Therefore I beg you not to be disheartened at the sufferings that I am undergoing for your sakes; for they redound to your honor.

And pray that, in proportion to the wealth of his glory, he will strengthen you with his power by breathing his Spirit into your inmost soul,

So that the Christ, through your faith, may make his home within your hearts in love; And I pray that you, now firmly rooted and established, may, with all Christ's People,

To him who, through his power which is at work within us, is able to do far more than anything that we can ask or conceive--

I urge you, then--I who am a prisoner in the Master's cause-- to live lives worthy of the Call that you have received;

That is why it is said--'When he went up on high, he led his captives into captivity. And gave gifts to mankind.'

Now surely this 'going up' must imply that he had already gone down into the world beneath.

He who went down is the same as he who went up--up beyond the highest Heaven, that he might fill all things with his presence.

And this shall continue, until we all attain to that unity which is given by faith and by a fuller knowledge of the Son of God; until we reach the ideal man--the full standard of the perfection of the Christ.

With their powers of discernment darkened, cut off from the Life of God, owing to the ignorance that prevails among them and to the hardness of their hearts.

But far different is the lesson you learned from the Christ-- if, that is, you really listened to him,

For you learned with regard to your former way of living that you must cast off your old nature, which, yielding to deluding passions, grows corrupt;

That the very spirit of your minds must be constantly renewed;

And that you must clothe yourselves in that new nature which was created to resemble God, with the righteousness and holiness springing from the Truth.

Let the man who steals steal no longer, but rather let him toil with his hands at honest work, so that he may have something to share with any one in want.

Never let any foul word pass your lips, but only such good words as the occasion demands, that they may be a help to those who hear them.

And do not grieve God's Holy Spirit; for it was through that Spirit that God sealed you as his, against the Day of Redemption.

And live a life of love, following the example of the Christ, who loved you and gave himself for you as 'an offering and a sacrifice to God, that should be fragrant and acceptable.'

For of this you may be sure--that no one who is unchaste or impure or greedy of gain (for to be greedy of gain is idolatry) has any place awaiting him in the kingdom of the Christ and God.

Do not let any one deceive you with specious arguments. Those are the sins that bring down the Wrath of God upon the disobedient.

For everything that has its true character made manifest is clear as light. And that is why it is said--'Sleeper, awake! Arise from the dead, and the Christ shall give thee light!'

Do not drink wine to excess, for that leads to profligacy; but seek to be filled with the Spirit of God, and speak to one another in psalms and hymns and sacred songs.

So that he might himself bring the Church, in all her beauty, into his own presence, with no spot or wrinkle or blemish of any kind, but that she might be holy and faultless.

That is how husbands ought to love their wives--as if they were their own bodies. A man who loves his wife is really loving himself;

Children, obey your parents, as children of the Lord; for that is but right.

So that thou mayest prosper and have a long life on earth.'

For you know that every one will be rewarded by the Master for any honest work that he has done, whether he is a slave or a freeman.

And masters, treat your slaves in the same spirit. Give up threatening them; for you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in Heaven, and that before him there is no distinction of rank.

Put on the full armor of God, so that you may be able to stand your ground against the stratagems of the Devil.

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.

Therefore take up the full armor of God, that, when the evil day comes, you may be able to withstand the attack, and, having fought to the end, still to stand your ground.

And on my behalf also, that, when I begin to speak, words may be given me, so that I may fearlessly make known the inmost truth of the Good News,

On behalf of which I am an Ambassador--in chains! Pray that, in telling it, I may speak fearlessly as I ought.

To enable you, as well as others, to know all that concerns me and what I am doing, Tychicus, our dear Brother and faithful helper in the Master's Cause, will tell you everything.

I am sending him to you on purpose that you may learn all about us, and that he may cheer your hearts.

Every recollection that I have of you is a cause of thankfulness to God,

Always, in every prayer that I offer for you all--my prayers are full of joy--

Because of the share that you have had in spreading the Good News, from the first day that you received it until now.

For of this I am confident, that he who began a good work in you will complete it in readiness for the Day of Jesus Christ.

And what I pray for is this--that your love may grow yet stronger and stronger, with increasing knowledge and all discernment,

Until you are able to appreciate all moral distinctions. And I pray, too, that you may be kept pure and blameless against the Day of Christ,

Bearing a rich harvest of that righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Brothers, I want you to realize that what has happened to me has actually served to forward the Good News.

It has even become evident, not only to all the Imperial Guard, but to every one else, that it is for Christ's sake that I am in chains.

It is true that some do proclaim the Christ out of Jealousy and opposition; but there are others who proclaim him from good- will.

The latter do it from love for me, knowing that I have been appointed to plead the cause of the Good News.

But what of that? Only that in some way or other, either with assumed or with real earnestness, Christ is being made known; and at that I rejoice.

Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that, through your prayers and through a rich supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, 'all this will make for my Salvation.'

And this will fulfil my earnest expectation and hope that I shall have no cause for shame, but that, with unfailing courage, now as hitherto, Christ will be honored in my body, whether by my life or by my death,

But, for your sakes, it may be more needful that I should still remain here in the body.

Yes, I am confident that this is so, and therefore I am sure that I shall stay, and stay near you all, to promote your progress and joy in the Faith;

So that, when you once more have me among you, you, in your union with Christ Jesus, may find in me fresh cause for exultation.

Under all circumstances let your lives be worthy of the Good News of the Christ: so that, whether I come and see you, or whether I hear of your affairs at a distance, I may know that you are standing firm, animated by one spirit, and joining with one heart in a common struggle for the Faith taught by the Good News,

You will be engaged in the same hard struggle as that which you once saw me waging, and which you hear that I am waging still.

And that is why God raised him to the very highest place, and gave him the Name which stands above all other names,

So that in adoration of the Name of Jesus every knee should bend, in Heaven, on earth, and under the earth,

And that every tongue should acknowledge JESUS CHRIST as LORD- -to the glory of God the Father.

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always been obedient in the past, so now work out your own Salvation with anxious care, not only when I am with you, but all the more now that I am absent.

In all that you do, avoid murmuring and dissension,

Offering to men the Message of Life; and then I shall be able at the Day of Christ to boast that I did not run my course for nothing, or toil for nothing.

I hope, however, as one who trusts in the Lord Jesus, to send Timothy to you before long, so that I may myself be cheered by receiving news of you.

And I am confident, as one who trusts in the Lord Jesus, that before long I myself shall follow.

And I can assure you that his illness very nearly proved fatal. But God had pity on him, and not on him only but also on me, that I might not have sorrow upon sorrow.

I am all the more ready, therefore, to send him, so that the sight of him may revive your spirits and my own sorrow be lightened.

For it was owing to his devotion to the Master's work that he was at the point of death, having risked his own life in the effort to supply what was wanting in the help that you sent me.

More than that, I count everything as loss, for the sake of the exceeding value of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. And for his sake I have lost everything, and count it as refuse, if I may but gain Christ and be found in union with him;

Any righteousness that I have being, not the righteousness that results from Law, but the righteousness which comes through faith in Christ--the righteousness which is derived from God and is founded on faith.

Then indeed I shall know Christ, and the power of his resurrection, and all that it means to share his sufferings,

In the hope that, if I become like him in death, I may possibly attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already laid hold of it, or that I am already made perfect. But I press on, in the hope of actually laying hold of that for which indeed I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.

For I, Brothers, do not regard myself as having yet laid hold of it. But this one thing I do--forgetting what lies behind, and straining every nerve for that which lies in front,

I press on to the goal, to gain the prize of that heavenward Call which God gave me through Christ Jesus.

Let all of us, then, whose faith is mature, think thus. Then, if on any matter you think otherwise, God will make that also plain to you.

But the State of which we are citizens is in Heaven; and it is from Heaven that we are eagerly looking for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,

Who, by the exercise of his power to bring everything into subjection to himself, will make this body that we have in our humiliation like to that body which he has in his Glory.

Yes, and I ask you, my true comrade, to help them, remembering that they toiled by my side in spreading the Good News; and so, too, did Clement and my other fellow-workers, whose names are 'in the Book of Life.'

All that you learned and received and heard and saw in me put into practice continually; and then God, the giver of peace, will be with you.

It was a matter of great joy to me, as one in union with the Lord, that at length your interest in me had revived. The interest indeed you had, but not the opportunity.

Do not think that I am saying this under the pressure of want. For I, however I am placed, have learned to be independent of circumstances.

And you at Philippi know, as well as I, that in the early days of the Good News--at the time when I had just left Macedonia--no Church, with the one exception of yourselves, had anything to do with me as far as giving and receiving are concerned.

It is not that I am anxious for your gifts, but I am anxious to see the abundant return that will be placed to your account. I have enough of everything, and to spare.

My wants are fully satisfied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts which you sent me--the sweet fragrance of a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.

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

Bearing fruit and growing, as it does, through all the world, just as it did among you, from the very day that you heard of God's loving-kindness, and understood what that loving-kindness really is.

And therefore we, from the very day that we heard this, have never ceased praying for you, or asking that you may possess that deeper knowledge of the will of God, which comes through all true spiritual wisdom and insight.

For in him was created all that is in Heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible--Angels and Archangels and all the Powers of Heaven.

And he is the Head of the Church, which is his Body. The First-born from the dead, he is to the Church the Source of its Life, that he, in all things, may stand first.

For it pleased the Father that in him the divine nature in all its fulness should dwell,

And it pleased God that you, once estranged from him and hostile towards him in your thoughts, intent only on wickedness--

But now he has reconciled you to himself by the sacrifice of Christ's earthly body in death--it has pleased God that you should stand in his presence holy, pure, and blameless,

That Truth which has been hidden from former ages and generations. But now it has been revealed to God's People,

To whom it was his pleasure to make known the surpassing glory of that hidden Truth when proclaimed among the Gentiles--'Christ among you! Your Hope of glory!'

This is the Christ whom we proclaim, warning every one, and instructing every one, with all the wisdom that we possess, in the hope of bringing every one into God's presence perfected by union with Christ.

It is for that I toil, struggling with all the energy which he inspires and which works powerfully within me.

In the hope that they, being bound to one another by love, and keeping in view the full blessedness of a firm conviction, may be encouraged to strive for a perfect knowledge of God's hidden Truth,

It is true that I am not with you in person, but I am with you in spirit, and am glad to see the good order and the unbroken front resulting from your faith in Christ.

By your union with him you received a circumcision that was not performed by human hands, when you threw off the tyranny of the earthly body, and received the circumcision of the Christ.

He canceled the bond which stood against us--the bond that consisted of ordinances--and which was directly hostile to us! He has taken it out of our way by nailing it to the cross!

He fails to maintain union with the Head, to whom it is due that the whole body, nourished and knit together by the contact and Keynesian of every part, grows with a divine growth.

Since, with Christ, you became dead to the puerile teaching of this world, why do you submit, as though your life were still that of the world,