far above all hierarchies, authorities, powers, and dominions, and all titles that can be bestowed not only in this world but in the world to come.

For it is by his mercy that you have been saved through faith. It is not by your own action, it is the gift of God.

It has not been earned, so that no one can boast of it.

(which in past ages was not disclosed to mankind as fully as it has now been revealed through the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets)

So I ask that what I am having to suffer for your sake may not make me lose heart, for it does you honor.

We must not be babies any longer, blown about and swung around by every wind of doctrine through the trickery of men with their ingenuity in inventing error.

That is not the way you have been taught what Christ means,

Be angry, but do not sin. The sun must not go down upon your anger;

you must not give the devil a chance.

The man who stole must not steal any more; he must work with his hands at honest toil instead, so as to have something to share with those who are in need.

You must not offend God's holy Spirit, with which you have been marked for the Day of Redemption.

But immorality or any form of vice or greed must not be so much as mentioned among you; that would not be becoming in God's people.

Be very careful, then, about the way you live. Do not act thoughtlessly, but like sensible men,

So do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.

Do not get drunk on wine, for that is profligacy, but be filled with the Spirit,

You fathers, too, must not irritate your children, but you must bring them up with Christian training and instruction.

not with mere external service, as though you had only men to please, but like slaves of Christ, carrying out the will of God.

Do your duties heartily and willingly, as though it were for the Lord, not for men,

For we have to struggle, not with enemies of flesh and blood, but with the hierarchies, the authorities, the master-spirits of this dark world, the spirit-forces of evil on high.