12 But there were people who did believe in his name. They did receive him. He gave all those who received him and believed him the right to become children of God.
13 They were born into Gods family by God. That is, they were not born into his family in the way a person is born into this world. It was not by any persons will.
25 Do not stop going to church meetings. Some people do stop. But help each other to be strong. You must do it all the more as you see the Great Day coming closer.
7 Do not give up when you are punished. God is treating you like sons. Is there a son who has never been punished by his father?
8 You are punished like the other children in the family. If you are not, you do not belong to the family as the other children do.
9 And what is more, our fathers on earth punished us and we respected them. We should obey even more the Father of our spirits. If we do, we will live.
10 Our fathers on earth punished us for a short time the way they wanted to. But God punishes us the way it is good for us. He is holy and good, so he wants us to become holy also.
33 Jesus asked them, Who are my mother and my brothers?
34 Then he looked at the people who sat around him. He said, These people are my mother and my brothers!
35 Anyone who obeys God is my brother, my sister, and my mother.
1 Do not be angry with an older man if he has done something wrong, but talk kindly to him as you would talk to your father. Talk to the young men like brothers.
2 Talk to the older women like mothers. Talk to the young women like sisters. And be sure to keep a clean mind and heart in all this.
15 The Holy Spirit you have received does not make you a slave again so that you are afraid. But the Spirit you have received makes you sons of God.
16 So we say, Father! Father! The Spirit himself also, along with our own spirits, tells us that we are Gods children.
17 If we are his children, God will give us the good things that children receive. He will give us these blessings along with Christ. He will give it to us if we suffer with Christ. If we suffer with Christ, we will also be made great with him.
4 But when the right time came, God sent his Son to make us free. He was born by a woman during the time when men had to obey the law.
5 God sent him to set the people free who were under the law. God sent him so that we would receive our rights as sons of God.
6 Because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts. The Spirit calls out, Father!
7 So then, because of what God has done, you are no longer a slave but you are a son. And because you are a son, you will receive what he promised.
26 You are all Gods children because you have believed in Christ Jesus.
27 All of you who have been baptised into Christ have taken Christ as your own.
28 There is no longer any difference between a Jew and one who is not a Jew; between a slave and a free man; between a man and a woman. When you are in the body of Christ Jesus, you are all alike.
35 A slave does not belong to the family for ever. But a son belongs for ever.
5 In the same way, we are many people. But we are one body because we are all joined together in Christ. Each one of us is a part of all the others.
10 So then, when we can, we should do good to all people. But most of all, we should do it to those who are in Gods family.
26 God has given each person their right place in the church. First, there are the apostles. Second, there are prophets who speak words from God. Third, there are those who teach. Then there are those who do big works. Then there are those who have the gifts to heal people, those who help in the work of the church people, those who lead and guide others, and those who speak Gods words in different kinds of tongues or languages.
1 See how much the Father has loved us! We are called Gods children. It is true, we are Gods children. People in this world did not know him and so they do not know us.
2 My dear brothers, we are Gods children now. No one knows yet what we shall be like. But we know that when Jesus comes, we will be like him. We will see him as he really is.
14 That is why I kneel down before the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15 From him every family in heaven or on earth gets its name.
5 Because he loved us, he planned that we should be his own children. It is through Jesus Christ that we are Gods children. That is the way God wanted it to be.
6 Praise him! His kindness is great and wonderful. We have been accepted by God through Jesus Christ, whom he loves so much.
19 So then you are no longer strangers or people far away. But you live with Gods people and belong to Gods family.
20 Gods family is like a house and you are part of the building. The apostles and prophets are like the lower walls of the house and you are the building on this foundation. Jesus Christ is the big stone at the corner.
21 He is the one who holds the whole house together, and it becomes a holy house belonging to the Lord.
22 You too are a part of this house. God himself lives in this house by his Spirit.
42 Jesus said to them, If God were your Father you would love me, because I have come from God. I did not come by my own power. God sent me.