For I am sure of this very thing, that the one who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

For it is right for me to think this about all of you, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel all of you became partners in God's grace together with me.

And I pray this, that your love may abound even more and more in knowledge and every kind of insight

What is the result? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is being proclaimed, and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice,

for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

Now if I am to go on living in the body, this will mean productive work for me, yet I don't know which I prefer:

And since I am sure of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for the sake of your progress and joy in the faith,

and by not being intimidated in any way by your opponents. This is a sign of their destruction, but of your salvation -- a sign which is from God.

Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! To write this again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you.

Not that I have already attained this -- that is, I have not already been perfected -- but I strive to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me.

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have attained this. Instead I am single-minded: Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching out for the things that are ahead,

with this goal in mind, I strive toward the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Therefore let those of us who are "perfect" embrace this point of view. If you think otherwise, God will reveal to you the error of your ways.

Be imitators of me, brothers and sisters, and watch carefully those who are living this way, just as you have us as an example.

So then, my brothers and sisters, dear friends whom I long to see, my joy and crown, stand in the Lord in this way, my dear friends!

I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content in any circumstance.

And as you Philippians know, at the beginning of my gospel ministry, when I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in this matter of giving and receiving except you alone.

I do not say this because I am seeking a gift. Rather, I seek the credit that abounds to your account.