I should have this opinion of you, being sensible you make the dispensation I am under a common concern, with respect to my confinement, and the defence and confirmation of the gospel.

Now I would have you know, my brethren, that what has happen'd to me, has only conduc'd to the progress of the gospel;

agreeably to that expectation and persuasion I have, that I shall not labour in vain; but as I always have, so I shall still glorify Christ in my body, whether it be by life or by death: for if I live, I live to Christ;

only conduct yourselves in a manner becoming the gospel of Christ, that whether I come to see you, or else am absent, I may have this account of you, that you are stedfastly of the same resolution, and unanimously contend for the faith of the gospel,

Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obey'd the gospel, not only when I was with you, but much more now while I am absent, continue the work of your own salvation, whatever persecutions you apprehend:

you, who display the doctrine of eternal life) that in the day of Christ I may have the satisfaction of not having pursued my laborious course in vain.

However, I hope by the favour of the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you very soon, that I may have some encouragement by knowing the state of your affairs:

but God had pity on him, and not on him only, but on me likewise, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.

I sent him therefore with the greater dispatch, that I might have the less disquietude, by the satisfaction you will find in seeing him again.

Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. it is not uneasy to me to write what I have already said, and it is an advantage to you.

for I am not yet secure of the prize, I have not yet finish'd my course: but I press to obtain the reward, which Jesus Christ invited me to.

Let us therefore, who have been instructed, have this in view: and if you are sollicitous about any thing else, God will reveal even that unto you.

for there are many that wander about, of whom I have frequently told you, and now repeat it with tears, that they are enemies to the cross of Christ:

practise what I have taught, what you have learnt of me, what you have heard me preach, and seen me practise. this do, and the God of peace will then be with you.

it is not my indigence that makes me say this: for I have learn'd, in whatevever state I am, therewith to be content: I know how to be in want,

I know how to abound: every where, and in every circumstance, I have been prepar'd for fulness or famine, for plenty or penury:

I have now receiv'd the whole, and have more than sufficient: I am loaded with the presents you sent by Epaphroditus, which I have receiv'd as grateful incense, as a sacrifice which God accepts and approves.