1 And the more anyone sees that the bishop is silent, the more let him fear him. For every one whom the master of the house sends to do his

VI

1 … business ought we to receive as him who sent him. Therefore it is clear that we must regard the bishop as [sent by] the Lord himself. 2. Indeed Onesimus himself gives great praise to your good order in GOD, for you all live according to truth, and no heresy dwells among you; nay, you do not even listen to any unless he speak concerning Jesus Christ in truth.

VII

1 For there are some who make a practice of carrying about the Name with wicked guile, and do certain other things unworthy of GOD; these you must shun as wild beasts, for they are ravening dogs, who bite secretly, and you must be upon your guard against them, for they are scarcely to be cured. 2. There is one Physician, who is both flesh and spirit, born and yet not born, who is [GOD's messenger to man], true life in death, both of Mary and [a word from] GOD, first passible and then impassible, Jesus Christ our [master].

VIII

1 Let none therefore deceive you, and indeed you have not been deceived, but belong wholly to GOD. For since no strife is fixed among you which might torture you, you do indeed live according to GOD. I am dedicated and devoted to you Ephesians, and your Church, which is famous to eternity. 2. They who are carnal cannot do spiritual things, neither can they who are spiritual do carnal things, just as faith is incapable of the deeds of infidelity, and infidelity of the deeds of faith. But even what you do according to the flesh is spiritual, for you do all things in Jesus Christ.

IX

1 I have learnt, however, that some from elsewhere have stayed with you, who have evil doctrine; but you did not suffer them to sow it among you, and stopped your ears, so that you might not receive what they sow, seeing that you are as stones of the temple of [GOD], made ready for the building of GOD [our Lord], carried up to the heights by the engine of Jesus Christ, that is [steadfastness], and using as a rope the Holy Spirit [Gabriel]. And your faith is your windlass and love is the road which leads up to GOD. 2. You are then all fellow travellers, and carry with you [the remembrance of] GOD, and the Temple, and Christ, and holiness, and are in all ways adorned by commandments of Jesus Christ. And I share in this joy, for it has been granted to me to speak to you through my writing, and to rejoice with you, that you love nothing, according to human life, but GOD alone.

X

1 Now for other men “pray unceasingly,” for there is in them a hope of repentance, that they may find GOD. Suffer them therefore to become your disciples, at least through your deeds. 2. Be yourselves gentle in answer to their wrath; be humble minded in answer to their proud speaking; offer prayer for their blasphemy; be stedfast in the faith for their error; be gentle for their cruelty, and do not seek to retaliate. 3. Let us be proved their brothers by our gentleness and let us be imitators of the [master], and seek who may suffer the more wrong, be the more destitute, the more despised; that no plant of the devil be found in you but that you may remain in all purity and sobriety in Jesus Christ, both in the flesh and in the Spirit.

XI

1 These are the last times. Therefore let us be modest, let us fear the long-suffering of GOD, that it may not become our judgment. For let us either fear the wrath to come, or love the grace which is present,—one of the two,—only let us be found in Christ Jesus unto true life. 2. Without him let nothing seem comely to you, for in him I carry about my chains, the spiritual pearls in which may it be granted me to rise again through your prayers, which I beg that I may ever share, that I be found in the lot of the Christians of Ephesus, who also were ever of one mind with the Apostles in the power of Jesus Christ.

XII

1 I know who I am and to whom I write. I am condemned, you have obtained mercy; I am in danger, you are established in safety; 2. you are the passage for those who are being slain for the sake of GOD, fellow-initiates with Paul, who was sanctified, who gained a good report, who was right blessed, in whose footsteps may I be found when I shall attain to GOD, who in every Epistle makes mention of you in Christ Jesus.

XIII

1 Seek, then, to come together more frequently to give thanks and glory to GOD. For when you gather together frequently the powers of Satan are destroyed, and his mischief is brought to nothing, by the concord of your faith. 2. There is nothing better than peace, by which every war in heaven and on earth is abolished.

XIV

1 None of these things are unknown to you if you possess perfect faith [in GOD and] towards Jesus Christ, and love, which are the beginning and end of life; for the beginning is faith and the end is love, and when the two are joined together in unity it is [the work of] GOD, and all other noble things follow after them. 2. No man who professes faith sins, nor does he hate who has obtained love. “The tree is known by its fruits”; so they who profess to be of Christ shall be seen by their deeds. For the “deed” is not in present profession, but is shown by the power of faith, if a man continue to the end.

XV

1 It is better to be silent and be real, than to talk and to be unreal. Teaching is good, if the teacher does what he says. There is then one teacher [GOD] who “spoke and it came to pass,” and what He has done even in silence is worthy of [GOD]. 2. He who has the word of Jesus for a true possession can also hear his silence, that he may be perfect, that he may act through his speech, and be understood through his silence. 3. Nothing is hid from the Lord, but even our secret things are near Him. Let us therefore do all things as though He were dwelling in us [by His knowledge], that we may be His temples [of devotion], and that He may be our GOD. This indeed is so, and will appear clearly before our face by the love which we justly have to Him.

XVI

1 Do not err, my brethren; they who corrupt families shall not inherit the kingdom of GOD. 2. If then those who do this according to the flesh suffer death, how much more if a man corrupt by false teaching the faith of GOD for the sake of which Jesus Christ was [persecuted]? Such a one shall go in his foulness to the unquenchable fire, as also shall he who listens to him.

XVII

1 For this end did the [Messiah] receive ointment on his head that he might breathe immortality on the Church. Be not anointed with the evil odour of the doctrine of the Prince of this world [Satan], lest he lead you away captive from the life which is set before you. 2. But why are we not all prudent seeing that we have received knowledge of GOD, [through] Jesus Christ? Why are we perishing in our folly, ignoring the gift which the Lord has truly sent?

XVIII

1 My spirit is devoted to [the truth], which is an offence to unbelievers, but to us salvation and eternal life. “Where is the wise? Where is the disputer?” Where is the boasting of those who are called prudent? 2. For our [master], Jesus the Christ, was conceived by Mary by the dispensation of GOD, “as well of the seed of David” as of the Holy Spirit [Gabriel]: he was born, and was baptized, that by himself submitting he might purify the water.

XIX

1 And the virginity of Mary, and her giving birth were hidden from the Prince of this world, as was also the death of the [master]. Three mysteries of a cry which were wrought in the stillness of GOD. 2. How then was he manifested to the world? A star shone in heaven [as GOD's sign] beyond all the stars, and its light was unspeakable, and its newness caused astonishment, and all the other stars, with the sun and moon, gathered in chorus round this star, and it far exceeded them all in its light; and there was perplexity, whence came this new thing, so unlike them. 3. By this all magic was dissolved and every bond of wickedness vanished away, ignorance was removed, and the old kingdom was destroyed, for GOD [sent a messenger, a man,] for the “newness” of eternal life, and that which had been prepared by GOD received its beginning. Hence all things were disturbed, because the abolition of death was being planned.

XX

1 If [GOD] permit me through your prayers, and it be [His] will, in the second book, which I propose to write to you, I will show you concerning the dispensation of the new man Jesus Christ, which I have begun to discuss, dealing with his faith and his love, his suffering and his resurrection; 2. especially if the Lord reveal to me that you all severally join in the common meeting in grace from his name, in one faith and in Jesus Christ, “who was of the family of David according to the flesh,” the Son of Man and [the messenger] of GOD, so that you obey the bishop and the presbytery with an undisturbed mind, breaking one bread [in charity].

XXI

1 May my soul be given for yours, and for them whom you sent in the honour of GOD to Smyrna, whence I also write to you, thanking the Lord and loving Polycarp as I do also you. Remember me as [GOD] also remembers you. 2. Pray for the Church in Syria, whence I am led a prisoner to Rome, being the least of the faithful who are there, even as I was thought worthy to show the honour of GOD. Farewell in GOD [our Lord] and in [the teaching of] Jesus Christ, our common hope.