self destruction

¹⁸Arrogance precedes destruction. And the spirit is exalted before a fall.

³For there shall be a time when they will not endure sound doctrine, but instead, according to their own desires, they will gather to themselves teachers, with itching ears, ⁴and certainly, they will turn their hearing away from the truth, and they will be turned toward fables.

¹⁹Now the works of the flesh are manifest; they are: fornication, lust, homosexuality, self-indulgence, ²⁰the serving of idols, drug use, hostility, contentiousness, jealousy, wrath, quarrels, dissensions, divisions, ²¹envy, murder, inebriation, carousing, and similar things. About these things, I continue to preach to you, as I have preached to you: that those who act in this way shall not obtain the kingdom of God.

¹²The heart of a man is exalted before it is crushed and humbled before it is glorified.

¹⁰Yet truly, the brothers promptly sent Paul and Silas away by night to Beroea. And when they had arrived, they entered the synagogue of the Jews. ¹¹But these were more noble than those who were at Thessalonica. They received the Word with all enthusiasm, daily examining the Scriptures to see if these things were so.

²⁸And since they did not prove to have God by knowledge, God handed them over to a morally depraved way of thinking, so that they might do those things which are not fitting:

⁹If we confess our sins, then he is faithful and just, so as to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all iniquity.

⁹The Lord is not delaying his promise, as some imagine, but he does act patiently for your sake, not wanting anyone to perish, but wanting all to be turned back to penance.

⁷But if we walk in the light, just as he also is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.

¹⁶For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that all who believe in him may not perish, but may have eternal life.

¹⁵In previous generations, he permitted all nations to walk in their own ways.

¹⁰The thief does not come, except so that he may steal and slaughter and destroy. I have come so that they may have life, and have it more abundantly.

³in the same manner that all things which are for life and piety have been given to us by his Divine virtue, through the plan of him who has called us to our own glory and virtue.

³⁹So then, we are not sons who are drawn away to perdition, but we are sons of faith toward the securing of the soul.

³⁶For it is necessary for you to be patient, so that, by doing the will of God, you may receive the promise.

⁴⁷PHE. Prediction has become for us a dread, and a snare, and a grief.