Alive with Christ (Colossians 2:6–23)
1 UST Before you trusted the Messiah, you were spiritually dead— you were unable to stop sinning. BSB BSB: And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
2 UST You used to live in a sinful way, guided by the spirit of this world. You were guided by the ruler of the evil spirits, who controls the authorities of this world. This ruler is Satan, who now works through the people who disobey God. BSB BSB: in which you used to walk when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience.
3 UST All of us used to live in the same way as these people who disobey God; we did the evil things that we desired, things that would bring pleasure to our bodies and our minds. We deserved that God should be very angry with us, just as he is with the other people. BSB BSB: All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath.
4 UST But God is very merciful to us because he loves us very much. BSB BSB: But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
5 UST God loved us so much that even when we were spiritually dead and constantly sinning, he made us alive by joining us to the Messiah. Remember, when God saved you from being spiritually dead, he was being very kind to you in a way that you did not deserve. BSB BSB: made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved!
6 UST God saved us from being spiritually dead just as he raised Jesus from being physically dead and he made us spiritually alive with him. Then he gave us seats of honor to rule with the Messiah Jesus in heaven. BSB BSB: And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
7 UST He did that to show to everyone in all future times how exceedingly gracious he is in being kind to us by joining us to the Messiah Jesus. BSB BSB: in order that in the coming ages He might display the surpassing riches of His grace, demonstrated by His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
9 UST a gift that no one can earn, so no one can boast and say that he has saved himself. BSB BSB: not by works, so that no one can boast.
10 UST So God is making us what he wants us to be; through the Messiah Jesus he has created us as new people to do good things— things that God had previously arranged for us to do. BSB BSB: For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.
One in Christ (Philippians 2:1–4)
11 UST So remember that previously you non- Jewish people according to who your ancestors were did not belong to God’ s people. The Jews insulted you by calling you“the uncircumcised.” They call themselves“the circumcised.” By this they mean that they, not you, are God’ s people, although circumcision is something that humans do that only changes the body, not something that God does that changes the spirit. BSB BSB: Therefore remember that formerly you who are Gentiles in the flesh and called uncircumcised by the so-called circumcision (that done in the body by human hands)—
12 UST Remember that, at that time, you were separated from the Messiah. You were foreigners to the people of Israel. You did not share in the things that God promised in his agreements with them. You did not confidently expect that God would save you. No, you were living in this world completely without God. BSB BSB: remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
15 UST He made it no longer necessary for us to obey the commandments and requirements of the Jewish law for him to accept us. He did this in order to make the Jews and the non- Jews into one new people who would live peacefully together because of their relationship to him. BSB BSB: by abolishing in His flesh the law of commandments and decrees. He did this to create in Himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace
16 UST He did this in order to reconcile both groups to God as one group by dying on the cross for all of them. By dying for them, Jesus made it possible for them to stop being enemies to each other and to God. BSB BSB: and reconciling both of them to God in one body through the cross, by which He put to death their hostility.
17 UST Jesus came and announced the good news that we can be at peace with God; he announced this to you non- Jews, who did not know about God, and to us Jews, who did know about God. BSB BSB: He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.
18 UST Because of what Jesus did for us, both Jews and non- Jews now can come to God the Father with the help of God’ s Spirit. BSB BSB: For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
Christ Our Cornerstone (Isaiah 28:14–22; 1 Corinthians 3:10–15; 1 Peter 2:1–8)
19 UST Therefore now you non- Jews are no longer left out of God’ s people, but instead you are fellow members with those whom God has set apart for himself, and you belong to God’ s family. BSB BSB: Therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household,
20 UST You are like stones that God has put together into a building, and the apostles and prophets are like the foundation stones of that building. You depend on what they have taught, just as building stones depend on the foundation stones below them to form a wall that is upright and strong. The Messiah Jesus himself is like the cornerstone, which is the most important stone of the building. BSB BSB: built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.
21 UST Jesus determines where each person belongs, just as the cornerstone determines where each stone fits in the building. Just as a builder joins stones together to make a holy temple, Jesus is assembling his family of believers to be one holy group which serves the Lord. BSB BSB: In Him the whole building is fitted together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
22 UST Because you belong to Jesus, he is building you up together, both Jews and non- Jews, into one family that is like a building in which God lives by means of his Spirit. BSB BSB: And in Him you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God in His Spirit.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.