Let us then, brothers, ask you to recognize those who are working for you and acting for you with the Lord and giving you counsel, and hold them in special love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we implore you, brothers,. admonish the disorderly, comfort the faint-hearted, protect the weak, be patient with all. See to it that no one returns evil for evil, but always pursue the good, toward each other and toward all. Be always joyful, pray constantly, be thankful on every occasion; for this is God's will for you, through Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit, do not ignore prophecies. Examine everything, hold fast to the good, keep away from every kind of wickedness.
May the very God of power sanctify you completely, and may your entire spirit and soul and body be kept safe without fault at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he who summons you, who will act accordingly.
Brothers, pray for us.
Greet all the brothers with a sacred kiss. I charge you by the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers.
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
The Second Letter to the Thessalonians
1PAUL AND SILVANUS AND TIMOTHY to the church of the Thessalonians, in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
We must be thankful to God at all times on your account, brothers, as is only right, because your faith increases, and the love of all of you for each other is growing; so that we also can take pride in you in the churches of God, because of your endurance and faith in all the persecutions and sufferings you endure. This is a demonstration of the just judgment of God, for you to be counted worthy of the Kingdom of God, for whose sake you suffer; if indeed it is God's justice to repay with affliction those who afflicted you, and to grant to you, the afflicted, relief with us at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power, in flame of fire; who will bestow punishment on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of everlasting destruction, far from the face of the Lord and the glory of his power, when he comes to be glorified among his saints and admired among all believers, on the great Day, because our testimony to you was believed. Until then we pray constantly for you, that our God may consider you worthy of election, and fulfill all your desire for goodness, and the work of your faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, by the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
But let us ask you, brothers, in the matter of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and our meeting with him, not to be lightly driven out of your minds or terrified by any spirit or report, or letter that seems to come from us saying that the Day of the Lord has arrived. Let no one deceive you in any way; since first must come the rebellion and the revelation of the man of iniquity, the son of perdition, who opposes and sets himself above whatever is called divine and worshipful, so that he seats himself in the temple of God, displaying himself still as God. Do you not remember that I told you this when I was with you? And you know what now restrains him, until he will be revealed in his own time; for the mystery of iniquity is now at work, only there is one who prevents it until he is gone from our midst. And then the iniquitous one will be revealed, but the Lord will kill him by the breath of his mouth and annihilate him by the manifestation of his coming. But this one's appearance will come by the working of Satan with all his power, with the signs and portents of falsehood, with full deception of wrong for those who perish because they did not accept the love of truth for their salvation. Therefore God visits them with the force that makes them go astray, to believe in the lie; so that all who did not believe in the truth, but favored umighteousness, may be condemned.
But we owe constant thanks to God for your sake, brothers beloved by the Lord, because from the beginning he chose you for salvation by sanctification of the spirit and belief in the truth. He summoned you to this through our gospel, to a share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brothers, be steadfast, and preserve the traditions you were taught by us whether by word of mouth or by letter. May our Lord himself, Jesus Christ, and God our Father, who loves us and gave us everlasting comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and strengthen you in every good action and word.
11 For the rest, pray for us, brothers, that the word of the Lord may go forward and gain in glory, as with you, and that we may be kept safe from the wrong and wicked people. For faith is not for all. But the Lord is to be trusted, who will strengthen you and protect you from evil. And we trust in the Lord concerning you, because you do and will do what we tell you. And may the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and endurance to await the Christ.'
And we charge you, brothers, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to keep yourselves from every brother who follows a course that is idle and not in accordance with the tradition you received from us. For you yourselves know how you should copy us, in that we were not idle when we were among you and did not eat food supplied as a gift by anyone else, but plied our trade with hard labor night and day so as not to be a burden on any of you; not that we did not have that right, but so as to present ourselves as a model for you to copy. For when we were with you we taught you that anyone who would not work should not eat. Since we hear that some among you follow an idle course, and do not work but mind the business of others. And these, by the Lord Jesus Christ, we direct and urge to ply their trade in peace and e^ their own living. But you, brothers, do not weaken in your good works. And if anyone disobeys our instructions in this letter, mark him and have nothing to do with him, to make him ashamed. But do not count him as an enemy, but counsel him as a brother. And may the very Lord of peace give you peace of every kind, always. The Lord be with you all.
The greeting is by the hand of myself, Paul. This is my signature to every letter. This is my writing. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
The First Letter to Timothy
IPAUL, APOSTLE OF CHRIST JESUS BY the order of God our savior and Christ Jesus our hope, to Timothy, my own true child in faith: grace, mercy, peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
As I asked you, when I was setting out for Macedonia, to stay on in Ephesus, it was so that you could tell certain people not to teach heretical doctrines, not to put their minds on myths and interminable genealogies which lead to speculations rather than the plan of God, which is through faith. The aim of my instruction is love, from a pure heart and a good conscience and unfeigned faith, qualities which certain people have missed and turned to talking nonsense, wanting to be teachers of the law without either knowing what they are saying or what those things are about which they are so firm. We know that the law is a fine thing if one uses it lawfully, in the knowledge that the law is not established for the just man, but for the lawless and disobedient, the impious and sinful, the unholy and profane, the parricides and matricides, murderers, lechers, pederasts, kidnappers, liars, oath breakers, or anything else that is opposed to healthy teaching according to the gospel of the glory of the blessed God in whom I believe.