Study Desk

And so I will always remind you of these matters, even though you already know them and are firmly grounded in the truth you have received.

So we are even more confident of the message proclaimed by the prophets. You will do well to pay attention to it, because it is like a lamp shining in a dark place until the Day dawns and the light of the morning star shines in your hearts.

False prophets appeared in the past among the people, and in the same way false teachers will appear among you. They will bring in destructive, untrue doctrines, and will deny the Master who redeemed them, and so they will bring upon themselves sudden destruction.

Even so, many will follow their immoral ways; and because of what they do, others will speak evil of the Way of truth.

And so the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials and how to keep the wicked under punishment for the Day of Judgment,

Even the angels, who are so much stronger and mightier than these false teachers, do not accuse them with insults in the presence of the Lord.

And so, my friends, as you wait for that Day, do your best to be pure and faultless in God's sight and to be at peace with him.

This is what he says in all his letters when he writes on the subject. There are some difficult things in his letters which ignorant and unstable people explain falsely, as they do with other passages of the Scriptures. So they bring on their own destruction.

But you, my friends, already know this. Be on your guard, then, so that you will not be led away by the errors of lawless people and fall from your safe position.

When this life became visible, we saw it; so we speak of it and tell you about the eternal life which was with the Father and was made known to us.

What we have seen and heard we announce to you also, so that you will join with us in the fellowship that we have with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

I am writing this to you, my children, so that you will not sin; but if anyone does sin, we have someone who pleads with the Father on our behalf—Jesus Christ, the righteous one.

If we love others, we live in the light, and so there is nothing in us that will cause someone else to sin.

Everything that belongs to the world—what the sinful self desires, what people see and want, and everything in this world that people are so proud of—none of this comes from the Father; it all comes from the world.

My children, the end is near! You were told that the Enemy of Christ would come; and now many enemies of Christ have already appeared, and so we know that the end is near.

These people really did not belong to our fellowship, and that is why they left us; if they had belonged to our fellowship, they would have stayed with us. But they left so that it might be clear that none of them really belonged to us.

But you have had the Holy Spirit poured out on you by Christ, and so all of you know the truth.

Yes, my children, remain in union with him, so that when he appears we may be full of courage and need not hide in shame from him on the Day he comes.

See how much the Father has loved us! His love is so great that we are called God's children—and so, in fact, we are. This is why the world does not know us: it has not known God.

So everyone who lives in union with Christ does not continue to sin; but whoever continues to sin has never seen him or known him.