Titus Cross References - Moffatt

¹ Paul a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God's elect and for their knowledge of the Truth that goes with a religious life, ² serving in hope of the life eternal which God, who never lies, promised ages ago — ³ he gave effect to his word in due time by a proclamation with which I have been entrusted by command of God our Saviour: — ⁴ to Titus my lawful son in a faith we hold in common; grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour. ⁵ I left you behind in Crete in order to finish putting things right and to appoint presbyters in every town as I told you, ⁶ men who are above reproach, only once married, with children who believe and who are not liable to the charge of being profligate or insubordinate. ⁷ [For a bishop must be above reproach — he is a steward of God's house — he must not be presumptuous or hot-tempered or a drunkard or violent or addicted to pilfering; ⁸ he must be hospitable, a lover of goodness, master of himself, a just man, a religious man, and abstemious; ⁹ he must hold by the sure truths of doctrine so as to be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and refute objections raised by any.] ¹⁰ For there are plenty of insubordinate creatures who impose on people with their empty arguments, particularly those who have come over from Judaism; ¹¹ they must be silenced, for they are undermining whole families by teaching objectionable doctrine for the base end of making money. ¹² It has been said by one of themselves, by a prophet of their own, that — "Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons." ¹³ That is a true statement. So deal sharply with them, to have them sound in the faith ¹⁴ instead of studying Jewish myths and rules laid down by men who have discarded the Truth. ¹⁵ For the pure all things are pure, but nothing is pure for the polluted and unbelieving; their very mind and conscience are polluted. ¹⁶ They profess to know God, but they deny him by their deeds; they are detestable, disobedient, and useless for good work of any kind.

²⁶ because you do not belong to my sheep. ²⁷ My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them and they follow me;

⁴⁸ When the Gentiles heard this they rejoiced and glorified the word of the Lord and believed, that is, all who had been ordained to eternal life;

¹ PAUL, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God

¹ PAUL an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and brother Timotheus, to the church of God at Corinth as well as to all the saints throughout the whole of Achaia:

⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, as you had faith; it is not your doing but God's gift,

¹ PAUL and Timotheus, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, as well as to the bishops and deacons:

² May their hearts be encouraged! May they learn the meaning of love! May they have all the wealth of conviction that comes from insight! May they learn to know that open secret of God, the Father of Christ,

¹³ Now we are bound always to thank God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you as the first to be reaped for salvation, by the consecration of your spirit and by faith in the Truth; ¹⁴ it was for this that he called you by our gospel, to gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴ and studying myths and interminable genealogies; such studies bear upon speculations rather than on the divine order which belongs to faith. ⁵ Whereas the aim of the Christian discipline is the love that springs from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from a sincere faith.

⁴ to the God who desires all men to be saved and to attain the knowledge of the Truth.

¹⁶ And who does not admit how profound is the divine truth of our religion? — it is He who was "manifest in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by the angels, preached among the nations, believed on throughout the world, taken up to glory."

³ Anyone who teaches novelties and refuses to fall in with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the doctrine that tallies with piety,

²³ Shut your mind against foolish, popular controversy; be sure that only breeds strife.

²⁵ he must be gentle in his admonitions to the opposition — God may perhaps let them change their mind and admit the Truth;

¹¹ For the grace of God has appeared to save all men, ¹² and it schools us to renounce irreligion and worldly passions and to live a life of self-mastery, of integrity, and of piety in this present world,

³ Inasmuch as his power divine has bestowed on us every requisite for life and piety by the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence —

¹¹ Now as all things are thus to be dissolved, what holy and pious men ought you to be in your behaviour,

²³ No one who disowns the Son can possess the Father: he who confesses the Son possesses the Father as well.

³⁴ Then shall the King say to those on his right, 'Come, you whom my Father has blessed, come into your inheritance in the realm prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

⁴⁶ So they shall depart to eternal punishment, and the just to eternal life."

¹⁷ As he went out on the road a man ran up and knelt down before him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit life eternal?"

³⁰ who does not get a hundred times as much — in this present world homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and lands, together with persecutions, and in the world to come life eternal.

¹⁵ that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. ¹⁶ For God loved the world so dearly that he gave up his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life, instead of perishing.

³⁹ You search the scriptures, imagining you possess eternal life in their pages — and they do testify to me —

⁵⁴ He who feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood possesses eternal life (and I will raise him up on the last day),

⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, who are we to go to? You have got words of eternal life,

²⁸ and I give them eternal life; they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

² since thou hast granted him power over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom thou hast given to him.

²⁴ Father, it is my will that these, thy gift to me, may be beside me where I am, to behold my glory which thou hast given me, because thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

¹⁸ who makes this known from of old.

² (which he promised of old by his prophets in the holy scriptures)

⁷ eternal life to those who by patiently doing good aim at glory, honour, and immortality,

² Through him we have got access to this grace where we have our standing, and triumph in the hope of God's glory.

⁴ endurance produces character, and character produces hope —

²¹ so that, while sin had reigned the reign of death, grace might also reign with a righteousness that ends in life eternal through Jesus Christ our Lord.

²³ Sin's wage is death, but God's gift is life eternal in Christ Jesus our Lord.

²⁵ [Now to Him who can strengthen you by my gospel, by the preaching of Jesus Christ, by revealing the secret purpose which after the silence of long ages

²⁷ It is His will that they should understand the glorious wealth which this secret holds for the Gentiles, in the fact of Christ's presence among you as your hope of glory.

¹⁵ who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, who harassed ourselves, who offend God and oppose all men

⁸ but we must be sober, we who belong to the day, clad in faith and love as our coat of mail, with the hope of salvation as our helmet —

¹² fight in the good fight of the faith, secure that life eternal to which you were called when you voiced the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

¹⁹ amassing right good treasure for themselves in the world to come, in order to secure the life which is life indeed.

¹ Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God in the service of the Life he has promised in Christ Jesus —

⁹ who has saved us and called us to a life of consecration — not for anything we have done but because he chose to do it himself, by the grace which he gave us ages ago in Christ Jesus

¹⁰ All I endure is for the sake of the elect, to let them obtain their share of the salvation of Christ Jesus and also of eternal glory.

¹³ if we are faithless, he remains faithful" — for he cannot be untrue to himself.

¹⁵ Do your utmost to let God see that you at least are a sound workman, with no need to be ashamed of the way you handle the word of the Truth.

⁷ set them an example of good conduct; be sincere and serious in your teaching,

¹³ awaiting the blessed hope of the appearance of the Glory of the great God and of our Saviour Christ Jesus,

⁷ that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs to the hope of life eternal."

¹⁷ God, in his desire to afford the heirs of the Promise a special proof of the solid character of his purpose, interposed with an oath; ¹⁸ so that by these two solid facts (the Promise and the Oath), where it is impossible for God to be false, we refugees might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us,

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy we have been born anew to a life of hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ born to an unscathed, inviolate, unfading inheritance; it is kept in heaven for you,

²⁰ He was predestined before the foundation of the world and has appeared at the end of the ages for your sake; ²¹ it is by him that you believe in God who raised him from the dead and gave him glory; and thus your faith means hope in God. ²² Now that your obedience to the Truth has purified your souls for a brotherly love that is sincere, love one another heartily and steadily. ²³ You are born anew of immortal, not of mortal seed, by the living, lasting word of God;

²⁵ Now this is what he has promised you, eternal life.

² We are children of God now, beloved; what we are to be is not apparent yet, but we do know that when he appears, we are to be like him — for we are to see him as he is. ³ And everyone who rests this hope on him, purifies himself as he is pure.

¹¹ And the testimony is, that God gave us life eternal and this life is in his Son. ¹² He who possesses the Son possesses life: he who does not possess the Son does not possess life. ¹³ I have written in this way to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may be sure you have life eternal.

²⁰ We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us insight to know Him who is the Real God; and we are in Him who is real, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the real God, this is life eternal.

²¹ so keeping yourselves within the love of God and waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that ends in life eternal.

⁸ and all the dwellers on earth will be his worshippers, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of Life.

⁸ The Beast you have seen was, is not, but is to rise from the abyss — yet to perdition he shall go — and the dwellers on earth will wonder (all whose names have not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of Life), when they see that the Beast was, is not, but is coming.

¹⁰ (Ere the end, the gospel must be preached to all nations.)

¹⁵ And he said to them, "Go to all the world and preach the gospel to every creature:

⁴⁷ My spirit has joy in God my Saviour:

³⁶ You know the message he sent to the sons of Israel when he preached the gospel of peace by Jesus Christ (who is Lord of all);

²⁶ All nations he has created from a common origin, to dwell all over the earth, fixing their allotted periods and the boundaries of their abodes,

⁶ For when we were still in weakness, Christ died in due time for the ungodly. For the ungodly!

¹⁴ But how are they to invoke One in whom they do not believe? And how are they to believe in One of whom they have never heard? And how are they ever to hear, without a preacher? ¹⁵ And how can men preach unless they are sent? — as it is written, How pleasant is the coming of men with glad, good news!

¹⁹ by the force of miracles and marvels, by the power of the Spirit of God. Thus from Jerusalem right round to Illyricum, I have been able to complete the preaching of the gospel of Christ —

²⁶ has now been disclosed and made known on the basis of the prophetic scriptures (by command of the eternal God) to all the Gentiles for their obedience to the faith —

¹⁷ I get a reward if I do it of my own accord, whereas to do it otherwise is no more than for a steward to discharge his trust.

⁴ but when the time had fully expired, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,

¹⁰ so to order it in the fulness of the ages that all things in heaven and earth alike should be gathered up in Christ —

¹⁷ he came with a gospel of peace for those far away (that is, for you) and for those who were near,

⁵ which was not disclosed to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his sacred apostles and prophets by the Spirit), ⁶ namely, that in Christ Jesus the Gentiles are co-heirs, companions, and co-partners in the Promise. ⁷ Such is the gospel which I was called to serve by the endowment of God's grace which was vouchsafed me, by the energy of his power; ⁸ less than the least of all saints as I am, this grace was vouchsafed me, that I should bring the Gentiles the gospel of the fathomless wealth of Christ

¹³ throughout the whole of the praetorian guard and everywhere else it is recognized that I am imprisoned on account of my connexion with Christ,

⁶ which has reached you as it spreads over all the world with fruit and increase. Such has been your life from the day you learned to know what God's grace really is.

²³ that is, if you adhere to the foundations and stability of the faith, instead of moving away from the hope you have learned in the gospel, that gospel which has been preached to every creature under heaven, and of which I Paul was made a minister.

⁴ no, God has attested our fitness to be entrusted with the gospel, and so we tell the gospel not to satisfy men but to satisfy the God who tests our hearts.

¹ Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Saviour and Christ Jesus our Hope,

¹¹ as laid down by that glorious gospel of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.

³ it is good to pray thus, it is acceptable to our Saviour,

⁵ For "there is one God" and "one intermediary between God and men, ⁶ the man Christ Jesus who gave himself as a ransom for all": — in due time this was attested, ⁷ and I was appointed to be its herald and apostle (I am not telling a lie, it is quite true), to teach the Gentiles faith and truth.

¹⁰ that "we toil and strive because our hope is fixed upon the living God, the Saviour of all men" — of believers in particular.

¹⁰ and has now revealed in the appearance of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who has put down death and brought life and immortality to light by the gospel. ¹¹ Of that gospel I have been appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher,

¹⁰ not to embezzle, but to prove themselves truly faithful at all points, so as to be an ornament to the doctrine of God our Saviour in all respects.

⁴ But "the goodness and affection of God our Saviour appeared; ⁵ and he saved us, not for anything we had done but from his own pity for us, by the water that means regeneration and renewal under the holy Spirit ⁶ which he poured upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour,

¹⁶ So he who sat upon the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.

¹¹ To-day you have a saviour born in the town of David, the Lord messiah.

⁴² As they told the woman, "We no longer believe on account of what you said; we have heard for ourselves, we know that he is really the Saviour of the world."

⁷ to all in Rome who are beloved by God, called to be saints, grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

¹² or, in other words, that I may be encouraged by meeting you, I by your faith and you by mine.

¹³ my spirit could not rest, because I did not find Titus my brother there; so I said goodbye and went off to Macedonia.

¹³ But since our spirit of faith is the same, therefore — as it is written I believed and so I spoke — I too believe and so I speak,

⁶ But the God who comforts the dejected comforted me by the arrival of Titus.

¹³ That is what comforts me. And over and above my personal comfort, I was specially delighted at the delight of Titus. You have all set his mind at rest. ¹⁴ I told him of my pride in you, and I have not been disappointed. No, just as all I have had to say to you has been true, so all I said about you to Titus, all my pride in you, has also proved true.

⁶ This has led me to ask Titus to complete the arrangements for the same gracious contribution among yourselves, as it was he who started it.

¹⁶ Thanks be to God who has inspired Titus with an interest in you equal to my own;

²³ Titus is my colleague, he shares my work for you, and these brothers of mine are apostles of the church, a credit to Christ.

¹⁸ I asked Titus to go, and with him I sent our brother. Titus did not make anything out of you, did he? And did not I act in the same spirit as he did? Did I not take the very same steps?

³ But even my companion Titus, Greek though he was, was not obliged to be circumcised.

² grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

² to the consecrated and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: grace and peace to you from God our Father.

¹ Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Saviour and Christ Jesus our Hope, ² to Timotheus his lawful son in the faith: grace, mercy, peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

² to his beloved son Timotheus: grace, mercy, peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. ³ he gave effect to his word in due time by a proclamation with which I have been entrusted by command of God our Saviour: —

¹ Symeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have been allotted a faith of equal privilege with ours, by the equity of our God and saviour Jesus Christ:

¹¹ you will thus be richly furnished with the right of entry into the eternal realm of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ.

²⁰ After escaping the pollutions of the world by the knowledge of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ, if they get entangled and overpowered again, the last state is worse for them than the first.

² to have you recollect the words spoken by the holy prophets beforehand and the command given by your apostles from the Lord and saviour.

¹⁸ but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. To him be the glory now and to the day of eternity: Amen.

¹⁴ Now the confidence we have in him is this, that he listens to us whenever we ask anything in accordance with his will;

³ Beloved, my whole concern was to write to you on the subject of our common salvation, but I am forced to write you an appeal to defend the faith which has once for all been committed to the saints;

¹¹ Cretans and Arabians, we hear these men talking of the triumphs of God in our own languages!"

³⁰ This they carried out, sending their contribution to the presbyters by Barnabas and Saul.

²³ They chose presbyters for them in every church, and with prayer and fasting entrusted them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

⁷ For a number of days we made a slow passage and had great difficulty in arriving off Cnidus; then, as the wind checked our progress, we sailed under the lee of Crete off Cape Salmone,

¹² and, as the harbour was badly placed for wintering in, the majority proposed to set sail and try if they could reach Phoenix and winter there (Phoenix is a Cretan harbour facing S.W. and N.W.).

²¹ When they had gone without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, "Men, you should have listened to me and spared yourselves this hardship and loss by refusing to set sail from Crete.

³⁴ and if anyone is hungry let him eat at home. You must not gather, only to incur condemnation. I will give you my instructions upon the other matters when I come.

⁴⁰ but let everything be done decorously and in order.

⁵ for although I am absent in body I am with you in spirit, and it is a joy to note your steadiness and the solid front of your faith in Christ.

³ As I asked you when I was on my way to Macedonia, stay where you are at Ephesus and warn certain individuals against teaching novelties

² and transmit the instructions I gave you in presence of many witnesses to trustworthy men, that they may be competent to teach others.

⁵ In the days of Herod king of Judaea there was a priest called Zechariah, who belonged to the division of Abijah; he had a wife who belonged to the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

¹⁸ and do not get drunk with wine — that means profligacy — but be filled with the Spirit,

¹⁴ We beseech you, brothers, keep a check upon loafers, encourage the faint-hearted, sustain weak souls, never lose your temper with anyone;

² Well, for the office of a bishop a man must be above reproach; he must be only married once, he must be temperate, master of himself, unruffled, hospitable, a skilled teacher, ³ not a drunkard or violent, but lenient and conciliatory, not a lover of money, ⁴ able to manage his own household properly and keep his children submissive and perfectly respectful ⁵ (if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how is he to look after the church of God?); ⁶ he must not be a new convert, in case he gets conceited and incurs the doom passed on the devil; ⁷ also, he must have a good reputation among outsiders, in case he incurs slander and is trapped by the devil.

¹² Deacons are only to be married once, and they must manage their children and households properly.

⁶ men who are above reproach, only once married, with children who believe and who are not liable to the charge of being profligate or insubordinate. ⁷ [For a bishop must be above reproach — he is a steward of God's house — he must not be presumptuous or hot-tempered or a drunkard or violent or addicted to pilfering; ⁸ he must be hospitable, a lover of goodness, master of himself, a just man, a religious man, and abstemious;

¹⁰ For there are plenty of insubordinate creatures who impose on people with their empty arguments, particularly those who have come over from Judaism;

⁴⁵ Now where is the trusty and thoughtful servant, whom his lord and master has set over his household to assign them their supplies at the proper time?

⁴² The Lord said, "Well, where is the trusty, thoughtful steward whom the lord and master will set over his establishment to give out supplies at the proper time?

¹ This is how you are to look upon us, as servants of Christ and stewards of God's secret truths. ² Now in this matter of stewards your first requirement is that they must be trustworthy.

¹ It is a popular saying that "whoever aspires to office is set upon an excellent occupation." ² Well, for the office of a bishop a man must be above reproach; he must be only married once, he must be temperate, master of himself, unruffled, hospitable, a skilled teacher, ³ not a drunkard or violent, but lenient and conciliatory, not a lover of money, ⁴ able to manage his own household properly and keep his children submissive and perfectly respectful ⁵ (if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how is he to look after the church of God?); ⁶ he must not be a new convert, in case he gets conceited and incurs the doom passed on the devil; ⁷ also, he must have a good reputation among outsiders, in case he incurs slander and is trapped by the devil. ⁸ Deacons in turn are to be serious men; they are not to be tale-bearers or addicted to drink or pilfering; ⁹ they must maintain the divine truth of the faith with a pure conscience. ¹⁰ They too must be put on probation; after that, if they are above reproach, they can serve as deacons. ¹¹ Their wives must be serious too; they must not be slanderers but temperate and absolutely trustworthy. ¹² Deacons are only to be married once, and they must manage their children and households properly. ¹³ For those who do good service as deacons win a good position for themselves as well as great freedom in the faith of Christ Jesus.

²⁴ And the Lord's servant must not be a man of strife; he must be kind to everybody, a skilled teacher, a man who will not resent injuries; ²⁵ he must be gentle in his admonitions to the opposition — God may perhaps let them change their mind and admit the Truth;

⁵ I left you behind in Crete in order to finish putting things right and to appoint presbyters in every town as I told you,

³ Tell the older women also to be reverent in their demeanour and not to be slanderers or slaves to drink;

¹⁹ Be sure of that, my beloved brothers. Let everyone be quick to listen, slow to talk, slow to be angry — ²⁰ for human anger does not promote divine righteousness;

¹⁰ You must serve one another, each with the talent he has received, as efficient stewards of God's varied grace.

² be shepherds to your flock of God; take charge of them willingly instead of being pressed to it, not to make a base profit from it but freely,

¹⁰ particularly those who fall in with the polluting appetite of the flesh and despise the Powers celestial. Daring, presumptuous creatures! they are not afraid to scoff at the angelic Glories;

⁴ I prove myself at all points a true minister of God, by great endurance, by suffering, by troubles, by calamities, ⁵ by lashes, by imprisonment; mobbed, toiling, sleepless, starving; ⁶ with innocence, insight, patience, kindness, the holy Spirit, unaffected love, ⁷ true words, the power of God; with the weapons of integrity for attack or for defence, ⁸ amid honour and dishonour, amid evil report and good report, an 'impostor' but honest,

¹⁰ You are witnesses, and so is God, to our behaviour among you believers, how pious and upright and blameless it was,

² Well, for the office of a bishop a man must be above reproach; he must be only married once, he must be temperate, master of himself, unruffled, hospitable, a skilled teacher,

¹² Let no one slight you because you are a youth, but set the believers an example of speech, behaviour, love, faith, and purity.

¹¹ Shun that, O man of God, aim at integrity, piety, faith, love, stedfastness, and suavity;

²² So shun the lusts of youth and aim at integrity, faith, love and peace, in the company of those who invoke the Lord out of a pure heart.

³ callous, relentless, scurrilous, dissolute, and savage; they will hate goodness,

¹⁴ We know we have crossed from death to life, because we love the brotherhood; he who has no love [for his brother] remains in death.

¹ Everyone who believes Jesus is the Christ, is born of God; and everyone who loves the Father, loves the sons born of him.

²⁸ for he publicly refuted the Jews with might and main, showing from the scriptures that the messiah was Jesus.

²⁴ Whereas, if everybody prophesies, and some unbeliever or outsider comes in, he is exposed by all, brought to book by all;

²¹ but test them all, retaining what is good

¹⁵ Well then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the rules which you have learned from us orally or by letter.

¹⁰ immoral persons, sodomites, kidnappers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine

¹⁵ It is a sure word, it deserves all praise, that "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners"; and though I am the foremost of sinners,

¹⁹ keeping hold of faith and a good conscience. Certain individuals have scouted the good conscience and thus come to grief over their faith —

⁹ It is a sure word, it deserves all praise,

¹³ Model yourself on the sound instruction you have had from me in the faith and love of Christ Jesus.

³ for the time will come when people will decline to be taught sound doctrine and will accumulate teachers to suit themselves and tickle their own fancies;

¹¹ they must be silenced, for they are undermining whole families by teaching objectionable doctrine for the base end of making money.

¹ You must instruct people in what is due to sound doctrine.

⁷ set them an example of good conduct; be sincere and serious in your teaching, ⁸ let your words be sound and such that no exception can be taken to them, so that the opposite side may be confounded by finding nothing that they can say to our discredit.

²⁵ only hold to what you have, till such time as I come.

³ Now remember what you received and heard, hold to it and repent. If you will not wake up, I shall come like a thief; you will not know at what hour I come upon you.

¹¹ I am coming very soon: hold to what you have, in case your crown is taken from you.

² So when Peter came up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party fell foul of him.

¹ But certain individuals came down from Jerusalem and taught the brothers that "unless you get circumcised after the custom of Moses you cannot be saved."

²⁴ Having learned that some of our number, quite unauthorized by us, have unsettled you with their teaching and upset your souls,

²⁹ I know that when I am gone, fierce wolves will get in among you, and they will not spare the flock; yes.

¹⁷ Brothers, I beg of you to keep your eye on those who stir up dissensions and put hindrances in your way, contrary to the doctrine which you have been taught. Avoid them. ¹⁸ Such creatures are no servants of Christ our Lord, they are slaves of their own base desires; with their plausible and pious talk they beguile the hearts of unsuspecting people. But surely not of you!

¹² No, I intend to go on as I am doing, in order to checkmate those who would fain make out that in the apostolate of which they boast they work on the same terms as I do. ¹³ 'Apostles'? They are spurious apostles, false workmen — they are masquerading as 'apostles of Christ.' ¹⁴ No wonder they do, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. ¹⁵ So it is no surprise if his ministers also masquerade as ministers of righteousness. Their doom will answer to their deeds.

⁶ I am astonished you are hastily shifting like this, deserting Him who called you by Christ's grace and going over to another gospel. ⁷ It simply means that certain individuals are unsettling you; they want to distort the gospel of Christ. ⁸ Now even though it were myself or some angel from heaven, whoever preaches a gospel that contradicts the gospel I preached to you, God's curse be on him!

⁴ There were traitors of false brothers, who had crept in to spy out the freedom we enjoy in Christ Jesus; they did aim at enslaving us again.

¹ O senseless Galatians, who has bewitched you — you who had Jesus Christ the crucified placarded before your very eyes?

¹⁷ These men make much of you — yes, but for dishonest ends; they want to debar you from us, so that you may make much of them. ¹⁸ Now it is fine for you to be made much of honestly and all the time — not simply when I can be with you. ¹⁹ O my dear children, you with whom I am in travail over again till Christ be formed within you, ²⁰ would that I could be with you at this moment, and alter my tone, for I am at my wits' end about you! ²¹ Tell me, you who are keen to be under the Law, will you not listen to the Law?

¹ with the freedom for which Christ set us free. Make a firm stand then, do not slip into any yoke of servitude. ² Here, listen to Paul! I tell you, if you get circumcised, Christ will be no use to you. ³ I insist on this again to everyone who gets circumcised, that he is obliged to carry out the whole of the Law. ⁴ You are for justification by the Law? Then you are done with Christ, you have deserted grace,

¹⁴ instead of remaining immature, blown from our course and swayed by every passing wind of doctrine, by the adroitness of men who are dexterous in devising error;

² Beware of these dogs, these wicked workmen, the incision-party! ³ We are the true Circumcision, we who worship God in spirit, we who pride ourselves on Christ Jesus, we who rely upon no outward privilege.

¹⁰ and with the full deceitfulness of evil for those who are doomed to perish, since they refuse to love the Truth that would save them. ¹¹ Therefore God visits them with an active delusion, till they put faith in falsehood, ¹² so that all may be doomed who refuse faith in the Truth but delight in evil.

⁴ and studying myths and interminable genealogies; such studies bear upon speculations rather than on the divine order which belongs to faith.

⁶ Certain individuals have failed here by turning to empty argument;

³ Anyone who teaches novelties and refuses to fall in with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the doctrine that tallies with piety, ⁴ is a conceited, ignorant creature, with a morbid passion for controversy and argument which only leads to envy, dissension, insults, insinuations, ⁵ and constant friction between people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the Truth. They imagine religion is a paying concern.

¹³ Bad characters and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving others and deceived themselves;

⁴ they will give up listening to the Truth and turn to myths.

²⁶ Whoever considers he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, his religion is futile.

¹ Still, false prophets did appear among the People, as among you also there will be false teachers, men who will insinuate destructive heresies, even disowning the Lord who ransomed them; they bring rapid destruction on themselves, ² and many will follow their immorality (thanks to them the true Way will be maligned);

¹⁸ Children, it is the last hour. You have learned that 'Antichrist is coming.' Well, but many antichrists have appeared — which makes us sure it is the last hour.

¹ Do not believe every spirit, beloved, but test the spirits to see if they come from God; for many false prophets have emerged in the world.

⁶ Still, you have this in your favour: you hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, and I hate them too.

¹⁴ But I have one or two things against you: you have some adherents there of the tenets of Balaam, who taught Balak how to set a pitfall before the sons of Israel by making them eat food which had been sacrificed to idols and give way to sexual vice.

¹³ Woe to you, you impious scribes and Pharisees! you shut the Realm of heaven in men's faces; you neither enter yourselves, nor will you let those enter who are on the point of entering.

⁴⁰ They no longer dared to put any question to him.

¹² The hired man, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, deserts them when he sees the wolf coming; he runs away, leaving the wolf to tear and scatter them,

¹⁹ Whatever the Law says, we know, it says to those who are inside the Law, that every mouth may be shut and all the world made answerable to God;

¹⁰ By the truth of Christ within me, I am going to make this my pride and boast unchecked throughout the regions of Achaia!

⁵ and constant friction between people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the Truth. They imagine religion is a paying concern.

⁶ Some of them worm their way into families and get hold of the women-folk who feel crushed by the burden of their sins — wayward creatures of impulse,

⁷ [For a bishop must be above reproach — he is a steward of God's house — he must not be presumptuous or hot-tempered or a drunkard or violent or addicted to pilfering;

⁹ he must hold by the sure truths of doctrine so as to be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and refute objections raised by any.]

¹⁰ After a first and a second warning have no more to do with a factious person;

¹ Still, false prophets did appear among the People, as among you also there will be false teachers, men who will insinuate destructive heresies, even disowning the Lord who ransomed them; they bring rapid destruction on themselves, ² and many will follow their immorality (thanks to them the true Way will be maligned); ³ in their lust they will exploit you with cunning arguments — men whose doom comes apace from of old, and destruction is awake upon their trail.

²⁸ for it is in him that we live and move and exist — as some of your own poets have said, 'We too belong to His race.'

¹⁸ Such creatures are no servants of Christ our Lord, they are slaves of their own base desires; with their plausible and pious talk they beguile the hearts of unsuspecting people. But surely not of you!

² through plausible sophists who are seared in conscience —

¹² But those people! — like irrational animals, creatures of mere instinct, born for capture and corruption, they scoff at what they are ignorant of; and like animals they will suffer corruption and ruin,

¹⁵ they have gone wrong by leaving the straight road, by following the road of Balaam son of Bosor, who liked the profits of evil-doing —

⁸ Despite it all, these visionaries pollute their flesh, scorn the Powers celestial, and scoff at the angelic Glories. ⁹ Now the very archangel Michael, when he disputed the body of Moses with Satan, did not dare to condemn him with scoffs; what he said was, The Lord rebuke you! ¹⁰ But these people scoff at anything they do not understand; and whatever they do understand, like irrational animals, by mere instinct, that proves their ruin. ¹¹ Woe to them! they go the road of Cain, rush into Balaam's error for what it brings them, and perish in Korah's rebellion. ¹² These people are stains on your love-feasts; they have no qualms about carousing in your midst, they look after none but themselves — rainless clouds, swept along by the wind, trees in autumn without fruit, doubly dead and so uprooted, ¹³ wild waves foaming out their own shame, wandering stars for whom the nether gloom of darkness has been reserved eternally.

⁸ In fact, if I did pain you by that letter, I do not regret it. I did regret it when I discovered that my letter had pained you even for the time being, ⁹ but I am glad now — not glad that you were pained but glad that your pain induced you to repent. For you were pained as God meant you to be pained, and so you got no harm from what I did; ¹⁰ the pain God is allowed to guide ends in a saving repentance never to be regretted, whereas the world's pain ends in death. ¹¹ See what this pain divine has done for you, how serious it has made you, how keen to clear yourselves, how indignant, how alarmed, how eager for me, how determined, how relentless! You have shown in every way that you were honest in the business. ¹² So my letter was written to you, not on account of the offender nor for the sake of the injured party, but in order to let you realize before God how seriously you do care for me.

¹⁰ I am writing thus to you in absence, so that when I do come I may not have to deal sharply with you; I have the Lord's authority for that, but he gave it to me for building you up, not for demolishing you.

⁶ Lay this before the brotherhood, and you will be an excellent minister of Christ Jesus, brought up on the truths of the faith and on the lessons of the good doctrine you have already followed.

²⁰ Those who are guilty of sin you must expose in public, to overawe the others.

² I adjure you to preach the word; keep at it in season and out of season, refuting, checking, and exhorting men; never lose patience with them, and never give up your teaching,

² Tell the older men to be temperate, serious, masters of themselves, sound in faith, in love, and in stedfastness.

¹⁵ Tell them all this, exhort and reprove, with full authority; let no one slight you.

⁹ vain is their worship of me, for the doctrines they teach are but human precepts."

⁷ vain is their worship of me, for the doctrines they teach are but human precepts.

⁹ but now that you know God — or rather, are known by God — how is it you are turning back again to the weakness and poverty of the Elemental spirits? Why do you want to be enslaved all over again by them?

²² referring to things that perish by being used? These rules are determined by human precepts and tenets;

⁴ and studying myths and interminable genealogies; such studies bear upon speculations rather than on the divine order which belongs to faith. ⁵ Whereas the aim of the Christian discipline is the love that springs from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from a sincere faith. ⁶ Certain individuals have failed here by turning to empty argument; ⁷ doctors of the Law is what they want to be, but they have no idea either of the meaning of the words they use or of the themes on which they harp.

²⁵ See that you do not refuse to listen to His voice. For if they failed to escape, who refused to listen to their instructor upon earth, much less shall we escape, if we discard Him who speaks from heaven.

²² They verify the truth of the proverb: "The dog turns back to what he has vomited, the sow when washed will wallow in the mire."

¹⁸ while what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart — and that is what defiles a man.

³⁹ but the Lord said to him, "You Pharisees do clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but your inner life is filled with rapacity and malice. ⁴⁰ Foolish men! did not He who made the outside make the inside of things too? ⁴¹ Better cleanse what is within; then nothing will be unclean for you.

¹⁵ A second time the voice came back to him, "What God has cleansed, you must not regard as common."

¹⁴ I know, I am certain in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is in itself unclean; only, anything is unclean for a man who considers it unclean.

²⁰ You must not break down God's work for the mere sake of food! Everything may be clean, but it is wrong for a man to prove a stumbling-block by what he eats;

²³ But if anyone has doubts about eating and then eats, that condemns him at once; it was not faith that induced him to eat, and any action that is not based on faith is a sin.

¹² 'All things are lawful for me'? Yes, but not all are good for me. 'All things are lawful for me'? Yes, but I am not going to let anything master me. ¹³ 'Food is meant for the stomach, and the stomach for food'? Yes, and God will do away with the one and the other. The body is not meant for immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body;

⁷ But remember, it is not everyone who has this 'knowledge.' Some who have hitherto been accustomed to idols eat the food as food which has been really offered to an idol, and so their weaker conscience is contaminated.

²³ 'All things are lawful'? Yes, but not all are good for us. 'All things are lawful'? Yes, but not all are edifying.

²⁵ Eat any food that has been sold in the market, instead of letting scruples of conscience oblige you to ask any questions about it;

³¹ So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, let it be all done for the glory of God.

²⁷ Hence anyone who eats the loaf or drinks the cup of the Lord carelessly, will have to answer for a sin against the body and the blood of the Lord. ²⁸ Let a man test himself; then he can eat from the loaf and drink from the cup. ²⁹ For he who eats and drinks without a proper sense of the Body, eats and drinks to his own condemnation.

³ men who prohibit marriage and insist on abstinence from foods which God created for believing men, who understand the Truth, to partake of with thanksgiving. ⁴ Anything God has created is good, and nothing is to be tabooed — provided it is eaten with thanksgiving,

¹⁴ how much more shall the blood of Christ, who in the spirit of the eternal offered himself as an unblemished sacrifice to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve a living God?

²² let us draw near with a true heart, in absolute assurance of faith, our hearts sprinkled clean from a bad conscience, and our bodies washed in pure water;

²⁸ Yes, as they disdained to acknowledge God any longer, God has given them up to a reprobate instinct, for the perpetration of what is improper,

¹⁸ understanding his will, and with a sense of what is vital in religion; if you are instructed by the Law ¹⁹ and are persuaded that you are a guide to the blind, a light to darkened souls, ²⁰ a tutor for the foolish, a teacher of the simple, because in the Law you have the embodiment of knowledge and truth — ²¹ well then, do you ever teach yourself, you teacher of other people? You preach against stealing; do you steal? ²² You forbid adultery; do you commit adultery? You detest idols; do you rob temples? ²³ You pride yourself on the Law; do you dishonour God by your breaches of the Law? ²⁴ Why, it is owing to you that the name of God is maligned among the Gentiles, as scripture says!

⁶ Let no one deceive you with specious arguments; these are the vices that bring down God's anger on the sons of disobedience.

⁹ he must keep in mind that no law is ever made for honest people but for the lawless and the insubordinate, for the impious and the sinful, for the irreverent and the profane, for parricides and matricides, murderers,

⁸ Whoever does not provide for his own relatives and particularly for his own family, has repudiated the faith: he is worse than an infidel.

⁵ for though they keep up a form of religion, they will have nothing to do with it as a force. Avoid all such. ⁶ Some of them worm their way into families and get hold of the women-folk who feel crushed by the burden of their sins — wayward creatures of impulse, ⁷ who are always curious to learn and never able to attain the knowledge of the Truth. ⁸ For these guides of theirs are hostile to the Truth, just as Jannes and Jambres were hostile to Moses; they are depraved in mind and useless for all purposes of faith.

⁴ He who says, 'I know him,' but does not obey his commands, is a liar and the truth is not in him;

⁴ for certain persons have slipped in by stealth (their doom has been predicted long ago), impious creatures who pervert the grace of our God into immorality and disown our sole liege and Lord, Jesus Christ.

⁸ but as for the craven, the faithless, the abominable, as for murderers, the immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and liars of all kinds — their lot is the lake that blazes with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

²⁷ Nothing profane, none who practises abomination or falsehood shall enter, but those alone whose names are written in the Lamb's book of Life.