falling away

⁴For it is impossible for those who were once illuminated, and have even tasted of the heavenly gift, and have become sharers in the Holy Spirit, ⁵who, despite having tasted the good Word of God and the virtues of the future age, have yet fallen away, ⁶to be renewed again to penance, since they are crucifying again in themselves the Son of God and are still maintaining pretenses.

¹Now the Spirit has clearly said that, in the end times, some persons will depart from the faith, paying attention to spirits of error and the doctrines of devils,

²⁷Instead, I chastise my body, so as to redirect it into servitude. Otherwise, I might preach to others, but become myself an outcast.

⁴But I have this against you: that you have relinquished your first charity. ⁵And so, call to mind the place from which you have fallen, and do penance, and do the first works. Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

²⁰For if, after taking refuge from the defilements of the world in the understanding of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they again become entangled and overcome by these things, then the latter state becomes worse than the former. ²¹For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of justice than, after acknowledging it, to turn away from that holy commandment which was handed on to them. ²²For the truth of the proverb has happened to them: The dog has returned to his own vomit, and the washed sow has returned to her wallowing in the mud.

¹⁰And then many will be led into sin, and will betray one another, and will have hatred for one another. ¹¹And many false prophets will arise, and they will lead many astray. ¹²And because iniquity has abounded, the charity of many will grow cold. ¹³But whoever will have persevered until the end, the same shall be saved.

³But I am afraid lest, as the serpent led astray Eve by his cleverness, so your minds might be corrupted and might fall away from the simplicity which is in Christ.

¹²Be cautious, brothers, lest perhaps there may be, in any of you, an evil heart of unbelief, turning aside from the living God. ¹³Instead, exhort one another every day, while it is still called ‘today,’ so that none of you may become hardened through the falseness of sin. ¹⁴For we have been made participants in Christ. This is only so, if we firmly retain the beginning of his substance, even unto the end. ¹⁵For it has been said: “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts, in the same manner as in the former provocation.” ¹⁶For some of those listening did provoke him. But not all of these had set forth from Egypt through Moses. ¹⁷So against whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not those who had sinned, whose dead bodies lay prostrate in the desert?

¹⁹Therefore, you would say: The branches were broken off, so that I might be grafted on. ²⁰Well enough. They were broken off because of unbelief. But you stand on faith. So do not choose to savor what is exalted, but instead be afraid. ²¹For if God has not spared the natural branches, perhaps also he might not spare you. ²²So then, notice the goodness and the severity of God. Certainly, toward those who have fallen, there is severity; but toward you, there is the goodness of God, if you remain in goodness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.

¹⁹My brothers, if anyone of you strays from the truth, and if someone converts him, ²⁰he ought to know that whoever causes a sinner to be converted from the error of his ways will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

³Let no one deceive you in any way. For this cannot be, unless the apostasy will have arrived first, and the man of sin will have been revealed, the son of perdition,

¹The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him, in order to make known to his servants the things that must soon occur, and which he signified by sending his Angel to his servant John;

¹¹Behold, I am approaching quickly. Hold on to what you have, so that no one may take your crown.

¹²Blessed is the man who suffers temptation. For when he has been proven, he shall receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him.

¹⁶Pay attention to yourself and to doctrine. Pursue these things. For in doing so, you will save both yourself and those who listen to you.