Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, ¹  but test ²  the spirits ³  to determine ⁴  if they are from God, because many false prophets ⁵  have gone out into the world.

So then, dear brothers and sisters, ¹  be firm. Do not be moved! Always be outstanding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

So then, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, continue working out your salvation with awe and reverence, ¹ 

But those who have believing masters must not show them less respect ¹  because they are brothers. Instead they are to serve all the more, because those who benefit from their service are believers and dearly loved. ² Teach them and exhort them about these things. ³ 

Listen, my dear brothers and sisters! ¹  Did not God choose the poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him?

Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. ¹  The old commandment is the word that you have already ²  heard.

Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be ¹  has not yet been revealed. We ²  know that ³  whenever ⁴  it ⁵  is revealed ⁶  we will be like him, because ⁷  we will see him just as he is. ⁸ 

Dear friends, let us love one another, because ¹  love is from God, and everyone who loves ²  has been fathered ³  by God and knows God.

Dear friends, although I have been eager to write to you ¹  about our common salvation, I now feel compelled ²  instead to write to encourage ³  you to contend earnestly ⁴  for the faith ⁵  that was once for all ⁶  entrusted to the saints. ⁷