Study Desk

I want them to be strengthened and joined together with love so that they may be rich in their understanding. This leads to their knowing fully God's secret, that is, Christ himself.

God stripped the spiritual rulers and powers of their authority. With the cross, he won the victory and showed the world that they were powerless.

They do not hold tightly to Christ, the head. It is from him that all the parts of the body are cared for and held together. So it grows in the way God wants it to grow.

These rules refer to earthly things that are gone as soon as they are used. They are only human commands and teachings.

They seem to be wise, but they are only part of a human religion. They make people pretend not to be proud and make them punish their bodies, but they do not really control the evil desires of the sinful self.

I send him with Onesimus, a faithful and dear brother in Christ, and one of your group. They will tell you all that has happened here.

Jesus, who is called Justus, also greets you. These are the only Jewish believers who work with me for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me.

People everywhere are telling about the way you accepted us when we were there with you. They tell how you stopped worshiping idols and began serving the living and true God.

Brothers and sisters, your experiences have been like those of God's churches in Christ that are in Judea. You suffered from the people of your own country, as they suffered from the Jews

who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets and forced us to leave that country. They do not please God and are against all people.

While people are saying, "We have peace and we are safe," they will be destroyed quickly. It is like pains that come quickly to a woman having a baby. Those people will not escape.

Those people will be punished with a destruction that continues forever. They will be kept away from the Lord and from his great power.

Tell them not to spend their time on stories that are not true and on long lists of names in family histories. These things only bring arguments; they do not help God's work, which is done in faith.

Hymenaeus and Alexander have done that, and I have given them to Satan so they will learn not to speak against God.

First, I tell you to pray for all people, asking God for what they need and being thankful to him.

In the same way, women must be respected by others. They must not speak evil of others. They must be self-controlled and trustworthy in everything.

Those who serve well as deacons are making an honorable place for themselves, and they will be very bold in their faith in Christ Jesus.

Now the Holy Spirit clearly says that in the later times some people will stop believing the faith. They will follow spirits that lie and teachings of demons.

They forbid people to marry and tell them not to eat certain foods which God created to be eaten with thanks by people who believe and know the truth.

But do not put younger widows on that list. After they give themselves to Christ, they are pulled away from him by their physical desires, and then they want to marry again.