But you, my child, be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus; and what you have heard from me before many witnesses, pass this on to trustworthy men who will be able to teach it to others as well. Take your share of sufferings like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in service involves himself in the business of ordinary life, if he is to please the man who enlisted him. And if an athlete competes, he wins no wreath unless he competes by the rules. The farmer who does the work must be first to have his share of the crops. Th^^ upon what I say, for the Lord will grant you understanding in all things.
Remember Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, who rose from the dead, according to the gospel I preach; the gospel for which I am mistreated to the point of chains, like a criminal. But the word of God is not in chains; and through this I endure all for the sake of the elect, so that they also may attain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with glory everlasting. This word is to be believed: If we die with him, we shall live with him; if we endure, we shall be kings with him; if we disown him, he will disown us; if we lose our belief, he is still to be believed, for he cannot disown himself.
Keep reminding people of this, charging them before God not to fight verbal battles, which are of no use for anything except for the subversion of those who listen to them. Strive to present yourself to God as one who is worthy, a worker with nothing to be ashamed of, drawing a straight line of argument for the truth. But avoid profane and empty words, for they will advance people in impiety and their speaking will spread like gangrene. Among such people are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have strayed from the truth in saying that the resurrection has already taken place; and so they are upsetting the faith of some. But the foundation of God stands firm, with this seal upon it: The Lord knows those who are his; and: Let everyone who names the name of the Lord abstain from wrongdoing. In a great house there are vessels not only of gold and silver but also of wood and clay; and some are to be prized and others to be despised. If, then, a person purges himself from what I have been speaking of, he will be a vessel to be prized, hallowed, useful to his master, made ready for every good work. But avoid the desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those who call upon the Lord from a pure heart. Put aside stupid uninstructed speculations, knowing that they breed quarrels. A slave of the Lord must not quarrel but be mild toward all, instructive, patient, gentle, enlightening his opponents; on the chance that God may grant them to repent and recognize the truth, and they come to their senses and escape the entrapment of the devil, though they had been captured by him for his own will.
Know this, that in the final days hard times will set in. For men will be lovers of themselves and lovers of money, pretentious, proud, blasphemous, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, impious, loveless, implacable, troublemakers, intemperate, wild, with no love for good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than God, keeping the form of piety but denying its force.
Have nothing to do with these people. For from their number come those who get into houses and captivate women who are overcome by sins, who are seduced by fantastic desires, always learning something but never able to come to the recognition of the truth. As Jannes and Jambres stood up against Moses, so these men will stand up against the truth, being corrupt in mind and unworthy in the matter of faith. But they will progress no further, for their madness will be made evident to all, as was that of those others.
But as for you, you have followed my teaching, my behavior, my devotion, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness; my persecutions, my sufferings, the sort of thing that happened to me in Antioch, in Icon- i^n, in Lystra; such persecutions have I borne, but the Lord rescued me from all of them. And all who desire to live piously in Christ Jesus will be persecuted; bad men and wizards will make progress, for the worse, leading men astray and led astray themselves. But as for you, abide by what you learned and what you came to believe, realizing from what people you learned it, and that even when you were a child you knew sacred scriptures, which have power to make you wise for your salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Every writing that is divinely inspired is also useful for teaching, for argument, for correction, for education in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete and equipped for every good work.
II charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and by his coming appearance and his Kingdom: preach the word, insist on it in season and out of season; confute, reprove, exhort, with complete patience, with every kind of instruction. For the time will come when people will no longer put up with healthy doctrine, but will get themselves masses of teachers who accord with their own desires; their ears will be flattered, and they will tum their ears from the truth, and go over to myths. But as for you, keep your head at all times, endure your suffering, do your evangelist's work, fulfill your ministry.
For I am now being offered up as a sacrifice, and the hour for my departure is upon me. I have run the good race, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; for the rest, the wreath for righteousness is set aside for me. The Lord, the just umpire, will award it to me on the great Day; and not to me alone, but to all who have loved his appearing.
Try hard to come to me soon. For Demas has forsaken me, being in love with the present age, and gone to Thes- salonica. Crescens went to Galatia and Titus to Dalma- tia. Only Luke is with me. Bring Mark along with you; he is helpful in my service. I sent Tychicus back to Ephesus. Bring with you when you come the cloak which I left behind with Carpus at Troas; also the book rolls, especially the parchments.
Ale^mder the bronzesmith did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him according to his acts. Beware of him, you also, for he has been all too much opposed to our speaking.
in my first defense, no one stood by me but all forsook me. May it not be counted against them. But the Lord was with me and gave me strength, so that through me the message should be completed and all the nations should hear it; and I was rescued out of the lion's mouth. And the Lord will rescue me from every bad action and will save me for his heavenly Kingdom. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Give greetings to Prisca and Aquila and the household of Onesiphorus. Erastus remained in Corinth; I left Tro- phimus sick in Miletus.
Try hard to come before winter.
Eubulus and Pudens and Linus and Claudia, and all the brothers, send you their greetings.
May the Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.
The Letter
to Titus
11PAUL, THE SLAVE OF GOD, AND APOStle of Jesus Christ in the faith of the chosen of God and the recognition of the truth which comes by piety in the hope for life everlasting, which God, who cannot lie, promised countless ages ago and, in his own time, revealed in the annunciation with which I have been entrusted at the bidding of God our savior; to Titus, my true child through shared faith; grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our savior.
This is the reason that I left you in Crete, so that you could set right what remains to be done, and institute elders in every city, as I have instructed you to do. Such an elder must be unimpeachable, married to one wife, with children who are believers, not open to the charge of dissipation, not disobedient. For the bishop, as God's steward, must be unimpeachable, not self-willed, not choleric, not given to drinking, no brawler, not shamefully grasping; but hospitable, lover of the good, discreet, just, pious, temperate, holding fast to the word of faith, according to doctrine, so that he can have power to exhort men by healthy teaching and confute those who oppose it.
For there are many who are disobedient, speakers of vanities and deceivers of the mind. They come mostly from among the circumcised. One must stop their mouths; for they overturn whole households by teaching as they should not, out of love for shameful gain.
For one of their number, their own prophet, has said: Cretans are always liars, foul beasts, lazy gluttons. That testimony is true. For this reason, confute them sharply, to make them grow healthy in faith, no longer giving their minds to Jewish myths and the commandments of people who reject the truth. To the pure all things are pure; but to the defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure, but their mind and conscience are defiled. They confess that they know God, but in their acts they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unfit for any good work.
11 Go on telling them, in the way that befits healthy doctrine, that older men should be sober, dignified, discreet, sound in faith, in love, in endurance. So also older women should be, in their behavior, reverent, not troublemakers or enslaved to excessive wine drinking, and teachers of the good; so as to set the young women right and make them love their husbands and their children, be discreet, chaste, housewifely, good, obedient to their own husbands, so that the word of God may not be Ш spoken of. So also exhort the younger men to behave themselves. In every case present yourself as an ex^ple of good works: in your teaching, integrity, dignity, discourse that is irreproachably sound, so that anyone who opposes you may be put to shame, unable to say anything bad about us. Slaves should be obedient to their own masters in everything, pleasant, not talking back to them, not misappropriating anything, but showing completely good faith, to improve the image of the teaching of God our savior among people in general.
For the saving grace of God was shown forth to all people. It educates us, so that disowning impiety and worldly desires we may live discreetly and righteously and piously in this present age, looking forward to the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of the great God and our savior Christ Jesus; who gave himself for our sakes, to set us free from all lawlessness and purify for himself a chosen people, making them eager for good works. Keep on speaking thus and exhorting and confuting. Let no one despise you.
Remind them to be submissive and obedient to powers and authorities, ready for every good work, to speak ill of no one, be peaceable and reasonable, showing complete gentleness toward all men. For once we too were thoughtless, disobedient, led astray, enslaved to desires and fantastic pleasures, spending our lives in vice and spite, hateful, hating each other. But when the kindness of God our savior was revealed, and his love for mankind, not because of any things we had done righteously, but through his own mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit, which he poured abundantly upon us through Jesus Christ our savior, so that, justified by his grace, we may become heirs in the hope of life everlasting. This word is to be believed, and I want you to insist on these principles so that those who believe in God may concern themselves with good works. These are honorable and useful for mankind; but avoid silly speculations and genealogizing and contention and controversies about the law, since these are useless and vain. Banish a heretic after one, and then a second, warning; knowing that such a man is perverted and sinful, since he has condemned himself.
When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, make haste to come to me at Nicopolis, since that is where I have decided to spend the winter. Send Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way, trying to see that they lack for nothing. And let our own people also le^ to follow honorable trades, for their essential needs. They must not be unproductive.
All who are with me send you greetings. Greet all who are our friends in the faith.
The grace of God be with you all.
The Letter to Philemon
1PAUL, THE PRISONER OF CHRIST JEsus, and Timothy our brother; to Philemon, our beloved fellow worker, and Apphia, our sister, and Archip- pus, our fellow soldier, and to the church which is in your house: grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I thank my God at all times as I make mention of you in my prayers, when I hear of the love and faith you have for the Lord Jesus and for all the saints. I pray that your sharing in the faith may work toward understanding all the good we have in Christ; since I took much joy and comfort in your love, because, brother, the hearts of the saints were refreshed through you.
I, therefore, though I have full authority in Christ to order you to do your duty, because of our love prefer to entreat you to it, though I am what I am, Paul, ambassador, and now prisoner, of Christ Jesus. My entreaty concerns my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become while in my chains; who once was worthless to you, but now is of great worth to you and to me. Now I send him, the child of my heart, to you. I would have wanted to keep him with me, to serve me for your sake in my bondage for the gospel; but I did not wish to do anything without your will, so that your good deed would be done not by constraint but voluntarily. Perhaps this is why he was taken away for a while, so that you could have him back for always, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a brother greatly beloved by me but so much the more by you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. If, then, you hold me to be your partner, welcome him as you would me. If he did you any injury or owes you anything, charge it to me. I, Paul, write it in my own hand: I will pay. Not to mention that you owe me your very self. Yes, brother, let me have some good of you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ.
Confident in your obedience, I write you this, knowing that you will do even more than I ask. At the same time, make ready a guest room for me, since I hope that, because of your prayers, you will be granted a visit from me.
Epaphras, my fellow prisoner, greets you in Christ Jesus, as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirits.
The Letter to the Hebrews
IGOD, WHO IN ANCIENT TIME SPOKE to our fathers in many and various ways through the prophets, has now in these last days spoken to us through his son, whom he made the heir to all things and through whom he also created the ages. He is the gleam of his glory and the representation of his nature, he carries all things by his word of power; and when he had caused purification from sins, he took his seat on the right hand of the majesty, in the highest; thus proving to be greater than the angels by as much as the name he inherited is more exalted than theirs.
For to which of the angels did God ever say: You are my son, this day I begot you? And again: I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to me?
And when, once more, he introduces his firstborn to the world, he says: And let all the angels of God fall do^ and worship him; and as to the angels he says: He who makes his angels into winds, and his servants into flame of fire. But to the son he says: Your throne, О God, is forever and ever, and the scepter of your uprightness is the scepter of his Kingdom. You love righteousness and hate lawlessness; because of which, God, your God, anointed you with the oil of exultation, beyond your companions. And: In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the works of your hands are the heavens. They will perish, but you endure. And they all will be outworn like a garment, and like a mantle you will roll them up, and like a garment they will be changed; but you are the s^e, and your years will not give out.
But to which of the angels did he ever say: Sit on my right, so that I may make your enemies a footstool for your feet? Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth into service for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?
11 Because of this, we must all the more strongly hold to what we have heard, lest we slip away from it. For if the word spoken by the angels proved certain, and every transgression and disobedience got its just punishment, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? This began by being proclaimed by the Lord, and was confirmed for us by those who heard it, with God adding his testimony by signs and portents and miracles and apportionments of the Holy Spirit, according to his will.
For he did not make the world to come, of which we are speaking, subject to angels. To this someone bore testimony at one point, saying: What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you consi
der him? You have made him a little lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor. And you set him over the works of your hands. You have subjected all things beneath his feet. In subjecting everything he left nothing that was not to be subjected. But now we do not yet see everything subjected to him; but we do see him who was a little below the angels, Jesus, through the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God he should taste of death for the sake of all. For it was right for him, by whom and for whom all things are, to lead many sons to glory and make perfect the author of their salvation through suffering. For the consecrator and the consecrated are from a single source; for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying: I will announce your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will hymn you. And again: I will put my trust in him. And again: Here am I and my children, whom God gave me.
Since, then, his children share his flesh and blood, so likewise he too partakes of theirs, so as by his death to abolish the one who has power over death, that is, the devil; and set free those who through fear of death had been condemned to slavery all their lives. For he is not, surely, concerned with angels, but with the seed of Abraham. Hence he needed to be made like his brothers in every way, to be merciful and the faithful high priest for all that concerns God, to expiate the sins of the people; for by the fact that he himself suffered through trial, he can help those who undergo trial.
Therefore, sacred brothers, sharers of a heavenly summons, think upon the apostle and high priest of our belief, Jesus, faithful to him who made him as Moses also was faithful in the house of God. He is worthy of greater glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who made the house has more honor than the house; since every house is made by someone, and he who made all things is God. And Moses was faithful in all the house of God as a servant to witness to things that are to be spoken, but Christ as the son in his own house. We are his house, if we keep our courage and the pride of our hope.
The New Testament Page 41