The one who steals must steal no longer; rather he must labor, doing good with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with the one who has need.

You must let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but only what is beneficial for the building up of the one in need, that it may give grace to those who hear.

For you can be confident of this one thing: that no person who is immoral, impure, or greedy (such a person is an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

so that he may present the church to himself as glorious -- not having a stain or wrinkle, or any such blemish, but holy and blameless.

"that it may go well with you and that you will live a long time on the earth."

because you know that each person, whether slave or free, if he does something good, this will be rewarded by the Lord.

Masters, treat your slaves the same way, giving up the use of threats, because you know that both you and they have the same master in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.

Clothe yourselves with the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

For this reason, take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand your ground on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand.

by fitting your feet with the preparation that comes from the good news of peace,

Pray for me also, that I may be given the message when I begin to speak -- that I may confidently make known the mystery of the gospel,

for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may be able to speak boldly as I ought to speak.

Tychicus, my dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will make everything known to you, so that you too may know about my circumstances, how I am doing.

I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts.

For I am sure of this very thing, that the one who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

For God is my witness that I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

And I pray this, that your love may abound even more and more in knowledge and every kind of insight

so that you can decide what is best, and thus be sincere and blameless for the day of Christ,

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

I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that my situation has actually turned out to advance the gospel:

The whole imperial guard and everyone else knows that I am in prison for the sake of Christ,

The latter do so from love because they know that I am placed here for the defense of the gospel.

What is the result? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is being proclaimed, and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice,

for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

My confident hope is that I will in no way be ashamed but that with complete boldness, even now as always, Christ will be exalted in my body, whether I live or die.

but it is more vital for your sake that I remain in the body.

And since I am sure of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for the sake of your progress and joy in the faith,

so that what you can be proud of may increase because of me in Christ Jesus, when I come back to you.

Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ so that -- whether I come and see you or whether I remain absent -- I should hear that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, by contending side by side for the faith of the gospel,

since you are encountering the same conflict that you saw me face and now hear that I am facing.

You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had,

As a result God exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name,

so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow -- in heaven and on earth and under the earth --

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

so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without blemish though you live in a crooked and perverse society, in which you shine as lights in the world

by holding on to the word of life so that on the day of Christ I will have a reason to boast that I did not run in vain nor labor in vain.

Now I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be encouraged by hearing news about you.

But you know his qualifications, that like a son working with his father, he served with me in advancing the gospel.

though I am confident in the Lord that I too will be coming to see you soon.

Indeed, he greatly missed all of you and was distressed because you heard that he had been ill.

In fact he became so ill that he nearly died. But God showed mercy to him -- and not to him only, but also to me -- so that I would not have grief on top of grief.

Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again you can rejoice and I can be free from anxiety.

since it was because of the work of Christ that he almost died. He risked his life so that he could make up for your inability to serve me.

More than that, I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things -- indeed, I regard them as dung! -- that I may gain Christ,

and be found in him, not because I have my own righteousness derived from the law, but because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ's faithfulness -- a righteousness from God that is in fact based on Christ's faithfulness.

Not that I have already attained this -- that is, I have not already been perfected -- but I strive to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me.

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have attained this. Instead I am single-minded: Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching out for the things that are ahead,

Nevertheless, let us live up to the standard that we have already attained.

For many live, about whom I have often told you, and now, with tears, I tell you that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ.

who will transform these humble bodies of ours into the likeness of his glorious body by means of that power by which he is able to subject all things to himself.

And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

I do not say this because I am seeking a gift. Rather, I seek the credit that abounds to your account.

since we heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints.

that has come to you. Just as in the entire world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, so it has also been bearing fruit and growing among you from the first day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth.

so that you may live worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects -- bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God,

He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things.

if indeed you remain in the faith, established and firm, without shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has also been preached in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become its servant.

that is, the mystery that has been kept hidden from ages and generations, but has now been revealed to his saints.

We proclaim him by instructing and teaching all people with all wisdom so that we may present every person mature in Christ.

Toward this goal I also labor, struggling according to his power that powerfully works in me.

My goal is that their hearts, having been knit together in love, may be encouraged, and that they may have all the riches that assurance brings in their understanding of the knowledge of the mystery of God, namely, Christ,

I say this so that no one will deceive you through arguments that sound reasonable.

Be careful not to allow anyone to captivate you through an empty, deceitful philosophy that is according to human traditions and the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

In him you also were circumcised -- not, however, with a circumcision performed by human hands, but by the removal of the fleshly body, that is, through the circumcision done by Christ.

Let no one who delights in humility and the worship of angels pass judgment on you. That person goes on at great lengths about what he has supposedly seen, but he is puffed up with empty notions by his fleshly mind.

He has not held fast to the head from whom the whole body, supported and knit together through its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God.

and have been clothed with the new man that is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created it.

because you know that you will receive your inheritance from the Lord as the reward. Serve the Lord Christ.

Masters, treat your slaves with justice and fairness, because you know that you also have a master in heaven.

At the same time pray for us too, that God may open a door for the message so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.

Pray that I may make it known as I should.

Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer everyone.

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

Epaphras, who is one of you and a slave of Christ, greets you. He is always struggling in prayer on your behalf, so that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.

For I can testify that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and Hierapolis.

Give my greetings to the brothers and sisters who are in Laodicea and to Nympha and the church that meets in her house.

And tell Archippus, "See to it that you complete the ministry you received in the Lord."

We know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you,

in that our gospel did not come to you merely in words, but in power and in the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction (surely you recall the character we displayed when we came among you to help you).

And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, when you received the message with joy that comes from the Holy Spirit, despite great affliction.

For from you the message of the Lord has echoed forth not just in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place reports of your faith in God have spread, so that we do not need to say anything.

exhorting and encouraging you and insisting that you live in a way worthy of God who calls you to his own kingdom and his glory.

And so we too constantly thank God that when you received God's message that you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human message, but as it truly is, God's message, which is at work among you who believe.

For you became imitators, brothers and sisters, of God's churches in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, because you too suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they in fact did from the Jews,

because they hinder us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. Thus they constantly fill up their measure of sins, but wrath has come upon them completely.

so that no one would be shaken by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this.

For in fact when we were with you, we were telling you in advance that we would suffer affliction, and so it has happened, as you well know.

So when I could bear it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter somehow tempted you and our toil had proven useless.

But now Timothy has come to us from you and given us the good news of your faith and love and that you always think of us with affection and long to see us just as we also long to see you!

so that your hearts are strengthened in holiness to be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

Finally then, brothers and sisters, we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received instruction from us about how you must live and please God (as you are in fact living) that you do so more and more.

For this is God's will: that you become holy, that you keep away from sexual immorality,

that each of you know how to possess his own body in holiness and honor,

Now we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest who have no hope.

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also we believe that God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep as Christians.

For we tell you this by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will surely not go ahead of those who have fallen asleep.

For you know quite well that the day of the Lord will come in the same way as a thief in the night.

He died for us so that whether we are alert or asleep we will come to life together with him.

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

when he comes to be glorified among his saints and admired on that day among all who have believed -- and you did in fact believe our testimony.