I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, their would-be leader, does not accept us. For that reason, if I come, I shall speak of the things he has been doing, talking wicked nonsense about us; and not content with that, he refuses to welcome brothers himself, and prevents those who wish to do so and drives them out of the church.
Dear friend, do not imitate evil but good. He who does good is from God; he who does evil has not seen God. Demetrius has testimonials from all and from the truth itself; and we also testify to him, and you know that our testimony is true.
I had much to write you about, but I do not want to write it out for you with pen and ink. But I hope to see you soon, and we shall talk face to face. Peace be with you. Our friends send you greetings. Greet our friends each by name.
The General Letter of Jude
11JUDE, SLAVE OF JESUS CHRIST AND brother of James, to those who are loved by God the Father and kept safe for Jesus Christ, the chosen ones. May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied for you.
While making all haste to write to you, dear friends, concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you entreating you to fight for the faith which was, once for all, handed down to the saints. For some persons have slipped in among us who had been marked out long in advance for this judgment, impious men, who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness, and deny our sole master and Lord, Jesus Christ. And I wish to remind you, although you once knew it all, that the Lord, after rescuing his people out of Egypt, then later destroyed those who did not believe; and those angels who did not obey their government but forsook their proper dwelling place he stored away in everlasting chains deep in the darkness to await judgment on the great Day. Just so Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, who like those angels debauched themselves and strayed after unnatural sex, lie before us as an example, submitting to the punishment of everlasting fire.
Like them, these people also in their dreaming defile the flesh, deny high authority, and insult glorious creatures. And yet the archangel Michael, when he was matched against the devil and disputing for the body of Moses, did not have the audacity to pronounce an insulting judgment, but said: May the Lord punish you. But these people insult what they do not understand; and what they do understand, in a physical way like dumb beasts, is what destroys them. Woe to them, because they have gone the way of Cain, and given in, for a price, to the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Corah. It is these who are blemishes on your love feasts when they join you in them, shamelessly looking after themselves: rainless clouds driven by on the gales, autumn trees without fruit uprooted and dying twice, wild sea waves foaming their own shame, wandering stars with the dark of hell in store for them.
Enoch, seventh from Adam, prophesied about these, saying: Behold, the Lord comes with his sainted tens of thousands, to pass judgment upon all, and to convict all the impious for all the acts of impiety they have committed, and for all the harsh things the impious sinners have said about him. These people are grumblers, com- plainers, going the way of their desires, and their mouths talk loud, flattering personages to do themselves good.
But as for you, dear friends, remember the words of prophecy spoken by the apostles of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Because they told you: In the final time there will be mockers, impious men going the way of their desires. These are the causers of divisions, sensual men without spirit. But as for you, dear friends, building yourselves up on your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for everlasting life. And pity some who are in doubt and save them by snatching them out of the fire; but pity others with fear, hating even the garment stained by their flesh.
To him who has the power to keep you from stumbling and set you blameless in exultation in the presence of his glory; to the only God our savior through Jesus Christ our Lord; glory, greatness, power, and authority before all time, and now, and through all the ages forever. Amen.
THE REVELATION OF JOHN
It is now widely believed that the Revelation was written not by the author of the gospel, but by another |ohn, of whom tradition speaks as living in Ephesus toward the end of the first and the beginning of the second century.
•1 THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST, which God gave him, to show to his slaves what must happen soon, and he indicated it by sending it through his angel to John, his slave, who bore witness to the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, the things that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and blessed are they who listen to the words of the prophecy and who keep what is written in it. For the time is near.
John to the seven churches which are in Asia: grace be with you, and peace, from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits which are in the presence of his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the witness who is to be believed, the first-born among the dead and the leader of the Kings of the earth. To him who loves us and by his own blood set us free from our sins, who made us a Kingdom and made us priests to his God and father, to him the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he will come with the clouds, and every eye shall see him, even they who transfixed him, and all the tribes of the earth shall beat their breasts at the sight of him. Yes. Amen.
I am alpha and omega, says the Lord God, who is, who was, who is to come, the almighty.
I, John, your brother and companion in afiction and in the kingdom and in the endurance which is in Jesus, I was in the island which is called Patmos because of the word of God and the witnessing to Jesus. I was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet, saying: Write down what you see into a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Sm^roa and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea. And I turned to see what voice was speaking with me, and when I turned I saw seven lamps of gold, and in the midst of the lamps one who was like the son of man, wearing a robe that came to his feet and girt beneath the arms with a belt of gold. His head and his hair were white as white wool, as snow, and his eyes were like the flame of fire, and his feet were like fine bronze, as if fired in the furnace, and his voice was like the voice of many waters, and he held in his right hand seven stars, and from his mouth projected a sword, two-edged and sharp, and the sight of him was as the sun shines in its power. When I saw him I fell at his feet like a dead man; and he set his hand upon me and said:
Do not fear. I am the first and the last, I am he who lives, I have been dead, and see, I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades. Write, then, what you have seen, and what is and what is to be after this. The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven lamps of gold: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lamps are the seven churches.
fl To the angel of the church in Ephesus, write: Thus speaks he who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the lamps of gold: I know your works, and your toil and your endurance, and that you are not able to endure evil men, and that you have tried those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them false; you have endurance, and have borne a burden for the sake of my name, and have not grown weary. But I hold it against you that you have lost the love you had at fust. Remember whence you have fallen, and repent, and do the works which you did at first; if not, I shall come to you and remove your lamp from its place; unless you repent. But this you have in your favor, that you hate the works of the followers of Nicolaus, which I also hate. He who has ears, let him listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. To the victor, I shall give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the garden of God.