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

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment,

so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ;

Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel,

so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else,

and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear.

the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel;

What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice.Yes, and I will rejoice,

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

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 I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better;

Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith,

so that your proud confidence in me may abound in Christ Jesus through my coming to you again.

Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;

in no way alarmed by your opponents—which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too, from God.

so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world,

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.

But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition.

But you know of his proven worth, that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his father.

and I trust in the Lord that I myself also will be coming shortly.

because he was longing for you all and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick.

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.

Therefore I have sent him all the more eagerly so that when you see him again you may rejoice and I may be less concerned about you.

More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,

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,

that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;

in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

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.

Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you;

however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.

For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ,

who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.

But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity.

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

You yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone;

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