Brothers, at all times we are obligated to thank God for you. It is right to do this because your faith is growing all the time and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing.

This is evidence of God's righteous judgment and is intended to make you worthy of God's kingdom, for which you are suffering.

With this in mind, we always pray for you, asking that our God might make you worthy of his calling and that through his power he might help you accomplish every good desire and faithful action.

For the secret of this lawlessness is already at work, but only until the person now holding it back gets out of the way.

For this reason, God will send them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie.

With this purpose in mind, he called you through our proclamation of the gospel so that you would obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah.

While we were with you, we gave this order: "If anyone doesn't want to work, he shouldn't eat."

If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of him. Have nothing to do with him so that he will feel ashamed.

I, Paul, am writing this greeting with my own hand. This is the mark in every letter of mine. It is the way I write.