Study Desk

Abraham believed this, and because he believed, he was blessed. All people who believe are blessed the same as Abraham was.

Because of what Jesus Christ did, the blessing God promised to Abraham was given to all people. Christ died so that by believing in him we could have the Spirit that God promised.

But when God gave the promise, there was no mediator, because a mediator is not needed when there is only one side, and God is one.

You belong to Christ, so you are Abraham's descendants. You get all of God's blessings because of the promise that God made to Abraham.

You know that I came to you the first time because I was sick. That was when I told the Good News to you.

Am I now your enemy because I tell you the truth?

Abraham's son from the slave woman was born in the normal human way. But the son from the free woman was born because of the promise God made to Abraham.

My brothers and sisters, you are children who were born because of God's promise, just as Isaac was.

We have freedom now, because Christ made us free. So stand strong in that freedom. Don't go back into slavery again.

I say this because our hope of being right with God comes through faith. And the Spirit helps us feel sure as we wait for that hope.

Brothers and sisters, someone in your group might do something wrong. You who are following the Spirit should go to the one who is sinning. Help make that person right again, and do it in a gentle way. But be careful, because you might be tempted to sin too.

Greetings from Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus. I am an apostle because that is what God wanted. To God's holy people living in Ephesus, believers who belong to Christ Jesus.

And this brings praise to God because of his wonderful grace. God gave that grace to us freely. He gave us that grace in Christ, the one he loves.

In Christ we are made free by his blood sacrifice. We have forgiveness of sins because of God's rich grace.

In Christ we were chosen to be God's people. God had already planned for us to be his people, because that is what he wanted. And he is the one who makes everything agree with what he decides and wants.

In the past you were spiritually dead because of your sins and the things you did against God.

In the past all of us lived like that, trying to please our sinful selves. We did all the things our bodies and minds wanted. Like everyone else in the world, we deserved to suffer God's anger just because of the way we were.

We were spiritually dead because of all we had done against him. But he gave us new life together with Christ. (You have been saved by God's grace.)

Yes, it is because we are a part of Christ Jesus that God raised us from death and seated us together with him in the heavenly places.

I mean that you have been saved by grace because you believed. You did not save yourselves; it was a gift from God.