Study Desk

For I may be absent in body, but I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see how well ordered you are and the strength of your faith in Christ.

But now, put away all the following: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth.

In Christ there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all.

Slaves, obey your human masters in everything. Don’t work only while being watched, as people-pleasers, but work wholeheartedly, fearing the Lord.

because our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with full assurance. You know how we lived among you for your benefit,

For the word of the Lord rang out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place that your faith in God has gone out. Therefore, we don’t need to say anything,

Instead, just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please people, but rather God, who examines our hearts.

We cared so much for you that we were pleased to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.

This is why we constantly thank God, because when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you welcomed it not as a human message, but as it truly is, the word of God, which also works effectively in you who believe.

But as for us, brothers and sisters, after we were forced to leave you for a short time (in person, not in heart), we greatly desired and made every effort to return and see you face to face.

So we wanted to come to you—even I, Paul, time and again—but Satan hindered us.

But now Timothy has come to us from you and brought us good news about your faith and love. He reported that you always have good memories of us and that you long to see us, as we also long to see you.

For God has not called us to impurity but to live in holiness.

Consequently, anyone who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.

In fact, you are doing this toward all the brothers and sisters in the entire region of Macedonia. But we encourage you, brothers and sisters, to do this even more,

But you, brothers and sisters, are not in the dark, for this day to surprise you like a thief.

So then, let us not sleep, like the rest, but let us stay awake and be self-controlled.

But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled and put on the armor of faith and love, and a helmet of the hope of salvation.

For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

See to it that no one repays evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all.