Study Desk

I have been appointed to serve the Church in the position of responsibility entrusted to me by God for your benefit, so that I may fully deliver God's Message--

to whom it was His will to make known how vast a wealth of glory for the Gentile world is implied in this truth--the truth that `Christ is in you, the hope of glory.'

For I would have you know in how severe a struggle I am engaged on behalf of you and the brethren in Laodicea and of all who have not known me personally,

For although, as you say, I am absent from you in body, yet in spirit I am present with you and am delighted to witness your good discipline and the solid front presented by your faith in Christ.

For it is in Christ that the fulness of God's nature dwells embodied, and in Him you are made complete,

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Therefore put to death your earthward inclinations--fornication, impurity, sensual passion, unholy desire, and all greed, for that is a form of idolatry.

Do not speak falsehoods to one another, for you have stripped off the old self with its doings,

Children be obedient to your parents in everything; for that is right for Christians.

Whatever you are doing, let your hearts be in your work, as a thing done for the Lord and not for men.

For you know that it is from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. Christ is the Master whose bondservants you are.

And pray at the same time for us also, that God may open for us a door for preaching, for us to tell the truth concerning Christ for the sake of which I am even a prisoner.

And for this very purpose I send him to you that you may know how we are faring; and that he may cheer your hearts.

Jesus, called Justus, also sends greeting. These three are Hebrew converts. They alone among such have worked loyally with me for the Kingdom of God--they are men who have been a comfort to me.

For I can bear witness to the deep interest he takes in you and in the brethren at Laodicea and in those at Hierapolis.

For we never fail to remember your works of faith and labours of love and your persistent and unwavering hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father;

The Good News that we brought you did not come to you in words only, but also with power and with the Holy Spirit and with much certainty, for you know the sort of men we became among you, as examples for your sakes.

For it was not only from you that the Master's Message sounded forth throughout Macedonia and Greece; but everywhere your faith in God has become known, so that it is unnecessary for us to say anything about it.

For when others speak of us they report the reception we had from you, and how you turned from your idols to God, to be bondservants of the true and ever-living God,

For you yourselves, brethren, know that our visit to you did not fail of its purpose.