so that you may learn to recognize and treasure what is excellent [identifying the best, and distinguishing moral differences], and that you may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ [actually living lives that lead others away from sin];

and of this being persuaded, I have known that I shall remain and continue with you all, to your advancement and joy of the faith,

Without ever shrinking from your opponents. To them this will be a sign of their Destruction and of your Salvation--a sign from God.

make my joy complete by being of the same mind, having the same love [toward one another], knit together in spirit, intent on one purpose [and living a life that reflects your faith and spreads the gospel—the good news regarding salvation through faith in Christ].

so that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow [in submission], of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

For it is God who is the cause of your desires and of your acts, for his good pleasure.

Because for the work of Christ he was nigh to death, not regarding his life, to supply the want of your service towards me.

for we [who are born-again have been reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, set apart for His purpose and] are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory and take pride and exult in Christ Jesus and place no confidence [in what we have or who we are] in the flesh—

circumcised, as I was, on the eighth day, a member of the race of Israel and of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew sprung from Hebrews; as to the Law a Pharisee;

But more than that, I count everything as loss compared to the priceless privilege and supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord [and of growing more deeply and thoroughly acquainted with Him—a joy unequaled]. For His sake I have lost everything, and I consider it all garbage, so that I may gain Christ,

That I may have knowledge of him, and of the power of his coming back from the dead, and a part with him in his pains, becoming like him in his death;

The end of such men is Ruin; for their appetites are their God, and they glory in their shame; their minds are given up to earthly things.

I know both how to live in humble circumstances and how to live amid abundance. I am fully initiated into all the mysteries both of fulness and of hunger, of abundance and of want.