But since to live means a longer stay on earth, that implies more labour for me--and not unsuccessful labour; and which I am to choose I cannot tell.

I am in a dilemma, my earnest desire being to depart and be with Christ, for that is far, far better.

But for your sakes it is more important that I should still remain in the body.

I am convinced of this, and I know that I shall remain, and shall go on working side by side with you all, to promote your progress and joy in the faith;

so that, as Christians, you may have additional reason for glorying about me as the result of my being with you again.

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.

maintaining, as you do, the same kind of conflict that you once saw in me and which you still hear that I am engaged in.

It is in consequence of this that God has also so highly exalted Him, and has conferred on Him the Name which is supreme above every other,

in order that in the Name of JESUS every knee should bow, of beings in Heaven, of those on the earth, and of those in the underworld,

and that every tongue should confess that JESUS CHRIST is LORD, to the glory of God the Father.

so that you may always prove yourselves to be blameless and spotless--irreproachable children of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as heavenly lights in the world,

holding out to them a Message of Life. It will then be my glory on the day of Christ that I did not run my race in vain nor toil in vain.

But, if the Lord permits it, I hope before long to send Timothy to you, that I, in turn, may be cheered by getting news of you.

So it is he that I hope to send as soon as ever I see how things go with me;

but trusting, as I do, in the Lord, I believe that I shall myself also come to you before long.

For it is true that he has been ill, and was apparently at the point of death; but God had pity on him, and not only on him, but also on me, to save me from having sorrow upon sorrow.

I am therefore all the more eager to send him, in the hope that when you see him again you may be glad and I may have the less sorrow.

because it was for the sake of Christ's work that he came so near death, hazarding, as he did, his very life in endeavouring to make good any deficiency that there might be in your gifts to me.

Yet all that was gain to me--for Christ's sake I have reckoned it loss.

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,

not having a righteousness of my own, derived from the Law, but that which arises from faith in Christ--the righteousness which comes from God through faith.

in the hope that I may attain to the resurrection from among the dead.

I do not say that I have already won the race or have already reached perfection. But I am pressing on, striving to lay hold of the prize for which also Christ has laid hold of me.

Brethren, I do not imagine that I have yet laid hold of it. But this one thing I do--forgetting everything which is past and stretching forward to what lies in front of me,

Therefore let all of us who are mature believers cherish these thoughts; and if in any respect you think differently, that also God will make clear to you.

But whatever be the point that we have already reached, let us persevere in the same course.

But I rejoice with a deep and holy joy that now at length you have revived your thoughtfulness for my welfare. Indeed you have always been thoughtful for me, although opportunity failed you.

And you men and women of Philippi also know that at the first preaching of the Good News, when I had left Macedonia, no other Church except yourselves held communication with me about giving and receiving;

Not that I crave for gifts from you, but I do want to see abundant fruit bring you honour.

I have enough of everything--and more than enough. My wants are fully satisfied now that I have received from the hands of Epaphroditus the generous gifts which you sent me--they are a fragrant odor, an acceptable sacrifice, truly pleasing to God.

For this reason we also, from the day we first received these tidings, have never ceased to pray for you and to entreat that you may be filled with a clear knowledge of His will accompanied by thorough wisdom and discernment in spiritual things;

so that your lives may be worthy of the Lord and perfectly pleasing to Him, while you exhibit the results of right action of every sort and grow into a fuller knowledge of God.

Moreover He is the Head of His Body, the Church. He is the Beginning, the Firstborn from among the dead, in order that He Himself may in all things occupy the foremost place.

For it was the Father's gracious will that the whole of the divine perfections should dwell in Him.

if, indeed, you are still firmly holding to faith as your foundation, without ever shifting from your hope that rests on the Good News that you have heard, which has been proclaimed in the whole creation under Heaven, and in which I Paul have been appointed to serve.

I have been appointed to serve the Church in the position of responsibility entrusted to me by God for your benefit, so that I may fully deliver God's Message--

to whom it was His will to make known how vast a wealth of glory for the Gentile world is implied in this truth--the truth that 'Christ is in you, the hope of glory.'

Him we preach, admonishing every one and instructing every one, with all possible wisdom, so that we may bring every one into God's presence, made perfect through Christ.

in order that their hearts may be cheered, they themselves being welded together in love and enjoying all the advantages of a reasonable certainty, till at last they attain the full knowledge of God's truth, which is Christ Himself.

For it is in Christ that the fulness of God's nature dwells embodied, and in Him you are made complete,

These were a shadow of things that were soon to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

"Do not handle this;" "Do not taste that;" "Do not touch that other thing" --

If however you have risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, enthroned at God's right hand.

Give your minds to the things that are above, not to the things that are on the earth.

Therefore put to death your earthward inclinations--fornication, impurity, sensual passion, unholy desire, and all greed, for that is a form of idolatry.

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

But now you must rid yourselves of every kind of sin--angry and passionate outbreaks, ill-will, evil speaking, foul-mouthed abuse--so that these may never soil your lips.

In that new creation there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free man, but Christ is everything and is in all of us.

And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, and let it be through Him that you give thanks to God the Father.

Children be obedient to your parents in everything; for that is right for Christians.

For you know that it is from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. Christ is the Master whose bondservants you are.

Masters, deal justly and equitably with your slaves, knowing that you too have a Master in Heaven.

And pray at the same time for us also, that God may open for us a door for preaching, for us to tell the truth concerning Christ for the sake of which I am even a prisoner.

Let your language be always seasoned with the salt of grace, so that you may know how to give every man a fitting answer.

And for this very purpose I send him to you that you may know how we are faring; and that he may cheer your hearts.

Epaphras, who is one of yourselves, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, sends greetings to you, always wrestling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand firm--Christians of ripe character and of clear conviction as to everything which is God's will.

Christian greetings to the brethren at Laodicea, especially to Nymphas, and to the Church that meets at their house.

knowing as we do, brethren, that you are beloved by God and that He has chosen you.

The Good News that we brought you did not come to you in words only, but also with power and with the Holy Spirit and with much certainty, for you know the sort of men we became among you, as examples for your sakes.

so that you became a pattern to all the believers throughout Macedonia and Greece.

For it was not only from you that the Master's Message sounded forth throughout Macedonia and Greece; but everywhere your faith in God has become known, so that it is unnecessary for us to say anything about it.

For you yourselves, brethren, know that our visit to you did not fail of its purpose.

Seeing that we were thus drawn affectionately towards you, it would have been a joy to us to have imparted to you not only God's Good News, but to have given our very lives also, because you had become very dear to us.

For you know that we acted towards every one of you as a father does towards his own children, encouraging and cheering you,

And for this further reason we render unceasing thanks to God, that when you received God's Message from our lips, it was as no mere message from men that you embraced it, but as--what it really is--God's Message, which also does its work in the hearts of you who believe.

For you, brethren, followed the example of the Churches of God in Christ Jesus which are in Judaea; seeing that you endured the same ill-treatment at the hands of your countrymen, as they did at the hands of the Jews.

for they still try to prevent our preaching to the Gentiles so that they may find salvation. They thus continually fill up the measure of their own sins, and God's anger in its severest form has overtaken them.

and sent Timothy our brother and God's minister in the service of Christ's Good News, that he might help you spiritually and encourage you in your faith;

that none of you might be unnerved by your present trials: for you yourselves know that they are our appointed lot.

But now that Timothy has recently come back to us from you, and has brought us the happy tidings of your faith and love, and has told us how you still cherish a constant and affectionate recollection of us, and are longing to see us as we also long to see you--

while night and day, with intense earnestness, we pray that we may see your faces, and may bring to perfection whatever may be still lacking in your faith?

Thus He will build up your characters, so that you will be faultlessly holy in the presence of our God and Father at the Coming of our Lord Jesus with all His holy ones.

For this is God's will--your purity of life, that you abstain from fornication;

that each man among you shall know how to procure a wife who shall be his own in purity and honour;

that you be not overmastered by lustful cravings, like the Gentiles who have no knowledge of God;

and that in this matter there be no encroaching on the rights of a brother Christian and no overreaching him. For the Lord is an avenger in all such cases, as we have already taught you and solemnly warned you.

For if we believe that Jesus has died and risen again, we also believe that, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who shall have passed away.

For this we declare to you on the Lord's own authority--that we who are alive and continue on earth until the Coming of the Lord, shall certainly not forestall those who shall have previously passed away.

But as to times and dates it is unnecessary that anything be written to you.

For you yourselves know perfectly well that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night.

But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that daylight should surprise you like a thief;

who died on our behalf, so that whether we are awake or are sleeping we may share His Life.

See to it that no one ever repays another with evil for evil; but always seek opportunities of doing good both to one another and to all the world.

It so increases that we ourselves make honourable mention of you among the Churches of God because of your patience and faith amid all your persecutions and amid the afflictions which you are enduring.

when He comes on that day to be glorified in His people and to be wondered at among all who have believed, including you--because you believed the testimony which we brought for your acceptance.

It is with this view also that we continually pray to our God for you, asking that He will count you worthy of His call, and by His mighty power fully gratify your every desire for what is truly good and make your work of faith complete;

in order that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and that you may be glorified in Him--so wonderful is the grace of our God and of the Lord Jesus Christ!

not readily to become unsettled in mind or troubled--either by any pretended spiritual revelation or by any message or letter claiming to have been sent by us--through fancying that the day of the Lord is now here.

Let no one in any way deceive you, for that day cannot come without the coming of the apostasy first, and the appearing of the man of sin, the son of perdition, who sets himself against,

and exalts himself above, every so-called 'god' or object of worship, and goes the length of taking his seat in the very temple of God, giving it out that he himself is God.

Do you not remember that while I was still with you I used to tell you all this?

And now you know what restrains him, in order that his true character may be revealed at his appointed time.

and by every kind of wicked deception for those who are on the way to perdition because they did not welcome into their hearts the love of the truth, so that they might be saved.

And for this reason God sends them a misleading influence that they may believe the lie;

in order that all may come under judgement who have refused to believe the truth and have taken pleasure in unrighteousness.

To this blessing God has called you by our Good News, so that you may have a share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Finally, brethren, pray for us, asking that the Lord's Message may be spread rapidly and its glory be displayed, as it was displayed among you;

and that we may be delivered from wrong-headed and wicked men; for it is not everybody who has faith.

And we have confidence in the Lord in regard to you that you are doing, and will do, what we command.

For you yourselves know that it is your duty to follow our example. There was no disorder in our lives among you,