Study Desk

God's plan is to make known his secret to his people, this rich and glorious secret which he has for all peoples. And the secret is that Christ is in you, which means that you will share in the glory of God.

For the full content of divine nature lives in Christ, in his humanity,

And on that cross Christ freed himself from the power of the spiritual rulers and authorities; he made a public spectacle of them by leading them as captives in his victory procession.

You have been raised to life with Christ, so set your hearts on the things that are in heaven, where Christ sits on his throne at the right side of God.

Your real life is Christ and when he appears, then you too will appear with him and share his glory!

and have put on the new self. This is the new being which God, its Creator, is constantly renewing in his own image, in order to bring you to a full knowledge of himself.

You are the people of God; he loved you and chose you for his own. So then, you must clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

Remember that the Lord will give you as a reward what he has kept for his people. For Christ is the real Master you serve.

At the same time pray also for us, so that God will give us a good opportunity to preach his message about the secret of Christ. For that is why I am now in prison.

I can personally testify to his hard work for you and for the people in Laodicea and Hierapolis.

Our friends, we know that God loves you and has chosen you to be his own.

and to wait for his Son to come from heaven—his Son Jesus, whom he raised from death and who rescues us from God's anger that is coming.

We encouraged you, we comforted you, and we kept urging you to live the kind of life that pleases God, who calls you to share in his own Kingdom and glory.

Now we can give thanks to our God for you. We thank him for the joy we have in his presence because of you.

So then, whoever rejects this teaching is not rejecting a human being, but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.

God did not choose us to suffer his anger, but to possess salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

All of this proves that God's judgment is just and as a result you will become worthy of his Kingdom, for which you are suffering.

and he will give relief to you who suffer and to us as well. He will do this when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven with his mighty angels,

They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, separated from the presence of the Lord and from his glorious might,

when he comes on that Day to receive glory from all his people and honor from all who believe. You too will be among them, because you have believed the message that we told you.