¹⁵ It is God’s will that your honorable lives should silence those ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you.

¹⁷ Remember, it is better to suffer for doing good, if that is what God wants, than to suffer for doing wrong!

⁸ Teach the truth so that your teaching can’t be criticized. Then those who oppose us will be ashamed and have nothing bad to say about us.

¹² Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.^[a]

²⁶ But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand.

¹⁸ Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

³ God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin.

¹² These false teachers are like unthinking animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed. They scoff at things they do not understand, and like animals, they will be destroyed.

⁶ Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. As slaves of Christ, do the will of God with all your heart. ⁷ Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.