Bible Verses About Commandments

traitorous, headstrong, swollen with conceit, loving pleasure rather than God,

as they retain the outer form of religion but deny its power. Stay away from these people!

The reason I left you in Crete was so that you might attend to the matters still not in order and appoint congregation leaders in each city — those were my instructions.

A leader must be blameless, husband to one wife, with believing children who do not have a reputation for being wild or rebellious.

For an overseer, as someone entrusted with God’s affairs, must be blameless — he must not be self-willed or quick-tempered, he must not drink excessively, get into fights or be greedy for dishonest gain.

On the contrary, he must be hospitable, devoted to good, sober-mindedness, uprightness, holiness and self-control.

He must hold firmly to the trustworthy Message that agrees with the doctrine; so that by his sound teaching he will be able to exhort and encourage, and also to refute those who speak against it.

For there are many, especially from the Circumcision faction, who are rebellious, who delude people’s minds with their worthless and misleading talk.

They must be silenced; because they are upsetting entire households by teaching what they have no business teaching, and doing it for the sake of dishonest gain.

Even one of the Cretans’ own prophets has said, “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons” —

and it’s true! For this reason, you must be severe when you rebuke those who have followed this false teaching, so that they will come to be sound in their trust

and no longer pay attention to Judaistic myths or to the commands of people who reject the truth.

Tell the older men to be serious, sensible, self-controlled and sound in their trust, love and perseverance.

Likewise, tell the older women to behave the way people leading a holy life should. They shouldn’t be slanderers or slaves to excessive drinking. They should teach what is good,

thus training the younger women to love their husbands and children,

to be self-controlled and pure, to take good care of their homes and submit to their husbands. In this way, God’s message will not be brought into disgrace.

Tell slaves to submit to their masters in everything, to give satisfaction without talking back

or pilfering. On the contrary, they should demonstrate complete faithfulness always, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Deliverer more attractive.

For God’s grace, which brings deliverance, has appeared to all people.

It teaches us to renounce godlessness and worldly pleasures, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives now, in this age;

Remind people to submit to the government and its officials, to obey them, to be ready to do any honorable kind of work,

to slander no one, to avoid quarrelling, to be friendly, and to behave gently towards everyone.

However, we want each one of you to keep showing the same diligence right up to the end, when your hope will be realized;

so that you will not become sluggish, but will be imitators of those who by their trust and patience are receiving what has been promised.

Therefore, let us approach the Holiest Place with a sincere heart, in the full assurance that comes from trusting — with our hearts sprinkled clean from a bad conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.