The Parable of the Dragnet

⁴⁷ “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and ^(A)gathered some of every kind,

⁶ If anyone does not abide in Me, ^(A)he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.

² For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, ³ unloving, ^[a]unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, ^4 (A)traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ^5 (B)having a form of godliness but ^(C)denying its power. And ^(D)from such people turn away!

Love for God and One Another

4 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but ^(A)test the spirits, whether they are of God; because ^(B)many false prophets have gone out into the world. ² By this you know the Spirit of God: ^(C)Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, ³ and every spirit that does not confess ^[a]that Jesus ^[b]Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

⁴ You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than ^(D)he who is in the world. ^5 (E)They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and ^(F)the world hears them. ⁶ We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. ^(G)By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

The Dead Church

3 “And to the ^[a]angel of the church in Sardis write,

‘These things says He who ^(A)has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.

^13 (A)and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure ^(B)to ^[a]carouse in the daytime. ^(C)They are spots and blemishes, ^[b]carousing in their own deceptions while ^(D)they feast with you, ¹⁴ having eyes full of ^[c]adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. ^(E)They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. ¹⁵ They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of ^(F)Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; ¹⁶ but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet.

^17 (G)These are wells without water, ^[d]clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness ^[e]forever.

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 ^[f]have actually escaped from those who live in error. ¹⁹ While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of ^[g]corruption; ^(H)for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into ^[h]bondage. ²⁰ For if, after they ^(I)have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are ^(J)again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. ²¹ For ^(K)it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. ²² But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: ^(L)“A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”

⁹ holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.

The Elders’ Task

¹⁰ For there are many insubordinate, both idle ^(A)talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, ¹¹ whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, ^(B)for the sake of dishonest gain.

^3 (A)For the time will come when they will not endure ^(B)sound doctrine, ^(C)but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; ⁴ and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and ^(D)be turned aside to fables.

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; ²¹ lest, when I come again, my God ^(B)will humble me among you, and I shall mourn for many ^(C)who have sinned before and have not repented of the uncleanness, ^(D)fornication, and lewdness which they have practiced.