Ephesians -1 Timothy PAUL, by the will of God an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the saints who are faithful in Jesus Christ:

Moffatt⁽ⁱ⁾ ¹ PAUL, by the will of God an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the saints who are faithful in Jesus Christ: ² grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who in Christ has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly sphere! ⁴ He chose us in him ere the world was founded, to be consecrated and unblemished in his sight, ⁵ destining us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ. Such was the purpose of his will, ⁶ redounding to the praise of his glorious grace bestowed on us in the Beloved, ⁷ in whom we enjoy our redemption, the forgiveness of our trespasses, by the blood he shed. ⁸ So richly has God lavished his grace upon us! ⁹ He has granted us complete insight and understanding of the open secret of his will, showing us how it was the purpose of his design ¹⁰ so to order it in the fulness of the ages that all things in heaven and earth alike should be gathered up in Christ — ¹¹ in the Christ in whom we have had our heritage allotted us (as was decreed in the design of him who carries out everything according to the counsel of his will), ¹² to make us redound to the praise of his glory by being the first to put our hope in Christ. ¹³ You also have heard the message of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, and in him you also by your faith have been stamped with the seal of the long-promised holy Spirit ¹⁴ which is the pledge and instalment of our common heritage, that we may obtain our divine possession and so redound to the praise of his glory. ¹⁵ Hence, as I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, ¹⁶ I never cease to give thanks for you, when I mention you in my prayers. ¹⁷ May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, grant you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation for the knowledge of himself, ¹⁸ illuminating the eyes of your heart so that you can understand the hope to which He calls us, the wealth of his glorious heritage in the saints, ¹⁹ and the surpassing greatness of his power over us believers — a power which operates with the strength of the might ²⁰ which he exerted in raising Christ from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavenly sphere, ²¹ above all the angelic Rulers, Authorities, Powers, and Lords, above every Name that is to be named not only in this age but in the age to come — ²² he has put everything under his feet and set him as head over everything for the church, ²³ the church which is his Body, filled by him who fills the universe entirely. ² ¹ And as with us so with you. You were dead in the trespasses and sins ² in which you moved as you followed the course of this world, under the sway of the prince of the air — the spirit which is at present active within those sons of disobedience ³ among whom all of us lived, we as well as you, when we obeyed the passions of our flesh, carrying out the dictates of the flesh and its impulses, when we were objects of God's anger by nature, like the rest of men. ⁴ But, dead in trespasses as we were, God was so rich in mercy that for his great love to us ⁵ he made us live together with Christ (it is by grace you have been saved); ⁶ together with Christ he raised and seated us within the heavenly sphere in Christ Jesus, ⁷ to display throughout ages to come his surpassing wealth of grace and goodness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, as you had faith; it is not your doing but God's gift, ⁹ not the outcome of what you have done — lest anyone should pride himself on that; ¹⁰ God has made us what we are, creating us in Christ Jesus for the good deeds which are prepared beforehand by God as our sphere of action. ¹¹ Remember, then, that once upon a time you Gentiles in the flesh, who are called 'the Uncircumcision' by that so-called 'Circumcision' which is itself the product of human hands in the flesh — ¹² remember you were in those days outside Christ, aliens to the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the Promise, devoid of hope and God within the world. ¹³ Whereas now, within Christ Jesus, you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴ For he is our peace, he who has made both of us a unity and destroyed the barrier which kept us apart; ¹⁵ in his own flesh he put an end to the feud of the Law with its code of commands, so as to make peace by the creation of a new Man in himself out of both parties, ¹⁶ so as himself to give the death-blow to that feud by reconciling them both to God in one Body through the cross; ¹⁷ he came with a gospel of peace for those far away (that is, for you) and for those who were near, ¹⁸ for it is through him that we both enjoy our access to the Father in one Spirit. ¹⁹ Thus you are strangers and foreigners no longer, you share the membership of the saints, you belong to God's own household, ²⁰ you are a building that rests on the apostles and prophets as its foundation, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone; ²¹ in him the whole structure is welded together and rises into a sacred temple in the Lord, ²² and in him you are yourselves built into this to form a habitation for God in the Spirit. ³ ¹ For this reason I Paul, I whom Jesus has made a prisoner for the sake of you Gentiles — ² for surely you have heard how the grace of God which was vouchsafed me in your interests has ordered it, ³ how the divine secret was disclosed to me by a revelation (if you read what I have already written briefly about this, ⁴ you can understand my insight into that secret of Christ ⁵ which was not disclosed to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his sacred apostles and prophets by the Spirit), ⁶ namely, that in Christ Jesus the Gentiles are co-heirs, companions, and co-partners in the Promise. ⁷ Such is the gospel which I was called to serve by the endowment of God's grace which was vouchsafed me, by the energy of his power; ⁸ less than the least of all saints as I am, this grace was vouchsafed me, that I should bring the Gentiles the gospel of the fathomless wealth of Christ ⁹ and enlighten all men upon the new order of that divine secret which God the Creator of all concealed from eternity — ¹⁰ intending to let the full sweep of the divine wisdom be disclosed now by the church to the angelic Rulers and Authorities in the heavenly sphere, ¹¹ in terms of the eternal purpose which he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, ¹² through whom, as we have faith in him, we enjoy our confidence of free access. ¹³ So I beg of you not to lose heart over what I am suffering on your behalf; my sufferings are an honour to you. ¹⁴ For this reason, then, I kneel before the Father ¹⁵ from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name and nature, ¹⁶ praying Him out of the wealth of his glory to grant you a mighty increase of strength by his Spirit in the inner man. ¹⁷ May Christ dwell in your hearts as you have faith! ¹⁸ May you be so fixed and founded in love that you can grasp with all the saints what is the meaning of 'the Breadth,' 'the Length,' 'the Depth' and 'the Height,' ¹⁹ by knowing the love of Christ which surpasses all knowledge! May you be filled with the entire fulness of God! ²⁰ Now to him who by the action of his power within us can do all things, aye far more than we ever ask or imagine, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations for ever and ever: Amen. ⁴ ¹ As the Lord's prisoner, then, I beg of you to live a life worthy of your calling, ² with perfect modesty and gentleness, showing forbearance to one another patiently, zealous in love ³ to preserve the unity of the Spirit by binding peace upon yourselves. ⁴ For there is one Body and one Spirit — as you were called for the one hope that belongs to your call — ⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶ one God and Father of all, who is over us all, who pervades us all, who is within us all. ⁷ But each one of us is granted his own grace, as determined by the full measure of Christ's gift. ⁸ Thus it is said, When he ascended on high he led a host captive and granted gifts to men. ⁹ What does he ascended mean, except that he first descended to the nether regions of the earth? ¹⁰ He who descended is he who ascended above all the heavens to fill the universe; ¹¹ he granted some men to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to shepherd and teach, ¹² for the equipment of the saints, for the business of the ministry, for the upbuilding of the Body of Christ, ¹³ till we should all attain the unity of the faith and knowledge of God's Son, reaching maturity, reaching the full measure of development which belongs to the fulness of Christ — ¹⁴ instead of remaining immature, blown from our course and swayed by every passing wind of doctrine, by the adroitness of men who are dexterous in devising error; ¹⁵ we are to hold by the truth, and by our love to grow up wholly into Him. For He, Christ, is the head, and under him, ¹⁶ as the entire Body is welded together and compacted by every joint with which it is supplied, the due activity of each part enables the Body to grow and build itself up in love. ¹⁷ Now in the Lord I insist and protest that you must give up living like pagans; for their purposes are futile, ¹⁸ their intelligence is darkened, they are estranged from the life of God by the ignorance which their dulness of heart has produced in them — ¹⁹ men who have recklessly abandoned themselves to sensuality, with a lust for the business of impurity in every shape and form. ²⁰ That is not how you have understood the meaning of Christ ²¹ (for it is Christ whom you have been taught, it is in Christ that you have been instructed — the real Christ who is in Jesus); ²² you must lay aside the old nature which belonged to your former course of life, that nature which crumbles to ruin under the passions of moral deceit, ²³ and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, ²⁴ putting on the new nature, that divine pattern which has been created in the upright and pious character of the Truth. ²⁵ Lay aside falsehood, then, let each tell his neighbour the truth, for we are members one of another. ²⁶ Be angry but do not sin; never let the sun set upon your exasperation, ²⁷ give the devil no chance. ²⁸ Let the thief steal no more; rather let him work and put his hands to an honest task, so as to have something to contribute to the needy. ²⁹ Let no bad word pass your lips, but only such speech as is good for edification, as occasion may require, words that are gracious and a means of grace to those who hear them. ³⁰ And do not vex God's holy Spirit, by whom you have been sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹ Drop all bitter feeling and passion and anger and clamouring and insults, together with all malice; ³² be kind to each other, be tender-hearted, be generous to each other as God has been generous to you in Christ. ⁵ ¹ Copy God, then, as his beloved children, ² and lead lives of love, just as Christ loved you and gave himself up for you to be a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. ³ Never let any sexual vice or impurity or lust be so much as mentioned by you — that is the proper course for saints to take; ⁴ no, nor indecent, silly, or scurrilous talk — all that is improper. Rather, voice your thanks to God. ⁵ Be sure of this, that no one guilty of sexual vice or impurity or lust (that is, an idolater) possesses any inheritance in the realm of Christ and God. ⁶ Let no one deceive you with specious arguments; these are the vices that bring down God's anger on the sons of disobedience. ⁷ So avoid the company of such men. ⁸ For while once upon a time you were darkness, now in the Lord you are light; lead the life of those who are children of the light ⁹ (for the fruit of light consists in all that is good and right and true), ¹⁰ verifying what pleases the Lord. ¹¹ Have nothing to do with the fruitless enterprises of the darkness; rather expose them. ¹² One is indeed ashamed even to speak about what such men do in secret; ¹³ still, whatever the light exposes becomes illuminated — for anything that is illuminated turns into light. ¹⁴ Thus it is said, 'Wake up, O sleeper, and rise from the dead; so Christ will shine upon you.' ¹⁵ Be strictly careful then about the life you lead; act like sensible men, not like thoughtless; ¹⁶ make the very most of your time, for these are evil days. ¹⁷ So do not be senseless, but understand what is the Lord's will; ¹⁸ and do not get drunk with wine — that means profligacy — but be filled with the Spirit, ¹⁹ converse with one another in the music of psalms, in hymns, and in songs of the spiritual life, praise the Lord heartily with words and music, ²⁰ and render thanks to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ at all times and for all things. ²¹ Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ. ²² Wives, be subject to your husbands as to the Lord, ²³ for the husband is the head of the wife as Christ also (though he is the saviour of the Body) is the head of the church; ²⁴ as the church is subject to Christ, so wives are to be subject to their husbands in every respect. ²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶ to consecrate her by cleansing her in the bath of baptism as she utters her confession, ²⁷ in order to have the church as his very own, standing before him in all her glory, with never a spot or wrinkle or any such flaw, but consecrated and unblemished. ²⁸ So ought husbands to love their wives — to love them as their own bodies (he who loves his wife loves himself). ²⁹ For no one ever hates his flesh; no, he nourishes and cherishes it (just as Christ does the church ³⁰ for we are members of his Body). ³¹ Therefore shall a man leave father and mother and cleave to his wife, and the pair shall be one flesh. ³² This is a profound symbol, I mean as regards Christ and the church. ³³ However, let every man of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife reverence her husband. ⁶ ¹ Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right; ² honour your father and mother (it is the first command with a promise), ³ that it may be well with you and that you may live long on earth. ⁴ As for you fathers, do not exasperate your children, but bring them up in the discipline and on the admonitions of the Lord. ⁵ Servants, be obedient to those who are your masters here below with reverence and trembling, with singleness of heart as to Christ himself; ⁶ instead of merely working when their eye is on you, like those who court human favour, do God's will from the heart like servants of Christ, ⁷ by rendering service with goodwill as to the Lord and Master, not to men. ⁸ Be sure that everyone, slave or free, will be paid back by the Lord and Master for the good he has done. ⁹ And as for you masters, act by your servants in the same way, and stop threatening them; be sure that they and you have a Lord and Master in heaven, and there is no partiality about him. ¹⁰ To conclude. Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might; ¹¹ put on God's armour so as to be able to stand against the stratagems of the devil. ¹² For we have to struggle, not with blood and flesh but with the angelic Rulers, the angelic Authorities, the potentates of the dark present, the spirit-forces of evil in the heavenly sphere. ¹³ So take God's armour, that you may be able to make a stand upon the evil day and hold your ground by overcoming all the foe. ¹⁴ Hold your ground, tighten the belt of truth about your loins, wear integrity as your coat of mail, ¹⁵ and have your feet shod with the stability of the gospel of peace; ¹⁶ above all, take faith as your shield, to enable you to quench all the fire-tipped darts flung by the evil one, ¹⁷ put on salvation as your helmet, and take the Spirit as your sword (that is, the word of God), ¹⁸ praying at all times in the Spirit with all manner of prayer and entreaty — be alive to that, attend to it unceasingly, interceding on behalf of all the saints ¹⁹ and on my behalf also, that I may be allowed to speak and open my lips in order to expound fully and freely that open secret of the gospel ²⁰ for the sake of which I am in custody as its envoy. Pray that I may have freedom to declare it as I should. ²¹ Our beloved brother Tychicus, a faithful minister in the Lord, will give you all information about me, so that you may know how I am; ²² that is why I am sending him to you, to let you know how I am and to encourage your hearts. ²³ Peace and love with faith be to the brothers from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ Grace be with all who have an undying love for our Lord Jesus Christ.

Philippians

¹ ¹ PAUL and Timotheus, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, as well as to the bishops and deacons: ² grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ³ I thank my God for all your remembrance of me; ⁴ in all my prayers for you all I always pray with a sense of joy ⁵ for what you have contributed to the gospel from the very first day down to this moment; ⁶ of this I am confident, that he who has begun the good work in you will go on completing it until the day of Jesus Christ. ⁷ It is only natural for me to be thinking of you all in this way, for alike in my prison and as I defend and vindicate the gospel, I bear in mind how you all share with me in the grace divine. ⁸ (God is my witness that I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus himself!) ⁹ And it is my prayer that your love may be more and more rich in knowledge and all manner of insight, enabling you to have a sense of what is vital, ¹⁰ so that you may be transparent and no harm to anyone in view of the day of Christ, ¹¹ your life covered with that harvest of righteousness which Jesus Christ produces to the glory and the praise of God. ¹² I would have you understand, my brothers, that my affairs have really tended to advance the gospel; ¹³ throughout the whole of the praetorian guard and everywhere else it is recognized that I am imprisoned on account of my connexion with Christ, ¹⁴ and my imprisonment has given the majority of the brotherhood greater confidence in the Lord to venture on speaking the word of God without being afraid. ¹⁵ Some of them, it is true, are actually preaching Christ from envy and rivalry, others from goodwill; ¹⁶ the latter do it from love to me, knowing that I am set here to defend the gospel, ¹⁷ but the former proclaim Christ for their own ends, with mixed motives, intending to annoy me as I lie in prison. ¹⁸ What does it matter? Anyhow, for ulterior ends or honestly, Christ is being proclaimed, and I rejoice over that; yes and I will rejoice over it. ¹⁹ The outcome of all this, I know, will be my release, as you continue to pray for me, and as I am provided with the Spirit of Jesus Christ — ²⁰ my eager desire and hope being that I may never feel ashamed but that now as ever I may do honour to Christ in my own person by fearless courage. Whether that means life or death, no matter! ²¹ As life means Christ to me, so death means gain. ²² But then, if it is to be life here below, that means fruitful work for me. So — well, I cannot tell which to choose; ²³ I am in a dilemma between the two. My strong desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far the best. ²⁴ But for your sakes it is necessary I should live on here below. ²⁵ I am sure it is, and so I know I shall remain alive and serve you all by forwarding your progress and fostering the joy of your faith. ²⁶ Thus you will have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus over me — over my return to you. ²⁷ Only, do lead a life that is worthy of the gospel of Christ. Whether I come and see you or only hear of you in absence, let me know you are standing firm in a common spirit, fighting side by side like one man for the faith of the gospel. ²⁸ Never be scared for a second by your opponents; your fearlessness is a clear omen of ruin for them and of your own salvation — at the hands of God. ²⁹ For on behalf of Christ you have the favour of suffering no less than of believing in him, ³⁰ by waging the same conflict that, as once you saw and now you hear, I wage myself. ² ¹ So by all the stimulus of Christ, by every incentive of love, by all your participation in the Spirit, by all your affectionate tenderness, ² I pray you to give me the utter joy of knowing you are living in harmony, with the same feelings of love, with one heart and soul, ³ never acting for private ends or from vanity, but humbly considering each other the better man, ⁴ and each with an eye to the interests of others as well as to his own. ⁵ Treat one another with the same spirit as you experience in Christ Jesus. ⁶ Though he was divine by nature, he did not set store upon equality with God ⁷ but emptied himself by taking the nature of a servant; born in human guise ⁸ and appearing in human form, he humbly stooped in his obedience even to die, and to die upon the cross. ⁹ Therefore God raised him high and conferred on him a Name above all names, ¹⁰ so that before the Name of Jesus every knee should bend in heaven, on earth, and underneath the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue confess that 'Jesus Christ is Lord,' to the glory of God the Father. ¹² Therefore, my beloved, as you have been obedient always and not simply when I was present, so, now that I am absent, work all the more strenuously at your salvation with reverence and trembling, ¹³ for it is God who in his goodwill enables you to will this and to achieve it. ¹⁴ In all that you do, avoid grumbling and disputing, ¹⁵ so as to be blameless and innocent, faultless children of God in a crooked and perverse generation where you shine like stars in a dark world; ¹⁶ hold fast the word of life, so that I can be proud of you on the Day of Christ, because I have not run or worked for nothing. ¹⁷ Even if my life-blood has to be poured as a libation on the sacred sacrifice of faith you are offering to God, I rejoice, I congratulate you all — ¹⁸ and you in turn must rejoice and congratulate me. ¹⁹ I hope in the Lord Jesus to send you Timotheus before long, that I may be heartened by news of you. ²⁰ I have no one like him, for genuine interest in your welfare. ²¹ Everybody is selfish, instead of caring for Jesus Christ. ²² But you know how he has stood the test, how he has served with me in the gospel, like a son helping his father. ²³ I hope to send him then, as soon as ever I see how it will go with me — ²⁴ though I am confident in the Lord that I shall be coming myself before long. ²⁵ As for Epaphroditus, however, my brother, my fellow-worker, my fellow-soldier, and your messenger to meet my wants, I think it necessary to send you him at once, ²⁶ for he has been yearning for you all. He has been greatly concerned because you heard he was ill. ²⁷ And he was ill, nearly dead with illness. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me, to save me from having one sorrow upon another. ²⁸ So I am specially eager to send him, that you may be glad when you see him again, and thus my own anxiety may be lightened. ²⁹ Give him a welcome in the Lord, then, with your hearts full of joy. Value men like that, ³⁰ for he nearly died in the service of Christ by risking his life to make up for the services you were not here to render me. ³ ¹ Well then, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. I am repeating this word 'rejoice' in my letter, but that does not tire me and it is the safe course for you. — ² Beware of these dogs, these wicked workmen, the incision-party! ³ We are the true Circumcision, we who worship God in spirit, we who pride ourselves on Christ Jesus, we who rely upon no outward privilege. ⁴ Though I could rely on outward privilege, if I chose. Whoever thinks he can rely on that, I can outdo him. ⁵ I was circumcised on the eighth day after birth; I belonged to the race of Israel, to the tribe of Benjamin; I was the Hebrew son of Hebrew parents, a Pharisee as regards the Law, ⁶ in point of ardour a persecutor of the church, immaculate by the standard of legal righteousness. ⁷ But for Christ's sake I have learned to count my former gains a loss; ⁸ indeed I count anything a loss, compared to the supreme value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have lost everything (I count it all the veriest refuse) in order to gain Christ ⁹ and be found at death in him, possessing no legal righteousness of my own but the righteousness of faith in Christ, the divine righteousness that rests on faith. ¹⁰ I would know him in the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, with my nature transformed to die as he died, ¹¹ to see if I too can attain the resurrection from the dead. ¹² Not that I have already attained this or am already perfect, but I press forward to appropriate it, because I have been appropriated myself by Christ Jesus. ¹³ Brothers, I for one do not consider myself to have appropriated this; my one thought is, by forgetting what lies behind me and straining to what lies before me, ¹⁴ to press on to the goal for the prize of God's high call in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ For all those of our number who are mature, this must be the point of view; God will reveal that to any of you who look at things differently. ¹⁶ Only, we must let our steps be guided by such truth as we have attained. ¹⁷ Copy me, brothers, one and all of you, and notice those who live by the example you get from me. ¹⁸ For many — as I have often told you and tell you now with tears — many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. ¹⁹ Destruction is their fate, the belly is their god, they glory in their shame, these men of earthly mind! ²⁰ But we are a colony of heaven, and we wait for the Saviour who comes from heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ who will transform the body that belongs to our low estate till it resembles the body of his Glory, by the same power that enables him to make everything subject to himself. ⁴ ¹ So then, my brothers, for whom I cherish love and longing, my joy and crown, this is how you must stand firm in the Lord, O my beloved. ² I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. ³ And you, my true comrade, lend a hand to these women, I beg of you; they have fought at my side in the active service of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow-workers, whose names are in the book of life. ⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, 'rejoice.' ⁵ Let your forbearance be known to everyone; the Lord is at hand. ⁶ Never be anxious, but always make your requests known to God in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving; ⁷ so shall God's peace, that surpasses all our dreams, keep guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. ⁸ Finally, brothers, keep in mind whatever is true, whatever is worthy, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is attractive, whatever is high-toned, all excellence, all merit. ⁹ Practise also what you have learned and received from me, what you heard me say and what you saw me do; then the God of peace will be with you. ¹⁰ It was a great joy to me in the Lord that your care for me could revive again; for what you lacked was never the care but the chance of showing it. ¹¹ Not that I complain of want, for I have learned how to be content wherever I am. ¹² I know how to live humbly; I also know how to live in prosperity. I have been initiated into the secret for all sorts and conditions of life, for plenty and for hunger, for prosperity and for privations. ¹³ In him who strengthens me I am able for anything. ¹⁴ But you were kind enough to take your share in my trouble. ¹⁵ You Philippians are well aware that in the early days of the gospel, when I had left Macedonia, no church but yourselves had any financial dealings with me; ¹⁶ even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent money more than once for my needs. ¹⁷ It is not the money I am anxious for; what I am anxious for is the interest that accumulates in this way to your divine credit! ¹⁸ Your debt to me is fully paid and more than paid! I am amply supplied with what you have sent by Epaphroditus, a fragrant perfume, the sort of sacrifice that God approves and welcomes. ¹⁹ My God will supply all your own needs from his wealth in Glory in Christ Jesus. ²⁰ Glory to God our Father for ever and ever: Amen. ²¹ Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. The brothers beside me salute you. ²² All the saints salute you, especially the Imperial slaves. ²³ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

Colossians

¹ ¹ Paul, by God's will an apostle of Christ Jesus, and brother Timotheus, ² to the consecrated and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: grace and peace to you from God our Father. ³ We always thank the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ when we pray for you, ⁴ since we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all the saints, ⁵ due to the hope which is laid up for you in heaven. You heard of this hope originally in the message of the Truth, in that gospel ⁶ which has reached you as it spreads over all the world with fruit and increase. Such has been your life from the day you learned to know what God's grace really is. ⁷ You got that lesson from our beloved fellow-servant Epaphras, a minister of Christ who is faithful to your interests; ⁸ and it is he who has informed us of your love in the Spirit. ⁹ Hence, from the day we heard of it, we have never ceased to pray for you, asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and insight, ¹⁰ so that you may lead a life that is worthy of the Lord and give him entire satisfaction. May you be fruitful and increase in the doing of all good, as you thus know God! ¹¹ May his glorious might nerve you with full power to endure and to be patient cheerfully, whatever comes, ¹² thanking the Father who has qualified us to share the lot of the saints in the Light, ¹³ rescuing us from the power of the Darkness and transferring us to the realm of his beloved Son! ¹⁴ In him we enjoy our redemption, that is, the forgiveness of sins. ¹⁵ He is the likeness of the unseen God, born first before all the creation — ¹⁶ for it was by him that all things were created both in heaven and on earth, both the seen and the unseen, including Thrones, angelic Lords, celestial Powers and Rulers; all things have been created by him and for him; ¹⁷ he is prior to all, and all coheres in him. ¹⁸ Also, he is the head of the Body, that is, of the church, in virtue of his primacy as the first to be born from the dead — that gives him pre-eminence over all. ¹⁹ For it was in him that the divine Fulness willed to settle without limit, ²⁰ and by him it willed to reconcile in his own person all on earth and in heaven alike, in a peace made by the blood of his cross. ²¹ Once you were estranged yourselves, your hearts hostile to him in evildoing; but now he has reconciled you by dying in his mortal body, ²² so as to set you consecrated and unblemished and irreproachable in his presence — ²³ that is, if you adhere to the foundations and stability of the faith, instead of moving away from the hope you have learned in the gospel, that gospel which has been preached to every creature under heaven, and of which I Paul was made a minister. ²⁴ I am suffering now on your behalf, but I rejoice in that; I would make up the full sum of all that Christ has to suffer in my person on behalf of the church, his Body; ²⁵ for I am a minister of the church by the divine commission which has been granted me in your interests, to make a full presentation of God's message — ²⁶ of that open secret which, though concealed from ages and generations of old, has now been disclosed to the saints of God. ²⁷ It is His will that they should understand the glorious wealth which this secret holds for the Gentiles, in the fact of Christ's presence among you as your hope of glory. ²⁸ This is the Christ we proclaim; we train everyone and teach everyone the full scope of this knowledge, in order to set everyone before God mature in Christ; ²⁹ I labour for that end, striving for it with the divine energy which is a power within me. ² ¹ Striving? Yes, I want you to understand my deep concern for you and for those at Laodicea, for all who have never seen my face. ² May their hearts be encouraged! May they learn the meaning of love! May they have all the wealth of conviction that comes from insight! May they learn to know that open secret of God, the Father of Christ, ³ in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge lie hidden! ⁴ I say this to prevent you from being deluded by plausible arguments from anybody; ⁵ for although I am absent in body I am with you in spirit, and it is a joy to note your steadiness and the solid front of your faith in Christ. ⁶ Since you have had the messiah, even Jesus the Lord, brought to you, lead your life in him, ⁷ fixed and founded in him, confirmed in the faith as you have been taught it, and overflowing with thankfulness to God. ⁸ Beware of anyone getting hold of you by means of a theosophy which is specious make-believe, on the lines of human tradition, corresponding to the Elemental spirits of the world and not to Christ. ⁹ It is in Christ that the entire Fulness of deity has settled bodily, ¹⁰ it is in him that you reach your full life, and he is the Head of every angelic Ruler and Power; ¹¹ in him you have been circumcised with no material circumcision that cuts flesh from the body, but with Christ's own circumcision, ¹² when you were buried with him in your baptism and thereby raised with him as you believed in the power of the God who raised him from the dead. ¹³ For though you were dead in your trespasses, your flesh uncircumcised, He made you live with Christ, He forgave us all our trespasses, ¹⁴ He cancelled the regulations that stood against us — all these obligations he set aside when he nailed them to the cross, ¹⁵ when he cut away the angelic Rulers and Powers from us, exposing them to all the world and triumphing over them in the cross. ¹⁶ So let no one take you to task on questions of eating and drinking or in connexion with the observance of festivals or new moons or sabbaths. ¹⁷ All that is the mere shadow of what is to be; the substance belongs to Christ. ¹⁸ Let no one lay down rules for you as he pleases, with regard to fasting and the cult of angels, presuming on his visions and inflated by his sensuous notions, ¹⁹ instead of keeping in touch with that Head under whom the entire Body, supplied with joints and sinews and thus compacted, grows with growth divine. ²⁰ As you died with Christ to the Elemental spirits of the world, why live as if you still belonged to the world? Why submit to rules and regulations like ²¹ "Hands off this!" "Taste not that!" "Touch not this!" — ²² referring to things that perish by being used? These rules are determined by human precepts and tenets; ²³ they get the name of 'wisdom' with their self-imposed devotions, with their fasting, with their rigorous discipline of the body, but they are of no value, they simply pamper the flesh! ³ ¹ Since then you have been raised with Christ, aim at what is above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God; ² mind what is above, not what is on earth, ³ for you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you will appear with him in glory. ⁵ So put to death those members that are on earth: sexual vice, impurity, appetite, evil desire, and lust (which is idolatry), ⁶ things that bring down the anger of God on the sons of disobedience. ⁷ Once you moved among them, when you lived in them; ⁸ but off with them all now, off with anger, rage, malice, slander, foul talk! ⁹ Tell no lies to one another; you have stripped off the old nature with its practices, ¹⁰ and put on the new nature which is renewed in the likeness of its Creator for the knowledge of him. ¹¹ In it there is no room for Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free man; Christ is everything and everywhere. ¹² As God's own chosen, then, as consecrated and beloved, be clothed with compassion, kindliness, humility, gentleness, and good temper — ¹³ forbear and forgive each other in any case of complaint; as Christ forgave you, so must you forgive. ¹⁴ And above all you must be loving, for love is the link of the perfect life. ¹⁵ Also, let the peace of Christ be supreme within your hearts — that is why you have been called as members of the one Body. And you must be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the inspiration of Christ dwell in your midst with all its wealth of wisdom; teach and train one another with the music of psalms, with hymns, and songs of the spiritual life; praise God with thankful hearts. ¹⁷ Indeed, whatever you say or do, let everything be done in dependence on the Lord Jesus, giving thanks in his name to God the Father. ¹⁸ Wives, be subject to your husbands; that is your proper duty in the Lord. ¹⁹ Husbands, love your wives, do not be harsh to them. ²⁰ Children, obey your parents at every point, for this pleases the Lord right well. ²¹ Fathers, avoid irritating your children, in case they get dispirited. ²² Servants, obey your masters here below at every point; do not work simply when their eye is on you, like those who court human favour, but serve them with a single heart out of reverence for your Lord and Master. ²³ Whatever be your task, work at it heartily, as servants of the Lord and not of men; ²⁴ remember, you will receive from the Lord the inheritance which is your due; serve Christ your Lord and Master, ²⁵ for the wrongdoer will be paid back for his wrongdoing — there will be no favour shown. ⁴ ¹ Masters, treat your servants justly and fairly; remember you have a Master of your own in heaven. ² Attend to your prayers, maintain your zest for prayer by thanksgiving; ³ and pray for me as well, that God may give me an opening for the word, to speak of the open secret of Christ for which I am in custody. ⁴ Pray that I may unfold it as I should. ⁵ Let Christian wisdom rule your behaviour to the outside world; make the very most of your time; ⁶ let your talk always have a saving salt of grace about it, and learn how to answer any question put to you. ⁷ Tychicus, that beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow-servant in the Lord, will give you all information about me. ⁸ The reason why I am sending him to you is that he may ascertain how you are, and encourage your hearts. ⁹ He is accompanied by that faithful and beloved brother Onesimus, who is one of yourselves. They will inform you of all that goes on here. ¹⁰ Aristarchus my fellow-prisoner salutes you; so does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, about whom you have got instructions (if he comes to you, give him a welcome); ¹¹ and so does Jesus who is called Justus. These are the only comrades in the work of God's realm, belonging to the circumcised, who have been any comfort to me. ¹² Epaphras, who is one of yourselves, salutes you — a servant of Christ Jesus who is always earnest in prayer for you, that you may stand firm like mature and convinced Christians, whatever be the will of God for you. ¹³ I can testify to his exertions on your behalf and on behalf of those at Laodicea and Hierapolis. ¹⁴ Our beloved Luke, the doctor, salutes you; so does Demas. ¹⁵ Salute the brothers at Laodicea, also Nympha and the church which meets at her house. ¹⁶ And when this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans; also, see that you read the letter that reaches you from Laodicea. ¹⁷ And tell Archippus, 'Attend to the ministry you have received in the Lord; see that you fulfil it.' ¹⁸ This salutation is in my own hand, from Paul. 'Remember I am in prison. Grace be with you.'

1 Thessalonians

¹ ¹ Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus, to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: grace and peace to you. ² We always thank God for you all when we mention you constantly in our prayers, ³ as we recall your active faith and labour of love and patient hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father. ⁴ O brothers beloved by God, we know he has chosen you; ⁵ for our gospel came to you not with mere words but also with power and with the holy Spirit, with ample conviction on our part (you know what we were to you, for your own good), ⁶ and you started to copy us and the Lord, welcoming the word, though it brought you heavy trouble, with a joy inspired by the holy Spirit. ⁷ Thus you became a pattern to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia; ⁸ for the word of the Lord has resounded from you not only through Macedonia and Achaia — no, your faith in God has reached every place. We never need to speak about it. ⁹ People tell us of their own accord about the visit we paid to you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and a real God ¹⁰ and to wait for the coming of his Son from heaven — the Son whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who rescues us from the Wrath to come. ² ¹ But you remember yourselves, brothers, that our visit to you was no failure. ² At Philippi, as you know, we had been ill-treated and insulted, but we took courage and confidence in our God to tell you the gospel of God in spite of all the strain. ³ For the appeal we make does not spring from any delusion or from impure motives — it does not work by cunning; ⁴ no, God has attested our fitness to be entrusted with the gospel, and so we tell the gospel not to satisfy men but to satisfy the God who tests our hearts. ⁵ We never resorted to flattery (you know that), nor to any pretext for self-seeking (God is witness to that); ⁶ we never sought honour from men, from you or from anybody else, though as apostles of Christ we had the power of claiming to be men of weight; ⁷ no, we behaved gently when we were among you, like a nursing mother cherishing her own children, ⁸ fain, in our yearning affection for you, to impart not only the gospel of God to you but our very souls as well — you had so won our love. ⁹ Brothers, you recollect our hard labour and toil, how we worked at our trade night and day, when we preached the gospel to you, so as not to be a burden to any of you. ¹⁰ You are witnesses, and so is God, to our behaviour among you believers, how pious and upright and blameless it was, ¹¹ how (as you know) we treated each of you as a father treats his children, beseeching you, encouraging you, and charging you ¹² to lead a life worthy of the God who called you to his own realm and glory. ¹³ We thank God constantly for this too, that when you received the word of the divine message from us, you took it not as a human word but for what it really is, the word of God. It proves effective in you believers, ¹⁴ for you have started, my brothers, to copy the churches of God in Christ Jesus throughout Judaea; you have suffered from your compatriots just as they have suffered from the Jews, ¹⁵ who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, who harassed ourselves, who offend God and oppose all men ¹⁶ by hindering us from speaking words of salvation to the Gentiles. So they would fill up the measure of their sins to the last drop! But the Wrath is on them to the bitter end! ¹⁷ Brothers, when we were bereft of you for a little while (out of sight, not out of mind), we were the more eager to see you. We had a keen longing for you. ¹⁸ (We did want to reach you — I did, I Paul, more than once — but Satan stopped us.) ¹⁹ For who is our hope, our joy, our crown of pride (who but you?) in the presence of our Lord Jesus on his arrival? ²⁰ Why, you, you are our glory and joy! ³ ¹ So, unable to bear it any longer, I made up my mind to be left behind at Athens all alone; ² I sent Timotheus our brother, a minister of God in the gospel of Christ, for your strengthening and encouragement in the faith, ³ to prevent anyone being disturbed by these troubles. (Troubles are our lot, you know that well; ⁴ for we told you beforehand, when we were with you, that "we Christians are to have trouble" — and, as you know, it has been so.) ⁵ Well then, unable to bear it any longer, I sent to find out about your faith, in case the Tempter had tempted you and our labour had been thrown away. ⁶ But when Timotheus reached me a moment ago, on his return from you, bringing me the good news of your faith and love and of how you always remember me kindly, longing to see me as I long to see you, ⁷ then, amid all my own distress and trouble, I was cheered — this faith of yours encouraged me. ⁸ It is life to me now, if you stand firm in the Lord. ⁹ How can I render thanks enough to God for you, for all the joy you make me feel in the presence of our God? ¹⁰ Night and day I pray specially that I may see your faces and supply what is defective in your faith. ¹¹ May our God and Father and our Lord Jesus direct my way to you! ¹² And may the Lord make you increase and excel in love to one another and to all men (as is my love for you), ¹³ so as to strengthen your hearts and make them blameless in holiness before our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones. [Amen.] ⁴ ¹ Finally, brothers, we beg and beseech you in the Lord Jesus to follow our instructions about the way you are to live so as to satisfy God; you are leading that life, but you are to excel in it still further. ² You remember the instructions we gave you on the authority of the Lord Jesus. ³ It is God's will that you should be consecrated, that you abstain from sexual vice, ⁴ that each of you should learn to take a wife for himself chastely and honourably, ⁵ not to gratify sensual passion like the Gentiles in their ignorance of God — ⁶ no one is to defraud or overreach his brother in this matter, for the Lord avenges all these sins, as we told you already in our solemn protest against them. ⁷ God did not call us to be impure but to be consecrated; ⁸ hence, he who disregards this, disregards not man but the God who gave you his holy Spirit. ⁹ You need no one to write you upon brotherly love, for you are yourselves taught by God to love one another, ¹⁰ as indeed is your practice towards all the brothers throughout all Macedonia. We beseech you, brothers, to excel in this more and more; ¹¹ also, endeavour to live quietly, attend to your own business, and — as we charged you — work with your hands, ¹² so that your life may be correct in the eyes of the outside world and self-supporting. ¹³ We would like you, brothers, to understand about those who are asleep in death. You must not grieve for them, like the rest of men who have no hope. ¹⁴ Since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, then it follows that by means of Jesus God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁵ For we tell you, as the Lord has told us, that we the living, who survive till the Lord comes, are by no means to take precedence of those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a loud summons, when the archangel calls and the trumpet of God sounds; the dead in Christ will rise first; ¹⁷ then we the living, who survive, will be caught up along with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall be with the Lord for ever. ¹⁸ Now then, encourage one another with these words. ⁵ ¹ As regards the course and periods of time, brothers, you have no need of being written to. ² You know perfectly well that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night; ³ when 'all's well' and 'all is safe' are on the lips of men, then all of a sudden Destruction is upon them, like pangs on a pregnant woman — escape there is none. ⁴ But, brothers, you are not in the darkness for the Day to surprise you like thieves; ⁵ you are all sons of the Light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or the darkness. ⁶ Well then, we must not sleep like the rest of men, but be wakeful and sober; ⁷ for sleepers sleep by night and drunkards are drunk by night, ⁸ but we must be sober, we who belong to the day, clad in faith and love as our coat of mail, with the hope of salvation as our helmet — ⁹ for God destined us not for Wrath but to gain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁰ who died for us that waking in life or sleeping in death we should live together with him. ¹¹ Encourage one another, therefore, and let each edify the other — as indeed you are doing. ¹² Brothers, we beg you to respect those who are working among you, presiding over you in the Lord and maintaining discipline; ¹³ hold them in special esteem and affection, for the sake of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. ¹⁴ We beseech you, brothers, keep a check upon loafers, encourage the faint-hearted, sustain weak souls, never lose your temper with anyone; ¹⁵ see that none of you pays back evil for evil, but always aim at what is kind to one another and to all the world; ¹⁶ rejoice at all times, ¹⁷ never give up prayer, ¹⁸ thank God for everything — such is his will for you in Christ Jesus; ¹⁹ never quench the fire of the Spirit, ²⁰ never disdain prophetic revelations ²¹ but test them all, retaining what is good ²² and abstaining from whatever kind is evil. ²³ May the God of peace consecrate you through and through! Spirit, soul, and body, may you be kept without break or blame till the arrival of our Lord Jesus Christ! ²⁴ He who calls you is faithful, he will do this. ²⁵ Pray for us too, brothers. ²⁶ Salute everyone of the brothers with a holy kiss. ²⁷ I adjure you by the Lord to have this letter read aloud to all the [holy] brothers. ²⁸ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. [Amen.]

2 Thessalonians

¹ ¹ PAUL and Silvanus and Timotheus, to the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: ² grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ³ We are bound always to thank God for you, brothers — it is proper that we should, because your faith grows apace and your mutual love, one and all, is increasing. ⁴ So much so, that throughout the churches of God we are proud of you, proud of the stedfastness and faith you display through all the persecutions and the troubles in which you are involved. ⁵ They are proof positive of God's equity; you are suffering for the realm of God, and he means to make you worthy of it — ⁶ since God considers it but just to repay with trouble those who trouble you, ⁷ and repay you who are troubled (as well as us) with rest and relief, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven together with the angels of his power ⁸ in flaming fire, to inflict punishment on those who ignore God, even on those who refuse obedience to the gospel of our Lord Jesus, ⁹ men who will pay the penalty of being destroyed eternally from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, ¹⁰ when he comes to be glorified in his saints and marvelled at in all believers on that day (for our testimony has found confirmation in your lives). ¹¹ In view of this we always pray for you, asking our God to make you worthy of his calling and by his power to fulfil every good resolve and every effort of faith, ¹² so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you (and you glorified in him), by the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. ² ¹ With regard to the arrival of the Lord Jesus Christ and our muster before him, I beg you, brothers, ² not to let your minds get easily unsettled or excited by any spirit of prophecy or any declaration or any letter purporting to come from me, to the effect that the Day of the Lord is already here. ³ Let nobody delude you into this belief, whatever he may say. It will not come till the Rebellion takes place first of all, with the revealing of the Lawless One, the doomed One, ⁴ the adversary who vaunts himself above and against every so-called god or object of worship, actually seating himself in the temple of God with the proclamation that he himself is God. ⁵ Do you not remember I used to tell you this when I was with you? ⁶ Well, you can recall now what it is that restrains him from being revealed before his appointed time. ⁷ For the secret force of lawlessness is at work already; only, it cannot be revealed till he who at present restrains it is removed. ⁸ Then shall the Lawless One be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will destroy with the breath of his lips and quell by his appearing and arrival — ⁹ that One whose arrival is due to Satan's activity, with the full power, the miracles and portents, of falsehood, ¹⁰ and with the full deceitfulness of evil for those who are doomed to perish, since they refuse to love the Truth that would save them. ¹¹ Therefore God visits them with an active delusion, till they put faith in falsehood, ¹² so that all may be doomed who refuse faith in the Truth but delight in evil. ¹³ Now we are bound always to thank God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you as the first to be reaped for salvation, by the consecration of your spirit and by faith in the Truth; ¹⁴ it was for this that he called you by our gospel, to gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁵ Well then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the rules which you have learned from us orally or by letter. ¹⁶ And may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father who has loved us and given us eternal encouragement and good hope, ¹⁷ graciously encourage your hearts and strengthen them for all good in deed and word. ³ ¹ Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed on and triumph, as in your own case, ² and that we may be delivered from perverse and evil men — for the faith is not held by all. ³ However, the Lord is faithful; he will be sure to strengthen you and protect you from the Evil one. ⁴ Now, we rely on you in the Lord, confident that you do and will do what we enjoin. ⁵ May the Lord direct your hearts towards God's love and towards Christ's patience! ⁶ Brothers, we charge you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to shun any brother who is loafing, instead of following the rule you got from us. ⁷ For you know quite well how to copy us; we did not loaf in your midst, ⁸ we did not take free meals from anyone; no, toiling hard at our trade, we worked night and day, so as not to be a burden to any of you. ⁹ Not that we have no right to such support; it was simply to give you a pattern to copy. ¹⁰ We used to charge you even when we were with you, 'If a man will not work, he shall not eat.' ¹¹ But we are informed that some of your number are loafing, busybodies instead of busy. ¹² Now in the Lord Jesus Christ we charge and exhort such persons to keep quiet, to do their work and earn their own living. ¹³ As for yourselves, brothers, never grow tired of doing what is right. ¹⁴ Only, if anyone will not obey our orders in this letter, mark that man, do not associate with him — that will make him feel ashamed! ¹⁵ You are not to treat him as an enemy, but to put him under discipline, as a brother. ¹⁶ May the Lord of peace himself grant you peace continually, whatever comes. The Lord be with you all. ¹⁷ The salutation is in my own hand, Paul's; that is a mark in every letter of mine. This is how I write. ¹⁸ 'The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.'

1 Timothy

¹ ¹ Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Saviour and Christ Jesus our Hope, ² to Timotheus his lawful son in the faith: grace, mercy, peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. ³ As I asked you when I was on my way to Macedonia, stay where you are at Ephesus and warn certain individuals against teaching novelties ⁴ and studying myths and interminable genealogies; such studies bear upon speculations rather than on the divine order which belongs to faith. ⁵ Whereas the aim of the Christian discipline is the love that springs from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from a sincere faith. ⁶ Certain individuals have failed here by turning to empty argument; ⁷ doctors of the Law is what they want to be, but they have no idea either of the meaning of the words they use or of the themes on which they harp. ⁸ I am quite aware that 'the Law is admirable' — provided that one makes a lawful use of it; ⁹ he must keep in mind that no law is ever made for honest people but for the lawless and the insubordinate, for the impious and the sinful, for the irreverent and the profane, for parricides and matricides, murderers, ¹⁰ immoral persons, sodomites, kidnappers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine ¹¹ as laid down by that glorious gospel of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted. ¹² I render thanks to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has made me able for this; he considered me trustworthy and appointed me to the ministry, ¹³ though I had formerly been a blasphemer and a persecutor and a wanton aggressor. I obtained mercy because in my unbelief I had acted out of ignorance; ¹⁴ and the grace of our Lord flooded my life along with the faith and love that Christ Jesus inspires. ¹⁵ It is a sure word, it deserves all praise, that "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners"; and though I am the foremost of sinners, ¹⁶ I obtained mercy, for the purpose of furnishing Christ Jesus with the chief illustration of his utter patience; I was to be the typical instance of all who were to believe in him and gain eternal life. ¹⁷ To the King of eternity, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever: Amen. ¹⁸ I transmit these instructions to you, Timotheus my son, in accordance with what the prophets said who first directed me to you; fight the good fight on these lines, ¹⁹ keeping hold of faith and a good conscience. Certain individuals have scouted the good conscience and thus come to grief over their faith — ²⁰ including Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have made over to Satan. That will teach them to stop their blasphemous ongoings! ² ¹ Well, my very first counsel is that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgiving, are to be offered for all men — ² for kings and all in authority, that we may lead a tranquil life in all piety and gravity; ³ it is good to pray thus, it is acceptable to our Saviour, ⁴ to the God who desires all men to be saved and to attain the knowledge of the Truth. ⁵ For "there is one God" and "one intermediary between God and men, ⁶ the man Christ Jesus who gave himself as a ransom for all": — in due time this was attested, ⁷ and I was appointed to be its herald and apostle (I am not telling a lie, it is quite true), to teach the Gentiles faith and truth. ⁸ Now I want the men to offer prayer at any meeting of the church; and let the hands they lift to heaven be holy — they must be free from anger and dissension. ⁹ Women in turn are to dress modestly and quietly in seemly garb; they are not to adorn themselves with plaits of hair, with gold or pearls or expensive finery, ¹⁰ but with good deeds (as befits women who make a religious profession). ¹¹ A woman must listen quietly in church and be perfectly submissive; ¹² I allow no woman to teach or dictate to men, she must keep quiet. ¹³ For Adam was created first, then Eve; ¹⁴ and Adam was not deceived, it was Eve who was deceived and who fell into sin. ¹⁵ However, women will get safely through childbirth if they continue to be faithful and loving and holy as well as unassuming. ³ ¹ It is a popular saying that "whoever aspires to office is set upon an excellent occupation." ² Well, for the office of a bishop a man must be above reproach; he must be only married once, he must be temperate, master of himself, unruffled, hospitable, a skilled teacher, ³ not a drunkard or violent, but lenient and conciliatory, not a lover of money, ⁴ able to manage his own household properly and keep his children submissive and perfectly respectful ⁵ (if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how is he to look after the church of God?); ⁶ he must not be a new convert, in case he gets conceited and incurs the doom passed on the devil; ⁷ also, he must have a good reputation among outsiders, in case he incurs slander and is trapped by the devil. ⁸ Deacons in turn are to be serious men; they are not to be tale-bearers or addicted to drink or pilfering; ⁹ they must maintain the divine truth of the faith with a pure conscience. ¹⁰ They too must be put on probation; after that, if they are above reproach, they can serve as deacons. ¹¹ Their wives must be serious too; they must not be slanderers but temperate and absolutely trustworthy. ¹² Deacons are only to be married once, and they must manage their children and households properly. ¹³ For those who do good service as deacons win a good position for themselves as well as great freedom in the faith of Christ Jesus. ¹⁴ Though I hope to come to you before long, I am writing to you in this way, ¹⁵ in case I am detained, to let you see how people ought to behave within the household of God; it is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the Truth. ¹⁶ And who does not admit how profound is the divine truth of our religion? — it is He who was "manifest in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by the angels, preached among the nations, believed on throughout the world, taken up to glory." ⁴ ¹ But in later days, the Spirit distinctly declares, certain people will rebel against the faith; they will listen to spirits of error and to the doctrines that daemons teach ² through plausible sophists who are seared in conscience — ³ men who prohibit marriage and insist on abstinence from foods which God created for believing men, who understand the Truth, to partake of with thanksgiving. ⁴ Anything God has created is good, and nothing is to be tabooed — provided it is eaten with thanksgiving, ⁵ for then it is consecrated by the prayer said over it. ⁶ Lay this before the brotherhood, and you will be an excellent minister of Christ Jesus, brought up on the truths of the faith and on the lessons of the good doctrine you have already followed. ⁷ Shut your mind against these profane, drivelling myths; train for the religious life. ⁸ The training of the body is of small service, but religion is of service in all directions; it contains the promise of life both for the present and for the future. ⁹ It is a sure word, it deserves all praise, ¹⁰ that "we toil and strive because our hope is fixed upon the living God, the Saviour of all men" — of believers in particular. ¹¹ Give these orders and teach these lessons. ¹² Let no one slight you because you are a youth, but set the believers an example of speech, behaviour, love, faith, and purity. ¹³ Attend to your Scripture-reading, your preaching, and your teaching, till I come. ¹⁴ You have a gift that came to you transmitted by the prophets, when the presbytery laid their hands upon you; do not neglect that gift. ¹⁵ Attend to these duties, let them absorb you, so that all men may note your progress. ¹⁶ Watch yourself and watch your teaching; stick to your work; if you do that, you will save your hearers as well as yourself. ⁵ ¹ Never censure an older man harshly; appeal to him as a father. Treat younger men like brothers, ² older women like mothers, younger women like sisters — with perfect propriety. ³ Widows who really need it must be supported from the funds. ⁴ (When a widow has children or grandchildren, they must learn that the first duty of religion is to their own household, and that they should make some return to those who have brought them up. In God's sight this is an acceptable thing.) ⁵ The really forlorn widow has her hope fixed on God, night and day she is at her prayers and supplications; ⁶ whereas the widow who plunges into dissipation is dead before ever she dies. ⁷ So lay down the following rules, to prevent any reproach being incurred. ⁸ Whoever does not provide for his own relatives and particularly for his own family, has repudiated the faith: he is worse than an infidel. ⁹ No one under sixty is to be put on the church's list of widows; and she must have been only once married, ¹⁰ she must have a reputation for good service, as a woman who has brought up children, shown hospitality, washed the feet of the saints, relieved distress, and interested herself in all good works. ¹¹ Refuse to put young widows on the list, for when their wanton desires alienate them from Christ, they want to marry ¹² and thus are guilty of breaking their first troth to Him. ¹³ Besides, they become idle unconsciously by gadding about from one house to another — and not merely idle but gossips and busybodies, repeating things they have no right to mention. ¹⁴ So I prefer young widows to marry again, to bear children, to look after their households, and not to afford our opponents any chance of reviling us. ¹⁵ As it is, some widows have already turned after Satan. — ¹⁶ Any believer, man or woman, who has widowed relatives, must give them relief; the church is not to be burdened with them; she has to relieve the widows who really need relief. ¹⁷ Presbyters who are efficient presidents are to be considered worthy of ample remuneration, particularly those who have the task of preaching and teaching: ¹⁸ Scripture says, You must not muzzle an ox when he is treading the grain, and A workman deserves his wages. ¹⁹ Never let any charge be brought against a presbyter, unless it is certified by two or three witnesses. ²⁰ Those who are guilty of sin you must expose in public, to overawe the others. ²¹ In the presence of God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels, I adjure you to be unprejudiced in carrying out these orders; be absolutely impartial. ²² Never be in a hurry to ordain a presbyter; do not make yourself responsible for the sins of another man — keep your own life pure. ²³ [Give up being a total abstainer; take a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent attacks of illness.] ²⁴ Some people's sins are notorious and call for judgment, but in some cases sin only comes out afterwards. ²⁵ Good works are equally conspicuous; and even when they are not, they cannot escape notice for ever. ⁶ ¹ Let all servants who are under the yoke of slavery remember that their masters are entitled to perfect respect — otherwise it will be a scandal to the Name of God and to our doctrine. ² Those who have Christian believers as their masters must not take liberties with them because they are brothers; they must be all the better servants because those who get the good of their service are believers and beloved. This is what you are to teach and preach. ³ Anyone who teaches novelties and refuses to fall in with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the doctrine that tallies with piety, ⁴ is a conceited, ignorant creature, with a morbid passion for controversy and argument which only leads to envy, dissension, insults, insinuations, ⁵ and constant friction between people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the Truth. They imagine religion is a paying concern. ⁶ And so it is — provided it goes with a contented spirit; ⁷ for we bring nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. ⁸ If we have food and clothes, we must be content with that. ⁹ Those who are eager to be rich get tempted and trapped in many senseless and pernicious propensities that drag men down to ruin and destruction. ¹⁰ For love of money is the root of all mischief; it is by aspiring to be rich that certain individuals have gone astray from the faith and found themselves pierced with many a pang of remorse. ¹¹ Shun that, O man of God, aim at integrity, piety, faith, love, stedfastness, and suavity; ¹² fight in the good fight of the faith, secure that life eternal to which you were called when you voiced the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. ¹³ In the presence of God who is the Life of all, and of Christ Jesus who testified to the good confession before Pontius Pilate, I charge you ¹⁴ to keep your commission free from stain, free from reproach, till the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ — ¹⁵ which will be brought about in due time by that blessed and only Sovereign, King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶ who alone has immortality, who dwells in light that none can approach, whom no man has ever seen or can see. To him be honour and eternal dominion: Amen. ¹⁷ Charge the rich of this world not to be supercilious, and not to fix their hopes on so uncertain a thing as riches but on the living God who richly provides us with all the enjoyments of life; ¹⁸ tell them to be bountiful, rich in good works, open-handed and generous, ¹⁹ amassing right good treasure for themselves in the world to come, in order to secure the life which is life indeed. ²⁰ O Timotheus, keep the securities of the faith intact: avoid the profane jargon and contradictions of what is falsely called 'Knowledge.' ²¹ Certain individuals have failed in the faith by professing that. Grace be with you. [Amen.]