Part 3

004:001 Now the Spirit expressly declares that in later times some will fall away from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and the teachings of demons;

004:002 through the hypocrisy of men who teach falsely and have their own consciences seared as with a hot iron;

004:003 forbidding people to marry, and insisting on abstinence from foods which God has created to be partaken of, with thankfulness, by those who believe and have a clear knowledge of the truth.

004:004 For everything that God has created is good, and nothing is to be cast aside, if only it is received with thanksgiving.

004:005 For it is made holy by the word of God and by prayer.

004:006 If you warn the brethren of these dangers you will be a good and faithful servant of Christ Jesus, inwardly feeding on the lessons of the faith and of the sound teaching of which you have been, and are, so close a follower.

004:007 But worldly stories, fit only for credulous old women, have nothing to do with.

004:008 Train yourself in godliness. Exercise for the body is not useless, but godliness is useful in every respect, possessing, as it does, the promise of Life now and of the Life which is soon coming.

004:009 Faithful is this saying and deserving of universal acceptance:

004:010 and here is the motive of our toiling and wrestling, because we have our hopes fixed on the ever-living God, who is the Saviour of all mankind, and especially of believers.

004:011 Command this and teach this.

004:012 Let no one think slightingly of you because you are a young man; but in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, be an example for your fellow Christians to imitate.

004:013 Till I come, bestow your attention on reading, exhortation and teaching.

004:014 Do not be careless about the gifts with which you are endowed, which were conferred on you through a divine revelation when the hands of the elders were placed upon you.

004:015 Habitually practise these duties, and be absorbed in them; so that your growing proficiency in them may be evident to all.

004:016 Be on your guard as to yourself and your teaching. Persevere in these things; for by doing this you will make certain your own salvation and that of your hearers.

005:001 Never administer a sharp reprimand to a man older than yourself; but entreat him as if he were your father, and the younger men as brothers;

005:002 the elder women too as mothers, and the younger women as sisters, with perfect modesty.

005:003 Honour widows who are really in need.

005:004 But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let these learn first to show piety towards their own homes and to prove their gratitude to their parents; for this is well pleasing in the sight of God.

005:005 A widow who is really in need, friendless and desolate, has her hopes fixed on God, and continues at her supplications and prayers, night and day;

005:006 but a pleasure-loving widow is dead even while still alive.

005:007 Press these facts upon them, so that they may live lives free from reproach.

005:008 But if a man makes no provision for those dependent on him, and especially for his own family, he has disowned the faith and is behaving worse than an unbeliever.

005:009 No widow is to be put on the roll who is under sixty years of age.

005:010 She must have been true to her one husband, and well reported of for good deeds, as having brought up children, received strangers hospitably, washed the feet of God's people, given relief to the distressed, and devoted herself to good works of every kind.

005:011 But the younger widows you must not enrol; for as soon as they begin to chafe against the yoke of Christ, they want to marry,

005:012 and they incur disapproval for having broken their original vow.