Obey God, Not the Leaders of the Rebellion

1 Therefore it is right and proper, brothers and sisters, for us to be obedient to God, rather than follow those who in arrogance and disorder have set themselves up as leaders in abominable jealousy. 2 For we will bring on ourselves no ordinary harm, but rather great danger, if we recklessly surrender ourselves to the purposes of men who plunge into strife and rebellion, so as to turn us away from what is right. 3 Let us be good to one another, in keeping with the compassion and gentleness of Him who made us. For it is written: 4 “The good shall dwell in the land, and the innocent shall be left on it,⁠a but those who transgress shall be utterly destroyed from it.” 5 And again He says, “I saw the ungodly lifted up on high and exalted as the cedars of Lebanon.⁠b And I passed by, and look, he was not there; and I searched for his place and did not find it. Keep innocence and look to uprightness; for there is a remnant for the peaceful man.”