Verse 19

Your obedience is known to all and thus I rejoice over you. But I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil.

Referenced Verses

  • Matt 10:16 : 16 Persecution of Disciples“I am sending you out like sheep surrounded by wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
  • 1 Cor 14:20 : 20 Brothers and sisters, do not be children in your thinking. Instead, be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.
  • Rom 1:8 : 8 Paul’s Desire to Visit Rome First of all, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world.
  • Jas 3:13-18 : 13 True Wisdom Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct he should show his works done in the gentleness that wisdom brings. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfishness in your hearts, do not boast and tell lies against the truth. 15 Such wisdom does not come from above but is earthly, natural, demonic. 16 For where there is jealousy and selfishness, there is disorder and every evil practice. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and not hypocritical. 18 And the fruit that consists of righteousness is planted in peace among those who make peace.
  • Phil 1:9 : 9 And I pray this, that your love may abound even more and more in knowledge and every kind of insight
  • Phil 2:15 : 15 so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without blemish though you live in a crooked and perverse society, in which you shine as lights in the world
  • Col 3:16 : 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and exhorting one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, all with grace in your hearts to God.
  • 1 Thess 3:6-9 : 6 But now Timothy has come to us from you and given us the good news of your faith and love and that you always think of us with affection and long to see us just as we also long to see you! 7 So in all our distress and affliction, we were reassured about you, brothers and sisters, through your faith. 8 For now we are alive again, if you stand firm in the Lord. 9 For how can we thank God enough for you, for all the joy we feel because of you before our God? 10 We pray earnestly night and day to see you in person and make up what may be lacking in your faith.
  • 2 Tim 3:15-17 : 15 and how from infancy you have known the holy writings, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work.
  • Luke 10:3 : 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs surrounded by wolves.
  • 1 Kgs 3:9-9 : 9 So give your servant a discerning mind so he can make judicial decisions for your people and distinguish right from wrong. Otherwise no one is able to make judicial decisions for this great nation of yours.” 10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon made this request. 11 God said to him,“Because you asked for the ability to make wise judicial decisions, and not for long life, or riches, or vengeance on your enemies, 12 I grant your request, and give you a wise and discerning mind superior to that of anyone who has preceded or will succeed you.
  • Ps 101:2 : 2 I will walk in the way of integrity. When will you come to me? I will conduct my business with integrity in the midst of my palace.
  • Isa 11:2-3 : 2 The LORD’s Spirit will rest on him– a Spirit that gives extraordinary wisdom, a Spirit that provides the ability to execute plans, a Spirit that produces absolute loyalty to the LORD. 3 He will take delight in obeying the LORD. He will not judge by mere appearances, or make decisions on the basis of hearsay.
  • Jer 4:22 : 22 The LORD answered,“This will happen because my people are foolish. They do not know me. They are like children who have no sense. They have no understanding. They are skilled at doing evil. They do not know how to do good.”
  • Eph 1:15-18 : 15 Prayer for Wisdom and Revelation For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you when I remember you in my prayers. 17 I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, will give you spiritual wisdom and revelation in your growing knowledge of him, 18 – since the eyes of your heart have been enlightened– so that you can know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
  • Eph 5:17 : 17 For this reason do not be foolish, but be wise by understanding what the Lord’s will is.
  • 1 Thess 1:2-3 : 2 Thanksgiving for Response to the Gospel We thank God always for all of you as we mention you constantly in our prayers, 3 because we recall in the presence of our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and endurance of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
  • 1 Thess 1:8-9 : 8 For from you the message of the Lord has echoed forth not just in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place reports of your faith in God have spread, so that we do not need to say anything. 9 For people everywhere report how you welcomed us and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God
  • Col 1:3-9 : 3 Paul’s Thanksgiving and Prayer for the Church We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints. 5 Your faith and love have arisen from the hope laid up for you in heaven, which you have heard about in the message of truth, the gospel 6 that has come to you. Just as in the entire world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, so it has also been bearing fruit and growing among you from the first day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth. 7 You learned the gospel from Epaphras, our dear fellow slave– a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf– 8 who also told us of your love in the Spirit. 9 Paul’s Prayer for the Growth of the Church For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you, have not ceased praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,