Symeon blessed them and said to Mary the mother, »This child is appointed for the falling and the uprising of many in Israel and for a token to be spoken against;
But certain men who had belonged to the sect of the Pharisees but were now believers, stood up in the assembly, and said, »Yes, Gentile believers ought to be circumcised and be ordered to keep the Law of Moses.«
But this I confess to you–that in the way which they style a heresy, I worship the God of our forefathers, believing everything that is taught in the Law or is written in the Prophets,
For we have found this man Paul a source of mischief and a disturber of the peace among all the Jews throughout the Empire, and a ringleader in the heresy of the Nazarenes.
For they all know me of old –if they would but testify to the fact– how, being an adherent of the strictest sect of our religion, my life was that of a Pharisee.
For I am afraid that perhaps when I come I may not find you to be what I desire, and that you may find me to be what you do not desire; that perhaps there may be contention, jealousy, bitter feeling, party spirit, ill-natured talk, backbiting, undue eulogy, unrest;
They have gone forth from our midst, but they did not really belong to us; for had they belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But they left us that it might be manifest that professed believers do not all belong to us.