which in the earlier ages, so different from the present, was not made known to mankind as fully as now, but through the Spirit it has been revealed to His Holy apostles and prophets --

and to make clear how is to be carried out the trusteeship of this secret which has for ages been hidden away in God, the Creator of all things,

But in accordance with the measure of Christ's gift, His favor has been bestowed upon each one of us.

The very One that went down has gone up, too, far above all the heavens, to fill the universe.

And He has given some men to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be pastors and teachers,

and put on the new self which has been created in the likeness of God, which fruits in right and holy living inspired by the truth.

You must practice being kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has graciously forgiven you.

for you know that everyone, slave or free, will get his reward from the Lord for anything good he has done.

in this way it has become well known throughout the Imperial Guard and to all the rest here that I am a prisoner in the service of Christ,

For it has been graciously granted to you for Christ's sake, not only to trust in Him but also to suffer for Him,

This is why God has highly exalted Him, and given Him the name that is above every other name,

to hold up the message of life. That will give me ground for boasting on the day of Christ, because neither my career nor my labor has been a failure.

But you know his tested character, how like a son in fellowship with his father he has toiled with me like a slave in preaching the good news.

for he has been longing to see you and has been homesick because you have heard that he was sick.

He will so change the outward appearance of our lowly bodies that they will be like His glorious body, by the exertion of the power He has to subject everything to Himself.

and you will always be thanking the Father who has qualified you to share the lot of His people in the realm of light.

It is God who has delivered us out of the dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of His dearly loved Son,

So you, who were once estranged from Him, and hostile in disposition as shown by your wrongdoings, He has now reconciled

if indeed you continue well grounded and firm in faith and never shift from the hope inspired by the good news you heard, which has been preached all over the world, and of which I, Paul, have been made a minister.

to whom God has chosen to make known how glorious are the riches of this open secret among the heathen, namely, Christ in you the hope of your glorification.

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

Stop letting anyone, in gratuitous humility and worship of angels, defraud you as an umpire, for such a one is taking his stand on the mere visions he has seen, and is groundlessly conceited over his sensuous mind.

forbearing one another and freely forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; just as the Lord has freely forgiven you, so must you also do.

For the man who wrongs another will be paid back the wrong he has done; and there are no exceptions.

When this letter has been read to you, have it read to the church at Laodicea too, and see to it that you too read the one that is coming from Laodicea.

For we know, brothers so beloved by God, that He has chosen you,

(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.

by trying to keep us from speaking to the heathen, so that they may be saved, so as always to fill to the brim the cup of their sins. But at last God's wrath has come upon them.

But now, since Timothy has just come back to me from you, and brought me good tidings of your faith and love, and told me how kindly you remembered me and that you are longing to see me as much as I am to see you,

when on that day He comes to be glorified in His consecrated ones and to be admired by all who believe in Him because our testimony has been confidently accepted among you.

For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work, but only until he who is holding it back has been gotten out of the way.

May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and graciously given us encouragement that is eternal, and a hope that is well-founded,

I am always thanking Christ Jesus our Lord who has given me strength for it, for thinking me trustworthy and putting me into the ministry,

and the spiritual blessing of our Lord in increasing floods has come upon me, accompanied by faith and love inspired by union with Christ Jesus.

But if a widow has children or grandchildren, they must first learn to practice piety in the treatment of their own families, and to pay the debt they owe their parents or grandparents, for this is acceptable to God.

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,

Whoever fails to provide for his own relatives, and especially for those of his immediate family, has disowned the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

If a Christian woman has widowed relatives, she should help them, and let the church be free from the burden, so that it can help the widows who are really dependent.

who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has ever seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you; continue to turn away from the worldly, futile phrases and contradictions of what is falsely called "knowledge,"

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

but has only recently been made known through the appearance of our Saviour Christ Jesus, who through the good news has put a stop to the power of death, and brought life and immortality to light.

Guard this fine deposit of truth by the aid of the Holy Spirit who has His home in our hearts.

You know that everyone here who belongs to the Roman province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.

Do your best to present yourself to God an approved workman who has nothing to be ashamed of, who properly presents the message of truth.

who have missed the truth by saying that the resurrection has already taken place, are undermining some people's faith.

My life, indeed, is already ebbing out, and the time has come for me to sail away.

for Demas has forsaken me because he loved the present world, and has gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia;

You too must be on your guard against him, for he has vigorously opposed my teaching.

One of them, a prophet of their own countrymen, has said, "Cretans are always liars, wicked brutes, lazy bellies."

For God's favor has appeared with its offer of salvation to all mankind,

And if he has done you any wrong and owes you anything, charge it to my account,

but in these latter days He has spoken to us through a Son, whom He had appointed lawful owner of everything, and through whom He had made the worlds.

thus proving Himself to be as much superior to angels as the title He has inherited is superior to theirs.

For someone somewhere has solemnly said: "What is man that you should think of him, or the Son of Man that you should care for Him?

and again, "I too will put my trust in God"; and again, "Here I am and the children God has given me."

Since then the children mentioned share our mortal nature, He too took on Himself a full share of the same, in order that He by His death might put a stop to the power of him who has the power of death, that is, the devil,

For inasmuch as He has suffered Himself by being tempted, He is able to give immediate help to any that are tempted.

For just as the man who builds a house has greater glory than the house, by just so much is Jesus judged to be worthy of greater glory than Moses.

For we who have believed are being admitted to that rest, just as He has said: "As in my anger I took oath, they shall not be admitted to my rest," although God's works had been completed at the creation of the world.

He again fixes a definite day, saying long afterward through David, as has been quoted: "If you but hear His voice, you must not harden your hearts."

For whoever is admitted into God's rest himself has rested from his works, just as God did.

Since then we have in Jesus, the Son of God, a great High Priest who has gone right up to heaven itself, let us continue to keep a firm hold on our profession of faith in Him.

For although you ought to be teachers of others because you have been Christians so long, you actually need someone to teach you over and over again the very elements of the truths that God has given us, and you have gotten into such a state that you are in constant need of milk instead of solid food.

(6:19) where Jesus has blazed the way for us and became a High Priest with the rank of Melchizedek.

so much the more Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.

but He, on the other hand, because He Himself lives on forever, enjoys the only priesthood that has no successors in office.

Now the main point in what I am saying is this: We have such a High Priest as this, one who has taken His seat at the right hand of God's majestic throne in heaven

But, as the case with Him now stands, He has entered upon a priestly service as much superior to theirs as the covenant of which He is the Mediator is superior to theirs, superior because it has been enacted upon superior promises.

For a will is valid only after a man is dead, since it has no force whatever while the one who made it is alive.

for, if that had been the case, He would have had to suffer over and over again, ever since the creation of the world. But, as it is, once at the close of the ages He has appeared, to put away sin by His sacrifice.

For by that one sacrifice He has made perfect for all time those who are consecrated to Him.

let us, without ever wavering, keep on holding to the hope that we profess, for He is to be trusted who has made the promise,

How much severer punishment do you suppose that one deserves who tramples the Son of God underfoot, and counts as a common thing the blood of the covenant by which he was consecrated, and has insulted the Spirit that grants God's unmerited favor?

Indeed, to carry out the will of God and to receive the blessing He has promised, you need endurance, for:

Meantime, my righteous servant will live by faith. But if a man draws back, my soul has no delight in him."

But in reality they were aspiring for a better country, I mean, a heavenly one. This is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

keeping our eyes on Jesus, the perfect leader and example of faith, who, instead of the joy which lay before Him, endured the cross with no regard for its shame, and since has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Yes, to keep from growing weary and fainthearted, just think of the examples set by Him who has endured so great opposition aimed at Him by sinful men!

You must have a turn of mind that is free from avarice; you must be content with what you have, for God Himself has said, "I will never fail you, I will never forsake you."

You must know that our brother Timothy has been released from prison. If he comes soon, he and I will see you together.

Blessed is the person who endures trial, for when he stands the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him.

Listen, my dearly loved brothers. Has not God chosen the poor of the world to be rich in faith and to possess the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

My brothers, what good is there in a man's saying that he has faith, if he has no good deeds to prove it? Such faith cannot save him, can it?

If some brother or sister is thinly clad and has no food for the day,

So faith by itself, if it has no deeds to back it up, is dead.

There is but one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who has the power to save and to destroy; then who are you that you presume to judge your brother?

Your wealth has rotted, your clothes are moth-eaten,

and the prayer that is offered in faith will save the sick man; the Lord will raise him to health, and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

My brothers, if any one of you has wandered away from the truth, and someone brings him back,

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In accordance with His great mercy He has begotten us anew to an ever living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead;

but in accordance with the Holy Being who has called you, you must prove to be holy too,

But the word of the Lord lives on forever"; that is, the message of the good news which has been brought to you.

So to you who put your trust in Him the honor belongs, but to those who fail to trust Him: "That stone which then the builders threw away Has now become the cornerstone,"

Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once His mercy had not been shown you, but now it has.

who has gone to heaven and is now at God's right hand, with angels, heavenly authorities and powers made subject to Him.

So then, since Christ has suffered in our physical form, you too must arm yourselves with the same determination. For whoever suffers in his physical form has done with sin,

Because the time has come for judgment to begin at the household of God, and if it begins with us, what will the end be of those who are rejecting God's good news?

And God, the giver of every spiritual blessing, who through your union with Christ has called you to His eternal glory, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself make you perfect, firm, and strong,

because His divine power has given us everything that is needful for life and piety, through our full knowledge of Him who through His glory and excellence has called us to Him.