according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.

But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose.

For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,

do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,

So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;

holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain.

For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus.

But I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger and minister to my need;

For indeed he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow.

and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,

Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.

Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,

Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.

I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.

Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account.