Jesus’ Baptism and Ours

¹ This is why I, Paul, am a prisoner of Christ for you Gentiles. ² You’ve heard, of course, about the responsibility to distribute God’s grace, which God gave to me for you, right? ³ God showed me his secret plan in a revelation, as I mentioned briefly before ( ⁴ when you read this, you’ll understand my insight into the secret plan about Christ). ⁵ Earlier generations didn’t know this hidden plan that God has now revealed to his holy apostles and prophets through the Spirit. ⁶ This plan is that the Gentiles would be coheirs and parts of the same body, and that they would share with the Jews in the promises of God in Christ Jesus through the gospel. ⁷ I became a servant of the gospel because of the grace that God showed me through the exercise of his power. ⁸ God gave his grace to me, the least of all God’s people, to preach the good news about the immeasurable riches of Christ to the Gentiles. ⁹ God sent me to reveal the secret plan that had been hidden since the beginning of time by God, who created everything. ¹⁰ God’s purpose is now to show the rulers and powers in the heavens the many different varieties of his wisdom through the church. ¹¹ This was consistent with the plan he had from the beginning of time that he accomplished through Christ Jesus our Lord. ¹² In Christ we have bold and confident access to God through faith in him.