Part 35
(13)And you, who were dead in sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened with him, freely forgiving you all trespasses; (14)and hath blotted out the handwriting in ordinances that was against us, which was the obstacle to us, and took it from the midst, nailing it to the cross; (15)spoiling principalities and powers, he exposed them to view openly, triumphing over them on it. (16)Let no man therefore judge you concerning what you eat, or what you drink, or the observance of a feast, or new moon, or the sabbaths; (17)which are _merely_ shadows of things to come: but the body is Christ's. (18)Let no man juggle you out of your prize, voluntary in _his_ humility and the worship of angels, intruding into things which he never saw, vainly puffed up by his carnal imagination; (19)and not firmly attached to the head, from which the whole body, by joints and ligaments, harmoniously adjusted and closely compacted, increaseth with increase from God.
(20)If then ye have been dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye dogmatically taught, (21)eat not, nor talk, nor touch, (22)(all which things tend to corruption by abuse) according to the injunctions and doctrines of men? (23)Which things indeed hold forth an appearance of wisdom in will-worship, and humility, and bodily mortification, _though_ not of any value, _but_ a gratification to the flesh.
CHAP. III.
IF ye then be risen with Christ, seek the things which are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. (2)Fix your minds on things above, not on things on the earth. (3)For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. (4)When Christ shall appear, who is our life, then shall you also with him be manifested in glory. (5)Mortify therefore your members which are on the earth, fornication, impurity, the vile passion, evil concupiscence, and insatiable desire, which is idolatry: (6)for which things the wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience; (7)in which ye also walked formerly when ye lived among them: (8)but now ye have put away all these things, anger, asperity, malice, scandal, obscenity, out of your mouth.
(9)Lie not one to another, seeing ye have put off the old man with his practices; (10)and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that created him. (11)Where there is no difference whether a man be Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian or Scythian, slave or freeman: but Christ is all and in all.
(12)Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering; (13)forbearing one another, and freely forgiving one another, if any man hath a complaint against another: even as Christ hath freely forgiven you, so also do ye. (14)But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. (15)And let the peace of God set up its throne in your hearts, whereunto also ye have been called in one body; and be ye thankful.
(16)Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing yourselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual canticles, singing with grace in your heart unto the Lord. (17)And everything that ye do in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
(18)Wives be subject to your own husbands, as is fit in the Lord.
(19)Husbands, love your wives, and use no asperity against them.
(20)Children, be obedient to your parents in all things; for this is well-pleasing to the Lord.
(21)Parents, irritate not your children, lest their spirit be broken.
(22)Servants, obey in all things your masters after the flesh, not with eye-service as men-pleasers, but, in simplicity of heart, fearing God. (23)And in every thing that ye do, labour from the soul, as for the Lord, and not man; (24)knowing that from the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye are servants to the Lord Christ. (25)But he that is guilty of injustice shall receive punishment for the wrong he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.
CHAP. IV.
MASTERS, afford to your servants that which is just, and an equivalent, knowing that ye also have a Master in the heavens.
(2)Persevere in prayer, watching therein with thanksgiving; (3)praying also at the same time for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, that I may speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains: (4)that I may make it evident, as I ought to speak.
(5)Walk wisely with regard to those without, redeeming the time. (6)Let your discourse be always gracious, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to reply to every man.
(7)All my affairs will Tychicus make known unto you, a beloved brother, and faithful minister, and fellow-servant in the Lord: (8)whom I have sent unto you for this very purpose, that he might know your affairs, and comfort your hearts; (9)with Onesimus, that faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you: they will make known unto you all things that have passed here.
(10)There salute you Aristarchus my fellow-prisoner, and Mark nephew to Barnabas, concerning whom ye have received injunctions; if he come unto you, receive him, (11)and Jesus, who is called Justus, who are of the circumcision. These only are my fellow-labourers for the kingdom of God, who have been a comfort to me.
(12)Epaphras, one of you, saluteth you, a servant of Christ, always wrestling for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. (13)For I bear him witness that he hath great zeal for you, and for those in Laodicea, and those in Hierapolis.
(14)Luke, the beloved physician, saluteth you, and Demas.
(15)Salute the brethren that are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church which is at his house. (16)And when this epistle hath been read among you, cause that it also be read in the church of the Laodiceans, and that ye also read that from Laodicea. (17)And say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received from the Lord, that thou fulfil it.
(18)The salutation of Paul with mine own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you. Amen.
Written to the Colossians from Rome by Tychicus and Onesimus.
THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE, TO THE THESSALONIANS.
CHAP. I.
PAUL, and Silvanus, and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ: grace unto you, and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. (2)We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; (3)without ceasing calling to mind your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father; (4)knowing, brethren, beloved of God, your election. (5)For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in great fulness of assurance; as ye know what manner of men we have been among you for your sakes. (6)And ye became imitators of us, and of the Lord, receiving the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost; (7)so that ye became models for all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. (8)For from you sounded forth the word of the Lord, not only into Macedonia and Achaia, but into every region also your fidelity towards God is gone out, so that we have no need to say any thing. (9)For they publish concerning you what manner of entrance we had unto you, and how ye turned unto God from idols, to serve the living and true God, (10)and to wait for his Son from the heavens, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivereth us from the wrath to come.
CHAP. II.
FOR ye yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in to you, that it was not in vain. (2)But though we had suffered before, and were infamously treated, as ye know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to preach unto you the gospel of God amidst a great conflict. (3)And our exhortation originated not from delusion, or impurity, or from guile; (4)but as we have been approved of God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God, who trieth our hearts. (5)For neither at any time used we insinuating language, as ye know, nor a pretext for covetousness; God is witness: (6)not seeking glory from men, neither from you, nor from others, though we might have been burdensome, as apostles of Christ. (7)But we were gentle in the midst of you, as a nurse cherisheth her own infants. (8)So, tenderly affected towards you, we could with pleasure have imparted to you not the gospel of God only, but our own lives also, because ye were beloved by us. (9)For ye remember, brethren, our labour and toil: for night and day working hard, that we might be no burden to any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God. (10)Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily, and justly, and faultlessly we conducted ourselves among you that believe: (11)as ye know how _we treated_ every one of you, as a father doth his children, exhorting you, and admonishing, and conjuring you, (12)that ye should walk worthy of God, as calling you into his kingdom and glory.
(13)For this cause do we also give thanks to God unceasingly, because when ye received the word reported by us from God, ye received it not as the word of man, but, as it is in truth, the word of God, which worketh also effectually in you that believe. (14)For ye, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea, in Christ Jesus: for ye suffered the same things also yourselves from your own countrymen, as they too have of the Jews; (15)who both murdered the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us, and please not God, and are in opposition to all mankind; (16)forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles, that they might be saved, to fill up the measure of their iniquities always: but wrath is coming upon them to the extremity.
(17)But we, brethren, bereaved of you for a short moment, in person, not in heart, have more abundantly longed to see your face with great desire. (18)Therefore we wished to have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan prevented us. (19)For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? (20)For ye are our glory and joy.
CHAP. III.
WHEREFORE when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone: (2)and sent Timothy our brother, and a minister of God, and our fellow-labourer in the gospel of Christ, that he might stablish you, and comfort you concerning your faith: (3)that no man might be shaken by these tribulations; for ye yourselves know that thereunto we are appointed. (4)For when we were with you, we told you before that we were about to suffer tribulation; as also it came to pass, and ye know. (5)For this cause also, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your fidelity, lest by any means the tempter had tempted you, and our labour should be in vain. (6)But now when Timothy returned to us from you, and brought us the glad tidings of your faith and love, and that ye retain a kind remembrance of us always, earnestly desirous to see us, as we are also to see you: (7)for this cause we have felt consolation, brethren, in you under all our tribulation and distress, because of your fidelity. (8)For now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord. (9)For what sufficient thanks can we render to God for you, for all the joy with which we rejoice on your account before our God, (10)night and day most fervently praying that we may see your face, and amply supply the deficiencies of your faith?
(11)Now God himself, and our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ direct our way unto you. (12)And the Lord cause you to abound and overflow with love one to another, and towards all men, as we also do to you: (13)to the end that your hearts may be established blameless in holiness before God and our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.
CHAP. IV.
FINALLY, brethren, we beseech you therefore, and conjure you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk, and please God, so ye would abound more and more. (2)For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. (3)For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you should abstain from whoredom; (4)that every one of you may know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honour, (5)not in the vile passion of lewdness, as the Gentiles which know not God; (6)that no man transgress against, or act dishonestly to his brother in this matter because the Lord is the avenger of all such things, as we have told you before, and testified. (7)For God hath not called us unto impurity, but unto holiness. (8)Therefore he that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit.
(9)Now concerning brotherly love, I have no need to write unto you: for ye yourselves are divinely taught to love one another. (10)And indeed ye practise it towards all the brethren that are throughout Macedonia: but we conjure you, brethren, to abound more and more; (11)and that you make it your study to live peaceably, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, even as we have enjoined you; (12)that ye walk becomingly towards those without, and need no assistance from any person.
(13)Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are fallen asleep, that ye be not afflicted, as the rest _of mankind_ who have no hope. (14)For if we believe that Jesus died, and rose again, so also those that have fallen asleep for Jesus shall God bring with him. (15)For this I say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent those who are fallen asleep. (16)For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first: (17)then we who are alive, who remain, shall be caught up together with them into the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we be ever with the Lord. (18)Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
CHAP. V.
NOW concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I should write to you: (2)for yourselves know precisely that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. (3)For when they say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction rusheth upon them, as travail on a woman with child, and they shall in no wise escape. (4)But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you as a thief. (5)Ye are all the children of light, and the children of day: we are not the children of night, nor of darkness. (6)Let us not then sleep as do others; but let us watch and be sober. (7)For they who sleep, sleep in the night, and they who are drunken, are drunken in the night; (8)but let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. (9)For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, (10)who died for us, that whether we sleep, or whether we wake, we may live together with him. (11)Wherefore comfort one another, and edify one another, as also ye do.
(12)Now we entreat you, brethren, to know those who labour among you, and preside over you in the Lord, and admonish you; (13)and to account of them very highly in love for their work's sake. And live in peace among yourselves.
(14)Now we conjure you, brethren, admonish the unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the infirm, be patient with all men. (15)See that no man return evil for evil to any man; but always pursue that which is good, both towards one another, and towards all men.
(16)Rejoice evermore. (17)Pray without ceasing. (18)In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus to you-wards. (19)Quench not the Spirit. (20)Despise not prophesyings. (21)Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (22)Abstain from all appearance of evil.
(23)Now the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your whole spirit, and soul, and body be preserved faultless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (24)Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.
(25)Brethren, pray for us. (26)Salute all the brethren with an holy kiss.
(27)I conjure you by the Lord, that this epistle be read to all the holy brethren.
(28)The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
The first epistle to the Thessalonians was written from Athens.
THE SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE, TO THE THESSALONIANS.
CHAP. I.
PAUL, and Silvanus, and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: (2)grace unto you and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. (3)We are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, as it is fit, because your faith groweth exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all towards each other aboundeth: (4)so that we ourselves make our boast of you among the churches of God, for your patience and fidelity under all your persecutions and afflictions which ye endure: (5)which is a manifest proof of the righteous judgment of God, that ye should be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: (6)seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; (7)and to you who are troubled, rest with us, at the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven with his mighty angels, (8)in a flame of fire, taking vengeance of them that know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: (9)who shall receive punishment, even eternal perdition, from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power: (10)when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired by all those who believe; because our testimony was believed among you in that day. (11)Wherefore also we pray continually for you, that our God would count you worthy of the calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power: (12)that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified by you, and you by him, according to the grace of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ.
CHAP. II.
NOW we entreat you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto him: (2)that ye be not hastily agitated with apprehension, nor troubled, neither by spirit, nor by discourse, nor by letter, as coming from us, as though the day of the Lord was instantly approaching. (3)Let no man deceive you in any way: because that cannot be till the apostasy come first, and the man of sin appear, the son of perdition, (4)who opposeth himself against, and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or is the object of adoration; so that he in the temple of God sitteth as God, exhibiting himself in public that he is God. (5)Do ye not remember that when I was yet with you, I told you these things? (6)And now ye know what withholdeth, that he may be revealed in his own time. (7)For the mystery of iniquity is already powerfully working; only he that withholdeth hitherto, will do so till he is removed. (8)And then that lawless person will appear, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming; (9)whose appearing is known by fanatical energy, displayed in all power, and signs, and lying miracles, (10)and in every unrighteous delusion among those who perish: in consequence of which things they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. (11)And for this cause God shall send unto them the energy of delusion, that they should believe a lie: (12)that they all might be damned who have not believed the truth, but have taken pleasure in unrighteousness. (13)But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath elected you from the beginning unto salvation, by sanctification of the Spirit, and faith in the truth: (14)whereunto also he called you by our gospel, in order to your acquisition of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. (15)Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and firmly hold the injunctions delivered to you, as ye have been taught, whether by our discourse, or by letter.
(16)Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and our God, and Father, who hath loved us, and given us everlasting consolation, and good hope through grace, (17)comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.
CHAP. III.
FINALLY, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run, and be glorified, even as among you; (2)and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for there is not faith in all. (3)But the Lord is faithful, who will stablish you, and keep you from the wicked one. (4)But we have confidence in the Lord towards you, that the things which we have enjoined you, ye both do, and will do. (5)And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patience of Christ.
(6)Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to withdraw yourselves from every brother who walketh disorderly, and not according to the injunction which he hath received from us. (7)For ye yourselves know how ye ought to imitate us; for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you, (8)neither did we eat bread with any man unpaid for, but with labour and toil worked night and day, that we might be burdensome to none of you: (9)not that we have not such power, but that we might be ourselves an example for you to imitate. (10)For when we were with you, this we enjoined you, that if a man would not work, neither should he eat. (11)For we hear that there are some among you who walk disorderly, doing no work, but being busy-bodies. (12)Now such we command, and conjure, by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they labour, and eat their own bread.
(13)But ye, brethren, be not weary of well doing. (14)And if any man obey not our word by letter, mark that man, and maintain no society with him, that he may be ashamed. (15)Yet regard him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. (16)And the Lord of peace himself give you peace, by every means, in every situation.
The Lord be with you all.
(17)The salutation of Paul with my own hand, which is my sign in every letter: so I write.
(18)The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
The second epistle was written to the Thessalonians from Athens.
THE FIRST EPISTLE OF THE APOSTLE PAUL TO TIMOTHY.
CHAP. I.
PAUL, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the order of God, our Saviour, and Lord, Jesus Christ, who is our hope; (2)to Timothy, my genuine son in faith: grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father, and Christ Jesus our Lord.