Book of Common Prayer

The sending of Timothy

3 So, when it got to the point that we couldn’t bear it any longer, Silvanus and I decided to remain in Athens by ourselves, ² and we sent Timothy—our brother, and God’s fellow worker in the gospel of the Messiah—so that he could strengthen you and bring comfort to your faith, ³ so that you wouldn’t be pulled off course by these sufferings. You yourselves know, don’t you, that this is what we are bound to face. ⁴ For when we were with you, we told you ahead of time that we would undergo suffering; that’s how it has turned out, and you know about it. ⁵ That’s why, when I too couldn’t bear it any longer, I sent Timothy, so that I could find out about your faithfulness, in case somehow the tempter had put you to the test and our work would be in ruins.

Timothy’s report

⁶ But now Timothy has returned to us from you. He has brought us the good news of your faith—and your love; he has told us that you always have good memories of us, and that you are longing to see us, just as we are to see you. ⁷ So, my dear family, we are comforted about you, in all our difficulties and troubles, because of your faithfulness. ⁸ Now, you see, we are really alive, if you are standing firm in the Lord. ⁹ For what thanks can we give back to God about you, for all the joy which we celebrate because of you in the presence of our God, ¹⁰ praying with more fervor than you can imagine, night and day, that we may see you face to face and may put into proper order anything that is lacking in your faith?

Paul’s words of blessing

¹¹ Now may God himself, our father, and our Lord Jesus, steer us on our way to you. ¹² And may the Lord make your love for one another, and for everybody, abound and overflow, just as ours does for you. ¹³ That way, your hearts will be strengthened and kept blameless in holiness before God our father when our Lord Jesus is present again with all his holy ones. Amen.

On adultery and oaths

²⁷ “You heard,” Jesus continued, “that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ ²⁸ But I say to you: everyone who gazes at a woman in order to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. ²⁹ If your right eye trips you up, tear it out and throw it away. Yes: it’s better for you to have one part of your body destroyed than for your whole body to be thrown into Gehenna. ³⁰ And if your right hand trips you up, cut it off and throw it away. Yes: it’s better for you to have one part of your body destroyed than for your whole body to go into Gehenna.

³¹ “It was also said, ‘If someone divorces his wife, he should give her a legal document to prove it.’ ³² But I say to you: everyone who divorces his wife, unless it’s in connection with immorality, makes her commit adultery; and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

³³ “Again, you heard that it was said to the people long ago: ‘You shall not swear falsely, but you shall give to the Lord what you promised under oath.’ ³⁴ But I say to you: don’t swear at all! Don’t swear by heaven (it’s God’s throne!); ³⁵ don’t swear by the earth (it’s God’s footstool!); don’t swear by Jerusalem (it’s the city of the great king!); ³⁶ don’t swear by your head (you can’t make one hair of it turn white or black!). ³⁷ When you’re talking, say ‘Yes’ when you mean Yes, and ‘No’ when you mean No. Anything more than that comes from the evil one.”