1 Finally, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus to live in a way that pleases God, as we have taught you. You live this way already, and we encourage you to do so even more.
2 For you remember what we taught you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
3 God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin.
4 Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor—
5 not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways.
6 Never harm or cheat a Christian brother in this matter by violating his wife, for the Lord avenges all such sins, as we have solemnly warned you before.
7 God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives.
8 Therefore, anyone who refuses to live by these rules is not disobeying human teaching but is rejecting God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.
9 But we don’t need to write to you about the importance of loving each other, for God himself has taught you to love one another.
10 Indeed, you already show your love for all the believers throughout Macedonia. Even so, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you to love them even more.
11 Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before.
12 Then people who are not Christians will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others.
GOOD NEWS TRANSLATION
1 Finally, our friends, you learned from us how you should live in order to please God. This is, of course, the way you have been living. And now we beg and urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus to do even more.
2 For you know the instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
3 God wants you to be holy and completely free from sexual immorality.
4 Each of you should know how to live with your wife in a holy and honorable way,
5 not with a lustful desire, like the heathen who do not know God.
6 In this matter, then, none of you should do wrong to other Christians or take advantage of them. We have told you this before, and we strongly warned you that the Lord will punish those who do that.
7 God did not call us to live in immorality, but in holiness.
8 So then, whoever rejects this teaching is not rejecting a human being, but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.
9 There is no need to write you about love for each other. You yourselves have been taught by God how you should love one another.
10 And you have, in fact, behaved like this toward all the believers in all of Macedonia. So we beg you, our friends, to do even more.
11 Make it your aim to live a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to earn your own living, just as we told you before.
12 In this way you will win the respect of those who are not believers, and you will not have to depend on anyone for what you need.
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