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,

and to make clear how is to be carried out the trusteeship of this secret which has for ages been hidden away in God, the Creator of all things,

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

in accordance with the eternal purpose which God executed in the gift of Christ Jesus our Lord.

By union with Him and through faith in Him we have a free and confidential introduction to God.

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.

one God and Father of all, who is over us all, who pervades us all, and who is within us all.

for the immediate equipment of God's people for the work of service, for the ultimate building up of the body of Christ,

until we all attain to unity in faith and to perfect knowledge of the Son of God, namely, to a mature manhood and to a perfect measure of Christ's moral stature;

with darkened understanding, estranged from the life of God because of the ignorance that exists among them and because of the stubbornness of their hearts;

and put on the new self which has been created in the likeness of God, which fruits in right and holy living inspired by the truth.

If you do get angry, you must stop sinning in your anger. Do not ever let the sun go down on your anger;

You must stop letting any bad word pass your lips, but only words that are good for building up as the occasion demands, so that they will result in spiritual blessing to the hearers.

You must stop offending the Holy Spirit of God by whom you have been stamped for the day of redemption.

You must practice being kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has graciously forgiven you.

So you must keep on following God's example, as dearly loved children of His,

and practice living in love, just as Christ loved you too and gave Himself for you as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

But sexual vice and any form of immorality or sensual greed must not so much as be mentioned among you, as that is the only course becoming in God's people;

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.

Stop letting anyone deceive you with groundless arguments about these things, for it is because of these very sins that God's anger comes down upon the disobedient.

for the product of light consists in practicing everything that is good and right and true;

So it is said: "Wake up, sleeper; get up from the dead, and Christ will make day dawn on you."

continue giving thanks for everything to God our Father;

"You must honor your father and mother" -- this is the first commandment, with a promise to make it good

not serving them as though they were watching you, but as true slaves of Christ, trying to carry out the will of God.

for you know that everyone, slave or free, will get his reward from the Lord for anything good he has done.

You must put on God's full armor, so as to be able to stand up against the devil's stratagems.

So you must take on God's full armor, so as to be able to take a stand in the day when evil attacks you, and, after having completely finished the contest, to hold your own.

Hold your position, then, with your waist encircled with the belt of truth, put on right-doing as a coat of mail,

and put on your feet the preparation the good news of peace supplies.

take the helmet salvation provides, and take the sword the Spirit wields, which is the word of God.

Keep on praying in the Spirit, with every kind of prayer and entreaty, at every opportunity, be ever on the alert with perfect devotion and entreaty for all God's people,

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,

Peace to the brothers and love with faith, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus, to all God's people in union with Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and assistants:

spiritual blessing and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Every time I remember you I thank my God,

for your cooperation in spreading the good news, from the first day you heard it until now.

For I am certain of this very thing, that He who began the good work in you will go on until the day of Jesus Christ to complete it.

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.

men that are abounding in the fruits of right-doing with the help of Jesus Christ, to the honor and praise of God.

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.

Some, indeed, are actually preaching Christ because they are moved by jealousy and partisanship, but others are doing so from the motive of good will;

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

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.

Never in the slightest degree be frightened by your opponents, for such fearlessness will be strong evidence to them of their impending destruction, but to you a sure sign, and that from God, of your salvation.

Though He was existing in the nature of God, He did not think His being on an equality with God a thing to be selfishly grasped,

This is why God has highly exalted Him, and given Him the name that is above every other name,

and everyone should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the praise of God the Father.

for it is God Himself who is at work in you to help you desire it as well as do it.

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

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.

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.

For we are the true circumcision, who by the Spirit of God worship Him, who take pride in Christ Jesus only, and do not rely on outward privileges,

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 am pressing onward toward the goal, to win the prize to which God through Jesus Christ is calling us upward.

So let us all who are mature have this attitude. If you have a different attitude, God will make it clear to you.

Their doom is destruction, their stomach is their god, their glory is in their shame, and their minds are feeding on earthly things,

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.

Stop being worried about anything, but always, in prayer and entreaty, and with thanksgiving, keep on making your wants known to God.

Then, through your union with Christ Jesus, the peace of God, that surpasses all human thought, will keep guard over your hearts and thoughts.

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.

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.

I have received your payment in full, and more too. I am amply supplied after getting the things you sent by Epaphroditus; they are like sweet incense, the kind of sacrifice that God accepts and approves.

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

Glory to our God and Father forever and ever. Amen.

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.

All God's people wish to be remembered to you, but more especially the members of the Emperor's household.

Paul, by God's will an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Timothy,

to the consecrated and faithful brothers at Colossae who are in union with Christ: spiritual blessing and peace to you from God our Father.

Every time we pray for you we thank God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all God's people,

because of your hope of what is laid up for you in heaven. Long ago you heard of this hope through the message of the good news

which reached you, and since it is bearing fruit and growing among you, just as it is all over the world, from the day you first heard of God's favor and in reality came to know it,

This is why, ever since I heard of it, I have never ceased praying for you and asking God to fill you, through full wisdom and spiritual insight, with a clear knowledge of His will,

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;

It is God who has delivered us out of the dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of His dearly loved Son,

Yes, He is the exact likeness of the unseen God, His first-born Son who existed before any created thing,

if indeed you continue well grounded and firm in faith and never shift from the hope inspired by the good news you heard, which has been preached all over the world, and of which I, Paul, have been made a minister.

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,

the open secret, covered up from the people of former ages and generations, but now uncovered to God's people,

to whom God has chosen to make known how glorious are the riches of this open secret among the heathen, namely, Christ in you the hope of your glorification.

We are proclaiming Him, warning everyone and teaching everyone with ample wisdom, in order to present to God everyone mature through union with Christ.

for you were buried with Him in baptism and raised to life with Him through your faith in the power of God who raised Him from the dead.

Yes, although you were dead through your shortcomings and were physically uncircumcised, God made you live again through fellowship with Christ. He graciously forgave us all our shortcomings,

Such a person is not continuing in connection with the Head, from which the whole body, when supplied and united through its joints and sinews, grows with a growth that God produces.

So if you have been raised to life in fellowship with Christ, keep on seeking the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

for you have died, and your life is now hidden in God through your fellowship with Christ.

It is on account of these very sins that God's anger is coming.

So as God's own chosen people, consecrated and dearly loved, you must once for all clothe yourselves with tenderheartedness, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience; you must keep on

Let the message of Christ continue to live in you in all its wealth of wisdom; keep on teaching it to one another and training one another in it with thankfulness, in your hearts singing praise to God with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

And whatever you say or do, let it all be done with reference to the Lord Jesus, and through Him continue to give thanks to God the Father.

for you know that it is from the Lord that you are going to get your pay in the form of an inheritance; so keep on serving Christ the Lord.

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,

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.