so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law;
and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
but test everything; hold fast what is good.
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.
Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!”
but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. “Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes!
But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
“Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.
“‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false.
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.
For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you.
Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.
For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot.
Peter answered him, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.”
you who hate the good and love the evil, who tear the skin from off my people and their flesh from off their bones,
Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said. Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted.
for the ear tests words as the palate tastes food.
Does not the ear test words as the palate tastes food?
Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.”
The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.
Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.
Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed.
I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine.
We put no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry,
For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.
Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God,
Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.
I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.
For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,
Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good.
So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man.
For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.
Unless otherwise indicated, all content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Contact me: openbibleinfo (at) gmail.com.