¹⁸ But Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.

⁹ Or ^(A)do you not know that the unrighteous will not ^(B)inherit the kingdom of God? ^(C)Do not be deceived; ^(D)neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor ^[a]homosexuals, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor those habitually drunk, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will ^(E)inherit the kingdom of God. ^11 (F)Such were some of you; but you were ^(G)washed, but you were ^(H)sanctified, but you were ^(I)justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and ^[b]in the Spirit of our God.

A Thorn in the Flesh

⁷ Because of the extraordinary greatness of the ^(A)revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given to me a ^(B)thorn in the flesh, a ^(C)messenger of Satan to ^[a]torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! ⁸ Concerning this I pleaded with the Lord ^(D)three times that it might leave me. ⁹ And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for ^(E)power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather ^(F)boast ^[b]about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. ¹⁰ Therefore ^(G)I delight in weaknesses, in ^[c]insults, in ^(H)distresses, in ^(I)persecutions, in ^(J)difficulties, ^(K)in behalf of Christ; for ^(L)when I am weak, then I am strong.

God Is Light

^5 (A)This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that ^(B)God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. ^6 (C)If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we ^(D)lie and ^(E)do not practice the truth; ⁷ but if we ^(F)walk in the Light as ^(G)He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and ^(H)the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. ^8 (I)If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the ^(J)truth is not in us. ^9 (K)If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and ^(L)cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ^10 (M)If we say that we have not sinned, we ^(N)make Him a liar and ^(O)His word is not in us.

Christ Is Our Advocate

2 ^(P)My little children, I am ^(Q)writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, ^(R)we have an ^[a](S)Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; ² and He Himself is ^(T)the ^[b]propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also ^(U)for the sins of the whole world.

¹² So then, my beloved, ^(A)just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own ^(B)salvation with ^(C)fear and trembling; ¹³ for it is ^(D)God who is at work in you, both to ^[a]desire and to work ^(E)for His good pleasure.

¹⁴ Do all things without ^(F)complaining or arguments;

⁷ But ^(A)whatever things were gain to me, these things I have counted as loss because of Christ. ⁸ More than that, I count all things to be loss ^[a]in view of the surpassing value of ^[b](B)knowing ^(C)Christ Jesus my Lord, ^[c]for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them mere rubbish, so that I may gain Christ, ⁹ and may be found in Him, not having ^(D)a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, ^(E)the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, ¹⁰ that I may ^(F)know Him and ^(G)the power of His resurrection and ^[d](H)the fellowship of His sufferings, being ^(I)conformed to His death; ¹¹ if somehow I may ^(J)attain to the resurrection from the dead.

¹² Not that I have already ^[e](K)grasped it all or have already ^(L)become perfect, but I press on if I may also ^(M)take hold of that ^[f]for which I ^(N)was even taken hold of by ^(O)Christ Jesus. ¹³ Brothers and sisters, I do not regard myself as having taken hold of it yet; but one thing I do: ^(P)forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I ^(Q)press on toward the goal for the prize of the ^(R)upward call of God in ^(S)Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ Therefore, all who are ^[g](T)mature, let’s have this attitude; and if in anything you have a ^(U)different attitude, ^(V)God will reveal that to you as well; ¹⁶ however, let’s keep ^[h](W)living by that same standard to which we have attained.