Letters to the Churches

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some people think of slowness; on the contrary, he is patient with you; for it is not his purpose that anyone should be destroyed, but that everyone should turn from his sins.

However, the Day of the Lord will come “like a thief.” On that Day the heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will melt and disintegrate, and the earth and everything in it will be burned up.

Since everything is going to be destroyed like this, what kind of people should you be? You should lead holy and godly lives,

as you wait for the Day of God and work to hasten its coming. That Day will bring on the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt from the heat;

but we, following along with his promise, wait for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness will be at home.

Therefore, dear friends, as you look for these things, do everything you can to be found by him without spot or defect and at peace.

And think of our Lord’s patience as deliverance, just as our dear brother Sha’ul also wrote you, following the wisdom God gave him.

Indeed, he speaks about these things in all his letters. They contain some things that are hard to understand, things which the uninstructed and unstable distort, to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.

But you, dear friends, since you know this in advance, guard yourselves; so that you will not be led away by the errors of the wicked and fall from your own secure position.

And keep growing in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Deliverer, Yeshua the Messiah. To him be the glory, both now and forever! Amen.

The Word, which gives life! He existed from the beginning. We have heard him, we have seen him with our eyes, we have contemplated him, we have touched him with our hands!

The life appeared, and we have seen it. We are testifying to it and announcing it to you — eternal life! He was with the Father, and he appeared to us.

What we have seen and heard, we are proclaiming to you; so that you too may have fellowship with us. Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Yeshua the Messiah.

We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

And this is the message which we have heard from him and proclaim to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him — none!

If we claim to have fellowship with him while we are walking in the darkness, we are lying and not living out the truth.

But if we are walking in the light, as he is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of his Son Yeshua purifies us from all sin.

If we claim not to have sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

If we acknowledge our sins, then, since he is trustworthy and just, he will forgive them and purify us from all wrongdoing.

If we claim we have not been sinning, we are making him out to be a liar, and his Word is not in us.

My children, I am writing you these things so that you won’t sin. But if anyone does sin, we have Yeshua the Messiah, the Tzaddik, who pleads our cause with the Father.

Also, he is the kapparah for our sins — and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.

The way we can be sure we know him is if we are obeying his commands.

Anyone who says, “I know him,” but isn’t obeying his commands is a liar — the truth is not in him.

But if someone keeps doing what he says, then truly love for God has been brought to its goal in him. This is how we are sure that we are united with him.