Since, therefore, you were raised to Life with the Christ, seek for the things that are above; for it is there that the Christ is 'seated at the right hand of God.'

Fix your thoughts upon the things that are above, not upon those that are on earth.

Therefore destroy all that is earthly in you--immorality, uncleanness, passions, evil desires, and that greed which is idolatry.

And clothe yourselves with that new self, which, as it gains in knowledge, is being constantly renewed 'in resemblance to him who made it.'

In that new life there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, freeman; but Christ is all!--and in all!

Over all these virtues put on love; for that is the girdle which makes all complete.

Let the Peace that the Christ gives decide all doubts within your hearts; for you also were called to the enjoyment of peace as members of one Body. And show yourselves thankful.

Children, always obey your parents; for that is pleasant to see in those who belong to the Lord.

Since you know that it is from the Master that you will receive the inheritance which will be your recompense. You are serving Christ, the Master.

Masters, do what is right and fair by your slaves, for you know that you also have a Master--in Heaven.

And at the same time pray for us, that God may give us an opening for our Message, so that we may speak of the truths hidden in the Christ--the truths for which I am in chains!

Let your conversation always be kindly, and seasoned, as it were, with salt; that you may know in each case what answer you ought to give.

I send him to you expressly that you may learn our circumstances, and that he may give you encouragement.

With him will be Onesimus, our dear faithful Brother, who is one of yourselves. They will tell you all that is going on here.

Epaphras, who is one of yourselves, sends you his greeting. He is a servant of Christ Jesus, and is always most earnest in your behalf in his prayers, praying that you may stand firm, with a matured faith and with a sure conviction of all that is in accordance with God's will.

Give my greeting to the Brethren at Laodicea, and to Nymphe, and to the Church that meets at her house.

And when this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read before the Church at Laodicea, and that you yourselves read the letter which will be forwarded from there.

Recalling continually before our God and Father the efforts that have resulted from your faith, the toil prompted by your love, and the patient endurance sustained by your hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Brothers, whom God loves, we know that he has chosen you,

Because the Good News that we brought came home to you, not merely as so many words, but with a power and a fulness of conviction due to the Holy Spirit. For you know the life that we lived among you for your good.

For it was from you that the Lord's Message resounded throughout Macedonia and Greece; and, more than that, your faith in God has become known far and wide; so that there is no need for us to say another word.

Yes, Brothers, you yourselves know that your reception of us was not without result.

Never at any time, as you know, did we use the language of flattery, or make false professions in order to hide selfish aims. God will bear witness to that.

In our strong affection for you, that seemed to us the best way of sharing with you, not only God's Good news, but our very lives as well--so dear had you become to us.

You will bear witness, and God also, that our relations with you who believed in Christ were pure, and upright, and beyond reproach.

Indeed, you know that, like a father with his own children, we used to encourage and comfort every one of you, and solemnly plead with you;

So that you should make your daily lives worthy of God who is calling you into the glory of his Kingdom.

This, too, is a reason why we, on our part, are continually thanking God--because, in receiving the teaching that you had from us, you accepted it, not as the teaching of man, but as what it really is--the teaching of God, which is even now doing its work within you who believe in Christ.

That was why we made up our minds to go and see you--at least I, Paul, did, more than once--but Satan put difficulties in our way.

So that none of you should be shaken by the troubles through which you are passing. You yourselves know that we are destined to meet with such things.

For, even while we were with you, we warned you beforehand that we were certain to encounter trouble. And so it proved, as you know.

Therefore, since I could no longer endure the uncertainty, I sent to make inquiries about your faith, fearing that the Tempter had tempted you, and that our toil might prove to have been in vain.

For it is new life to us to know that you are holding fast to the Lord.

How can we thank God enough for all the happiness that you are giving us in the sight of our God?

Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you face to face, and make good any deficiency in your faith.

Further, Brothers, we beg and exhort you in the name of our Lord Jesus to carry out more fully than ever--as indeed you are already doing--all that you have heard from us as to what your daily life must be, if it is to please God.

For you have not forgotten the directions that we gave you on the authority of our Lord Jesus.

For this is God's purpose--that you should be pure; abstaining from all immorality;

So that your conduct may win respect from those outside the Church, and that you may not want for anything.

We do not wish you to remain in ignorance, Brothers, with regard to those who have passed to their rest, that your grief may not be like that of others, who have no hope.

For, as we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also we believe that God will bring, with Jesus, those who through him have passed to their rest.

This we tell you on the authority of the Lord--that those of us who are still living at the Coming of the Lord will not anticipate those who have passed to their rest.

You yourselves know well that the Day of the Lord will come just as a thief comes in the night.

When people are saying 'All is quiet and safe,' it is then that, like birth-pains upon a woman with child, Ruin comes suddenly upon them, and there will be no escape!

You, however, Brothers, are not in darkness, that the daylight should take you by surprise as if you were thieves.

It is at night that men sleep, and at night that drunkards get drunk.

That, whether we are still watching or have fallen asleep, we may live with him.

Take care that none of you ever pays back wrong for wrong, but always follow the kindest course with one another and with every one.

So much is this the case that we ourselves speak with pride, before the Churches of God, of the patience and faith which you have shown, in spite of all the persecutions and troubles that you are enduring.

When he comes to be honour ed in his People,' and to be revered in all who have learned to believe in him (for you also believed our testimony)--as he will be on 'That Day.'

With this in view, our constant prayer for you is that our God may count you worthy of the Call that you have received, and by his power make perfect your delight in all goodness and the efforts that have resulted from your faith.

Not lightly to let your minds become unsettled, nor yet to be disturbed by any revelation, or by any message, or by any letter, purporting to come from us, to the effect that the Day of the Lord is come.

Do not let any one deceive you, whatever he may do. For it will not come until after the Great Apostasy, and the appearing of that Incarnation of Wickedness, that the Lost soul,

Who so opposes himself to every one that is spoken of as a God or as an object of worship, and so exalts himself above them, that he seats himself in the Temple of God, and displays himself as God!

That is why God places them under the influence of a delusion, to cause them to believe a lie;

So that sentence may be passed on all those who refuse to believe the Truth, but delight in wickedness.

Stand firm then, Brothers, and hold fast to the truths that we taught you, whether by word or by letter.

Console your hearts, and strengthen you to do and to say all that is right.

In conclusion, Brothers, pray for us--pray that the Lord's Message may spread rapidly, and be received everywhere with honour, as it was among you;

And that we may be preserved from wrong-headed and wicked men- -for it is not every one who believes in Christ.

Yes, and the confidence that our union with the Lord enables us to place in you leads us to believe that you are doing, and will do, what we direct you.

We urge you, Brothers, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to avoid any Brother who is living an ill-ordered life, which is not in agreement with the teaching that you received from us.

For you know well that you ought to follow our example. When we were with you, our life was not ill-ordered,

We hear that there are among you people who are living ill- ordered lives, and who, instead of attending to their own business, are mere busy-bodies.

If any one disregards what we have said in this letter, mark that man and avoid his company, that he may feel ashamed.

I beg you, as I did when I was on my way into Macedonia, to remain at Ephesus; that you may instruct certain people there not to teach new and strange doctrines,

nor to devote their attention to legends and interminable genealogies, which tend to give rise to argument rather than to further that divine plan which is revealed in the Faith.

The object of all instruction is to call forth that love which comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and a sincere faith.

And it is because they have not aimed at these things that the attention of certain people has been diverted to unprofitable subjects.

We know, of course, that the Law is excellent, when used legitimately,

by one who recognizes that laws were not made for good men, but for the lawless and disorderly, for irreligious and wicked people, for those who are irreverent and profane, for those who ill-treat their fathers or mothers, for murderers,

I am thankful to Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has been my strength, for showing that he thought me worthy of trust by appointing me to his ministry,

and the loving-kindness of our Lord was boundless, and filled me with that faith and love which come from union with Christ Jesus.

How true the saying is, and worthy of the fullest acceptance, that 'Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners'! And there is no greater sinner than I!

Yet mercy was shown me for the express purpose that Christ Jesus might exhibit in my case, beyond all others, his exhaustless patience, as an example for those who were afterwards to believe on him and attain Immortal Life.

This, then, is the charge that I lay upon you, Timothy, my Child, in accordance with what was predicted of you--Fight the good fight in the spirit of those predictions,

with faith, and with a clear conscience; and it is because they have thrust this aside, that, as regards the Faith, some have wrecked their lives.

Hymenaeus and Alexander are instances--the men whom I delivered over to Satan, that they might be taught not to blaspheme.

First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings should be offered for every one,

especially for kings and all who are in high positions, in order that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in a deeply religious and reverent spirit.

whose will is that every one should be saved, and attain to a full knowledge of the Truth.

and it was for this that I was myself appointed a Herald and an Apostle (I am telling the simple truth and no lie)--a Teacher of the Gentiles in the Faith and Truth.

My desire, then, is that it should be the custom everywhere for the men to lead the prayers, with hands reverently uplifted, avoiding heated controversy.

I also desire that women should adorn themselves with appropriate dress, worn quietly and modestly, and not with wreaths or gold ornaments for the hair, or pearls, or costly clothing,

How true is that saying! When a man aspires to be a Presiding-Officer in the Church, he is ambitious for a noble task.

The Presiding-Officer should not be a recent convert, that he may not be blinded by pride and fall under the same condemnation as the Devil.

He should also be well spoken of by outsiders, that he may not incur censure and so fall into the snares of the Devil.

Those who have filled that post with honour gain for themselves an honorable position, as well as great confidence through the faith that they place in Christ Jesus.

I am writing this to you, though I hope that I shall come to see you before long;

But the Spirit distinctly says that in later times there will be some who will fall away from the Faith, and devote their attention to misleading spirits, and to the teaching of demons,

Everything created by God is good, and there in nothing that need be rejected--provided only that it is received thankfully;

Put all this before the Brethren, and you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, sustained by the precepts of the Faith and of that Good Teaching by which you have guided your life.

How true that saying is and worthy of the fullest acceptance!

With that aim we toil and struggle, for we have set our hopes on the Living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who hold the Faith.

Practice these things, devote yourself to them, so that your progress may be plain to every one.

but, if a widow has children or grand-children, let them learn to show proper regard for the members of their own family first, and to make some return to their parents; for that is pleasing in God's sight.

Those are the points on which you should dwell, that there may be no call for your censure.

And not only that, but they learn to be idle as they go about from house to house. Nor are they merely idle, but they also become gossips and busy-bodies, and talk of what they ought not.

Any Christian woman, who has relations who are widows, ought to relieve them and not allow them to become a burden to the Church, so that the Church may relieve those widows who are really widowed.

but rebuke offenders publicly, so that others may take warning.