And he having sown among thorns, this is he hearing the word; and the care of this time, and the deceit of riches, choke the word, and it is unfruitful.
Jesus said to him, If thou wished to be perfected, retire, sell thy possessions, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
And the Lord praised the steward of injustice, because he did wisely: for the sons of this life are wiser than the children of light in their generation.
For our boasting is this, the testimony of our consciousness, that in simplicity and purity of God, not in fleshly wisdom, but in the grace of God, we turned back in the world, and more eminently to you.
In whom the God of this world blinded the minds of the unbelieving, so that the enlightening of the good news of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, does not enlighten them.
In which when ye walked according to the life of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, of the spirit now energetic in the sons of disobedience:
Epaphras, who of you, greets you, a servant of Christ, always contending for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfected and completed in all the will of God.
Therefore having left the word of the beginning of Christ, we should go on to perfection; not again laying down the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
And the God of all grace, having called us to his eternal glory in Christ Jesus, may he put you in proper order, having suffered a little time, may he support you, make firm, lay the foundation.