But if you do not experience discipline, something all sons have shared in, then you are illegitimate and are not sons.

Besides, we have experienced discipline from our earthly fathers and we respected them; shall we not submit ourselves all the more to the Father of spirits and receive life?

Now all discipline seems painful at the time, not joyful. But later it produces the fruit of peace and righteousness for those trained by it.

and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but be healed.

For you have not come to something that can be touched, to a burning fire and darkness and gloom and a whirlwind

For they could not bear what was commanded: "If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned."

Take care not to refuse the one who is speaking! For if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less shall we, if we reject the one who warns from heaven?

Then his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "I will once more shake not only the earth but heaven too."

Do not neglect hospitality, because through it some have entertained angels without knowing it.

So we can say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper, and I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?"

Do not be carried away by all sorts of strange teachings. For it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not ritual meals, which have never benefited those who participated in them.

And do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for God is pleased with such sacrifices.

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls and will give an account for their work. Let them do this with joy and not with complaints, for this would be no advantage for you.

And let endurance have its perfect effect, so that you will be perfect and complete, not deficient in anything.

For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord,

Do not be led astray, my dear brothers and sisters.

For human anger does not accomplish God's righteousness.

But be sure you live out the message and do not merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves.

For if someone merely listens to the message and does not live it out, he is like someone who gazes at his own face in a mirror.

But the one who peers into the perfect law of liberty and fixes his attention there, and does not become a forgetful listener but one who lives it out -- he will be blessed in what he does.

If someone thinks he is religious yet does not bridle his tongue, and so deceives his heart, his religion is futile.

My brothers and sisters, do not show prejudice if you possess faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.

If so, have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil motives?

Listen, my dear brothers and sisters! Did not God choose the poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him?

But you have dishonored the poor! Are not the rich oppressing you and dragging you into the courts?

Do they not blaspheme the good name of the one you belong to?

For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." Now if you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a violator of the law.

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can this kind of faith save him?

and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, keep warm and eat well," but you do not give them what the body needs, what good is it?

So also faith, if it does not have works, is dead being by itself.

Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?

You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

And similarly, was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by another way?

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, because you know that we will be judged more strictly.

For we all stumble in many ways. If someone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect individual, able to control the entire body as well.

From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. These things should not be so, my brothers and sisters.

A spring does not pour out fresh water and bitter water from the same opening, does it?

But if you have bitter jealousy and selfishness in your hearts, do not boast and tell lies against the truth.

Such wisdom does not come from above but is earthly, natural, demonic.

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and not hypocritical.

Where do the conflicts and where do the quarrels among you come from? Is it not from this, from your passions that battle inside you?

You desire and you do not have; you murder and envy and you cannot obtain; you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask;

you ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, so you can spend it on your passions.

Adulterers, do you not know that friendship with the world means hostility toward God? So whoever decides to be the world's friend makes himself God's enemy.

Do not speak against one another, brothers and sisters. He who speaks against a fellow believer or judges a fellow believer speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but its judge.

You do not know about tomorrow. What is your life like? For you are a puff of smoke that appears for a short time and then vanishes.

So whoever knows what is good to do and does not do it is guilty of sin.

You have condemned and murdered the righteous person, although he does not resist you.

Do not grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be judged. See, the judge stands before the gates!

And above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath. But let your "Yes" be yes and your "No" be no, so that you may not fall into judgment.

Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain and there was no rain on the land for three years and six months!

You have not seen him, but you love him. You do not see him now but you believe in him, and so you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy,

They were shown that they were serving not themselves but you, in regard to the things now announced to you through those who proclaimed the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven -- things angels long to catch a glimpse of.

Like obedient children, do not comply with the evil urges you used to follow in your ignorance,

You know that from your empty way of life inherited from your ancestors you were ransomed -- not by perishable things like silver or gold,

You have been born anew, not from perishable but from imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.

So you who believe see his value, but for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,

You once were not a people, but now you are God's people. You were shown no mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Live as free people, not using your freedom as a pretext for evil, but as God's slaves.

Slaves, be subject to your masters with all reverence, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are perverse.

When he was maligned, he did not answer back; when he suffered, he threatened no retaliation, but committed himself to God who judges justly.

Let your beauty not be external -- the braiding of hair and wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes --

Do not return evil for evil or insult for insult, but instead bless others because you were called to inherit a blessing.

But in fact, if you happen to suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. But do not be terrified of them or be shaken.

And this prefigured baptism, which now saves you -- not the washing off of physical dirt but the pledge of a good conscience to God -- through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

in that he spends the rest of his time on earth concerned about the will of God and not human desires.

So they are astonished when you do not rush with them into the same flood of wickedness, and they vilify you.

Dear friends, do not be astonished that a trial by fire is occurring among you, as though something strange were happening to you.

But if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but glorify God that you bear such a name.

Give a shepherd's care to God's flock among you, exercising oversight not merely as a duty but willingly under God's direction, not for shameful profit but eagerly.

And do not lord it over those entrusted to you, but be examples to the flock.

For we did not follow cleverly concocted fables when we made known to you the power and return of our Lord Jesus Christ; no, we were eyewitnesses of his grandeur.

And in their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. Their condemnation pronounced long ago is not sitting idly by; their destruction is not asleep.

For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but threw them into hell and locked them up in chains in utter darkness, to be kept until the judgment,

and if he did not spare the ancient world, but did protect Noah, a herald of righteousness, along with seven others, when God brought a flood on an ungodly world,

especially those who indulge their fleshly desires and who despise authority. Brazen and insolent, they are not afraid to insult the glorious ones,

yet even angels, who are much more powerful, do not bring a slanderous judgment against them before the Lord.

But these men, like irrational animals -- creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed -- do not understand whom they are insulting, and consequently in their destruction they will be destroyed,

Now, dear friends, do not let this one thing escape your notice, that a single day is like a thousand years with the Lord and a thousand years are like a single day.

The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you, because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard that you do not get led astray by the error of these unprincipled men and fall from your firm grasp on the truth.

If we say we have fellowship with him and yet keep on walking in the darkness, we are lying and not practicing the truth.

If we say we do not bear the guilt of sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.

If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.

(My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.) But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous One,

and he himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for our sins but also for the whole world.

The one who says "I have come to know God" and yet does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in such a person.

Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have already heard.

But the one who hates his fellow Christian is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him,

because all that is in the world (the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance produced by material possessions) is not from the Father, but is from the world.

They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us, because if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But they went out from us to demonstrate that all of them do not belong to us.

I have not written to you that you do not know the truth, but that you do know it, and that no lie is of the truth.

Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either. The person who confesses the Son has the Father also.

Now as for you, the anointing that you received from him resides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things, it is true and is not a lie. Just as it has taught you, you reside in him.

And now, little children, remain in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink away from him in shame when he comes back.

(See what sort of love the Father has given to us: that we should be called God's children -- and indeed we are! For this reason the world does not know us: because it did not know him.

Dear friends, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that whenever it is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is.

Everyone who resides in him does not sin; everyone who sins has neither seen him nor known him.

Everyone who has been fathered by God does not practice sin, because God's seed resides in him, and thus he is not able to sin, because he has been fathered by God.