²⁷ And when he desired to cross to Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him; and when he arrived, ^(A)he greatly helped those who had believed through grace;

¹⁶ Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. ^17 (A)Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, ^(B)with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. ^18 (C)Of His own will He brought us forth by the ^(D)word of truth, ^(E)that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

Stand Fast

¹³ But we are ^[a]bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God ^(A)from the beginning ^(B)chose you for salvation ^(C)through ^[b]sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, ¹⁴ to which He called you by our gospel, for ^(D)the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁸ We therefore ought to ^(A)receive^[a] such, that we may become fellow workers for the truth.

Diotrephes and Demetrius

⁹ I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us. ¹⁰ Therefore, if I come, I will call to mind his deeds which he does, ^(B)prating^[b] against us with malicious words. And not content with that, he himself does not receive the brethren, and forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the church.

^2 (A)elect ^(B)according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, ^(C)in sanctification of the Spirit, for ^(D)obedience and ^(E)sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ:

^(F)Grace to you and peace be multiplied.

A Heavenly Inheritance

^3 (G)Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who ^(H)according to His abundant mercy ^(I)has begotten us again to a living hope ^(J)through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

⁴ But when ^(A)the kindness and the love of ^(B)God our Savior toward man appeared, ^5 (C)not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through ^(D)the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, ^6 (E)whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

^10 (A)Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, with ^(B)Mark the cousin of Barnabas (about whom you received instructions: if he comes to you, welcome him),

^12 (A)buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through ^(B)faith in the working of God, ^(C)who raised Him from the dead.

²⁹ For to you ^(A)it has been granted on behalf of Christ, ^(B)not only to believe in Him, but also to ^(C)suffer for His sake,