Who among you fears the Lord and obeys his servant? That person may walk in the dark and have no light. Then let him trust in the Lord and yet depend on his God.
So they show that the things Isaiah said about them are true: ‘You will listen and listen, but you will not understand. You will look and look, but you will not learn.
It is as if some of the branches from an olive tree have been broken off. You non-Jewish people are like the branch of a wild olive tree that has been joined to that first tree. You now share the strength and life of the first tree, the Jews.
It has been made clear through the writings of the prophets. And by the command of the eternal God it is made known to all nations that they might believe and obey.
The Good News was preached to us just as it was to them. But the teaching they heard did not help them, because they heard it but did not accept it with faith.
Now that your obedience to the truth has purified your souls, you can have true love for your Christian brothers and sisters. So love each other deeply with all your heart.
Also, he is “a stone that causes people to stumble, a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they do not obey what God says, which is what God planned to happen to them.
In the same way, you wives should yield to your husbands. Then, if some husbands do not obey God’s teaching, they will be persuaded to believe without anyone’s saying a word to them. They will be persuaded by the way their wives live.