And when you serve Christ in this way, you please God and are approved by others.

Remember how the LORD your God led you on this long journey through the desert these past forty years, sending hardships to test you, so that he might know what you intended to do and whether you would obey his commands.

(No doubt there must be divisions among you so that the ones who are in the right may be clearly seen.)

I wrote you that letter because I wanted to find out how well you had stood the test and whether you are always ready to obey my instructions.

So we are sending our brother with them; we have tested him many times and found him always very eager to help. And now that he has so much confidence in you, he is all the more eager to help.

And you yourselves know how he has proved his worth, how he and I, like a son and his father, have worked together for the sake of the gospel.

They should be tested first, and then, if they pass the test, they are to serve.

Their purpose is to prove that your faith is genuine. Even gold, which can be destroyed, is tested by fire; and so your faith, which is much more precious than gold, must also be tested, so that it may endure. Then you will receive praise and glory and honor on the Day when Jesus Christ is revealed.

I send greetings to Priscilla and Aquila and to the family of Onesiphorus.