Leavetaking Exaltation

Now we, brothers, as Isaac was, are children of promise. ²⁹But as then, he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. ³⁰However, what does the Scripture say? “Throw out the servant and her son, for the son of the servant will not inherit with the son of the free woman.” ³¹So then, brothers, we are not children of a servant, but of the free woman.

¹Stand firm therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and don’t be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

²Behold, I, Paul, tell you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will profit you nothing. ³Yes, I testify again to every man who receives circumcision that he is a debtor to do the whole law. ⁴You are alienated from Christ, you who desire to be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace. ⁵For we through the Spirit, by faith wait for the hope of righteousness. ⁶For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision amounts to anything, but faith working through love.

⁷You were running well! Who interfered with you that you should not obey the truth? ⁸This persuasion is not from him who calls you. ⁹A little yeast grows through the whole lump. ¹⁰I have confidence toward you in the Lord that you will think no other way. But he who troubles you will bear his judgment, whoever he is.

but Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias, his brother’s wife, and for all the evil things which Herod had done, ²⁰added this also to them all, that he shut up John in prison.

²¹Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus also had been baptized and was praying. The sky was opened, ²²and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form like a dove on him; and a voice came out of the sky, saying “You are my beloved Son. In you I am well pleased.”