Your life should be free from the love of money. Be satisfied with what you have, for He Himself has said, I will never leave you or forsake you.

Remember your leaders who have spoken God’s word to you. As you carefully observe the outcome of their lives, imitate their faith.

Don’t be led astray by various kinds of strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be established by grace and not by foods, since those involved in them have not benefited.

We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle do not have a right to eat.

For we do not have an enduring city here; instead, we seek the one to come.

Pray for us; for we are convinced that we have a clear conscience, wanting to conduct ourselves honorably in everything.

Brothers, I urge you to receive this message of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly.

haven’t you discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can his faith save him?

In the same way faith, if it doesn’t have works, is dead by itself.

But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith from my works.

But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your heart, don’t brag and deny the truth.

You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. You do not have because you do not ask.

You have lived luxuriously on the land and have indulged yourselves. You have fattened your hearts for the day of slaughter.

You have condemned—you have murdered—the righteous man; he does not resist you.

See, we count as blessed those who have endured. You have heard of Job’s endurance and have seen the outcome from the Lord. The Lord is very compassionate and merciful.

You rejoice in this, though now for a short time you have had to struggle in various trials

You love Him, though you have not seen Him. And though not seeing Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy,

It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you. These things have now been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Angels desire to look into these things.

since you have been born again—not of perishable seed but of imperishable—through the living and enduring word of God.

since you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Once you were not a people,
but now you are God’s people;
you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.

He Himself bore our sins
in His body on the tree,
so that, having died to sins,
we might live for righteousness;
you have been healed by His wounds.

For you were like sheep going astray,
but you have now returned
to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.

just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. You have become her children when you do what is good and are not frightened by anything alarming.

Based on the gift each one has received, use it to serve others, as good managers of the varied grace of God.

Now the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will personally restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little.

I have written you this brief letter through Silvanus (I know him to be a faithful brother) to encourage you and to testify that this is the true grace of God. Take your stand in it!

Simeon Peter, a slave and an apostle of Jesus Christ:

To those who have obtained a faith of equal privilege with ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.

Therefore I will always remind you about these things, even though you know them and are established in the truth you have.

So we have the prophetic word strongly confirmed. You will do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dismal place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

They have gone astray by abandoning the straight path and have followed the path of Balaam, the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness

For by uttering boastful, empty words, they seduce, with fleshly desires and debauchery, people who have barely escaped from those who live in error.

For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy command delivered to them.

saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? Ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they have been since the beginning of creation.”

Therefore, dear friends, since you know this in advance, be on your guard, so that you are not led away by the error of lawless people and fall from your own stability.

What was from the beginning,
what we have heard,
what we have seen with our eyes,
what we have observed
and have touched with our hands,
concerning the Word of life—

that life was revealed,
and we have seen it
and we testify and declare to you
the eternal life that was with the Father
and was revealed to us—

what we have seen and heard
we also declare to you,
so that you may have fellowship along with us;
and indeed our fellowship is with the Father
and with His Son Jesus Christ.

Now this is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in Him.

If we say, “We have fellowship with Him,” yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth.

But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

If we say, “We don’t have any sin,” we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ the Righteous One.

This is how we are sure that we have come to know Him: by keeping His commands.

The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” yet doesn"t keep His commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old command that you have had from the beginning. The old command is the message you have heard.

I am writing to you, little children,
because your sins have been forgiven
because of Jesus’ name.

I am writing to you, fathers,
because you have come to know
the One who is from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young men,
because you have had victory over the evil one.

I have written to you, children,
because you have come to know the Father.
I have written to you, fathers,
because you have come to know
the One who is from the beginning.
I have written to you, young men,
because you are strong,
God’s word remains in you,
and you have had victory over the evil one.

Children, it is the last hour. And as you have heard, “Antichrist is coming,” even now many antichrists have come. We know from this that it is the last hour.

They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. However, they went out so that it might be made clear that none of them belongs to us.

But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you have knowledge.

I have not written to you because you don’t know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie comes from the truth.

No one who denies the Son can have the Father; he who confesses the Son has the Father as well.

What you have heard from the beginning must remain in you. If what you have heard from the beginning remains in you, then you will remain in the Son and in the Father.

I have written these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you.

So now, little children, remain in Him, so that when He appears we may have boldness and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.

For this is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another,

We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death.

This is how we have come to know love: He laid down His life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers.

Dear friends, if our conscience doesn’t condemn us, we have confidence before God

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

But every spirit who does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist; you have heard that he is coming, and he is already in the world now.

You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

And we have seen and we testify that the Father has sent His Son as the world’s Savior.

And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.

In this, love is perfected with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, for we are as He is in this world.

And we have this command from Him: The one who loves God must also love his brother.

The one who has the Son has life. The one who doesn’t have the Son of God does not have life.

I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

Now this is the confidence we have before Him: Whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

And if we know that He hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked Him for.

The Elder:

To the elect lady and her children: I love all of you in the truth—and not only I, but also all who have come to know the truth—

I was very glad to find some of your children walking in the truth, in keeping with a command we have received from the Father.

So now I urge you, dear lady—not as if I were writing you a new command, but one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another.

And this is love: that we walk according to His commands. This is the command as you have heard it from the beginning: you must walk in love.

Many deceivers have gone out into the world; they do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.

Watch yourselves so you don’t lose what we have worked for, but that you may receive a full reward.

Anyone who does not remain in Christ’s teaching but goes beyond it, does not have God. The one who remains in that teaching, this one has both the Father and the Son.

Though I have many things to write to you, I don’t want to do so with paper and ink. Instead, I hope to be with you and talk face to face so that our joy may be complete.

I have no greater joy than this: to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

They have testified to your love in front of the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God,

I wrote something to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have first place among them, does not receive us.

I have many things to write you, but I don’t want to write to you with pen and ink.

For some men, who were designated for this judgment long ago, have come in by stealth; they are ungodly, turning the grace of our God into promiscuity and denying Jesus Christ, our only Master and Lord.

Woe to them! For they have traveled in the way of Cain, have abandoned themselves to the error of Balaam for profit, and have perished in Korah’s rebellion.

to execute judgment on all
and to convict them
of all their ungodly acts
that they have done in an ungodly way,
and of all the harsh things ungodly sinners
have said against Him.

Have mercy on those who doubt;

save others by snatching them from the fire; have mercy on others but with fear, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.

Therefore write what you have seen, what is, and what will take place after this.

I know your works, your labor, and your endurance, and that you cannot tolerate evil. You have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and you have found them to be liars.

You also possess endurance and have tolerated many things because of My name and have not grown weary.

But I have this against you: You have abandoned the love you had at first.

Remember then how far you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.

Yet you do have this: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

Don’t be afraid of what you are about to suffer. Look, the Devil is about to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will have affliction for 10 days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.

But I have a few things against you. You have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block in front of the Israelites: to eat meat sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality.

In the same way, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.