It is not your gift that I want, but I do want the profits to pile up to your credit.

My God will amply supply your every need, through Christ Jesus, from His riches in glory.

that their hearts may be encouraged, by having been knit together in love and by having atoned to the full assurance of understanding, so that they may finally reach the fullest knowledge of the open secret, Christ Himself,

For though I am far away in person, still I am with you in spirit, and I am glad to note your fine order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.

And through your union with Him you once received, not a hand-performed circumcision but one performed by Christ, in stripping you of your lower nature,

canceled the note that stood against us, with its requirements, and has put it out of our way by nailing it to the cross.

Such a person is not continuing in connection with the Head, from which the whole body, when supplied and united through its joints and sinews, grows with a growth that God produces.

"You must not handle," "You must not taste," "You must not touch,"

Practice occupying your minds with the things above, not with the things on earth;

Slaves, practice obedience to your earthly masters in everything, not as though they were watching you and as though you were merely pleasing men, but with sincerity of heart, because you fear the Lord.

Whatever you do, do it with all your heart, as work for the Lord and not for men,

for our preaching of the good news came to you not entirely in words but with power and with the Holy Spirit and with absolute certainty (for you know the kind of men we were among you for your own sakes).

(1:7) For the message of the Lord has rung out from you, not only in Macedonia and Greece, but everywhere the report of your faith in God has been told, so that we need never mention it.

For our appeal did not originate from a delusion or an impure motive; it was not made in fraud;

for since we have been so approved by God as to be entrusted with the good news, we are now telling it, not to please men but God, who proves and finds approved our hearts.

Because we were yearning for you so tenderly, we were willing, not only to share with you God's good news, but to lay down our very lives too for you, all because you were so dearly loved by us.

You remember, brothers, our hard labor and toil. We kept up our habit of working night and day, in order not to be a burden to any of you when we preached to you.

For another reason too, we, as far as we are concerned, are constantly giving thanks to God; that is, when you received the message you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the message of men but as the message of God, as it really is, which keeps on working in you who believe.

Now we, brothers, on our part, when we were separated from you for a little while -- in person but not in heart -- were extremely eager and intensely longing to see you.

So when I could not bear it any longer, I decided to be left behind in Athens alone,

as night and day I continue to pray with deepest earnestness and keenest eagerness that I may see your faces and round out to completeness what is lacking in your faith?

not out of evil passions as the heathen do who do not know God;

For God did not call us to a life of immorality, but to one of personal purity.

So whoever rejects this teaching is rejecting not man but God who continues to put His Spirit in you.

Now as to brotherly love, you have no need of anyone's writing you, for you have yourselves been taught by God to love one another,

so that you may live influentially with the outsiders, and not be dependent on anybody.

Also we do not want you to have any misunderstanding, brothers, about those who are falling asleep, so as to keep you from grieving over them as others do who have no hope.

But as to times and dates, brothers, you have no need of anyone's writing you,

for you yourselves know perfectly well that the day of the Lord is coming like a thief in the night.

When people say, "Such peace and security!" then suddenly destruction falls upon them, like birth pains upon a woman who is about to become a mother, but they shall not escape, no, not at all.

But you, brothers, are not in darkness, so that that day, like a thief, should take you by surprise;

for you are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or the darkness.

For those who sleep at night and those who get drunk are drunken at night,

For God appointed us not to reap His wrath but to gain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

in a flame of fire, who will take vengeance on those who do not know God, that is, those who will not listen to the good news of our Lord Jesus.

not to let your minds be easily unsettled or even be excited, whether by some message by the Spirit or by some saying or letter that is claimed as coming from me, saying that the day of the Lord is already here.

Do not let anybody at all deceive you about this, because that cannot take place until the great revolt occurs and the representative of lawlessness is uncovered, the one who is doomed to destruction,

Do you not remember that while I was with you I used to tell you this?

and that we may be delivered from unprincipled and wicked men; for not all men have faith.

You know yourselves how you ought to follow my example; for I was not a shirker when I was with you;

I did not eat any man's bread without paying for it, but with toil and hard labor I worked night and day, in order not to be a burden to any of you.

Not that I have no right to be supported, but to make myself an example for you to follow.

For when I was with you, I gave you this direction, "If a person refuses to work, he must not be allowed to eat."

You must not regard him as an enemy but warn him as a brother.

They want to be teachers of the law, although they do not understand the words they use or the things about which they make such confident assertions.

that is, if he understands that law is not enacted for upright people but for the lawless and disorderly, the godless and sinful, the ignorant and profane, people who kill their fathers or mothers, murderers,

and for which purpose I was appointed a preacher and an apostle -- I am telling the truth, I am not lying, -- a teacher of the heathen in the realm of faith and truth.

I want the women, on their part, to dress becomingly, that is, modestly and sensibly, not adorning themselves with braided hair and gold or pearls or expensive dresses,

I do not permit a married woman to practice teaching or domineering over a husband; she must keep quiet.

and it was not Adam who was deceived, but it was the woman who was utterly deceived and fell into transgression.

not addicted to strong drink, not pugnacious, gentle and not contentious, not avaricious,

(if a man does not know how to manage his own house, how can he take care of a church of God?).

He must not be a new convert, or else becoming conceited he may incur the doom the devil met.

Deacons, too, must be serious, sincere in their talk, not addicted to strong drink or dishonest gain,

The deaconesses too must be serious, not gossips; they must be temperate and perfectly trustworthy.

But a woman who is really a widow and lives alone has fixed her hope on God, and night and day devotes herself to prayers and entreaties,

Besides, as they get the habit of gadding about from house to house, they learn to be idle, and not only idle but gossips and busybodies, talking of things they ought not to mention.

So I would have the younger women marry, have children, and keep house, so as not to give our opponents any occasion for slander.

For the Scripture says, "You must not muzzle an ox when he is treading out the grain," and, "The workman deserves his pay."

Make it a rule not to consider a charge preferred against an elder, unless it is supported by two or three witnesses.

Make it a rule not to ordain anyone in haste, and not to be responsible for the sins of others; keep yourself pure.

Good deeds, too, are usually very evident, and if they are not, they cannot be completely concealed.

All who are under the yoke of slavery must esteem their masters to be deserving the highest respect, so that the name of God and our teaching may not be abused.

Those who have Christian masters must not pay them less respect because they are brothers; they must serve them all the better, because those who get the benefit of their service are believers and so are dear to them. These are the things that you must continue to teach and urge them to do.

Continue charging the rich of this world to stop being haughty and not to fix their hope on a thing so uncertain as riches, but on God who richly and ceaselessly provides us with everything for our enjoyment;

I thank God, whom I worship, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as I ceaselessly remember you in my prayers. Because I remember the tears you shed for me, I am always longing night and day

For the Spirit that God has given us does not impart timidity but power and love and self-control.

For He saved us and called us with a holy call, not in accordance with anything that we had done, but in accordance with His own purpose and unmerited favor which was shown us through union with Christ Jesus eternal ages ago,

This is why I am suffering so, but I am not ashamed of it, for I know whom I have trusted and I am absolutely sure that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.

May the Lord show mercy to the family of Onesiphorus, because he often cheered me and was not ashamed of the chains I wore.

for the sake of which I am suffering hardships even to the extent of wearing chains as though I were a criminal. But God's message is not in chains.

In any great house there are not only gold and silver articles but also wooden utensils, some for honorable uses and some for lowly uses.

and a slave of the Lord must not quarrel but must be gentle to everybody; he must be a skillful teacher, and not resentful under injuries.

keeping up the forms of religion but not giving expression to its power. Avoid such people.

But they will not make any more progress, for their folly will be evident to everybody, as theirs was.

For a time will come when they will not listen to wholesome teaching, but to gratify their own evil desires will surround themselves with teachers who teach to gratify their own evil desires, because their ears are itching so to be tickled,

Now the crown for doing right awaits me, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award me on that day, and not only me but also all who have loved His appearing.

each elder must be above reproach, have only one wife, and his children must not be liable to the charge of profligacy or disobedience.

For as God's trustee a pastor must be above reproach, not stubborn or quick-tempered or addicted to strong drink or pugnacious or addicted to dishonest gain,

whose mouths must be stopped, for they upset whole families by teaching things they ought not to think, for the sake of dishonest gain.

the older women, too, to be reverent in their deportment, and not to be slanderers or slaves to heavy drinking, but to be teachers of what is right,

to be serious, pure, home keepers, kind, and subordinate to their husbands, so as not to cause God's message to suffer reproach.

He saved us, not for upright deeds that we had done, but in accordance with His mercy, through the bath of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,

Our people too must set examples of doing good, so as to meet the necessary demands and not to live unfruitful lives.

but I would not do a single thing about it without your consent, so that this kindness of yours to me might not seem to come by compulsion but voluntarily.

not as a slave any longer but more than a slave, a dearly loved brother, especially to me and much more to you, both as a servant and as a Christian.

I, Paul, write it with my own hand, I will pay it in full -- not to mention the fact that you owe me your very self besides.

Are not the angels all attending spirits sent forth to serve for the sake of those who are going to be unceasing possessors of salvation?

For it was not to angels that He gave authority over that world to be, of which we are speaking.

You have put all things under His feet!" Now when He gave Him authority over everything, He did not leave a single thing that was not put under His authority. But as yet we do not see everything actually under His authority,

For both He who is purifying them and those who are being purified all spring from one Father; so He is not ashamed to call them brothers,

For of course it is not angels but descendants of Abraham that He is to help.

You must not harden your hearts as they did in provoking me, as on the day in the desert they tested me,

So in my anger I took oath, 'They shall not be admitted to my rest!'"

but day by day, as long as "Today" shall last, continue to encourage one another, so that not one of you may be hardened by sin's deceiving ways,

and yet the warning continues to be spoken: "If you but hear His voice, you must not harden your hearts as they did in provoking me."

For who was it that heard and yet provoked Him? Was it not all who came out of Egypt led by Moses?

With whom was He disgusted forty years? Was it not with those who had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the desert?

To whom did He take oath that they should not be admitted to His rest, if it was not to those who disobeyed Him?

So we see that it was because of their unbelief that they could not be admitted to it.