It was God's purpose to bring us into being [spiritually] by the message of truth, so that we could become a kind of "firstfruits" of those He created. [Note: "Firstfruits" here suggests either that Christians are the best of all of God's creatures (Num. 18:12), or that they were the first to be converted, with many more to come].

For the righteousness of God does not come about by the wrath of man.

My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come into your assembly a man with a gold ring,

For if there come into your synagogue a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, and there come in also a poor man in vile clothing;

And you do honour to the man in fair clothing and say, Come here and take this good place; and you say to the poor man, Take up your position there, or be seated at my feet;

For whoever shall keep the whole law and shall offend in one point, he has come under the guilt of breaking all.

By this we bless God, even the Father. And by this we curse men, who have come into being according to the image of God.

Out of the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. These things, my brothers, should not be this way [for we have a moral obligation to speak in a manner that reflects our fear of God and profound respect for His precepts].

Such wisdom does not come from above but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.

Whence come wars and whence come fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your pleasures that war in your members?

Come near to God and he will come near to you. Make your hands clean, you evil-doers; put away deceit from your hearts, you false in mind.

Come now, ye that say, To-day or to-morrow we will go into this city, and spend a year there, and trade, and get gain:

Come now, ye rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you.

See, the money which you falsely kept back from the workers cutting the grass in your field, is crying out against you; and the cries of those who took in your grain have come to the ears of the Lord of armies.

Here on earth you have lived self-indulgent and profligate lives. You have stupefied yourselves with gross feeding; but a day of slaughter has come.

Go on waiting calmly, my brothers, till the coming of the Lord, like the farmer waiting for the good fruit of the earth till the early and late rains have come.

Do not cry out in condemnation of one another, brethren, lest you come under judgement. I tell you that the Judge is standing at the door.

But above all things, my brethren, do not swear, either by Heaven or by the earth, or with any other oath. Let your 'yes' be simply 'yes,' and your 'no' be simply 'no;' that you may not come under condemnation.

So that the true metal of your faith, being of much greater value than gold (which, though it comes to an end, is tested by fire), may come to light in praise and glory and honour, at the revelation of Jesus Christ:

Concerning which salvation the prophets sought and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that'should come unto you:

Attempting to see what sort of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them was pointing to, when it gave witness to the pains which Christ would undergo and the glories which would come after them.

And it was made clear to those prophets that they were God's servants not for themselves but for you, to give you word of the things which have now come to your ears from the preachers of the good news through the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven; things which even angels have a desire to see.

So make your minds ready, and keep on the watch, hoping with all your power for the grace which is to come to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

Being conscious that you have been made free from that foolish way of life which was your heritage from your fathers, not through a payment of things like silver or gold which come to destruction,

since your new Life has come, not from perishable, but imperishable, seed, through the Message of the Everliving God.

Come to him then, that living Stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God, and precious.

You [believers], like living stones, are being built up into a spiritual house for a holy and dedicated priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices [that are] acceptable and pleasing to God through Jesus Christ.

Let your manner of life before the Gentiles be honest; so that, although they are now slandering you as evil-doers, they may, by beholding your noble conduct, come to glorify God, in the day of visitation.

Because, like sheep, you had gone out of the way; but now you have come back to him who keeps watch over your souls.

And see to it that your conscience is entirely clear, so that every time you are slandered or falsely accused, those who attack or disparage your good behavior in Christ will be shamed [by their own words].

Because Christ once went through pain for sins, the upright one taking the place of sinners, so that through him we might come back to God; being put to death in the flesh, but given life in the Spirit;

The end and culmination of all things is near. Therefore, be sound-minded and self-controlled for the purpose of prayer [staying balanced and focused on the things of God so that your communication will be clear, reasonable, specific and pleasing to Him.]

Be hospitable to one another without complaint.

Do not think it strange, beloved, that a fiery ordeal has come to test you, as though some surprising thing had befallen you.

For the time is come for judgment to begin at the house of God: and if it begin first at us, what'shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel of God?

Submit yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you, when the time is come.

It is through these that He has given us His precious and glorious promises, so that through them, after you have escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of evil desires, you may come to share in the divine nature.

For if these virtues are yours in abounding measure, they render you not idle nor unfruitful, until you come into the full knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For, he to whom these things are not present, is, blind, seeing only what is near, having come, to forget, his purification from his old sins.

knowing that the laying aside of this earthly tent of mine is imminent, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.

We heard this voice come out of heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.

this first knowing, that no prophecy of the Writing doth come of private exposition,

For these words did not ever come through the impulse of men: but the prophets had them from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit.

But there were false prophets among the people, as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly put forward wrong teachings for your destruction, even turning away from the Lord who gave himself for them; whose destruction will come quickly, and they themselves will be the cause of it.

And in their desire for profit they will come to you with words of deceit, like traders doing business in souls: whose punishment has been ready for a long time and their destruction is watching for them.

and if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and overwhelmed them with ashes, as a warning to ungodly men of what was to come,

[This fate will come upon] those people especially who corrupt themselves with physical desires and despise being ruled by others. They are daring, self-willed, and are not afraid to speak against glorious beings [i.e., angels],

knowing this first, that in the last days mockers shall come with mockery, walking after their own lusts,

will come and ask scoffingly-- 'Where is his promised Coming? Ever since our fathers passed to their rest, everything remains just as it was when the world was first created!'

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness; but is longsuffering to you-ward, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

Looking for and truly desiring the coming of the day of God, when the heavens will come to an end through fire, and the substance of the earth will be changed by the great heat?

Therefore, dear friends, since you are waiting for these things, strive to be found at peace, without spot or blemish, when you come into his presence.

That which was from the first, which has come to our ears, and which we have seen with our eyes, looking on it and touching it with our hands, about the Word of life

We give you word of all we have seen and everything which has come to our ears, so that you may be united with us; and we are united with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ:

This is how we may know that we have come to know Him, by always keeping his commandments.

The one who says "I have come to know him," and does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in this person.

and the truth is not in him; bit if any man obey his word, in him truly is the love of God made perfect. By this we come to know that we are in him.

I am writing to you, fathers, because you have come to know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have fully overcome the Evil One. I have written to you, little children, because you have learned to know the father.

I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has existed from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong and vigorous, and the word of God remains [always] in you, and you have been victorious over the evil one [by accepting Jesus as Savior].

because everything that is in the world, the things that our lower nature and eyes are longing for, and the proud pretensions of life, do not come from the Father, but from the world;

Little children, it is the last hour; and as you were given word that the Antichrist would come, so now a number of Antichrists have come to you; and by this we are certain that it is the last hour.

I do not write to you because you do not know it, but because you do know it, and because no lie can come from the truth.

See what wonderful love the Father has bestowed on us in letting us be called God's children, and that is what we are! This is why the world does not know what we are, because it has never come to know Him.

No one who continues to live in union with Him practices sin. No one who practices sin has ever seen Him or come to know Him.

We are conscious that we have come out of death into life because of our love for the brothers. He who has no love is still in death.

By this we know [and have come to understand the depth and essence of His precious] love: that He [willingly] laid down His life for us [because He loved us]. And we ought to lay down our lives for the believers.

By this we shall come to know that we are really of the truth,

Dearly beloved, if our consciences do not condemn us, we come with perfect confidence to God,

Dearly beloved, stop believing every so-called spiritual utterance, but keep testing them to see whether they come from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:

and every spirit that does not confess Jesus Christ has come in flesh is not of God. And this is that of the antichrist, which ye have heard that it comes, and is now in the world already.

You, my Children, come from God, and you have successfully resisted such men as these, because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

We come from God. He who knows God listens to us; the man who does not come from God does not listen to us. By that we may know the true inspiration from the false.

Whoever does not love has never come to know God by experience, because God is love.

By this we come to know that we are abiding in him, and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit;

And, we, have come to understand and to trust the love which, God, hath, in us. God, is, love; and, he that abideth in love, in God, abideth, and, God, in him abideth.

By this we know [without any doubt] that we love the children of God: [expressing that love] when we love God and obey His commandments.

This one is he who did come through water and blood -- Jesus the Christ, not in the water only, but in the water and the blood; and the Spirit it is that is testifying, because the Spirit is the truth,

We realize that we come from God, while all the world is under the influence of the Evil One.

And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.

The Elder to the Elect Lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all those who have come to know the truth.

For many impostors have gone out into the world, men who do not own that Jesus Christ continues to come in human form. A person like this is the impostor and the Antichrist.

If any one come to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, nor give him any greeting.

Having many things to write unto you, I would not write them with paper and ink: but I hope to come unto you, and to speak face to face, that your joy may be made full.

For I am happy to have some brothers come and testify to the truth that is in you, since you are living by the truth.

My loved one, you are doing a good work in being kind to those brothers who come from other places;

wherefore if I come I will declare his deeds which he doeth, jesting on us with malicious words, neither is therewith content. Not only he himself receiveth not the brethren: but also he forbiddeth them that would, and thrusteth them out of the congregation.

Dear friends, I was just on the point of writing to you about our common salvation, when it became necessary for me to write and appeal to you to come to the defense of the faith that has once for all been intrusted to God's people.

For certain men have come among you secretly, marked out before in the holy Writings for this evil fate, men without the fear of God, turning his grace into an unclean thing, and false to our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

A curse on them! They have gone in the way of Cain, running uncontrolled into the error of Balaam for reward, and have come to destruction by saying evil against the Lord, like Korah.

Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied before of such saying, "Behold, the Lord shall come with thousands of saints,

For they said to you, "In the end time there will come scoffers, propelled by their own ungodly desires."

to the one God, our Saviour, be ascribed, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, glory, majesty, power, and dominion, as it was before time began, is now, and shall be for all time to come. Amen.

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, for to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass. And he sent and showed by his angel unto his servant John,

John, to the seven congregations in Asia. Grace be with you and peace, from him which is and which was, and which is to come: and from the seven spirits which are present before his throne,

And from Jesus Christ, the true witness, the first to come back from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who had love for us and has made us clean from our sins by his blood;

Behold, he is about to come among the clouds; and every eye will see him, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. So shall it be, Amen.

"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending," saith the Lord almighty, which is and which was and which is to come.

Write therefore the things which thou sawest, and the things which are, and the things which shall come to pass hereafter;