3 My loved ones, while my thoughts were full of a letter which I was going to send you about our common salvation, it was necessary for me to send you one requesting you with all my heart to go on fighting strongly for the faith which has been given to the saints once and for ever.
Be fighting the good fight of the faith; take for yourself the life eternal, for which you were marked out, and of which you gave witness in the eyes of all.
But you, my loved ones, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, and making prayers in the Holy Spirit,
And they overcame him through the blood of the Lamb and the word of their witness; and loving not their lives they freely gave themselves up to death.
Only let your behaviour do credit to the good news of Christ, so that if I come and see you or if I am away from you, I may have news of you that you are strong in one spirit, working together with one soul for the faith of the good news;
There is no Jew or Greek, servant or free, male or female: because you are all one in Jesus Christ.
Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the purpose of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus, and those who have faith in Christ Jesus:
To the saints and true brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
But after we had first undergone much pain and been cruelly attacked as you saw, at Philippi, by the help of God we gave you the good news without fear, though everything was against us.
Keep the form of those true words which you had from me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
I have made a good fight, I have come to the end of my journey, I have kept the faith: From now on, the crown of righteousness is made ready for me, which the Lord, the upright judge, Will give to me at that day: and not only to me, but to all those who have had love for his revelation.
I have sent you this short letter by Silvanus, a true brother, in my opinion; comforting you and witnessing that this is the true grace of God; keep to it.
Simon Peter, a servant and Apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who with us have a part in the same holy faith in the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ:
My loved ones, this is now my second letter to you, and in this as in the first, I am attempting to keep your true minds awake; So that you may keep in mind the words of the holy prophets in the past, and the law of the Lord and Saviour which was given to you by his Apostles.
But you, my loved ones, keep in memory the words which were said before by the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Have no fear of the things which you will have to undergo: see, the Evil One will send some of you into prison, so that you may be put to the test; and you will have great trouble for ten days. Be true till death, and I will give you the crown of life.
And the Lord gave me the two stones with writing on them done by the finger of God: on them were recorded all the words which the Lord said to you on the mountain out of the heart of the fire, on the day of the great meeting.
So you will take away the crime of a death without cause from among you, when you do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.
Let your hearts be turned to me, so that you may have salvation, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is no other.
Their tongues are bent like a bow to send out false words: they have become strong in the land, but not for good faith: they go on from evil to evil, and they have no knowledge of me, says the Lord.
And Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. But some of those who were of the Synagogue named that of the Libertines, and some of the men of Cyrene and of Alexandria and those from Cilicia and Asia, had arguments with Stephen. But they were not able to get the better of him, for his words were full of wisdom and of the Spirit.
But Saul went on increasing in power, and the Jews in Damascus were not able to give answers to the arguments by which he made it clear that Jesus was the Christ.
Then Paul and Barnabas without fear said, It was necessary for the word of God to be given to you first; but because you will have nothing to do with it, and have no desire for eternal life, it will now be offered to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has given us orders, saying, I have given you for a light to the Gentiles so that you may be for salvation to the ends of the earth.
Saying to them clearly and openly that Christ had to be put to death and come back to life again; and that this Jesus, whom, he said, I am preaching to you, is the Christ.
And every Sabbath he had discussions in the Synagogue, turning Jews and Greeks to the faith. And when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul was completely given up to the word, preaching to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. And when they put themselves against him, and said evil words, he said, shaking his clothing, Your blood be on your heads, I am clean: from now I will go to the Gentiles.
For I have not kept back from you anything of the purpose of God.
Be certain, then, that the salvation of God is sent to the Gentiles, and they will give hearing.
But I have, in some measure, less fear in writing to you to put these things before you again, because of the grace which was given to me by God, To be a servant of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, doing the work of a priest in the good news of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles might be pleasing to God, being made holy by the Holy Spirit.
For I gave to you first of all what was handed down to me, how Christ underwent death for our sins, as it says in the Writings;
And I took up the cause against them, cursing them and giving blows to some of them and pulling out their hair; and I made them take an oath by God, saying, You are not to give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.
For this reason I will be ready at all times to keep your memory of these things awake, though you have the knowledge of them now and are well based in your present faith. And it seems right to me, as long as I am in this tent of flesh, to keep your minds awake by working on your memory; For I am conscious that in a short time I will have to put off this tent of flesh, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will take every care so that you may have a clear memory of these things after my death.