A Crown Woven of Elders

I say this, my dear friends, not because I have found out that any of you are like that. I am the least of you, and I want to guard you ahead of time, so that you do not fall onto the hooks of empty self-importance, but are fully convinced about the birth and the suffering and the resurrection that took place while Pontius Pilate was governor — things truly and certainly done by Jesus Christ, who is our hope. May none of you ever be turned aside from that hope. [a] May I have joy of you in every way, if only I am worthy of it. I am a man in chains, and I am nothing next to one of you who has been let loose. I know you are not conceited: you have Jesus Christ inside you. And all the more when I praise you — I know it only embarrasses you, as it is written, “The righteous man is his own accuser.” [e]

So make every effort to stand firm in the teachings of the Lord and of the apostles, so that everything you do may go well — in flesh and in spirit, in faith and in love, in the Son and the Father and in the Spirit, at the beginning and at the end — together with your overseer, who is worthy of every honor, and with the finely woven spiritual crown that is your council of elders, and with your deacons in the things of God. Submit to the overseer and to one another, as Jesus Christ did to the Father and the apostles to Christ and to the Father, so that there may be a union both of flesh and of spirit. [h]

Knowing that you are full of God, I have kept my urging short. Remember me in your prayers, so that I may reach God; and remember the church in Syria, which I am not worthy to be called after. I need your prayer, made one in God, and your love, so that the church in Syria may be counted worthy to have dew fall on it through your church. [k] The Ephesians send you their greetings from Smyrna, where I am writing this. They are here for the glory of God, as you are too, and they have given me rest in everything — they and Polycarp, the overseer of the Smyrnaeans. The rest of the churches also greet you, in honor of Jesus Christ. Keep well, in the harmony that is God’s, you who have gained the undivided Spirit, who is Jesus Christ. [m]