Do not forsake your friend or the friend of your father, and do not run to your brother’s house when troubles befall you; far better is a friend nearby than a brother who is far away.
Adulterers! Do you not know that love of the world results in enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a lover of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
The one who leads a blameless life and does what is right, who speaks the truth from the heart and does not slander anyone, who does not harm a friend and does not scorn a neighbor.
Nor should you present any part of your body as an instrument for wickedness leading to sin. Rather, present yourselves to God as having been raised from death to life and the parts of your body to God as instruments for righteousness.
Make every effort to present yourself before God as one who is worthy of his approval, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, but who imparts the word of truth without any alteration.
Though he was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient to death, even death on a cross.
But you are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people claimed by God as his own possession,” so that you may proclaim the praise of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
However, you, dear friends, must build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in the love of God as you await our Lord Jesus Christ in his mercy, who will grant you eternal life.
Set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For love is as strong as death, and ardor is as relentless as the netherworld. Its flames are flashes of fire, an unending blaze.
And as we gaze upon the glory of the Lord with unveiled faces, all of us are being transformed into that same image from glory to glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will ever snatch them from my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one can snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.