"See to it," He replied, "that you are not misled; for many will come assuming my name and professing, 'I am He,' or saying, 'The time is close at hand.' Do not go and follow them.

Be carefully on your guard lest there be any one who falls back from the grace of God; lest any root bearing bitter fruit spring up and cause trouble among you, and through it the whole brotherhood be defiled;

I am coming quickly: cling to that which you already possess, so that your wreath of victory be not taken away from you.

That we lose

Have you endured such sufferings to no purpose--if indeed it has been to no purpose?

I am alarmed about you, and am afraid that I have perhaps bestowed labour upon you to no purpose.

so that you may always prove yourselves to be blameless and spotless--irreproachable children of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as heavenly lights in the world,

But whatever be the point that we have already reached, let us persevere in the same course.

But continually recall to mind the days now past, when on being first enlightened you went through a great conflict and many sufferings.

I am coming quickly: cling to that which you already possess, so that your wreath of victory be not taken away from you.

That we receive

The reaper gets pay and gathers in a crop in preparation for the Life of the Ages, that so the sower and the reapers may rejoice together.

Now in aim and purpose the planter and the waterer are one; and yet each will receive his own special reward, answering to his own special work.

And last of all, as to one of untimely birth, He appeared to me also.

General references

saying, 'This man began to build, but could not finish.'