“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.
that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,
Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.
Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.
For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.
I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;
But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
Abstain from every form of evil.
And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers.
And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you.
We take this course so that no one should blame us about this generous gift that is being administered by us,
Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Unless otherwise indicated, all content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Contact me: openbibleinfo (at) gmail.com.