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NON-CANONICAL EPISTLES AND RELATED WRITINGS
3 Now “the two are one” when we speak truth to one another and when one soul exists in two bodies with no posturing.b 4 And “the outside like the inside” means this: the “inside” refers to the soul and the “outside” to the body. Just as your body is visible, so too your soul should be clearly seen in your good deeds. 5 And the words “the male with the female is neither male nor female” mean this, that a brother who sees a sister should think nothing about her being fe male and shec should think nothing about his being male. 6 When you do these things, he says, “the kingdom of my Father will come.”
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And so brothers, now at last we should repent and be alert for the good. For we are filled with great foolishness and evil. We should wipe our former sins away from ourselves; and if we repent from deep within we will be saved. We should not be crowd-pleasers nor wish to please only ourselves, but through our righteous activity we should be pleasing as well to those outside the fold, that the name not be blasphemed because of us.
2 For the Lord says, “My name is con stantly blasphemed among all the outsidersd.”22 And again he says, “Woe to the one who causes my name to be blasphemed.”23 How is it blasphemed? When you fail to do what I wish. 3 For when outsiderse hear the sayings of God from our mouths, they are aston ished at their beauty and greatness. Then when they discover that our actions do not match our words, they turn from astonishment to blasphemy, saying that our faith is some kind of myth and error. 4 For, on the one hand, they hear from us that God has said, “It is no great ac complishment for you to love those who love you; it is great if you love your enemies and those who hate you.”24 And when they hear these things, they are astonished by their extraordinary good ness. But then when they see that we fail to love not only those who hate us, but even those who love us, they ridicule us and the name is blasphemed. . . .
b
Or: with no hypocrisy cOr: he dLiterally: Gentiles, or nations eLiterally: Gentiles, or nations
22
Isa 52:5.
23
Source unknown.
24
Luke 6:32, 35.