Pay close attention to yourself and to what you teach [people]. Continue doing these things, for in doing them you will both save yourself and those who listen to you.
“But pay attention to yourselves, for people will turn you over to [Jewish] councils [i.e., for judgment] and you will be beaten in synagogues. You will stand trial before governors and kings for being loyal to me. [This will afford you an opportunity] for witnessing to them.
“But pay attention to yourselves so that your hearts do not become overburdened by carousing, and drunkenness, and the worries of life. [If you do], that ‘day’ [i.e., Jesus’ second coming and judgment] will arrive suddenly, like a trap [i.e., which catches an animal by surprise].
But I obtained help from God and so [I am able to] stand here to this day, testifying to both the common people and to those in prominence. [I am] saying only what the prophets and Moses said would happen,
Now I urge you, brothers, watch out for those who are causing divisions and occasions for falling [away from God over matters] contrary to the teaching you have learned, and withdraw from them [i.e., stop listening to their false teaching].
For since, according to God’s [true] wisdom, the world did not know about Him through its wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe [in Christ] through the “foolishness” of the message preached.
I behaved like a weak person in front of weak people [See 8:9-12], in order to win them over [i.e., to help them become stronger]. I have become all things to all people so that, in every way, I could save some of them.
But I work out and get my body in shape [i.e., spiritually], so that after preaching to other people, I myself do not become disqualified [i.e., for winning the prize from God. See verse 24].
Then we will no longer be [spiritual] babies, tossed back and forth [by waves], and blown around by every wind of [false] teaching, [deceived] by the clever trickery of people using deceptive schemes.
And tell Archippus [Note: He may have been the preacher at Colosse or Laodicia. See Philemon 1:1-2]; “See to it that you fulfill your ministry [there], which you have received in [the service of] the Lord.”
for they [even] try to prevent us from speaking to the Gentiles, so that they can be saved. [In doing this] they are always piling up one sin on another. But the wrath [of God] has come upon them at last [or, “completely”].
As I urged you to do when I was leaving Macedonia [See Acts 20:1ff], I want you to remain in Ephesus in order to urge certain people not to teach a different [i.e., false] doctrine,
Be attentive to these things [i.e., all of the foregoing]; be involved in [practicing] them, so that your progress [in the ministry] will be evident to everyone.
If you point out these things to the brothers you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, and will be nurtured by the message of the faith and of the good teaching which you have been following.
So, I endure everything for the elect’s sake [i.e., God’s people], so that they can obtain the salvation which comes through Christ Jesus, with [its] never ending splendor.
But you should continue [to believe and practice] what you have learned and been convinced of, knowing those from whom you learned it. [Note: These persons would include Lois and Eunice (See I Tim. 1:5), as well as Paul himself].
Preach the [Gospel] message; be prepared [to do it both] when it is convenient and when it is inconvenient; reprove [i.e., convince people of their wrongdoing], rebuke [i.e., convict people of their sin], and exhort [i.e., urge people to act], with great patience and teaching.
[He must] hold on firmly to the trustworthy message, which is according to [our] teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort people with sound teaching and to convince those who contradict it.
Look carefully [at how you are living] so that no one falls away from God’s unearned favor, and that no “poisonous plant sprouts up” to cause trouble and corrupt many people [Note: This is an analogy from Deut. 29:16-18 being used as a warning against the evil influence of wicked people],
Do not continue to be swept off your course by all kinds of strange teachings. For it is good for your hearts to be strengthened by God’s unearned favor [upon you] and not by [keeping regulations about] foods, which do not benefit those who observe them.
that person should know that whoever brings a sinner back from the error of his way will save that soul from [spiritual] death and will cover over a large number of sins [i.e., the many sins of that person will become forgiven].