And I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you (and was hindered hitherto), that I might have some fruit in you also, even as in the rest of the Gentiles.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them.
I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you to walk worthily of the calling wherewith ye were called,
Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ: that, whether I come and see you and be absent, I may hear of your state, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one soul striving for the faith of the gospel;
to the end that ye should walk worthily of God, who calleth you into his own kingdom and glory.
Finally then, brethren, we beseech and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that, as ye received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, even as ye do walk,-- that ye abound more and more.