GREETINGS

¹From Small Man (Paul), Forest Walker (Silvanus), and He Gives Honor (Timothy).

To the sacred family that gathers in the village of False Victory (Thessalonica), who belong to our Father the Great Spirit and to our Honored Chief, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One. We greet you with the gift of Creator’s great kindness and peace.

²We never stop giving thanks for you, speaking your names as we send our voice to the Great Spirit. ³We remember how your trust became a labor of love and how hope kept you hand in hand with our Honored Chief, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One, as you walked under the shadow of the Great Spirit, who is our Father from above.

WELCOMING THE GOOD STORY

⁴My sacred family members who are loved by Creator, we know he has chosen you to be his own. ⁵For when we told you the good story, it was not with words only but with the power and assurance that comes from the Holy Spirit. For you know that we lived and walked among you in a good way. ⁶So you followed in our footsteps and those of our Honored Chief, welcoming the good story in a time of much hardship and trouble with the joy of the Holy Spirit. ⁷In this way, you became an example for all the members of the sacred family in Land of Tall People (Macedonia) and in Land of Sorrow (Achaia).

⁸The message from our Honored Chief has sounded out from you, not only in Land of Tall People (Macedonia) and Land of Sorrow (Achaia), but everywhere we go the word has gone out about your trust in Creator, and we have nothing to add to what has been said. ⁹They keep talking about the kind of welcome you gave us. They tell how you walked away from spirit-images to serve the living and true Great Spirit ¹⁰and how you now wait for his Son Creator Sets Free (Jesus), the one he raised up from the dead, to return from the spirit-world above. He is the one who rescues us from the coming storm of Creator’s anger.

SEEKING TO PLEASE THE GREAT SPIRIT

¹So then, my sacred family members, you can see that our time with you did not fail in its purpose. ²For you already know about the mistreatment and insults we faced at Village of Horses (Philippi). But in the midst of such hostility Creator gave us the boldness to tell you his good story.

³Our message to you had no false purpose. We were not trying to trick or fool anyone. ⁴For it is the Great Spirit himself who has approved and entrusted us with the good story. We do not speak to please human beings but to please the Great Spirit, the one who puts our hearts to the test.

⁵As you know, we did not try to sweet-talk you into giving us your possessions. Creator is our witness. ⁶We were not looking for you or anyone else to give us honor, ⁷even though as message bearers of the Chosen One we could have required it. Instead, we were as gentle among you as a nursing mother caring for her own children. ⁸We cared so much for you that we were willing to share with you not only Creator’s good story but our own lives as well. That is how deep our love for you has become.

WORKING HARD, NIGHT AND DAY

⁹My sacred family members, I am sure you remember how hard we worked night and day so we would not be a burden to anyone as we told Creator’s good story to you. ¹⁰Along with the Great Spirit, you who trust our message are witnesses to the honest, good, and blameless ways we walked among you. ¹¹For you know that we treated you as parents would treat their own children. We begged and comforted and urged you ¹²to walk in ways that bring honor to Creator, the one who chose you to walk his good road that shines like the sun.

¹³This is why we never stop giving thanks to the Great Spirit for the manner in which you welcomed his message. You received it for what it truly is, the word of Creator and not the word of human beings. His word is now at work in you who trust in its message.

HOSTILE TO THE GOOD STORY

¹⁴You, my spiritual relatives, have followed in the footsteps of Creator’s sacred families who gather in Land of Promise (Judea), who are also joined together in Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One. For you have suffered mistreatment at the hands of your people, just as they did from their own Tribal Members. ¹⁵They are the ones who killed our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus) and the prophets and have driven us away. They fail to please the Great Spirit and are hostile to all humankind. ¹⁶They try to keep us from telling the Outside Nations the good story so they can be set free and made whole. Their broken ways have always taken them down the wrong path, but now the storm of Creator’s great anger is catching up with them, leading to a bad end.

HINDERED FROM COMING TO YOU

¹⁷My sacred family members, we may have been physically separated from you, but you were still in our hearts. This made us long for you even more and to try to see you face to face. ¹⁸Our desire was to come to you. I, Small Man (Paul), tried more than once, but Accuser (Satan) held us back. ¹⁹For who else but you will be our headdress of honor making our hearts glad before our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus) when he appears? ²⁰Yes, you are our honor and our joy!

FACING HARD TIMES

¹When we could not wait any longer to see you, we felt it was best to stay alone in Wondering Place (Athens) and send He Gives Honor (Timothy) to you. ²He is our spiritual brother who works hand in hand with Creator telling the good story of the Chosen One. We sent him to lift you up and strengthen you in your spiritual ways,1 ³so that no one would be shaken by the hard times we are facing. For you know that this is the path Creator has chosen for us. ⁴When we were with you, we made it clear that a trail of sorrow and trouble lay ahead of us. As you know, we had to walk that path.

A GOOD REPORT FROM HE GIVES HONOR

⁵So because I could not bear waiting any longer, I sent He Gives Honor (Timothy) to see whether you were still walking in our spiritual ways.2 For I feared that the evil trickster may have drawn you away, and our work among you would come to nothing. ⁶But He Gives Honor (Timothy) has now come back from you and brought the good news that you still walk in love and in our spiritual ways.^b He told us that you have good thoughts about us and long to see us as much as we long to see you.

⁷So, my sacred family members, this good news about your spiritual walk has comforted us during all the trouble and suffering we have faced. ⁸We came to life when we heard that you are standing firm trusting in our Honored Chief. ⁹When we stand in prayer before Creator, we cannot thank him enough for all the joy you have brought to us. ¹⁰With all our heart we send up prayers night and day, asking to see you face to face, so we can give you all you need to further strengthen your spiritual ways.^a

¹¹Now may our Father the Great Spirit himself and Creator Sets Free (Jesus) our Honored Chief guide our steps to you. ¹²May our Honored Chief make your love for each other and for all people grow deep and wide, just as our love does for you. ¹³This love will give you strong hearts, so you will be able to stand holy and pure before our Father the Great Spirit when our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus) appears with all his holy ones.

KEEP WALKING IN A SACRED WAY

¹My sacred family members, I have more I want to say to you. You are walking in a way that makes Creator’s heart glad, the way we taught you to walk. Now our firm counsel to you from our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus) is that you must keep walking more and more in this way. ²For the instructions we gave you came from Creator Sets Free (Jesus) our Honored Chief himself.

³Our Creator wants you to walk in a sacred way, keeping yourself free from sexual impurity. ⁴He wants each of you to control your own body in a sacred manner with honor and respect, ⁵not with uncontrolled desire, like the people from the Outside Nations who do not know the Great Spirit. ⁶No one should abuse a sacred family member in this manner, for our Honored Chief will punish those who do, just as we have already solemnly warned you. ⁷For our Creator has not called us to walk in impurity but in a sacred manner. ⁸So the one who turns away from this instruction is not turning away from a human being, but from Creator himself, who has given his Holy Spirit to you.

LOVING EACH OTHER

⁹There is no need for us to instruct you about the love we share as sacred family members. Creator himself has taught you how to love each other. ¹⁰It is clear that you show love to all the sacred family throughout Land of Tall People (Macedonia). So then, my sacred family members, keep loving like this more and more. ¹¹Make it your aim to live a quiet and peaceful life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, just as we have instructed. ¹²By walking in this good way, you will win the respect of outsiders and not have to look to others for your needs.

ABOUT THOSE WHO HAVE DIED

¹³Now, my sacred family members, we want you to understand what will happen to those who have walked on so that you will not be filled with sorrow like the others who have no hope. ¹⁴We believe that Creator Sets Free (Jesus) died and rose again. We can be just as sure that the Great Spirit will, along with him, bring back to life those who when they died were trusting in him.

¹⁵What we are telling you comes from the words of our Honored Chief. We who remain alive until his coming will not come face to face with him ahead of the ones who have walked on. ¹⁶For our Honored Chief himself will come down from the spirit-world above with a war cry. The voice of the chief spirit-messenger will join with him, and the eagle bone whistle will sound.3 First, the ones who died trusting in the Chosen One will rise. ¹⁷Then, together with them, we who have remained alive will be taken up into the clouds to meet our Honored Chief in the air. Then we will always be with him. ¹⁸Use these words to lift up each other’s hearts.

THE DAY OF OUR HONORED CHIEF

¹Now, my sacred family members, we have no need to write to you about the times and seasons that have been set in place by our Creator. ²For you know very well that the day of our Honored Chief will come without warning like a thief in the night. ³At a time when people are saying, “Peace and safety,” sudden destruction will come down on their heads, like the pains of birth that come upon a woman with child, and there will be no way to escape.

^4-5But that day should not catch you off guard like a thief in the night. For you, my sacred family members, are children of the light. You belong to the day. We are not of the night, nor of darkness. ⁶So let us not fall asleep as others do. Instead, we should stay sober and alert. ⁷For it is during the night that people sleep or get drunk. ⁸But since we are children of the day, let us walk in sobriety and put on faith and love as a breastplate, and for a headdress let us put on the hope of being set free and made whole.

⁹For the Great Spirit has not chosen us as targets for his great anger, but as targets for his great love. He will set us free and make us whole through our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One. ¹⁰He died for us so that we might live together with him, whether we remain alive until he comes or have died and walked on. ¹¹So encourage each other and help each other grow strong, just as you are already doing.

WISE COUNSEL AND LAST WORDS

¹²So, my sacred family members, we have something to ask of you. Honor the spiritual leaders who work hard among you. For they watch over you and give you wise and firm counsel as they serve our Honored Chief. ¹³Treat them with great respect and love for the work they do, and be at peace with each other.

¹⁴Now, my sacred family members, we call on you to give firm and wise counsel to those whose hands do nothing. Comfort those whose hearts are on the ground. Help the ones who are weak, and be patient with everyone. ¹⁵Make sure no one gives back to anyone evil for evil. Instead, seek to walk in a good way with each other and with all people.

¹⁶Dance for joy at all times! ¹⁷Never stop sending up prayers. ¹⁸Give thanks to the Great Spirit in all things, for this is what he wants from you as you dance in step with Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One. ¹⁹Do not put out the fire of the Holy Spirit. ²⁰Do not look down on or turn away from words spoken as prophecies, ²¹but think deeply about what is said and hold firmly to what is good. ²²Make sure to turn away from all kinds of evil.

PRAYERS AND BLESSINGS

²³Now may the Giver of Peace, Creator himself, make you holy in every way. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept pure and without blame at the coming of our Honored Chief, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One. ²⁴The one who called you is faithful, and he will do it.

²⁵My sacred family members, keep sending up prayers for us, ²⁶and greet all the members of the sacred family with a holy kiss. ²⁷Give me your solemn promise that you will read this letter to all of them. ²⁸May the gift of great kindness from Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One be with you all.