We know that we have left death and come over into life; we know it because we love others. Those who do not love are still under the power of death.

Let us try to know the LORD. He will come to us as surely as the day dawns, as surely as the spring rains fall upon the earth."

So Jesus said to those who believed in him, "If you obey my teaching, you are really my disciples;

So then, let us stop judging one another. Instead, you should decide never to do anything that would make others stumble or fall into sin.

So then, my friends, try even harder to make God's call and his choice of you a permanent experience; if you do so, you will never abandon your faith.

But it does not sink deep into them, and they don't last long. So when trouble or persecution comes because of the message, they give up at once.

How terrible for the world that there are things that make people lose their faith! Such things will always happen---but how terrible for the one who causes them!

Jesus said to his disciples, "Things that make people fall into sin are bound to happen, but how terrible for the one who makes them happen!

It would be better for him if a large millstone were tied around his neck and he were thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.

And why not? Because they did not depend on faith but on what they did. And so they stumbled over the "stumbling stone"

that the scripture speaks of: "Look, I place in Zion a stone that will make people stumble, a rock that will make them fall. But whoever believes in him will not be disappointed."

so that you will be able to choose what is best. Then you will be free from all impurity and blame on the Day of Christ.