Sunday Bible Readings

Nicodemus. ¹ Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. ² He came to Jesus at night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you are doing unless God is with him.” ³ Jesus answered and said to him, “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” ⁴ Nicodemus said to him, “How can a person has once grown old be born again? Surely he cannot reenter his mother’s womb and be born again, can he?” ⁵ Jesus answered, “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. ⁶ What is born of the flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not be amazed that I told you, ‘You must be born from above.’ ⁸ The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” ⁹ Nicodemus answered and said to him, “How can this happen?” ¹⁰ Jesus answered and said to him, “You are the teacher of Israel and you do not understand this? ¹¹ Amen, amen, I say to you, we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you people do not accept our testimony. ¹² If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? ¹³ No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. ¹⁴ And just as Moses lifted up^[e] the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ¹⁹ And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. ²⁰ For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. ²¹ But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.

Final Witness of the B

⁹ But we are sure in your regard, beloved, of better things related to salvation, even though we speak in this way. ¹⁰ For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love you have demonstrated for his name by having served and continuing to serve the holy ones. ¹¹ We earnestly desire each of you to demonstrate the same eagerness for the fulfillment of hope until the end, ¹² so that you may not become sluggish, but imitators of those who, through faith and patience, are inheriting the promises.

God’s Promise Immutable. ¹³ When God made the promise to Abraham since he had no one greater by whom to swear, “he swore by himself,” ¹⁴ and said, “I will indeed bless you and multiply” you. ¹⁵ And so, after patient waiting, he obtained the promise. ¹⁶ Human beings swear by someone greater than themselves; for them an oath serves as a guarantee and puts an end to all argument. ¹⁷ So when God wanted to give the heirs of his promise an even clearer demonstration of the immutability of his purpose, he intervened with an oath, ¹⁸ so that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to hold fast to the hope that lies before us. ¹⁹ This we have as an anchor of the soul, sure and firm, which reaches into the interior behind the veil, ²⁰ where Jesus has entered on our behalf as forerunner, becoming high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.