²⁰ For I fear lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I wish, and that ^(A)I shall be found by you such as you do not wish; lest there be contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, backbitings, whisperings, conceits, tumults;

²⁹ being filled with all unrighteousness, ^[a]sexual immorality, wickedness, ^[b]covetousness, ^[c]maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers,

Our Inheritance Through Christ’s Blood

2 Therefore, ^(A)laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking,

¹⁵ But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!

¹¹ For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are ^[a]contentions among you.

Apostates Predicted

¹⁶ These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they ^(A)mouth great swelling words, ^(B)flattering people to gain advantage.

Deceptions of False Teachers

¹⁸ For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who ^[a]have actually escaped from those who live in error.

Pride Promotes Strife

4 Where do ^[a]wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure ^(A)that war in your members? ² You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and ^[b]war. ^[c]Yet you do not have because you do not ask. ^3 (B)You ask and do not receive, ^(C)because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. ^4 [d]Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that ^(D)friendship with the world is enmity with God? ^(E)Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, ^(F)“The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?

¹⁴ But if you have ^(A)bitter envy and ^[a]self-seeking in your hearts, ^(B)do not boast and lie against the truth. ^15 (C)This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. ¹⁶ For ^(D)where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.