Letters to the Churches

Whoever greets such a person shares in his evil deeds.

I have many things to write to you, but I would prefer not to do so with paper and ink. Instead, I hope to come and speak with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.

The children of your elect sister send you greetings.

The elder, To the beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth:

Beloved, I pray that in every way you may prosper and enjoy good health, as your soul also prospers.

For I was overjoyed when the brothers came and testified about your devotion to the truth, in which you continue to walk.

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

Beloved, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers, and especially since they are strangers to you.

They have testified to the church about your love. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God.

For they went out on behalf of the Name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles.

Therefore we ought to support such men, so that we may be fellow workers for the truth.

I have written to the church about this, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not accept our instruction.

So if I come, I will call attention to his malicious slander against us. And unsatisfied with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers and forbids those who want to do so, even putting them out of the church.

Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.

Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself. We also testify for him, and you know that our testimony is true.

I have many things to write to you, but I would prefer not to do so with pen and ink.

Instead, I hope to see you soon and speak with you face to face. Peace to you. The friends here send you greetings. Greet each of our friends there by name.

Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, To those who are called, loved by God the Father, and kept in Jesus Christ:

Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

Beloved, although I made every effort to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt it necessary to write and urge you to contend earnestly for the faith entrusted once for all to the saints.

For certain men have crept in among you unnoticed—ungodly ones who were designated long ago for condemnation. They turn the grace of our God into a license for immorality, and they deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Although you are fully aware of this, I want to remind you that after Jesus had delivered His people out of the land of Egypt, He destroyed those who did not believe.

And the angels who did not stay within their own domain but abandoned their proper dwelling—these He has kept in eternal chains under darkness, bound for judgment on that great day.

In like manner, Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, who indulged in sexual immorality and pursued strange flesh, are on display as an example of those who sustain the punishment of eternal fire.

Yet in the same way these dreamers defile their bodies, reject authority, and slander glorious beings.