I, who am an elder myself, appeal to the church elders among you. I am a witness of Christ's sufferings, and I will share in the glory that will be revealed. I appeal to you

From the Elder--- To my dear Gaius, whom I truly love.

And so I ask you, dear Lady: let us all love one another. This is no new command I am writing you; it is the command which we have had from the beginning.

The children of your dear Sister send you their greetings.

And so, Your Excellency, because I have carefully studied all these matters from their beginning, I thought it would be good to write an orderly account for you.

Even before the world was made, God had already chosen us to be his through our union with Christ, so that we would be holy and without fault before him. Because of his love

God had already decided that through Jesus Christ he would make us his children---this was his pleasure and purpose.

For we remember before our God and Father how you put your faith into practice, how your love made you work so hard, and how your hope in our Lord Jesus Christ is firm.

Our friends, we know that God loves you and has chosen you to be his own.

We must thank God at all times for you, friends, you whom the Lord loves. For God chose you as the first to be saved by the Spirit's power to make you his holy people and by your faith in the truth.

God called you to this through the Good News we preached to you; he called you to possess your share of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

You were chosen according to the purpose of God the Father and were made a holy people by his Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be purified by his blood. May grace and peace be yours in full measure.

because the truth remains in us and will be with us forever.

May God the Father and Jesus Christ, the Father's Son, give us grace, mercy, and peace; may they be ours in truth and love.

Now that by your obedience to the truth you have purified yourselves and have come to have a sincere love for other believers, love one another earnestly with all your heart.

For through the living and eternal word of God you have been born again as the children of a parent who is immortal, not mortal.

My children, our love should not be just words and talk; it must be true love, which shows itself in action.

From the Elder--- To my dear Gaius, whom I truly love.

you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

but in order to keep the truth of the gospel safe for you, we did not give in to them for a minute.

When I saw that they were not walking a straight path in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, "You are a Jew, yet you have been living like a Gentile, not like a Jew. How, then, can you try to force Gentiles to live like Jews?"

You foolish Galatians! Who put a spell on you? Before your very eyes you had a clear description of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross!

You were doing so well! Who made you stop obeying the truth? How did he persuade you?

When the true message, the Good News, first came to you, you heard about the hope it offers. So your faith and love are based on what you hope for, which is kept safe for you in heaven.

We must thank God at all times for you, friends, you whom the Lord loves. For God chose you as the first to be saved by the Spirit's power to make you his holy people and by your faith in the truth.

who wants everyone to be saved and to come to know the truth.

For there is no longer any sacrifice that will take away sins if we purposely go on sinning after the truth has been made known to us.

I write you, then, not because you do not know the truth; instead, it is because you do know it, and you also know that no lie ever comes from the truth.