May their hearts be encouraged! May they learn the meaning of love! May they have all the wealth of conviction that comes from insight! May they learn to know that open secret of God, the Father of Christ,

being firmly attach'd to, and founded upon him: establishing yourselves in the faith you have been taught, and being thankful for the improvement you make therein.

beware lest any one seduce you by the vain illusions of philosophy, founded upon human traditions, and meer shadows, and not upon Christ:

Spoiling the principalities and the authorities, he made of them an open example, celebrating a triumph over them thereby.

Let, no one, against you, be arbitrating, however wishful, - in respect of lowliness of mind, and of a religious observance of the messengers: upon what things he hath seen, taking his stand, in vain, puffed up by his carnal mind, -

Such a one does not keep his hold upon Christ, the Head, from whom the Body, in all its parts nourished and strengthened by its points of contact and its connections, grows with a divine growth.

Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are upon the earth.

Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:

for which things'sake cometh the wrath of God upon the sons of disobedience:

and have put on the new [spiritual] self who is being continually renewed in true knowledge in the image of Him who created the new self—

Whatever you do [no matter what it is] in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus [and in dependence on Him], giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

children, obey your parents upon all occasions, for that is graceful in a christian.

Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds:

And tell Archippus to discharge carefully the duties devolving upon him as a servant of the Lord.

[This letter is from] Paul, and Silvanus and Timothy, [and is being sent] to the church of the Thessalonians [Note: This was a town in present-day northeastern Greece] in [fellowship with] God, the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May God's unearned favor and peace be upon you.

and to [look forward and confidently] wait for [the coming of] His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead—Jesus, who [personally] rescues us from the coming wrath [and draws us to Himself, granting us all the privileges and rewards of a new life with Him].

for ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail, for, night and day working not to be a burden upon any of you, we did preach to you the good news of God;

Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.

As for ourselves, Brothers, our having been bereaved of you even for a short time--though in body only, and not in spirit--made us all the more eager to see your faces again; and the longing to do so was strong upon us.

but Timothy, upon his arrival here from you, brings us the agreeable news of the perseverance of your faith and charity, that you always make honourable mention of us, and that you desire to see us as ardently as we do to see you.

how can I be sufficiently thankful to God upon your account, for all the joy, which by your means we have been affected with,

Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, open the way for us to go to you.

As to the rest, then, brethren, we request you, and call upon you in the Lord Jesus, as ye did receive from us how it behoveth you to walk and to please God, that ye may abound the more,

For you know the commands which we laid upon you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

None of you over-reaching or taking advantage of his Brother in such matters. 'The Lord takes vengeance' upon all who do such things, as we have already warned you and solemnly declared.

You need no one to write you upon brotherly love, for you are yourselves taught by God to love one another,

for ye do it also to all the brethren who are in all Macedonia; and we call upon you, brethren, to abound still more,

so that you may have the respect of the outsiders, and not be dependent upon anybody.

For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

But, ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that, the day, upon you, as upon thieves, should lay hold;

maintain an intire affection for them, upon account of their office, and don't form any brigues against them.

We beseech you, brothers, keep a check upon loafers, encourage the faint-hearted, sustain weak souls, never lose your temper with anyone;

pray upon all occasions.

We are oblig'd, my brethren, to render thanks to God continually upon your account, as it is but just; since your faith still improves, and your mutual love is always increasing.

Since God deems it just to inflict suffering upon those who are now inflicting suffering upon you,

dealing out [full and complete] vengeance to those who do not [seek to] know God and to those who ignore and refuse to obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus [by choosing not to respond to Him].

Because of this God will send upon them a misleading influence, [an activity of error and deception] so they will believe the lie,

As for you, my brethren, the favourites of the Lord, we are oblig'd to render perpetual thanks to God, for having chosen you from the beginning, in purifying you by his spirit, upon your believing the gospel.

Nor did we eat any one's bread without paying for it. Night and day, laboring and toiling, we used to work at our trades, so as not to be a burden upon any of you.

This was not because we had not a claim upon you, but it arose from a desire to set you an example--for you to imitate us.

Indeed, when we were with you, what we urged upon you was-- 'If a man does not choose to work, then he shall not eat.'

Do not look upon him as an enemy but warn him as a brother.

As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines,

and studying myths and interminable genealogies; such studies bear upon speculations rather than on the divine order which belongs to faith.

They would like to be teachers of law although they do not understand the words they use or the matters they insist upon.

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.

This charge I commit to thee, child Timotheus, according to the prophesies that went before upon thee, that thou mayest war in them the good warfare,

But women will be preserved (saved) through [the pain and dangers of] the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and holiness with self-control and discretion.

It is a popular saying that "whoever aspires to office is set upon an excellent occupation."

but they must continue to hold the open secret of faith with a clear conscience.

let them be first examin'd, and if they are without reproach, let them enter upon their office.

that "we toil and strive because our hope is fixed upon the living God, the Saviour of all men" ??of believers in particular.

Dwell upon these things in your teaching.

Let no one look with contempt upon your youth; but be you an example of the faithful, in word, in deportment, in divine love, in faith, in purity.

Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, [that special endowment] which was intentionally bestowed on you [by the Holy Spirit] through prophetic utterance when the elders laid their hands on you [at your ordination].

Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.

And she who is really a widow and desolate, hath hoped upon God, and doth remain in the supplications and in the prayers night and day,

Press these facts upon them, so that they may live lives free from reproach.

Let a widow be put upon the list, being of not less than sixty years, having been wife of one man,

and so they bring condemnation upon themselves for having broken their previous promise.

Against an elder an accusation receive not, except upon two or three witnesses.

I solemnly call upon you, in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels, to carry out these instructions of mine without prejudice, and to do nothing from partiality.

Hands, suddenly, upon no one, lay, neither have fellowship with sins of strangers: thyself, keep, chaste: -

Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after.

Those who have Christian masters should not think less of them because they are their Brothers, but on the contrary they should serve them all the better, because those who are to benefit by their good work are dear to them as their fellow Christians. Those are the things to insist upon in your teaching.

which some having obtain'd, have revolted from the faith, and brought upon themselves variety of piercing pains.

Contend earnestly the good contest of faith, take hold upon eternal life, into which thou wert also called, and hast confessed the good confession before many witnesses.

Upon them who are rich in the present age, lay thou charge - not to be high-minded, nor to have set their hope on, riches', uncertainty, - but on God, who offereth us all things richly for enjoying,

They must be beneficent, rich in noble deeds, open-handed and liberal;

Treasuring up to themselves a good foundation for the future, that they may lay hold upon eternal life.

which some people have claimed [to have], and in doing so have strayed from the faith. May [God's] unearned favor be upon you.

especially when I reflect upon the sincerity of your faith, and the attachment your grand-mother Lois first show'd, and then your mother Eunice, examples which I am persuaded you will follow.

Hence I would remind you to rekindle the divine gift which you received when my hands were laid upon you;

be not therefore asham'd of the testimony of the Lord, nor of me who am a prisoner upon his account. but share with me in the afflictions, which attend the gospel, supported as you are by the power of God,

He saved us and called us to a consecrated life, not for anything we had done, but of his own accord and out of the mercy which he bestowed upon us ages ago through Christ Jesus,

But hath now been made manifest through means of the forthshining of our Saviour Christ Jesus, - Who, indeed, hath abolished death, and hath thrown light upon life and incorruptibility, through means of the glad-message:

For this I was establish'd the herald, the apostle, and doctor of the Gentiles. this has drawn upon me the evils I suffer.

Reflect upon what I say; the Lord will always help you to understand.

But youthful lusts flee, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart.

traitors, heady, high minded, greedy upon voluptuousness more than the lovers of God,

my persecutions, my sufferings which came upon me in Antioch, in Iconium, in Lystra; you well know what persecutions I endured: and yet out of them all, the Lord delivered me.

But you, on your part, must continue to abide by what you have learned and been led to rely upon, because you know from whom you learned it

to preach the word with assiduity upon all occasions: reprove, censure, exhort, with the most tender persuasions.

For a time will come when they will not listen to wholesome teaching, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will heap up for themselves teachers upon teachers to satisfy their own fancies.

be you then entirely upon the watch: be insensible to toil: perform the work of an evangelist, and discharge your ministerial function.

upon hope of life age-during, which God, who doth not lie, did promise before times of ages,

namely, a man of unquestionable integrity, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, not accused of being immoral or rebellious.

and may pay no attention to Jewish legends, or to the directions of those who turn their backs upon the Truth.

And so again with the younger men--impress upon them the need of discretion.

This is what you must teach and urge and insist upon with full authority. No one is to look down on you.

Admonish them to be subject to princes and to magistrates, to obey their orders, and to exert their virtue and loyalty upon all occasions.

But when the goodness of God our Saviour, and His love to man, dawned upon us, not in consequence of things which we,

which he poured out upon us richly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour;

For we have much grace and consolation upon thy love, for the bowels of the holy are refreshed by thee, brother.

Wherefore, though I have, much, freedom of speech, in Christ, to be enjoining upon thee that which is befitting,

whom I wished to detain about myself, that in thy stead he might have waited upon me during my bonds for the gospel:

I write you in full reliance upon your obedience; I know that you will do even more than I ask.

This is why we must give the very closest attention to the message we have heard, to keep from ever losing our hold upon it.

and again - I, will be confident upon him; and again - Lo! I, and the children which, unto me, God, hath given.

For not yet does he take upon himself the nature of angels, but he takes upon himself the seed of Abraham.