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Epistle to the Trallians (LongVersion)
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Chapter 8: Beware of the Devil's Traps.
I WRITE THESE THINGS TO YOU: not because I know there are any such people among you; no, indeed I hope that God will never let any such report reach my ears, He “who did not spare His Son for the sake of His holy Church.” But foreseeing the traps of the wicked one, I prepare you in advance with my warnings, as my beloved and faithful children in Christ, equipping you with protection against the deadly disease of unruly men. Thus, by the good will of Christ our Lord, flee from this disease. Therefore, by clothing yourselves with meekness, become imitators of His sufferings and His love, with which He loved us when He gave Himself as a ransom for us, to cleanse us by His blood from our old ungodliness, and to grant us life when we were almost lost to the depravity within us. Let none of you hold a grudge against your neighbor. For our Lord says, “Forgive, and it will be forgiven to you.” Do not give any reason for the Gentiles to speak against you, lest “by means of a few foolish men the word and doctrine of Christ are blasphemed.” For the prophet speaks as if in the voice of God, “Woe to him by whom my name is blasphemed among the Gentiles.”