in this way it has become well known throughout the Imperial Guard and to all the rest here that I am a prisoner in the service of Christ,

the latter, indeed, are doing so from love to me, for they know that I am providentially put here to defend the good news;

But if to keep on living here means fruit from my labor, I cannot tell which to choose.

And yet for your sakes it is very necessary for me to stay on here.

Only you must practice living lives that are worthy of the good news, so that whether I come and see you or stay away, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, and that with one purpose you are continuing to cooperate in the fight for faith in the good news.

since you are having the same struggle that you once saw me have and which you hear that I am still having.

Brothers, I do not think that I have captured it yet, but here is my one aspiration, so forgetting what is behind me and reaching out for what is ahead of me,