John 17; Ephesians 4; 1 John 2

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John 17

The High Priestly Prayer

When Jesus had spoken these words, mhe lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, nthe hour has come; oglorify your Son that the Son may pglorify you, since qyou have given him authority over all flesh, rto give eternal life to all swhom you have given him. tAnd this is eternal life, uthat they know you, vthe only wtrue God, and xJesus Christ whom you have sent. I yglorified you on earth, zhaving accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, aglorify me in your own presence with the glory bthat I had with you cbefore the world existed.

dI have manifested your name to the people ewhom you gave me out of the world. fYours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything fthat you have given me is from you. For I have given them gthe words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that hI came from you; and ithey have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. jI am not praying for the world but for those kwhom you have given me, for lthey are yours. 10 mAll mine are yours, and yours are mine, and nI am glorified in them. 11 And I am no longer in the world, but othey are in the world, and pI am coming to you. qHoly Father, rkeep them in your name, swhich you have given me, tthat they may be one, ueven as we are one. 12 vWhile I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have wguarded them, and xnot one of them has been lost except ythe son of destruction, zthat the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now aI am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have bmy joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 cI have given them your word, and dthe world has hated them ebecause they are not of the world, fjust as I am not of the world. 15 I gdo not ask that you htake them out of the world, but that you ikeep them from jthe evil one.1 16 kThey are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 lSanctify them2 in the truth; myour word is truth. 18 nAs you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And ofor their sake pI consecrate myself,3 that they also qmay be sanctified4 in truth.

20 I do not rask for these only, but also for those swho will believe in me through their word, 21 tthat they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that uthey also may be in vus, so that the world wmay believe that you have sent me. 22 xThe glory that you have given me yI have given to them, tthat they may be one even as we are one, 23 zI in them and you in me, athat they may become perfectly one, bso that the world may know that you sent me and cloved them even as dyou loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be ewith me fwhere I am, gto see my glory that you have given me because you loved me hbefore the foundation of the world. 25 iO righteous Father, even though jthe world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 kI made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love lwith which you have loved me may be in them, and mI in them.


Ephesians 4

Unity in the Body of Christ

I therefore, ma prisoner for the Lord, urge you to nwalk in a manner worthy of othe calling to which you have been called, with all phumility and qgentleness, with rpatience, sbearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in tthe bond of peace. There is uone body and vone Spiritjust as you were called to the one whope that belongs to your call xone Lord, yone faith, zone baptism, aone God and Father of all, bwho is over all and through all and in all. But cgrace was given dto each one of us eaccording to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says,

fWhen he ascended on high ghe led a host of captives,

and he gave gifts to men.1

(hIn saying, He ascended, what does it mean but that he had also descended into ithe lower regions, the earth?2 10 He who descended is the one who also jascended kfar above all the heavens, that he might lfill all things.) 11 And mhe gave the napostles, the prophets, the oevangelists, the pshepherds3 and teachers,4 12 qto equip the saints for the work of ministry, for rbuilding up sthe body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to tthe unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, uto mature manhood,5 to the measure of the stature of vthe fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, wtossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in xdeceitful schemes. 15 Rather, yspeaking the truth in love, we are to zgrow up in every way into him who is athe head, into Christ, 16 bfrom whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, cwhen each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

The New Life

17 Now this I say and dtestify in the Lord, ethat you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, fin the futility of their minds. 18 They gare darkened in their understanding, halienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to itheir hardness of heart. 19 They jhave become callous and khave given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you llearned Christ! 21 assuming that myou have heard about him and nwere taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to oput off pyour old self,6 which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through qdeceitful desires, 23 and rto be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on sthe new self, tcreated after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you uspeak the truth with his neighbor, for vwe are members one of another. 26 wBe angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and xgive no opportunity to the devil. 28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather ylet him labor, zdoing honest work with his own hands, so athat he may have something to share with anyone in need. 29 bLet no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give cgrace to those who hear. 30 And ddo not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, eby whom you were sealed for the day of fredemption. 31 gLet all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 hBe kind to one another, tenderhearted, iforgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.


1 John 2

Christ Our Advocate

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, ywe have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. zHe is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but aalso for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we bkeep his commandments. Whoever says I know him but does not keep his commandments cis a liar, and cthe truth is not in him, but whoever dkeeps his word, in him truly ethe love of God is perfected. fBy this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he gabides in him hought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

The New Commandment

Beloved, I am writing you ino new commandment, but jan old commandment kthat you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. At the same time, it is la new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because1 mthe darkness is passing away and nthe true light is already shining. Whoever says he is in the light and ohates his brother is still in darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him2 there is no pcause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and qwalks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

12  I am writing to you, little children,

because ryour sins are forgiven for his name’s sake.

13  I am writing to you, fathers,

because you know shim who is from the beginning.

I am writing to you, young men,

because tyou have overcome the evil one.

I write to you, children,

because uyou know the Father.

14  I write to you, fathers,

because you know shim who is from the beginning.

I write to you, young men,

because tyou are strong,

and the word of God abides in you,

and you have overcome the evil one.

Do Not Love the World

15 vDo not love the world or the things in the world. wIf anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the worldxthe desires of the flesh and ythe desires of the eyes and pride of life3is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And zthe world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Warning Concerning Antichrists

18 Children, ait is the last hour, and as you have heard that bantichrist is coming, so now cmany antichrists have come. dTherefore we know that it is the last hour. 19 eThey went out from us, but they were not of us; for fif they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, gthat it might become plain that they all are not of us. 20 But you have been hanointed by ithe Holy One, and jyou all have knowledge.4 21 I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is the liar but khe who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is bthe antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. 23 lNo one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. 24 Let mwhat you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then nyou too will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise that he made to us5oeternal life.

26 I write these things to you about pthose who are trying to deceive you. 27 But qthe anointing that you received from him abides in you, and ryou have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and sis true, and is no liejust as it has taught you, abide in him.

Children of God

28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that twhen he appears uwe may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his vcoming. 29 If you know that whe is righteous, you may be sure that xeveryone who practices righteousness has been born of him.