Would to God that those who are trying to unsettle you would even have themselves mutilated.

For the desire of the flesh is against that of the Spirit, and the desire of the Spirit is against that of the flesh, for they two are antagonistic, so that you may not do those things that you wish.

envy, drunkenness, revellings, and things like these. I tell you beforehand, as I have already told you, that those who practise such sins shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Even if any one should be overtaken in a fault, brothers, you that are spiritual ought, in a gentle spirit, to restore such a one, each one of you looking to himself, lest you too be tempted.

Be not deceived. God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, that will he also reap.

Those who are trying to compel you to be circumcised are such as wish to make a fair show in the flesh, only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.

Even those who are being circumcised, are not themselves keeping the Law, but they want you to be circumcised so that they may glory in your flesh.

God forbid that I should glory in anything except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, upon which the world has been crucified to me and I have been crucified to the world.

when he made known to us, I say, that good pleasure which he purposed in himself

for the government of the fulness of the ages, that all things in heaven and earth are alike should be gathered up in Christ, as Head.

that we who first hoped in Christ should be for the praise of his glory.

I am praying that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father most glorious, may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation, through an intimate knowledge of himself;

and that the eyes of your heart may be flooded with light so that you may understand what is the hope of his calling, what the wealth of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

and what the surpassing greatness of his might in us who believe, as seen in the energy of that resistless might

far above all hierarchies and authorities and powers and dominions and every name that is named, not only in this age but in that which is to come.

in order that he might show to the ages to come the amazing riches of his grace by his goodness to us in Christ Jesus.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is God's gift.

It is not of works, so that any one can boast of it;

Do not forget then, that you Gentiles in the flesh, who are called "uncircumcision" by the "circumcision" made in flesh by man's hand,

because it is through him that we both have access in one spirit to the Father.

Take notice then that no longer are you strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household.

By reading what I have written, you can judge of my insight into that secret truth of Christ

namely, that in Christ Jesus the Gentiles form one body with us the Jews, and are coheirs and copartners in the promise, through the gospel.

To me, who am less than the least of all saints, has this grace been given, that I should proclaim among the Gentiles the gospel of the unsearchable riches of Christ;

and should make all men see the new dispensation of that secret purpose, hidden from eternity in the God who founded the universe,

in order that now his manifold wisdom should, through the church, be made known to the principalities and powers in the heavenly sphere,

that Christ may make his home in your hearts through your faith; that you may be so deeply rooted and so firmly grounded in love,

that you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is "the breadth," "the length," "the depth," and "the height,"

and may know the love of Christ which transcends all knowing, so that you may be filled with all the "plenitude" of God.

Now unto him who, according to his might that is at work within us, is able to do infinitely more than all we ask or even think,

Now surely this "he ascended" implies that he also descended into the lower part of the earth.

He who descended is he who ascended above the highest heaven, that he might fill the universe.

having their understanding darkened, alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their hearts.

Let him who stole steal no more, but let him work, and in honest industry toil with his hands, so that he may have something to give to the needy.

For be well assured that no one guilty of fornication or impurity or covetousness which is idolatry, has any heritage in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

Let no man deceive you with empty arguments, for it is these vices that bring down the wrath of God upon the sons of disobedience;

For it is a shame even to speak of the things that are done by such men in secret;

See to it, then, that you carry on your life carefully; not as foolish, but as wise men.

in order that after cleansing her in the bath of baptism, he might sanctify her by his word,

That is how husbands ought to love their wives, as they love their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth.

because you know that whatever good any man does, the same shall he receive from the Lord, whether he be slave or free man.

And you masters, show the same spirit to your slaves, and stop threatening them; for you know that your masters and theirs is in heaven, and that there is no respect of persons with him.

Put on all the panoply of God, so that you may be able to stand your ground against the stratagems of the devil.

Therefore take up the panoply of God, so that when the evil day comes you may be able to withstand them, and having overthrown them all, to stand your ground.

and for me, that utterance may be given me to open my mouth boldly, and to make known the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador,

and in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it boldly as I ought to speak.

But that you also may know my affairs and how I do, Tychicus, my beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make everything known to you.

I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know about us, and that he may cheer your hearts.

Of this I am fully persuaded, that He who has begun a good work in you will go on completing it until the day of Jesus Christ.

It is but just that I should be thus mindful of you all, because I have you in my heart, and because in these fetters of mine and in my defense and confirmation of the gospel you are all my fellow partners in the privilege.

And it is my prayer that your love may abound yet more and more in intelligence and insight

for testing things that differ, so that you may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ,

I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has turned out rather to help than to the hindrance of the gospel.

Throughout the whole Praetorian guard and among all the others it has become plain that these chains of mine are for the sake of Christ;

These latter out of their love, because they know that I am set here for the defense of the gospel;

What of it? In any case, whether in pretence or in honest truth, Christ is still preached, and in that I am rejoicing, yes, and will rejoice.

For I know that these things will turn out to my salvation through your prayers and a rich supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

So it is my keen expectation and hope that I shall never feel ashamed, but that with fearless courage, now as hither to, Christ may be magnified in my body, whether by my life or by my death.

but for your sakes it is more necessary that I should still live on in the body.

And because I am convinced of this, I know that I shall live, and go on working side by side with you all for your progress and joy in the faith,

so that you may find me fresh cause of exultation in Christ Jesus, because of my presence among you once more.

Only do lead lives worthy of the gospel of Christ; so that whether I come to see you or hear reports concerning you in my absence, I may know that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one soul, enlisted in a common struggle for the faith of the gospel,

while you wage the same conflict which you once saw in me, and now hear that I maintain.

that in the name of Jesus every knee in heaven, on earth, and under the earth should bend,

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

that you may become blameless and innocent, the sons of God, without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine like stars in a dark world,

holding out a message of life. Thus it will be my boast at the day of Christ that I have not run in vain, or toiled for nothing.

Now I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you before long, so that I may be of good comfort when I learn the news concerning you.

but I trust in the Lord that I also shall come shortly.

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

Therefore I have been the more eager to send him, in order that you may rejoice in seeing him again, and that I may have one sorrow less.

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.

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

In very truth I count all things but loss compared to the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and esteem them but refuse that I may gain Christ,

and be found in him; not having my own righteousness of the Law, but that alone which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which comes from God, founded upon faith.

I do not say that I have already won, or am already perfect, but I am passing on to lay hold on the prize for which also Christ has laid hold of me.

Brothers, I do not regard myself to have yet laid hold of it; but this one thing I do, forgetting what is behind me, but straining every nerve toward that which lies ahead,

But commonwealth is in heaven; and it is from heaven also that we are anxiously awaiting a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ,

Moreover, I greatly rejoiced in the Lord that now once more your care for me blossomed afresh; though indeed you did take thought in this matter, but you lacked the opportunity of expression.

Not that I speak as if I were in want, for at least have learned how to be content, whatever happens.

And you very well know, Philippians, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I had left Macedonia, no church but yourselves had fellowship with me in the matter of giving and receiving.

It is not your gifts I am eager for, but I am eager for the abundant profit that accrues to your divine account.

that you may walk worthy of the Lord in every kind of pleasing; that you may be fruitful in every kind of good work, and may increase in the knowledge of God;

that you may be strengthened in every kind of strength by the might of his glory for every kind of patience and fortitude with good cheer.

I ask that you may give thanks to the Father who has made us fit to receive our share of the heritage of the saints in the light.

He is the head of his Body, the Church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, in order that in all things he may become preeminent.

he has now in his human body reconciled to God by his death, in order that he may bring you into his presence, holy and unblemished and irreproachable.

And this he will do if, indeed, you continue in the faith, firmly founded and stedfast, and never moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, and which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, that gospel of which I, Paul, was made a minister.

that secret truth, which, although hidden from ages and generations of old, has now been made manifest to his saints.

To them God willed to make known among the Gentiles how glorious are the riches of that secret truth, which is "Christ in you, the hope of glory."

Him I am ever proclaiming, warning every one and teaching every one, in all wisdom; that I may bring every man into his presence, full grown in Christ.

For that end I am ever toiling, wrestling with all that energy of his which is mightily at work within me.

For it is in Christ that all the fullness of deity dwells bodily,

when you were buried with him in baptism. In baptism also you were raised with him, through your faith in the energy of that God who raised him from the dead.

blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that stood against us and was hostile to us, and took it out of our way, nailing it to his cross.

If you died with Christ to the world's rudimentary notions, why, as if you still lived in the world, do you submit yourselves to dogmatisms found on teachings and doctrines of men??21 such as "Do not handle this," "You must not taste that," "Do not touch this"??22 all things which are intended to perish in the using?

But now you also must renounce them all. Anger, passion, and ill-will must be put away; slander, too, and foul talk, so that they may never soil your lips.

and put on that new self which is continually made over according to the likeness of its Creator, into full understanding.

In it that new creation there is no "Greek and Jew," "circumcised and uncircumcised," "barbarian," "Scythian," "slave," "free man," but Christ is all, and in us all.