18 And he is the ^ghead of the body, the church. He is ^hthe beginning, ⁱthe firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be ^jpreeminent.

18 And Jesus came and said to them, ^k“All ^lauthority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and ^mmake disciples of ⁿall nations, baptizing them in¹ the ^oname of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am ^pwith you always, to the end of the age.”

11 And he gave ^cthe apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds¹ and teachers,² 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the ^dbody of Christ,

2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or ^talarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter ^useeming to be from us, to the effect that the ^vday of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the ^wrebellion comes first, and the ^xman of lawlessness¹ is revealed, the son of destruction,² 4 who opposes and ^yexalts himself against every ^zso-called god or object of worship, ^aso that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. 5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is ^balready at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill ^cwith the breath of his ^dmouth and bring to nothing by the ^eappearance of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false ^fsigns and wonders,