To The Word – Day 206

₁From Paul, Silas, and Timothy —

To the people of the church in Thessalonica, who belong to God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

₂May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

₃Our brothers and sisters, we must thank God at all times for you. It is right for us to do so, because your faith is growing so much and the love each of you has for the others is becoming greater. ₄That is why we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God. We boast about the way you continue to endure and believe through all the persecutions and sufferings you are experiencing.

₅All of this proves that God's judgement is just and as a result you will become worthy of his Kingdom, for which you are suffering. ₆God will do what is right: he will bring suffering on those who make you suffer, ₇and he will give relief to you who suffer and to us as well. He will do this when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven with his mighty angels, ₈with a flaming fire, to punish those who reject God and who do not obey the Good News about our Lord Jesus. ₉They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, separated from the presence of the Lord and from his glorious might, ₁₀when he comes on that Day to receive glory from all his people and honour from all who believe. You too will be among them, because you have believed the message that we told you.

₁₁That is why we always pray for you. We ask our God to make you worthy of the life he has called you to live. May he fulfil by his power all your desire for goodness and complete your work of faith. ₁₂In this way the name of our Lord Jesus will receive glory from you, and you from him, by the grace of our God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

₁Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to be with him: I beg you, my brothers and sisters, ₂not to be so easily confused in your thinking or upset by the claim that the Day of the Lord has come. Perhaps it is thought that we said this while prophesying or preaching, or that we wrote it in a letter. ₃Do not let anyone deceive you in any way. For the Day will not come until the final Rebellion takes place and the Wicked One appears, who is destined for hell. ₄He will oppose every so-called god or object of worship and will put himself above them all. He will even go in and sit down in God's Temple and claim to be God.

₅Don't you remember? I told you all this while I was with you. ₆Yet there is something that keeps this from happening now, and you know what it is. At the proper time, then, the Wicked One will appear. ₇The Mysterious Wickedness is already at work, but what is going to happen will not happen until the one who holds it back is taken out of the way. ₈Then the Wicked One will be revealed, but when the Lord Jesus comes, he will kill him with the breath from his mouth and destroy him with his dazzling presence. ₉The Wicked One will come with the power of Satan and perform all kinds of false miracles and wonders, ₁₀and use every kind of wicked deceit on those who will perish. They will perish because they did not welcome and love the truth so as to be saved. ₁₁And so God sends the power of error to work in them so that they believe what is false. ₁₂The result is that all who have not believed the truth, but have taken pleasure in sin, will be condemned.

₁₃We must thank God at all times for you, brothers and sisters, you whom the Lord loves. For God chose you as the first to be saved by the Spirit's power to make you his holy people and by your faith in the truth. ₁₄God called you to this through the Good News we preached to you; he called you to possess your share of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. ₁₅So then, our brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold on to those truths which we taught you, both in our preaching and in our letter.

₁₆May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and in his grace gave us unfailing courage and a firm hope, ₁₇encourage you and strengthen you always to do and say what is good.

₁Finally, our brothers and sisters, pray for us, that the Lord's message may continue to spread rapidly and be received with honour, just as it was among you. ₂Pray also that God will rescue us from wicked and evil people; for not everyone believes the message.

₃But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and keep you safe from the Evil One. ₄And the Lord gives us confidence in you, and we are sure that you are doing and will continue to do what we tell you.

₅May the Lord lead you into a greater understanding of God's love and the endurance that is given by Christ.

₆Our brothers and sisters, we command you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to keep away from all believers who are living a lazy life and who do not follow the instructions that we gave them. ₇You yourselves know very well that you should do just what we did. We were not lazy when we were with you. ₈We did not accept anyone's support without paying for it. Instead, we worked and toiled; we kept working day and night so as not to be an expense to any of you. ₉We did this, not because we have no right to demand our support; we did it to be an example for you to follow. ₁₀While we were with you, we used to say to you, “Whoever refuses to work is not allowed to eat.”

₁₁We say this because we hear that there are some people among you who live lazy lives and who do nothing except meddle in other people's business. ₁₂In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ we command these people and warn them to lead orderly lives and work to earn their own living.

₁₃But you, brothers and sisters, must not get tired of doing good. ₁₄It may be that someone there will not obey the message we send you in this letter. If so, take note of that person and have nothing to do with him or her, so that they will be ashamed. ₁₅But do not treat them as an enemy; instead, warn them as a fellow-believer.

₁₆May the Lord himself, who is our source of peace, give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with you all.

₁₇With my own hand I write this: Greetings from Paul. This is the way I sign every letter; this is how I write.

₁₈May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

₁From Paul, a prisoner for the sake of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy —

To our friend and fellow-worker Philemon, ₂and the church that meets in your house, and our sister Apphia, and our fellow-soldier Archippus:

₃May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

₄Brother Philemon, every time I pray, I mention you and give thanks to my God. ₅For I hear of your love for all God's people and the faith you have in the Lord Jesus. ₆My prayer is that our fellowship with you as believers will bring about a deeper understanding of every blessing which we have in our life in union with Christ. ₇Your love, dear brother, has brought me great joy and much encouragement! You have cheered the hearts of all God's people.

₈For this reason I could be bold enough, as your brother in Christ, to order you to do what should be done. ₉But because I love you, I make a request instead. I do this even though I am Paul, the ambassador of Christ Jesus, and at present also a prisoner for his sake. ₁₀So I make a request to you on behalf of Onesimus, who is my own son in Christ; for while in prison I have become his spiritual father. ₁₁At one time he was of no use to you, but now he is useful both to you and to me.

₁₂I am sending him back to you now, and with him goes my heart. ₁₃I would like to keep him here with me, while I am in prison for the gospel's sake, so that he could help me in your place. ₁₄However, I do not want to force you to help me; rather, I would like you to do it of your own free will. So I will not do anything unless you agree.

₁₅It may be that Onesimus was away from you for a short time so that you might have him back for all time. ₁₆And now he is not just a slave, but much more than a slave: he is a dear brother in Christ. How much he means to me! And how much more he will mean to you, both as a slave and as a brother in the Lord!

₁₇So, if you think of me as your partner, welcome him back just as you would welcome me. ₁₈If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to my account. ₁₉Here, I will write this with my own hand: I, Paul, will pay you back. (I should not have to remind you, of course, that you owe your very self to me.) ₂₀So, my brother, please do me this favour for the Lord's sake; as a brother in Christ, cheer me up!

₂₁I am sure, as I write this, that you will do what I ask — in fact I know that you will do even more. ₂₂At the same time, get a room ready for me, because I hope that God will answer the prayers of all of you and give me back to you.

₂₃Epaphras, who is in prison with me for the sake of Christ Jesus, sends you his greetings, ₂₄and so do my fellow-workers Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke.

₂₅May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.