I have been crucified with Christ, and I myself no longer live, but Christ is living in me; the life I now live as a mortal man I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.

I am beginning to fear that I have bestowed my labors on you for nothing.

I beg you, brothers, take my point of view, just as I took yours. You did me no injustice then.

but still you did not scorn the test my illness made of you, nor did you spurn me for it; on the contrary, you welcomed me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus Himself.

Where is your self-congratulation? For I can testify that you would have torn out your very eyes, if you could, and have given them to me.

These men are paying you special attention, but not sincerely. They want to shut you off from me, so that you may keep on paying them special attention.

O my dear children, I am suffering a mother's birth pangs for you again, until Christ is formed in you.

I wish I could be with you right now and change the tone of my speech, for I do not know which way to turn in your case.

Tell me, you who want to be subject to law, will you not listen to what the law says?

As for me, myself, brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In such a case the hindrance done by the cross has presumably ceased!

Brothers, if anybody is caught in the very act of doing wrong, you who are spiritual, in the spirit of gentleness, must set him right; each of you continuing to think of yourself, for you may be tempted too.

See what large letters I make, when I write to you with my own hand!

But may it never be mine to boast of anything but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world!

Let nobody trouble me after this, for I carry on my body the scars that mark me as Jesus' slave.

who is the first installment of our inheritance, so that we may finally come into full possession of the prize of redemption, and praise His glory for it.

never cease to thank God for you when I mention you in my prayers,

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may grant you the Spirit to give wisdom and revelation which come through a growing knowledge of Him,

by having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, so that you may know what the hope is to which He calls you, how glorious rich God's portion in His people is,

that is, if you have heard how God's favor has been entrusted to me for you,

and how by revelation the secret was made known to me, as I have briefly written before.

By reading this you will be able to understand my insight into the secret about the Christ --

for which I was called to serve in accordance with the gift of God's unmerited favor which was bestowed on me by the exercise of His power--

yes, on me, the very least of all His people, this unmerited favor was bestowed -- that I might preach as good news to the heathen the boundless riches of Christ,

so that the many phases of God's wisdom may now through the church be made known to the rulers and authorities in heaven,

and that Christ in His love, through your faith, may make His permanent home in your hearts. You must be deeply rooted, your foundations must be strong,

so that you with all God's people may be strong enough to grasp the idea of the breadth and length, the height and depth,

yes, to come at last to know the love of Christ, although it far surpasses human understanding, so that you may be filled with the perfect fullness of God.

so that we may not be babies any longer, or like sailors tossed about and driven around by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men through their cunning in inventing new methods of error.

For you may be absolutely sure that no one who is sexually impure, immoral or greedy for gain (for that is idolatry) can have a part in the kingdom of Christ and God.

"so that you may prosper and live a long life on earth."

and for me that a message may be given me when I open my lips, so that I may boldly make known the open secret of the good news,

for the sake of which I am an envoy in prison: so that, when I tell it, I may speak as courageously as I ought.

That you may also know how I am, Tychicus, our dearly loved brother and a faithful minister in the Lord's service, will give you all the information;

Every time I remember you I thank my God,

And I have a right to think this way about you, because I always have you in my heart, whether shut up in prison or out defending and vindicating the good news, for you are sharers with me of God's favor.

For God is my witness how I never stop yearning for all of you with the affection Christ Jesus inspires.

And it is my prayer that your love may overflow still more and more, directed by fuller knowledge and keener insight,

so that you may always approve the better things, and be men of transparent character and blameless life,

Now I want you to rest assured, brothers, that those things which have befallen me have actually resulted in the progress of the good news;

and that most of the Christian brothers have grown confident enough, because of my imprisonment, to dare to tell God's message without being afraid.

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

the former are preaching Christ from the motive of rivalry, not in sincerity, supposing that this is making it harder for me to bear my imprisonment.

What difference then does it make? In one way or another, whether in pretense or in sincerity, Christ is being preached, and that is the thing that makes me glad; yes, more too, I will continue to be glad of it,

for I know that through your prayers and a bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my spiritual welfare,

in accordance with my eager expectation and hope that I shall never disgrace myself, but that now as always hitherto, by my all-conquering courage, whether by living or dying, Christ will be honored in me.

For to me living means Christ and dying brings gain.

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.

which will result in your joy; so that, through union with Christ Jesus, you may have more than sufficient ground for boasting about me, through my being with you again.

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.

fill up my cup of joy by living in harmony, by fostering the same disposition of love, your hearts beating in unison, your minds set on one purpose.

So, my dearly loved friends, as you have always been obedient, so now with reverence and awe keep on working clear down to the finishing point of your salvation not only as though I were with you but much more because I am away;

so that you may prove to be blameless and spotless, faultless children of God in a crooked and perverted age, in which you shine as light-bearers in the world as you continue

to hold up the message of life. That will give me ground for boasting on the day of Christ, because neither my career nor my labor has been a failure.

Yes, even if I am pouring out my life as a libation on the sacrifice and service your faith is rendering, I am glad to do so and congratulate you upon it;

you too must do likewise, be glad of it, and congratulate me.

I hope, with the approval of the Lord Jesus, soon to send Timothy to you, so that I too may be cheered on getting the news about you.

But you know his tested character, how like a son in fellowship with his father he has toiled with me like a slave in preaching the good news.

So I hope to send him to you just as soon as I can see how my case is going to turn out.

But I think it proper now to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow-laborer, and fellow-soldier, but your messenger to minister to my needs,

For he was so sick that he was on the point of dying, but God took pity on him, and not only on him but on me too, to keep me from having one sorrow after another.

I very eagerly send him, so that when you see him you may be glad of it, and I may be less sorrowful.

because he came near dying for the sake of the Lord's work and risked his life to make up for your lack of opportunity to minister to me.

Finally, my brothers, continue to be glad that you are in union with the Lord. I am not tired of writing you the same things over and over: it means your safety.

But for Christ's sake I have counted all that was gain to me as loss.

Yes, indeed, I certainly do count everything as loss compared with the priceless privilege of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have lost everything, and value it all as mere refuse, 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.

in the hope of attaining, in some measure, the resurrection that lifts me out from among the dead.

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,

Follow my example, brothers, and keep your eyes on those who practice living by the pattern we have set you.

So, my dearly loved brothers, whom I long to see, my joy and crown, by the help of the Lord keep on standing firm, dearly loved friends.

And I solemnly beg you, my true comrade, keep on cooperating with those two women, because they shared with me the struggle in spreading the good news, together with Clement and the rest of my fellow-workers, whose names are in the book of life.

Practice the things you learned, received, and heard from me, things that you saw me do, and then the God who gives us peace will be with you.

I was made very happy as a Christian to have your interest in my welfare revived again after so long; because you have always had the interest but not the opportunity to show it.

I can do anything through Him who gives me strength.

But you did me a kindness to share my sorrow with me.

And you Philippians yourselves know that immediately after the good news was first preached to you, when I left Macedonia, no church but yours went into partnership with me to open an account of credits and debits.

Even while I was at Thessalonica you sent money more than once for my needs.

My God will amply supply your every need, through Christ Jesus, from His riches in glory.

Remember me to every one of God's people in union with Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me wish to be remembered to you.

as you learned it from Epaphras, our dearly loved fellow-slave. As a faithful minister of Christ for me

he is the very one who told me of the love awakened in you by the Spirit.

so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord to His full satisfaction, by perennially bearing fruit in every good enterprise and by a steady growth in fuller knowledge of God;

I am now glad to be suffering for you, and in my own person I am filling in what is lacking in Christ's sufferings for His body, that is, the church.

In it I have been made a minister in accordance with the trusteeship God entrusted to me for you, that I might prove among you the universal message of God,

For this I am toiling and struggling by His active energy which is mightily working in me.

I want you to know what a battle I am fighting for you and for those in Laodicea, yes, for all who have never known me personally,

that their hearts may be encouraged, by having been knit together in love and by having atoned to the full assurance of understanding, so that they may finally reach the fullest knowledge of the open secret, Christ Himself,

and have put on the new self which is in the process of being made new in the likeness of its Creator, so that you may attain a perfect knowledge of Him.

At the same time keep on praying for me too, that God may open the door of opportunity for the message, so that I may tell the open secret about Christ, for the sake of which I am held a prisoner,

Always let your conversation be seasoned with salt, that is, with winsomeness, so that you may know how to make a fitting answer to everyone.

My dearly loved Tychicus, a faithful minister and my fellow-servant in the Lord's work, will tell you all about me.

I am sending him to you for the express purpose of letting you know my circumstances, and of cheering your hearts;

Aristarchus, my fellow-prisoner, wishes to be remembered to you; and so does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas; if he comes to see you, give him a hearty welcome.

So does Jesus who is called Justus. These are the only converts from Judaism that are fellow-workers with me here for the kingdom of God, who have proved a real comfort to me.

Epaphras, one of your own number, a slave of Christ Jesus, wishes to be remembered to you. He is always earnestly pleading for you in his prayers that you may stand fast as men mature and of firm convictions in everything required by the will of God.

Remember me to the brothers in Laodicea and to Nympha and the church that meets at her house.

This farewell greeting is in my own hand, from Paul. Remember that I am still a prisoner. Spiritual blessing be with you.

by trying to keep us from speaking to the heathen, so that they may be saved, so as always to fill to the brim the cup of their sins. But at last God's wrath has come upon them.