and that the Messiah may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love,

and to know the Messiah’s love that surpasses knowledge, so you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us—

diligently keeping the unity of the Spirit with the peace that binds us.

But what does “He ascended” mean except that He descended to the lower parts of the earth?

The One who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.

They are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts.

But that is not how you learned about the Messiah,

You took off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires;

The thief must no longer steal. Instead, he must do honest work with his own hands, so that he has something to share with anyone in need.

so that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life in the land.

knowing that whatever good each one does, slave or free, he will receive this back from the Lord.

And masters, treat your slaves the same way, without threatening them, because you know that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with Him.

Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the tactics of the Devil.

This is why you must take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand.

Pray also for me, that the message may be given to me when I open my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel.

For this I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I might be bold enough in Him to speak as I should.

Tychicus, our dearly loved brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you all the news about me so that you may be informed.

I am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

And I pray this: that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment,

so that you can approve the things that are superior and can be pure and blameless in the day of Christ,

filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has actually resulted in the advance of the gospel,

so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard, and to everyone else, that my imprisonment is in the cause of Christ.

These do so out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel;

What does it matter? Just that in every way, whether out of false motives or true, Christ is proclaimed. And in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice

My eager expectation and hope is that I will not be ashamed about anything, but that now as always, with all boldness, Christ will be highly honored in my body, whether by life or by death.

Since I am persuaded of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith,

so that, because of me, your confidence may grow in Christ Jesus when I come to you again.

Just one thing: Live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or am absent, I will hear about you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, working side by side for the faith that comes from the gospel,

having the same struggle that you saw I had and now hear that I have.

Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves.

Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus,

For this reason God highly exalted Him
and gave Him the name
that is above every name,

so that at the name of Jesus
every knee will bow—
of those who are in heaven and on earth
and under the earth—

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

so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world.

Hold firmly to the message of life. Then I can boast in the day of Christ that I didn’t run or labor for nothing.

Now I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon so that I also may be encouraged when I hear news about you.

I am convinced in the Lord that I myself will also come quickly.

since he has been longing for all of you and was distressed because you heard that he was sick.

Indeed, he was so sick that he nearly died. However, God had mercy on him, and not only on him but also on me, so that I would not have one grief on top of another.

For this reason, I am very eager to send him so that you may rejoice when you see him again and I may be less anxious.

regarding zeal, persecuting the church; regarding the righteousness that is in the law, blameless.

But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ.

More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them filth, so that I may gain Christ

and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God based on faith.

assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead.

Not that I have already reached the goal or am already fully mature, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus.

For I have often told you, and now say again with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.

He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of His glorious body, by the power that enables Him to subject everything to Himself.

I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that once again you renewed your care for me. You were, in fact, concerned about me but lacked the opportunity to show it.

And you Philippians know that in the early days of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving except you alone.

Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the profit that is increasing to your account.

that has come to you. It is bearing fruit and growing all over the world, just as it has among you since the day you heard it and recognized God’s grace in the truth.

For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,

so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God.

He is also the head of the body, the church;
He is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead,
so that He might come to have
first place in everything.

if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith and are not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become a servant of it.

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I am completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for His body, that is, the church.

I have become its servant, according to God’s administration that was given to me for you, to make God’s message fully known,

We proclaim Him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

I labor for this, striving with His strength that works powerfully in me.

I want their hearts to be encouraged and joined together in love, so that they may have all the riches of assured understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery—Christ.

I am saying this so that no one will deceive you with persuasive arguments.

Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elemental forces of the world, and not based on Christ.

He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it out of the way by nailing it to the cross.

knowing that you will receive the reward of an inheritance from the Lord. You serve the Lord Christ.

Masters, supply your slaves with what is right and fair, since you know that you too have a Master in heaven.

At the same time, pray also for us that God may open a door to us for the message, to speak the mystery of the Messiah, for which I am in prison,

so that I may reveal it as I am required to speak.

Your speech should always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer each person.

I have sent him to you for this very purpose, so that you may know how we are and so that he may encourage your hearts.

Epaphras, who is one of you, a slave of Christ Jesus, greets you. He is always contending for you in his prayers, so that you can stand mature and fully assured in everything God wills.

For I testify about him that he works hard for you, for those in Laodicea, and for those in Hierapolis.

When this letter has been read among you, have it read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea.

And tell Archippus, “Pay attention to the ministry you have received in the Lord, so that you can accomplish it.”

For the Lord’s message rang out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place that your faith in God has gone out. Therefore, we don’t need to say anything,

For you yourselves know, brothers, that our visit with you was not without result.

We cared so much for you that we were pleased to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.

For you remember our labor and hardship, brothers. Working night and day so that we would not burden any of you, we preached God’s gospel to you.

This is why we constantly thank God, because when you received the message about God that you heard from us, you welcomed it not as a human message, but as it truly is, the message of God, which also works effectively in you believers.

For you, brothers, became imitators of God’s churches in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, since you have also suffered the same things from people of your own country, just as they did from the Jews

hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. As a result, they are always completing the number of their sins, and wrath has overtaken them at last.

so that no one will be shaken by these persecutions. For you yourselves know that we are appointed to this.

In fact, when we were with you, we told you previously that we were going to suffer persecution, and as you know, it happened.

For this reason, when I could no longer stand it, I also sent him to find out about your faith, fearing that the tempter had tempted you and that our labor might be for nothing.

But now Timothy has come to us from you and brought us good news about your faith and love and reported that you always have good memories of us, wanting to see us, as we also want to see you.

Finally then, brothers, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus, that as you have received from us how you must walk and please God—as you are doing—do so even more.

For this is God’s will, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality,

so that each of you knows how to control his own body in sanctification and honor,

so that you may walk properly in the presence of outsiders and not be dependent on anyone.

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.

Since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus.

For you yourselves know very well that the Day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.

But you, brothers, are not in the dark, for this day to overtake you like a thief.

who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him.

See to it that no one repays evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all.

I charge you by the Lord that this letter be read to all the brothers.

It is a clear evidence of God’s righteous judgment that you will be counted worthy of God’s kingdom, for which you also are suffering,