Dedicate Your Lives To Jesus (I Peter 3:8-12) God's Word and The Message Translations

GOD'S WORD TRANSLATION

8    Finally, everyone must live in harmony, be sympathetic, love each other, have compassion, and be humble.

9    Don’t pay people back with evil for the evil they do to you, or ridicule those who ridicule you. Instead, bless them, because you were called to inherit a blessing.

10  “People who want to live a full life and enjoy good days must keep their tongues from saying evil things,

        and their lips from speaking deceitful things.

11  They must turn away from evil and do good.  They must seek peace and pursue it.

12  The Lord’s eyes are on those who do what he approves.  His ears hear their prayer.  The Lord confronts those who do evil.”

THE MESSAGE TRANSLATION

8-12 Summing up: Be agreeable, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble. That goes for all of you, no exceptions. No retaliation. No sharp-tongued sarcasm. Instead, bless—that’s your job, to bless. You’ll be a blessing and also get a blessing.  Whoever wants to embrace life and see the day fill up with good, 

Here’s what you do:  Say nothing evil or hurtful; Snub evil and cultivate good; run after peace for all you’re worth.  God looks on all this with approval, listening and responding well to what he’s asked; But he turns his back on those who do evil things.

Continue To Do Your Work (2 Timothy 4:1-5) God's Word and The Message Translations

GOD'S WORD TRANSLATION

1  I solemnly call on you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge those who are living and those who are dead. I do this because Christ Jesus will come to rule the world. 

2  Be ready to spread the word whether or not the time is right. Point out errors, warn people, and encourage them. Be very patient when you teach.

3  A time will come when people will not listen to accurate teachings. Instead, they will follow their own desires and surround themselves with teachers who tell them what they want to hear. 

4  People will refuse to listen to the truth and turn to myths.

5  But you must keep a clear head in everything. Endure suffering. Do the work of a missionary. Devote yourself completely to your work.

THE MESSAGE TRANSLATION

1-2  I can’t impress this on you too strongly. God is looking over your shoulder. Christ himself is the Judge, with the final say on everyone, living and dead. He is about to break into the open with his rule, so proclaim the Message with intensity; keep on your watch. Challenge, warn, and urge your people. Don’t ever quit. Just keep it simple.

3-5  You’re going to find that there will be times when people will have no stomach for solid teaching, but will fill up on spiritual junk food—catchy opinions that tickle their fancy. They’ll turn their backs on truth and chase mirages. But you—keep your eye on what you’re doing; accept the hard times along with the good; keep the Message alive; do a thorough job as God’s servant.

Those Who Hate Other Believers Are Still In The Dark (I John 2:7-11) God's Word & The Message Translations

^{GOD'S WORD TRANSLATION}
7    Dear friends, it’s not as though I’m writing to give you a new commandment. Rather, I’m giving you an old commandment that you’ve had from the beginning. It’s the old commandment you’ve already heard. 
8    On the other hand, I’m writing to give you a new commandment. It’s a truth that exists in Christ and in you: The darkness is fading, and the true light is already shining.
9    Those who say that they are in the light but hate other believers are still in the dark. 
10  Those who love other believers live in the light. Nothing will destroy the faith of those who live in the light. 
11  Those who hate other believers are in the dark and live in the dark. They don’t know where they’re going, because they can’t see in the dark.

THE MESSAGE TRANSLATION
7-8    My dear friends, I’m not writing anything new here. This is the oldest commandment in the book, and you’ve known it from day one. It’s always been implicit in the Message you’ve heard. On the other hand, perhaps it is new, freshly minted as it is in both Christ and you—the darkness on its way out and the True Light already blazing!

9-11  Anyone who claims to live in God’s light and hates a brother or sister is still in the dark. It’s the person who loves brother and sister who dwells in God’s light and doesn’t block the light from others. But whoever hates is still in the dark, stumbles around in the dark, doesn’t know which end is up, blinded by the darkness.

The Only Way to Know We’re in Christ (I John 2:2-6) God's Word and The Message Translations

GOD'S WORD TRANSLATION
2  He is the payment for our sins, and not only for our sins, but also for the sins of the whole world.
3  We are sure that we know Christ if we obey his commandments. 
4  The person who says, “I know him,” but doesn’t obey his commandments is a liar. The truth isn’t in that person. 
5  But whoever obeys what Christ says is the kind of person in whom God’s love is perfected. That’s how we know we are in Christ. 
6  Those who say that they live in him must live the same way he lived.

THE MESSAGE TRANSLATION

2-3  Here’s how we can be sure that we know God in the right way: Keep his commandments.

4-6  If someone claims, “I know him well!” but doesn’t keep his commandments, he’s obviously a liar. His life doesn’t match his words. But the one who keeps God’s word is the person in whom we see God’s mature love. This is the only way to be sure we’re in God. Anyone who claims to be intimate with God ought to live the same kind of life Jesus lived.

God Is Faithful And Reliable (I John 1:5-10) God's Word and The Message Translations

GOD'S WORD TRANSLATION

5   This is the message we heard from Christ and are reporting to you: God is light, and there isn’t any darkness in him. 

6   If we say, “We have a relationship with God” and yet live in the dark, we’re lying. We aren’t being truthful.

7   But if we live in the light in the same way that God is in the light, we have a relationship with each other. And the blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from every sin. 

8   If we say, “We aren’t sinful” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 

9   God is faithful and reliable. If we confess our sins, he forgives them and cleanses us from everything we’ve done wrong. 

10  If we say, “We have never sinned,” we turn God into a liar and his Word is not in us.

THE MESSAGE TRANSLATION

5     This, in essence, is the message we heard from Christ and are passing on to you: God is light, pure light; there’s not a trace of darkness in him.

6-7  If we claim that we experience a shared life with him and continue to stumble around in the dark, we’re obviously lying through our teeth—we’re not living what we claim. But if we walk in the light, God himself being the light, we also experience a shared life with one another, as the sacrificed blood of Jesus, God’s Son, purges all our sin.

8-10  If we claim that we’re free of sin, we’re only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the other hand, if we admit our sins—make a clean breast of them—he won’t let us down; he’ll be true to himself. He’ll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing. If we claim that we’ve never sinned, we out-and-out contradict God—make a liar out of him. A claim like that only shows off our ignorance of God.

Guard Yourselves From False Gods (I John 5:16-21) God's Word and The Message Translations

GOD'S WORD TRANSLATION
16  If you see another believer committing a sin that doesn’t lead to death, you should pray that God would give that person life. This is true for those who commit sins that don’t lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I’m not telling you to pray about that. 
17  Every kind of wrongdoing is sin, yet there are sins that don’t lead to death.
18  We know that those who have been born from God don’t go on sinning. Rather, the Son of God protects them, and the evil one can’t harm them.
19  We know that we are from God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.
20  We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we know the real God. We are in the one who is real, his Son Jesus Christ. This Jesus Christ is the real God and eternal life.
21  Dear children, guard yourselves from false gods.

THE MESSAGE TRANSLATION
16-17  For instance, if we see a Christian believer sinning (clearly I’m not talking about those who make a practice of sin in a way that is “fatal,” leading to eternal death), we ask for God’s help and he gladly gives it, gives life to the sinner whose sin is not fatal. There is such a thing as a fatal sin, and I’m not urging you to pray about that. Everything we do wrong is sin, but not all sin is fatal.

18-21  We know that none of the God-begotten makes a practice of sin—fatal sin. The God-begotten are also the God-protected. The Evil One can’t lay a hand on them. We know that we are held firm by God; it’s only the people of the world who continue in the grip of the Evil One. And we know that the Son of God came so we could recognize and understand the truth of God—what a gift!—and we are living in the Truth itself, in God’s Son, Jesus Christ. This Jesus is both True God and Real Life. Dear children, be on guard against all clever facsimiles.

Whoever Has The Son, Has Life (I John 5:11-15) God's Word and The Message Translations

GOD'S WORD TRANSLATION
11  This is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is found in his Son. 
12  The person who has the Son has this life. The person who doesn’t have the Son of God doesn’t have this life.  
13  I’ve written this to those who believe in the Son of God so that they will know that they have eternal life.
14  We are confident that God listens to us if we ask for anything that has his approval. 
15  We know that he listens to our requests. So we know that we already have what we ask him for.

THE MESSAGE TRANSLATION
11-12  This is the testimony in essence: God gave us eternal life; the life is in his Son. So, whoever has the Son, has life; whoever rejects the Son, rejects life.
13-15  My purpose in writing is simply this: that you who believe in God’s Son will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life, the reality and not the illusion. And how bold and free we then become in his presence, freely asking according to his will, sure that he’s listening. And if we’re confident that he’s listening, we know that what we’ve asked for is as good as ours.

This Son Of God Is Jesus Christ (I John 5:6-10) God's Word and The Message Translations

GOD'S WORD TRANSLATION
6  This Son of God is Jesus Christ, who came by water and blood. He didn’t come with water only, but with water and with blood. The Spirit is the one who verifies this, because the Spirit is the truth. 
7  There are three witnesses:
8   the Spirit, the water, and the blood. These three witnesses agree.
9   We accept human testimony. God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony that he has given about his Son. 
10  Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony of God in them. Those who don’t believe God have made God a liar. They haven’t believed the testimony that God has given about his Son.

THE MESSAGE TRANSLATION
6-8   Jesus—the Divine Christ! He experienced a life-giving birth and a death-killing death. Not only birth from the womb, but baptismal birth of his ministry and sacrificial death. And all the while the Spirit is confirming the truth, the reality of God’s presence at Jesus’ baptism and crucifixion, bringing those occasions alive for us. A triple testimony: the Spirit, the Baptism, the Crucifixion. And the three in perfect agreement.
9-10  If we take human testimony at face value, how much more should we be reassured when God gives testimony as he does here, testifying concerning his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God inwardly confirms God’s testimony. Whoever refuses to believe in effect calls God a liar, refusing to believe God’s own testimony regarding his Son.

Those Who Believe in Jesus Are God’s Children (I John 5:1-5) God's Word and The Message Translations

GOD'S WORD TRANSLATION
1   Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messiah has been born from God. Everyone who loves the Father also loves his children.
2  We know that we love God’s children when we love God by obeying his commandments. 
3  To love God means that we obey his commandments. Obeying his commandments isn’t difficult 
4   because everyone who has been born from God has won the victory over the world. Our faith is what wins the victory over the world. 
5   Who wins the victory over the world? Isn’t it the person who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

THE MESSAGE TRANSLATION
1-3  Every person who believes that Jesus is, in fact, the Messiah, is God-begotten. If we love the One who conceives the child, we’ll surely love the child who was conceived. The reality test on whether or not we love God’s children is this: Do we love God? Do we keep his commands? The proof that we love God comes when we keep his commandments and they are not at all troublesome
4-5  Every God-begotten person conquers the world’s ways. The conquering power that brings the world to its knees is our faith. The person who wins out over the world’s ways is simply the one who believes Jesus is the Son of God.

No Fear Exists Where His Love Is (I John 4:17-21) God's Word & The Message Translations

GOD'S WORD TRANSLATION
17  God’s love has reached its goal in us. So we look ahead with confidence to the day of judgment. While we are in this world, we are exactly like him with regard to love.  
18  No fear exists where his love is. Rather, perfect love gets rid of fear, because fear involves punishment. The person who lives in fear doesn’t have perfect love.
19  We love because God loved us first. 
20  Whoever says, “I love God,” but hates another believer is a liar. People who don’t love other believers, whom they have seen, can’t love God, whom they have not seen. 
21  Christ has given us this commandment: The person who loves God must also love other believers\

THE MESSAGE TRANSLATION

17-18  God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.

19    We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.
20-21  If anyone boasts, “I love God,” and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love both.

The Knowledge of Knowing We Live In Him (I John 4:13-16) God's Word and The Message Translations

GOD'S WORD TRANSLATION

13  We know that we live in him and he lives in us because he has given us his Spirit.

14  We have seen and testify to the fact that the Father sent his Son as the Savior of the world. 
15  God lives in those who declare that Jesus is the Son of God, and they live in God. 
16  We have known and believed that God loves us. God is love. Those who live in God’s love live in God, and God lives in them.

THE MESSAGE TRANSLATION
13-16  This is how we know we’re living steadily and deeply in him, and he in us: He’s given us life from his life, from his very own Spirit. Also, we’ve seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God’s Son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well, we’ve embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God.