If anyone leaves the teaching of Christ behind and doesn’t remain in it, that person doesn’t have God. But whoever remains in the teaching about Christ has both the Father and the Son.
But if someone takes a good look at the perfect law that gives freedom, if they keep looking at it and don’t forget what they’ve heard but do it, then that person will be blessed in what they do.
But you must keep your faith steady and firm and not move away from the hope that the good news is offering you. This is the good news that you heard. It has been preached to every creature under heaven and I, Paul, am its servant.
There they strengthened the disciples, encouraging them to remain faithful to what they’d been taught. “We have to go through many hard times to enter the kingdom of God,” they explained.
Think about how kind God is! But also think about how strict he is! He was strict with those who stopped following him, but he has been kind to you. So you must continue to live in his kindness. If you don’t, you too will be cut off.
These enemies left our community of believers, but they didn’t really belong to us. If they had belonged to us, they would have stayed with us. By leaving, they showed that none of them really belonged to us.
It won’t be like the covenant I made with their people of long ago when I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt, because they didn’t remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, says the Lord.
But God has helped me right up until this very moment. So I’m standing here and speaking about him to everyone, whether they’re kings or just ordinary people. I’ve been saying nothing different from what the prophets and Moses said would happen.