so that you can decide what is best, and thus be sincere and blameless for the day of Christ,

The former proclaim Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, because they think they can cause trouble for me in my imprisonment.

For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain.

so that what you can be proud of may increase because of me in Christ Jesus, when I come back to you.

Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again you can rejoice and I can be free from anxiety.

More than that, I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things -- indeed, I regard them as dung! -- that I may gain Christ,