Let there be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse [obscene or vulgar] joking, because such things are not appropriate [for believers]; but instead speak of your thankfulness [to God].

For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.

Have no part with such men;

For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

For this reason do not be thoughtless, but learn to know what the Lord's will is.

Now as the church submits to Christ, so wives are to submit to their husbands in everything.

that he might present the assembly to himself glorious, having no spot, or wrinkle, or any of such things; but that it might be holy and blameless.

For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:

[because you] know that each one of you, whatever good he should do, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free.

And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, and forbear threatening: knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no respect of persons with him.

From now on you must grow stronger through union with the Lord and through His mighty power.

For ours is no struggle against enemies of flesh and blood, but against all the various Powers of Evil that hold sway in the Darkness around us, against the Spirits of Wickedness on high.

But that ye also may know my affairs, and how I do, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things:

Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that ye might know our affairs, and that he might comfort your hearts.

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you??4 always, in every supplication of mine on behalf of you all, making supplication with joy??5 on account of your fellowship for the Gospel, from the first day until now;

For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;

And I pray that your love may grow stronger and stronger, [along] with how much you know, and [that you may grow] in your ability to comprehend things.

To the end ye may be putting to the test the things that differ, in order that ye may be incorrupt and may give no occasion of stumbling, unto the day of Christ,

Now I would have you know, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the progress of the gospel;

and the greater part of the brethren, made confident in the Lord through my imprisonment, now speak of God's Message without fear, more boldly than ever.

Some, it is true, are [actually] preaching Christ out of envy and rivalry [toward me—for no better reason than a competitive spirit or misguided ambition], but others out of goodwill and a loyal spirit [toward me].

The latter [preach Christ] out of love, because they know that I have been put here [by God on purpose] for the defense of the gospel;

but the former preach Christ [insincerely] out of selfish ambition [just self-promotion], thinking that they are causing me distress in my imprisonment.

What then [does it matter]? So long as in every way, whether in pretense [for self-promotion] or in all honesty [to spread the truth], Christ is being preached; and in this I rejoice.

Yes, and I will rejoice [later as well],

For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,

According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.

But if to live in the flesh, -- if this shall bring fruit from my work, then what I shall choose I know not.

And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith;

Only let the lives you live be worthy of the Good News of the Christ, in order that, whether I come and see you or, being absent, only hear of you, I may know that you are standing fast in one spirit and with one mind, fighting shoulder to shoulder for the faith of the Good News.

Having no fear of those who are against you; which is a clear sign of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God;

For on behalf of Christ you have the favour of suffering no less than of believing in him,

Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me.

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

who being in the form of God counted it no usurpation to claim equality with God:

But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

Now lifted up by God to heaven, a name above all others given, this matchless name possessing.

That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

holding out and offering to everyone the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to rejoice greatly because I did not run [my race] in vain nor labor without result.

Nay, even if my life is to be poured as a libation upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I rejoice, and I congratulate you all.

But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state.

For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state.

But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel.

Therefore, I hope [that it is His will] to send him immediately, just as soon as I see how my case turns out;

nay, I trust in the Lord, that I myself too shall visit you very soon.

Yet I deem it important to send Epaphroditus to you now--he is my brother and comrade both in labour and in arms, and is your messenger who has ministered to my needs.

For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.

Because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me.

Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write to you again about this is no trouble for me and is a protection for you.

For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

as to my zeal [for Jewish tradition], a persecutor of the church; and as to righteousness [supposed right living] which [my fellow Jews believe] is in the Law, I proved myself blameless.

But whatever things were assets to me, these I now consider a loss for the sake of the Messiah.

Nay, I even reckon all things as pure loss because of the priceless privilege of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. And for His sake I have suffered the loss of everything, and reckon it all as mere refuse, in order that I may win Christ and be found in union with Him,

and be found at death in him, possessing no legal righteousness of my own but the righteousness of faith in Christ, the divine righteousness that rests on faith.

That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

Not that I have already obtained it [this goal of being Christlike] or have already been made perfect, but I actively press on so that I may take hold of that [perfection] for which Christ Jesus took hold of me and made me His own.

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

Now I beseech you also, true yoke-fellow, to assist those women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and my other fellow-laborers, whose names are in the book of life.

Let your gentle spirit [your graciousness, unselfishness, mercy, tolerance, and patience] be known to all people. The Lord is near.

Have no cares; but in everything with prayer and praise put your requests before God.

Now, brothers, let your minds dwell on what is true, what is worthy, what is right, what is pure, what is amiable, what is kindly??n everything that is excellent or praiseworthy.

and what you learned and received and heard and knew in me, these things do; and the God of peace shall be with you.

But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity.

it is not my indigence that makes me say this: for I have learn'd, in whatevever state I am, therewith to be content: I know how to be in want,

I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only.

It is not that I am looking for a gift. No, I want to see that you receive the fruit that increases to your benefit.

But I have received everything in full and more; I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent me. They are the fragrant aroma of an offering, an acceptable sacrifice which God welcomes and in which He delights.

Now unto God and our Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Now that we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all his People,

Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth:

and really came to know it, in the form in which Epaphras, my dear fellow-slave, taught it to you. He is my faithful representative as a servant of Christ,

so that you may lead a life that is worthy of the Lord and give him entire satisfaction. May you be fruitful and increase in the doing of all good, as you thus know God!

He is the exact living image [the essential manifestation] of the unseen God [the visible representation of the invisible], the firstborn [the preeminent one, the sovereign, and the originator] of all creation.

And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled

yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without blemish and unreproveable before him:

Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church:

for I am a minister of the church by the divine commission which has been granted me in your interests, to make a full presentation of God's message ??26 of that open secret which, though concealed from ages and generations of old, has now been disclosed to the saints of God.

Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:

For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;

that their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, that they may know the mystery of God, even Christ,

This I say, that no one may delude you with persuasiveness of speech.

having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.

See that there be no one who shall lead you away as a prey through philosophy and vain deceit, according to the teaching of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ.

in him you have been circumcised with no material circumcision that cuts flesh from the body, but with Christ's own circumcision,

having been buried with Him in baptism and raised with Him [to a new life] through [your] faith in the working of God, [as displayed] when He raised Christ from the dead.

Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:

Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,

Which say there may be no touching, tasting, or taking in your hands,

These practices indeed have the appearance [that popularly passes as that] of wisdom in self-made religion and mock humility and severe treatment of the body (asceticism), but are of no value against sinful indulgence [because they do not honor God].

Therefore if you have been raised with Christ [to a new life, sharing in His resurrection from the dead], keep seeking the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

For you died [to this world], and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God.

But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.

Tell no lies to one another; you have stripped off the old nature with its practices,

And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

a renewal in which there is no [distinction between] Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, [nor between nations whether] barbarian or Scythian, [nor in status whether] slave or free, but Christ is all, and in all [so believers are equal in Christ, without distinction].

Now therefore as elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long suffering,

Whatever you do [no matter what it is] in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus [and in dependence on Him], giving thanks to God the Father through Him.