Obey the son completely, or he will be angry. Your way of life will lead to your death. His anger can blaze out at any moment. Blessed are all those who go to him for safety.
“I am Israel’s King. I set them free. I am the Lord who rules over all. So listen to what I am saying. I am the first and the last. I am the one and only God.
Tell me what will happen. State your case. Talk it over together. Who spoke long ago about what would happen? Who said it a long time ago? I did. I am the Lord. I am the one and only God. I always do what is right. I am the one who saves. There is no God but me.
“City of Zion, be full of joy! People of Jerusalem, shout! See, your king comes to you. He always does what is right. He has won the victory. He is humble and riding on a donkey. He is sitting on a donkey’s colt.
“My Father has given all things to me. The Father is the only one who knows the Son. And the only ones who know the Father are the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to make him known.
“Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever does not accept you does not accept me. But whoever does not accept me does not accept the one who sent me.”
I am sending this letter to all of you in Rome. You are loved by God and appointed to be his holy people. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.
But you are not ruled by the power of sin. Instead, the Holy Spirit rules over you. This is true if the Spirit of God lives in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Christ.
Don’t you know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit? The Spirit is in you, and you have received the Spirit from God. You do not belong to yourselves.
In fact, we felt as if we were under the sentence of death. But that happened so that we would not depend on ourselves but on God. He raises the dead to life.
May the grace shown by the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. May the love that God has given us be with you. And may the sharing of life brought about by the Holy Spirit be with you all.
God was bringing the world back to himself through Christ. He did not hold people’s sins against them. God has trusted us with the message that people may be brought back to him.
That’s why I’m suffering the way I am. But this gives me no reason to be ashamed. That’s because I know who I have believed in. I am sure he is able to take care of what I have given him. I can trust him with it until the day he returns as judge.
I, Simon Peter, am writing this letter. I serve Jesus Christ. I am his apostle. I am sending this letter to you. You are those who have received a faith as valuable as ours. You received it because our God and Savior Jesus Christ does what is right.
Suppose someone thinks they know more than we do. So they don’t follow Christ’s teaching. Then that person doesn’t belong to God. But whoever follows Christ’s teaching belongs to the Father and the Son.