Personal Greetings

16 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon^[a] of the church at Cenchreae,^(A)

Paul’s Return to Antioch

¹⁸ After staying there for a considerable time, Paul said farewell to the brothers and sisters and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had his hair cut, for he was under a vow.^(A)

²² Now that you have purified your souls^[a] by your obedience to the truth^[b] so that you have genuine mutual affection, love one another deeply from the heart.^{[c](A) 23} You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.^[d](B)

⁹ Let a widow be put on the list if she is not less than sixty years old and has been married only once;^{[a] 10} she must be well attested for her good works, as one who has brought up children, shown hospitality, washed the saints’ feet, helped the afflicted, and devoted herself to doing good in every way.^(A)

¹⁵ If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food^(A)

² to older women as mothers, to younger women as sisters—with absolute purity.

Ministers of the New Covenant

3 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Surely we do not need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you, do we?^(A)

³ and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who ministered to them^[a] out of their own resources.

³⁰ who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.

⁵⁰ For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”^(A)