Finally, brothers and sisters, be joyful! Work to make everything right with one another. Encourage one another and agree with each other. Live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.
I ask all of you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to agree with one another and not argue. Look and think about things in the same way.
But no matter what happens, live in a way that brings honor to the good news about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you, I’ll know that you’re standing firm together in the one Spirit and that you’re fighting together as a unit to defend the good news.
Remember that while our Lord is waiting patiently to return, people are being saved. Our dear brother Paul also wrote to you about this with the wisdom that God gave him.
The Lord isn’t slow to keep his promise, not slow in the way some people understand it. Instead, he’s being patient with you. He doesn’t want anyone to be destroyed. He wants everyone to turn away from their sins.
These were the spirits of those who had disobeyed long before, when God was being patient while Noah built the ark. Only a few people, eight in all, were saved from the flood in the ark.