Some
of the following scriptures are included to enhance the context or flow of the
following passages, and are not necessarily intended to establish the above
doctrine. However, even a plain reading
of the 75 passages below support the doctrine
of the Believer’s Conditional Security.
That is why I feel like there is no commentary needed to support this
view.
I will however, give a brief
introduction to clarify terms. To clarify terms, Conditional Security is
contrasted to Unconditional Security
view. Some say that a believer’s Eternal
Security is conditional; others say that it is not. Adherents to Conditional Security view can
also have assurance of their salvation. In this sense, they have “Eternal
Security”. However, the phrase “Eternal
Security” is used as a buzzword to express a view that is classified as “Unconditional
Eternal Security”. Therefore, we don’t bother saying that we
have “Eternal Security” anymore, because that term has been redefined
lately. Now we just that we have
“Salvation assurance”. Pentecostals,
While various forms of the
Unconditional Security view are held by most American Christians today, this
view was not adhered to among any professing Christian group until a Catholic
Monk named Augustine introduced it in the Middle
ages. Dan Corner’s research into the
roots and manifestations of this idea are presented in his e-book, which you
can order from his website, http://www.evangelicaloutreach.org/. You could also order a paper copy, but Robert
Shank’s “Life in the Son” might be a better starter on the issue. I got the scripture references below from its
appendix. If you would like these
scriptures nicely explained from the conditional security perspective, then
Roberts’s book will do that.
Dan and Robert’s books also
explain the “anomaly scriptures” that many understand to imply that the
believer’s security is unconditional.
Explaining these passages is not the purpose of this document. This document merely presents passages that
establish the doctrine of the Believer’s
Conditional Security. I have highlighted some of the conditional words and
ideas in bold, for clarity. If you read
this entire document, you will have read a large portion of the New
Testament. Here are the scriptures:
Matt
18:21-35
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked,
"Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"
22 Jesus answered, "I tell you, not
seven times, but seventy-seven times.
23 "Therefore, the kingdom of heaven
is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.
24 As he began the settlement, a man who
owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him.
25 Since he was not able to pay, the
master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be
sold to repay the debt.
26 "The servant fell on his knees
before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I
will pay back everything.'
27 The servant's master took pity on him,
canceled the debt and let him go.
28 "But when that servant went out,
he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii.
He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.
29 "His
fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I
will pay you back.'
30 "But he refused. Instead, he went off
and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.
31 When the other servants saw what had
happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master
everything that had happened.
32 "Then the master called the
servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled
all that debt of yours because you begged me to.
33 Shouldn't you have had mercy on your
fellow servant just as I had on you?'
34 In anger his master turned him over to
the jailers to be tortured, until he
should pay back all he owed.
35 "This is how my heavenly Father
will treat each of you unless you
forgive your brother from your heart."
(NIV)
Matt
24:4-14
4 Jesus answered: "Watch out that
no one deceives you.
5 For many will come in my name,
claiming, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many.
6 You will hear of wars and rumors of
wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the
end is still to come.
7 Nation will rise against nation, and
kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various
places.
8 All these are the beginning of birth
pains.
9 "Then you will be handed over to
be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of
me.
10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each
other,
11 and many false prophets will appear and
deceive many people.
12 Because of the increase of wickedness,
the love of most will grow cold,
13 but he who stands firm to the end will
be saved.
14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be
preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end
will come. (NIV)
Luke
8:11-15
11 "This is the meaning of the
parable: The seed is the word of God.
12 Those along the path are the ones who
hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so
that they may not believe and be saved.
13 Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they
hear it, but they have no root. They believe
for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.
14 The seed that fell among thorns stands
for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's
worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.
15 But the seed on good soil stands for those
with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop. (NIV)
The initial receiving and believing done in verse 13
was apparently not enough to “keep” those on the rock. Here’s an extra passage where Christ clarifies
what else should follow hearing:
Luke 11:23-30
23 "He who is not with me is against
me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters.
24 "When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes
through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will
return to the house I left.'
25 When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in
order.
26 Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the
final condition of that man is worse than the first."
27 As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd
called out, "Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed
you."
28 He replied, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it."
29 As the crowds increased, Jesus said, "This is a wicked
generation. It asks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the
sign of Jonah.
30 For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites,
so also will the Son of Man be to this
generation. (NIV)
Luke 12:42-48
42 The Lord answered, "Who then is the faithful and wise
manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food
allowance at the proper time?
43 It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing
so when he returns.
44 I tell you the truth, he will put
him in charge of all his possessions.
45 But suppose the
servant says to himself, 'My master is taking a long time in coming,' and he
then begins to beat the menservants and maidservants and to eat and drink and
get drunk.
46 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does
not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and
assign him a place with the unbelievers.
47 "That servant who knows his master's will and does not
get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows.
48 But the one who does not know and does things deserving
punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given
much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much,
much more will be asked. (NIV)
John 6:62-71
63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The
words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not
believe and who would betray him.
65 He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one
can come to me unless the Father has enabled him."
66 From this time many
of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
67 "You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus
asked the Twelve.
68 Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
69 We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."
70 Then Jesus replied, "Have I not chosen you, the Twelve?
Yet one of you is a devil!"
71 (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one
of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)
(NIV)
John 8:31-32
31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are
really my disciples.
32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you
free." (NIV)
John 8:51
51 I tell you the truth, if
anyone keeps my word, he will never see death." (NIV)
John 13:7-8
7 Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am
doing, but later you will understand."
8 "No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my
feet." Jesus answered, "Unless
I wash you, you have no part with me."
(NIV)
John 15:1-14
1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while
every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more
fruitful.
3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to
you.
4 Remain in me, and I
will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in
the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless
you remain in me.
5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do
nothing.
6 If anyone does
not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such
branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
7 If you remain in
me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.
8 This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit,
showing yourselves to be my disciples.
9 "As the Father has loved me, so
have I loved you. Now remain in
my love.
10 If you obey my
commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's
commands and remain in his love.
11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that
your joy may be complete.
12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
13 Greater love has no one than this, that
he lay down his life for his friends.
14 You are my friends if
you do what I command. (NIV)
Acts 11:21-23
21 The Lord's hand was with them, and a great number of people
believed and turned to the Lord.
22 News of this reached the ears of the church at
23 When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he
was glad and encouraged them all to remain
true to the Lord with all their hearts.
(NIV)
Heb 10:25-39
25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the
habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-- and all the more as you see
the Day approaching.
26 If we
deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth,
no sacrifice for sins is left,
27 but only a fearful expectation of
judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.
28 Anyone who rejected the law of
Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
29 How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be
punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an
unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has
insulted the Spirit of grace?
30 For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will
repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people."
31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living
God.
32 Remember those earlier days after you had received the
light, when you stood your ground in
a great contest in the face of suffering.
33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and
persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so
treated.
34 You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted
the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had
better and lasting possessions.
35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly
rewarded.
36 You need to persevere
so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has
promised.
37 For in just a very little while, "He who is coming will
come and will not delay.
38 But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be
pleased with him."
39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed,
but of those who believe and are saved.
(NIV)
Jude 1:3-12
3 Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you
about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for
the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.
4 For certain men whose condemnation was written about long
ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license
for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign
and Lord.
5 Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that
the Lord delivered his people out of
6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of
authority but abandoned their own home-- these he has kept in darkness, bound
with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.
7 In a similar way,
8 In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own
bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings.
9 But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with
the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous
accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"
10 Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not
understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning
animals-- these are the very things that destroy them.
11 Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have
rushed for profit into Balaam's error; they have been destroyed in Korah's rebellion.
12 These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you
without the slightest qualm-- shepherds who feed only themselves. They are
clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted--
twice dead. (NIV)
Acts 11:21-23
21 The Lord's hand was with them, and a great number of people
believed and turned to the Lord.
22 News of this reached the ears of the church at
23 When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all
to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. (NIV)
Acts 14:21-22
21 They preached the good news in that city and won a large
number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and
22 strengthening the disciples and
encouraging them to remain true to
the faith. "We must go through many hardships to
enter the kingdom of God," they said.
(NIV)
Rom 6:11-23
11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to
God in Christ Jesus.
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that
you obey its evil desires.
13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments
of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been
brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as
instruments of righteousness.
14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under
law, but under grace.
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but
under grace? By no means!
16 Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to
obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey-- whether you are
slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to
righteousness?
17 But thanks be to God that, though
you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to
which you were entrusted.
18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to
righteousness.
19 I put this in human terms because you are weak in your
natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to
impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to
righteousness leading to holiness.
20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control
of righteousness.
21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you
are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!
22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you
reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is
eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(NIV)
Rom 8:12-17
12 Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation-- but it is not to
the sinful nature, to live according to it.
13 For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will
die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will
live,
14 because those who are led by the Spirit
of God are sons of God.
15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave
again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.
And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."
16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are
God's children.
17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs-- heirs of God and
co-heirs with Christ, if indeed
we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his
glory. (NIV)
Rom 11:17-22
17 If some of the branches have been broken off, and you,
though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share
in the nourishing sap from the olive root,
18 do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this:
You do not support the root, but the root supports you.
19 You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I
could be grafted in."
20 Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and
you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid.
21 For if God did not spare the natural
branches, he will not spare you either.
22 Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God:
sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also
will be cut off. (NIV)
Rom 14:15-23
15 If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are
no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom
Christ died.
16 Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil.
17 For the
18 because anyone who serves Christ in
this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.
19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace
and to mutual edification.
20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All
food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone
else to stumble.
21 It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything
else that will cause your brother to fall.
22
So whatever you
believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man
who does not condemn himself by what he approves.
23 But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because
his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is
sin. (NIV)
1 Cor
23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel,
that I may share in its blessings.
24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only
one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.
25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict
training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a
crown that will last forever.
26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do
not fight like a man beating the air.
27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have
preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
(NIV)
1 Cor
29 For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body
of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.
30 That is why many among you are weak and sick,
and a number of you have fallen asleep.
31 But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under
judgment.
32 When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so
that we will not be condemned with the world.
33 So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait
for each other.
34 If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you
meet together it may not result in judgment. And when I come I will give
further directions.
(NIV)
1 Cor
29 For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body
of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.
30 That is why many among you are weak and sick,
and a number of you have fallen asleep.
31 But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment.
32 When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so
that we will not be condemned with the world.
33 So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait
for each other.
34 If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you
meet together it may not result in judgment. And when I come I will give
further directions.
(NIV)
1 Cor
15:1-2
1 Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I
preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.
2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the
word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. (NIV)
2 Cor
24 Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you
for your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm. (NIV)
2 Cor
11:2-4
2 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you
to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.
3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the
serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and
pure devotion to Christ.
4 For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than
the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you
received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it
easily enough. (NIV)
2 Cor
21 I am afraid that when I come again my God will humble me
before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have
not repented of the impurity, sexual sin and debauchery in which they have
indulged.
CHAPTER 13
1 This will be my third visit to you. "Every matter must
be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses."
2 I already gave you a warning when I was with you the second
time. I now repeat it while absent: On my return I will not spare those who
sinned earlier or any of the others,
3 since you are demanding proof that Christ is speaking
through me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you.
4 For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives
by God's power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God's power we will live
with him to serve you.
5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith;
test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you-- unless, of
course, you fail the test?
6 And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed
the test.
7 Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong. Not
that people will see that we have stood the test but that you will do what is
right even though we may seem to have failed.
(NIV)
Gal 5:1-4
1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm,
then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves
be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.
3 Again I declare to every man who lets himself be
circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.
4 You who are trying to be justified by law have been
alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.
(NIV)
Gal 6:7-9
7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what
he sows.
8 The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that
nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the
Spirit will reap eternal life.
9 Let us not become weary in doing good,
for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
(NIV)
Eph 3:17
17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I
pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
(NIV)
Phil 2:12-16
12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed-- not
only in my presence, but now much more in my absence-- continue to work out
your salvation with fear and trembling,
13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according
to his good purpose.
14 Do everything without complaining or arguing,
15 so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God
without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like
stars in the universe
16 as you hold out the word of life-- in order that I may boast
on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.
(NIV)
Phil 3:4-4:1
4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone
else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more:
5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of
6 as for zeal, persecuting the church;
as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.
7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the
sake of Christ.
8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the
surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have
lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may
gain Christ
9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own
that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ-- the
righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.
11 and
so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already
obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take
hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of
it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is
ahead,
14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has
called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
15 All of us who are mature should take such a view of things.
And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to
you.
16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
17 Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take
note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.
18 For, as I have often told you before and now say again even
with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.
19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach,
and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.
20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a
Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under
his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his
glorious body.
CHAPTER 4
1 Therefore, my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my
joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in
the Lord, dear friends! (NIV)
21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your
minds because of your evil behavior.
22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body
through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation--
23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not
moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard
and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I,
Paul, have become a servant. (NIV)
4 I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by
fine-sounding arguments.
5 For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with
you in spirit and delight to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in
Christ is.
6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord,
continue to live in him,
7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as
you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and
deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles
of this world rather than on Christ.
(NIV)
18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the
worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great
detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle
notions.
19 He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole
body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God
causes it to grow.
(NIV)
1Thes 3:1-8
1 So when we could stand it no longer, we thought it best to
be left by ourselves in
2 We sent Timothy, who is our brother and God's fellow worker
in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your
faith,
3 so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. You know
quite well that we were destined for them.
4 In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we
would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know.
5 For this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to
find out about your faith. I was afraid that in some way the tempter might have
tempted you and our efforts might have been useless.
6 But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has
brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always
have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long
to see you.
7 Therefore, brothers, in all our distress and persecution we
were encouraged about you because of your faith.
8 For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the
Lord.
(NIV)
1 Tim 1:3-7
3 As I urged you when I went into
4 nor to devote themselves to myths and
endless genealogies. These
promote controversies rather than God's work-- which is by faith.
5 The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure
heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
6 Some have wandered away from these and turned to
meaningless talk.
7 They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know
what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm. (NIV)
1 Tim 1:18-20
18 Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with
the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the
good fight,
19 holding on to faith and a good
conscience. Some have rejected
these and so have shipwrecked their faith.
20 Among them are Hymenaeus and
Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme. (NIV)
1 Tim 2:11-15
11 A woman should learn in quietness and full submission.
12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a
man; she must be silent.
13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve.
14 And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was
deceived and became a sinner.
15 But women will be saved through childbearing-- if they continue in faith, love and
holiness with propriety. (NIV)
1 Tim 4:1-16
1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will
abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.
2 Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose
consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.
3 They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from
certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who
believe and who know the truth.
4 For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be
rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,
5 because it is consecrated by the word
of God and prayer.
6 If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be
a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of
the good teaching that you have followed.
7 Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales;
rather, train yourself to be godly.
8 For physical training is of some
value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the
present life and the life to come.
9 This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance
10 (and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our
hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those
who believe.
11 Command and teach these things.
12 Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but
set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in
purity.
13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of
Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.
14 Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a
prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you.
15 Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them,
so that everyone may see your progress.
16 Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them,
because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers. (NIV)
1 Tim 5:8
8 If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and
especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than
an unbeliever. (NIV)
1 Tim 5:11-15
11 As for younger widows, do not put them on such a list. For
when their sensual desires overcome their dedication to Christ, they want to
marry.
12 Thus they bring judgment on themselves, because they have
broken their first pledge.
13 Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going
about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also gossips
and busybodies, saying things they ought not to.
14 So I counsel younger widows to marry, to have children, to
manage their homes and to give the enemy no opportunity for slander.
15 Some have in fact already
turned away to follow Satan. (NIV)
1 Tim 5:5-6
5 The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her
hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help.
6 But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she
lives. (NIV)
1 Tim 6:9-12
9 People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap
and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and
destruction.
10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some
people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves
with many griefs.
11 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue
righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.
12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal
life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the
presence of many witnesses. (NIV)
1 Tim 6:17-21
17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be
arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put
their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be
generous and willing to share.
19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a
firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that
is truly life.
20 Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn
away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called
knowledge,
21 which some have professed and in so doing have wandered from the faith. Grace be with you.
(NIV)
2 Tim 2:11-18
11 Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will
also live with him;
12 if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him,
he will also disown us;
13 if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot
disown himself.
14 Keep reminding them of these things. Warn them before God
against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who
listen.
15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a
workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of
truth.
16 Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will
become more and more ungodly.
17 Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,
18 who have wandered
away from the truth.
They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the
faith of some. (NIV)
2 Tim 2:22-26
22 Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness,
faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure
heart.
23 Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments,
because you know they produce quarrels.
24 And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be
kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.
25 Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope
that God will grant them repentance leading them to a
knowledge of the truth,
26 and that they will come to their senses and escape from the
trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. (NIV)
2 Tim 3:12-15
12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ
Jesus will be persecuted,
13 while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse,
deceiving and being deceived.
14 But as for you, continue
in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know
those from whom you learned it,
15 and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures,
which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ
Jesus. (NIV)
Heb 2:1-3
1 We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we
have heard, so that we do not drift
away.
2 For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every
violation and disobedience received its just punishment,
3 how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?
This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by
those who heard him. (NIV)
Heb 3:6-4:16
6 But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And we
are his house, if we hold on to our
courage and the hope of which we boast.
7 So, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you hear his
voice,
8 do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion,
during the time of testing in the desert,
9 where your fathers tested and tried me
and for forty years saw what I did.
10 That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said,
'Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.'
11 So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter
my rest.'"
12 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful,
unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.
13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's
deceitfulness.
14 We have come to share
in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.
15 As has just been said: "Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion."
16 Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all
those Moses led out of
17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with
those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert?
18 And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his
rest if not to those who disobeyed?
19 So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their
unbelief.
CHAPTER 4
1 Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still
stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.
2 For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as
they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who
heard did not combine it with faith.
3 Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has
said, "So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my
rest.'" And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the
world.
4 For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these
words: "And on the seventh day God rested from all his work."
5 And again in the passage above he says, "They shall
never enter my rest."
6 It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those
who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their
disobedience.
7 Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was
said before: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your
hearts."
8 For if
9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God;
10 for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own
work, just as God did from his.
11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so
that no one will fall by following
their example of disobedience.
12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged
sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it
judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him
to whom we must give account.
14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone
through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we
profess.
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize
with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as
we are-- yet was without sin.
16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so
that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (NIV)
Heb 5:8-9
8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he
suffered
9 and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal
salvation for all who obey him (NIV)
Heb 6:4-9
4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened,
who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit,
5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the
powers of the coming age,
6 if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance,
because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and
subjecting him to public disgrace.
7 Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that
produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of
God.
8 But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and
is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.
9 Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are
confident of better things in your case-- things that accompany salvation. (NIV)
Heb 6:4-12
4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who
have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit,
5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the
powers of the coming age,
6 if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance,
because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and
subjecting him to public disgrace.
7 Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that
produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of
God.
8 But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and
is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.
9 Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are
confident of better things in your case-- things that accompany salvation.
10 God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love
you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.
11 We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very
end, in order to make your hope sure.
12 We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who
through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.
Heb 10:19-39
19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the
20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain,
that is, his body,
21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty
conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who
promised is faithful.
24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward
love and good deeds.
25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the
habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-- and all the more as you see
the Day approaching.
26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received
the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left,
27 but only a fearful expectation of
judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.
28 Anyone who rejected the law of
Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
29 How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be
punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an
unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has
insulted the Spirit of grace?
30 For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will
repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people."
31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living
God.
32 Remember those earlier days after you had received the
light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering.
33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and
persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so
treated.
34 You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted
the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had
better and lasting possessions.
35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly
rewarded.
36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of
God, you will receive what he has promised.
37 For in just a very little while, "He who is coming will
come and will not delay.
38 But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks
back, I will not be pleased with him."
39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed,
but of those who believe and are saved.
(NIV)
Heb 11:13-16
13 All these people were still living by faith when they died.
They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them
from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on
earth.
14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a
country of their own.
15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they
would have had opportunity to return.
16 Instead, they were longing for a better country-- a heavenly
one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a
city for them. (NIV)
Heb 12:1-29
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of
witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily
entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him
endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the
throne of God.
3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men,
so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to
the point of shedding your blood.
5 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that
addresses you as sons: "My son, do not make light of the Lord's
discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he
punishes everyone he accepts as a son."
7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons.
For what son is not disciplined by his father?
8 If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes
discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.
9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us
and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of
our spirits and live!
10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they
thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his
holiness.
11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later
on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who
have been trained by it.
12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.
13 "Make level paths for your feet," so that the lame
may not be disabled, but rather healed.
14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be
holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
15 See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no
bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.
16 See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like
Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son.
17 Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this
blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he
sought the blessing with tears.
18 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that
is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm;
19 to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that
those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them,
20 because they could not bear what was commanded: "If
even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned."
21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, "I am
trembling with fear."
22 But you have come to
23 to the church of the firstborn, whose
names are written in heaven. You have
come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made
perfect,
24 to Jesus the mediator of a new
covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood
of Abel.
25 See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did
not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will
we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven?
26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has
promised, "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the
heavens."
27 The words "once more" indicate the removing of
what can be shaken-- that is, created things-- so that what cannot be shaken
may remain.
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be
shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and
awe,
29 for our "God is a consuming fire." (NIV)
Heb 13:7-17
7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you.
Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
9 Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings.
It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by ceremonial foods,
which are of no value to those who eat them.
10 We have an altar from which those who minister at the
tabernacle have no right to eat.
11 The high priest carries the blood of animals into the
12 And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the
people holy through his own blood.
13 Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the
disgrace he bore.
14 For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking
for the city that is to come.
15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a
sacrifice of praise-- the fruit of lips that confess his name.
16 And do not forget to do good and to
share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
17 Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep
watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work
will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you. (NIV)
James 1:1-27
1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings.
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials
of many kinds,
3 because you know that the testing of
your faith develops perseverance.
4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature
and complete, not lacking anything.
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives
generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he
who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.
7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the
Lord;
8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
9 The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in
his high position.
10 But the one who is rich should take pride in his low
position, because he will pass away like a wild flower.
11 For the sun rises with scorching
heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In
the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his
business.
12 Blessed is the man
who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive
the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
13 When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting
me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;
14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is
dragged away and enticed.
15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and
sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
16 Don't be deceived, my dear brothers.
17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from
the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits
of all he created.
19 My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be
quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,
20 for man's anger does not bring
about the righteous life that God desires.
21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is
so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.
Do what it says.
23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says
is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror
24 and, after looking at himself, goes
away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that
gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but
doing it-- he will be blessed in what he does.
26 If anyone considers himself
religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself
and his religion is worthless.
27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless
is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself
from being polluted by the world. (NIV)
James 2:14-26
14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith
but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?
15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily
food.
16 If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep
warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good
is it?
17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied
by action, is dead.
18 But someone will say, "You have faith; I have
deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by
what I do.
19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons
believe that-- and shudder.
20 You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without
deeds is useless?
21 Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what
he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?
22 You see that his faith
and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what
he did.
23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham
believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was
called God's friend.
24 You see that a person
is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.
25 In the same way, was not even Rahab
the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to
the spies and sent them off in a different direction?
26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. (NIV)
James 4:4-10
4 You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with
the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the
spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?
6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God.
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your
hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning
and your joy to gloom.
10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you
up. (NIV)
James 5:19-20
19 My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and
someone should bring him back,
20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his
way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins. (NIV)
1 Pet 1:5-9
5 who through faith are shielded by God's power until the
coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while
you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
7 These have come so that your faith-- of greater worth than
gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-- may
be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ
is revealed.
8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though
you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible
and glorious joy,
9 for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation
of your souls. (NIV)
2 Pet 1:5-11
5 For this very reason, make every
effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;
6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control,
perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;
7 and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and
to brotherly kindness, love.
8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure,
they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of
our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind,
and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.
10 Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your
calling and election sure. For if
you do these things, you will never fall,
11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
(NIV)
2 Pet 2:1-22
1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just
as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce
destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them-- bringing swift destruction on themselves.
2 Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way
of truth into disrepute.
3 In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories
they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and
their destruction has not been sleeping.
4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent
them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment;
5 if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the
flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness,
and seven others;
6 if he condemned the cities of
7 and if he rescued
8 (for that righteous man, living among them day after day,
was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)--
9 if this is so, then the Lord knows
how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of
judgment, while continuing their punishment.
10 This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt
desire of the sinful nature and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, these men
are not afraid to slander celestial beings;
11 yet even angels, although they are stronger and more
powerful, do not bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the
presence of the Lord.
12 But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand.
They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and
destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish.
13 They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have
done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots
and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.
14 With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they
seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed-- an accursed brood!
15 They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow
the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of
wickedness.
16 But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey-- a beast
without speech-- who spoke with a man's voice and restrained the prophet's
madness.
17 These men are springs without water and mists driven by a
storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.
18 For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to
the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just
escaping from those who live in error.
19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves
of depravity-- for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.
20 If they have escaped
the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are
again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they
were at the beginning.
21 It would have been better for them not to have known the way
of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred
command that was passed on to them.
22 Of them the proverbs are true: "A dog returns to its
vomit," and, "A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the
mud." (NIV)
2 Pet 3:16-17
16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them
of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand,
which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to
their own destruction.
17 Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. (NIV)
I Jn
1:1-2:11
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard,
which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have
touched-- this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.
2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and
we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared
to us.
3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you
also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and
with his Son, Jesus Christ.
4 We write this to make our joy complete.
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to
you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
6 If we claim to
have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by
the truth.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have
fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from
all sin.
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the
truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will
forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar
and his word has no place in our lives.
CHAPTER 2
1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not
sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our
defense-- Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for
ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
3 We know that we have come to know him if we obey his
commands.
4 The man who says, "I know him," but does not do
what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But if anyone
obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know
we are in him:
6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old
one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message
you have heard.
8 Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in
him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already
shining.
9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother
is still in the darkness.
10 Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is
nothing in him to make him stumble.
11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks
around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the
darkness has blinded him.
(NIV)
15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone
loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For everything in the world-- the cravings of sinful man,
the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does-- comes not from
the Father but from the world.
17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does
the will of God lives forever.
18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard
that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how
we know it is the last hour.
19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us.
For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their
going showed that none of them belonged to us.
20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you
know the truth.
21 I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but
because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth.
22 Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the
Christ. Such a man is the antichrist-- he denies the Father and the Son.
23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever
acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
24 See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in
you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.
25 And this is what he promised us-- even eternal life.
26 I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray.
27 As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in
you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you
about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit-- just as it
has taught you, remain in him.
28 And now, dear children, continue
in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before
him at his coming.
29 If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who
does what is right has been born of him.
CHAPTER 3
1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that
we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the
world does not know us is that it did not know him.
2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will
be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be
like him, for we shall see him as he is.
3 Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as
he is pure.
4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is
lawlessness.
5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away
our sins. And in him is no sin.
6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who
continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
7 Dear children, do
not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as
he is righteous.
8 He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the
devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared
was to destroy the devil's work.
9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because
God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of
God.
10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the
children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child
of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother. (NIV)
I Jn
5:4-5
4 for everyone born of God overcomes
the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.
5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only
he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. (NIV)
I Jn
5:12-18
12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of
God does not have life.
13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the
Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if
we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
15 And if we know that he hears us-- whatever we ask-- we know
that we have what we asked of him.
16 If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead
to death, he should pray and God will give him life. I refer to those whose sin
does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying
that he should pray about that.
17 All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead
to death.
18 We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin;
the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the
evil one cannot harm him. (NIV)
II Jn
1:6-9
6 And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands.
As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.
7 Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as
coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the
deceiver and the antichrist.
8 Watch out that you do
not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully.
9 Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God;
whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. (NIV)
Jude 1:3-25
3 Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you
about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for
the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.
4 For certain men whose condemnation was written about long
ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the
grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
5 Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that
the Lord delivered his people out of
6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of
authority but abandoned their own home-- these he has kept in darkness, bound
with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.
7 In a similar way,
8 In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own
bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings.
9 But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with
the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous
accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"
10 Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not
understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning
animals-- these are the very things that destroy them.
11 Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have
rushed for profit into Balaam's error; they have been destroyed in Korah's rebellion.
12 These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you
without the slightest qualm-- shepherds who feed only themselves. They are
clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and
uprooted-- twice dead.
13 They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame;
wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been
reserved forever.
14 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men:
"See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones
15 to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the
ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly
sinners have spoken against him."
16 These men are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their
own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own
advantage.
17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus
Christ foretold.
18 They said to you, "In the last times there will be
scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires."
19 These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural
instincts and do not have the Spirit.
20 But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy
faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.
21 Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of
our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.
22 Be merciful to those who doubt;
23 snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show
mercy, mixed with fear-- hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.
24 To him who is able to
keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence
without fault and with great joy--
25 to the only God our Savior be
glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all
ages, now and forevermore! Amen. (NIV)
Rev 2:7
7 He who has an ear, let him hear
what the Spirit says to the churches. To him
who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is
in the paradise of God. (NIV)
Rev 2:10-11
10 Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell
you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer
persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will
give you the crown of life.
11 He who has an ear, let him hear
what the Spirit says to the churches. He
who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death. (NIV)
Rev 2:14-28
14 Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have
people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak
to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by
committing sexual immorality.
15 Likewise you also have those who hold to the teaching of the
Nicolaitans.
16 Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and
will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
17 He who has an ear, let him hear
what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give some of
the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on
it, known only to him who receives it.
18 "To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These
are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose
feet are like burnished bronze.
19 I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and
perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.
20 Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that
woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my
servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.
21 I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she
is unwilling.
22 So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make
those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her
ways.
23 I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will
know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you
according to your deeds.
24 Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not
hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan's so-called deep secrets (I
will not impose any other burden on you):
25 Only hold on to what
you have until I come.
26 To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will
give authority over the nations--
27 'He will rule them with an iron scepter; he will dash them
to pieces like pottery'-- just as I have received authority from my Father.
28 I will also give him the morning star.
(NIV)
Rev 3:4-22
4 Yet you have a few people in
5 He who overcomes
will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the
book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his
angels.
6 He who has an ear, let him hear
what the Spirit says to the churches.
7 "To the angel of the church in
8 I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open
door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have
kept my word and have not denied my name.
9 I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who
claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars-- I will make them come and
fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.
10 Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will
also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world
to test those who live on the earth.
11 I am coming soon. Hold on
to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.
12 Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my
God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and
the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of
heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name.
13 He who has an ear, let him hear
what the Spirit says to the churches.
14 "To the angel of the church in
15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish
you were either one or the other!
16 So, because you are lukewarm-- neither hot nor cold-- I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
17 You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a
thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and
naked.
18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so
you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful
nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
19 Those whom I love I rebuke and
discipline. So be earnest, and repent.
20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my
voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
21 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me
on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.
22 He who has an ear, let him hear
what the Spirit says to the churches."
(NIV)
11 They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word
of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from
death. (NIV)
14 They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will
overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings-- and with him will
be his called, chosen and faithful
followers." (NIV)
Rev 21:7-8
7 He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his
God and he will be my son.
8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers,
the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all
liars-- their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the
second death." (NIV)
Rev 22:13-19
13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the
Beginning and the End.
14 "Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may
have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.
15 Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the
sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices
falsehood.
16 "I, Jesus, have sent my angel to
give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning
Star."
17 The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him
who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever
wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.
18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this
book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues
described in this book.
19 And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy,
God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city,
which are described in this book. (NIV)