“Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment accompanied by a promise, namely,

And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

so that you can decide what is best, and thus be sincere and blameless for the day of Christ,

for the one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort – for the sake of his good pleasure – is God.

Indeed, he greatly missed all of you and was distressed because you heard that he had been ill.

Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again you can rejoice and I can be free from anxiety.

You learned the gospel from Epaphras, our dear fellow slave – a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf –

And you were at one time strangers and enemies in your minds as expressed through your evil deeds,

These are all destined to perish with use, founded as they are on human commands and teachings.

Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing in the Lord.

I sent him with Onesimus, the faithful and dear brother, who is one of you. They will tell you about everything here.

nor to seek glory from people, either from you or from others,

For in fact when we were with you, we were telling you in advance that we would suffer affliction, and so it has happened, as you well know.

For this is God’s will: that you become holy, that you keep away from sexual immorality,

But you, brothers and sisters, are not in the darkness for the day to overtake you like a thief would.

But since we are of the day, we must stay sober by putting on the breastplate of faith and love and as a helmet our hope for salvation.

The arrival of the lawless one will be by Satan’s working with all kinds of miracles and signs and false wonders,

But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one.

I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand, which is how I write in every letter.

But the aim of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith.