been severed from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.
- 5 But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the hope of righteousness.
- 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. All that matters is faith, expressed through love.
- 7 You were running so well. Who has obstructed you from obeying the truth?
- 8 Such persuasion does not come from the One who calls you.
- 9 A little leaven works through the whole batch of dough.
- 10 I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is troubling you will bear the judgment, whoever he may be.
- 11 Now, brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished.
- 12 As for those who are agitating you, I wish they would proceed to emasculate themselves!
- 13 For you, brothers, were called to freedom; but do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. Rather, serve one another in love.
- 14 The entire law is fulfilled in a single decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
- 15 But if you keep on biting and devouring one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another.
- 16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
- 17 For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want.
- 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
- 19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery;
- 20 idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions,
- 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
- 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
- 23 gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
- 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
- 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us walk in step with the Spirit.
- 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying one another.
Galatians 6
- 1 Brothers, if someone is caught in a trespass, you who are spiritual should restore him with a spirit of gentleness. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.
- 2 Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
- 3 If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
- 4 Each one should test his own work. Then he will have reason to boast in himself alone, and not in someone else.
- 5 For each one should carry his own load.
- 6 Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word must share in all good things with his instructor.
- 7 Do not be deceived: God is not to be mocked. Whatever a man sows, he will reap in return.
- 8 The one who sows to please his flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; but the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
- 9 Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
- 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to the family of faith.
- 11 See what large letters I am using to write to you with my own hand!
- 12 Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. They only do this to avoid persecution for the cross of Christ.
- 13 For the circumcised do not even keep the law themselves, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.
- 14 But as for me, may I never boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
- 15 For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything. What counts is a new creation.
- 16 Peace and mercy to all who walk by this rule, even to the Israel of God.
- 17 From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.
- 18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.
Ephesians 1
- 1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus:
- 2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
- 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms.
- 4 For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love
- 5 He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will,
- 6 to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the Beloved One.
- 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace
- 8 that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.
- 9 And He has made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ
- 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to bring all things in heaven and on earth together in Christ.
- 11 In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will,
- 12 in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, would be for the praise of His glory.
- 13 And in Him, having heard and believed the word of truth—the gospel of your salvation—you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
- 14 who is the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of His glory.
- 15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,
- 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,
- 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in your knowledge of Him.
- 18 I ask that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know the hope of His calling, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints,
- 19 and the surpassing greatness of His power to us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of His mighty strength,
- 20 which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms,
- 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.
- 22 And God put everything under His feet and made Him head over everything for the church,
- 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.