◄ The younger son . . . journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. ►

Such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. § We … were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. § God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us … If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.