for what you have contributed to the gospel from the very first day down to this moment;

And what I pray for is this--that your love may grow yet stronger and stronger, with increasing knowledge and all discernment,

so that you may learn to recognize and treasure what is excellent [identifying the best, and distinguishing moral differences], and that you may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ [actually living lives that lead others away from sin];

Now I want you to know, believers, that what has happened to me [this imprisonment that was meant to stop me] has actually served to advance [the spread of] the good news [regarding salvation].

What then? That, in any way, whether in pretext, or in truth, Christ, is declared, and, in this, I rejoice - yea, and will rejoice!

But, if living in flesh, is Christ , this, unto me, is a fruit of work, - and, what I shall choose, I make not known:

so that [what] you can be proud of may increase in Christ Jesus because of me through my return again to you.

Only conduct yourselves worthily of the glad tidings of the Christ, in order that whether coming and seeing you, or absent, I may hear of what concerns you, that ye stand firm in one spirit, with one soul, labouring together in the same conflict with the faith of the glad tidings;

and that no man consider his own, but what is mete for others.

Instead, He gave up what He had and took on the form [i.e., the nature] of a slave, becoming like a man, [and even] His appearance was found to be like a man's.

and in what appertained to him appearing as a man, he humbled himself, and was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

that in the name of Jesus every knee may bow -- of heavenlies, and earthlies, and what are under the earth --

So then, my loved ones, as you have at all times done what I say, not only when I am present, but now much more when I am not with you, give yourselves to working out your salvation with fear in your hearts;

for it is God who is at work in you, both to motivate the desire and to carry out what pleases Him.

I trust in the Lord Jesus for to send Timothy shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know what case ye stand in.

For I have none like-minded, who will naturally care for what concerneth you.

For they all go after what is theirs, not after the things of Christ.

But you know what Timothy has proved himself to be, and how, like a child working for his father, he worked hard with me in spreading the Good News.

I hope therefore to send him to you as soon as I find what turn my affairs shall take:

for it was through the work of the Lord that he came near to death; for he hazarded his very life to supply what was lacking in the help you sent me.

Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. it is not uneasy to me to write what I have already said, and it is an advantage to you.

for we [who are born-again have been reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, set apart for His purpose and] are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory and take pride and exult in Christ Jesus and place no confidence [in what we have or who we are] in the flesh—

But what was once gain to me, that I have counted loss for Christ.

What is more, I consider everything to be a loss compared to the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus [as] my Lord, for whose sake I have suffered the loss of all things. [I now] consider [all of] them to be trash, in order to gain Christ

and be actually in union with Him, not having a supposed right standing with God which depends on my doing what the law commands, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the real right standing with God which originates from Him and rests on faith.

I want to know the Messiah what his resurrection power is like and what it means to share in his sufferings by becoming like him in his death,

[It is] not that I have already arrived at the goal [of spiritual maturity], or have already been made perfectly [righteous], but I am pushing onward in order to take hold of what Christ Jesus took hold of me for [i.e., to receive all that Christ intended for me].

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider that I have made it my own yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,

Only let us stay true to what we have already attained.

Their [ultimate] end is [spiritual] destruction; their god is their appetite; they boast of what they ought to be ashamed of, and they [constantly] think about worldly things.

Now, brothers, practice thinking on what is true, what is honorable, what is right, what is pure, what is lovable, what is high-toned, yes, on everything that is excellent or praiseworthy.

The things which you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things [in daily life], and the God [who is the source] of peace and well-being will be with you.

It was a great joy to me in the Lord that your care for me could revive again; for what you lacked was never the care but the chance of showing it.

Not that I speak regarding need, for I have learned in what things I am to be content.

I know what it is even to be kept low, and I know what it is to have more than enough, - in every way, and in all things, have I been let into the secret - both to be well fed, and to be hungering, both to have more than enough, and to be coming short:

not that I desire a present; but what I desire is, that the fruits of your liberality may greatly redound to your own account.

But I give you a receipt in full for all things abound. I am amply supplied with what you sent by Epaphroditus??n odor of sweet fragrance, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God.