Now what does this "he went up" mean except that he also had gone down into the lower parts of the earth?

The one who went down is the same one who went up above all the heavens so that all things would be fulfilled.

Then we will no longer be little children, tossed like waves and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, or by clever strategies that would lead us astray.

Instead, by speaking the truth in love, we will grow up completely and become one with the head, that is, one with the Messiah,

However, that is not the way you came to know the Messiah.

The thief must no longer steal but must work hard and do what is good with his own hands, so that he might earn something to give to the needy.

For you know very well that no immoral or impure person, or anyone who is greedy (that is, an idolater), has an inheritance in the kingdom of the Messiah and of God.

Do not let anyone deceive you with meaningless words, for it is because of these things that God becomes angry with those who disobey.

for the fruit that the light produces consists of every form of goodness, righteousness, and truth.

and have nothing to do with the unfruitful actions that darkness produces. Instead, expose them for what they are.

But everything that is exposed to the light becomes visible,

for the light is making everything visible. That is why it says, "Wake up, sleeper! Arise from the dead, and the Messiah will shine on you.''

so that he might make it holy by cleansing it, washing it with water and the word,

"That is why a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two will become one flesh."

""so that it may go well for you, and that you may have a long life on the earth."

because you know that everyone will receive a reward from the Lord for whatever good he has done, whether he is a slave or free.

Masters, treat your slaves the same way. Do not threaten them, for you know that both of you have the same Master in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.

Put on the whole armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the Devil's strategies.

For this reason, take up the whole armor of God so that you may be able to take a stand whenever evil comes. And when you have done everything you could, you will be able to stand firm.

Pray also for me, so that, when I begin to speak, the right words will come to me. Then I will boldly make known the secret of the gospel,

So that you may know what has happened to me and how I am doing, Tychicus, our dear brother and a faithful minister in service to the Lord, will tell you everything.

I am sending him to you for this very reason, so that you may know how we are doing and that he may encourage your hearts.

I am convinced of this, that the one who began a good action among you will bring it to completion by the Day of the Messiah Jesus.

For God is my witness how much I long for all of you with the compassion that the Messiah Jesus provides.

And this is my prayer, that your love will keep on growing more and more with full knowledge and insight,

so that you may be able to choose what is best and be pure and blameless until the day when the Messiah returns,

having been filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus the Messiah so that God will be glorified and praised.

Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has actually caused the gospel to advance.

As a result, it has become clear to the whole imperial guard and to everyone else that I am in prison for preaching about the Messiah.

Moreover, because of my imprisonment the Lord has caused most of the brothers to become confident to speak God's word more boldly and courageously than ever before.

The latter are motivated by love, because they know that I have been appointed to defend the gospel.

The former proclaim the Messiah because they are selfishly ambitious and insincere, thinking that they will stir up trouble for me during my imprisonment.

But so what? Just this that in every way, whether by false or true motives, the Messiah is being proclaimed. Because of this, I rejoice and will continue to rejoice.

I know that this will result in my deliverance through your prayers and the help that comes from the Spirit of Jesus the Messiah.

I rejoice because I eagerly expect and hope that I will have nothing to be ashamed of, because through my boldness the Messiah will be exalted through me, now as always, whether I live or die.

Indeed, I cannot decide between the two. I have the desire to leave this life and be with the Messiah, for that is far better.

But for your sake it is better that I remain alive.

Since I am convinced of this, I know that I will continue to live and be with all of you, so you will mature in the faith and know joy in it.

The only thing that matters is that you continue to live as good citizens in a manner worthy of the gospel of the Messiah. Then, whether I come to see you or whether I stay away, I may hear all about you that you are standing firm in one spirit, struggling with one mind for the faith of the gospel,

and that you are not intimidated by your opponents in any way. This is evidence that they will be destroyed and that you will be saved and all because of God.

You have the same struggle that you saw in me and now hear that I am still having.

Do not act out of selfish ambition or conceit, but with humility think of others as being better than yourselves.

Have the same attitude among yourselves that was also in the Messiah Jesus:

Then every tongue in one accord, will say that Jesus the Messiah is Lord, while God the Father praising.

And so, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only when I was with you but even more now that I am absent, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

so that you may be blameless and innocent, God's children without any faults among a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world

as you hold firmly to the word of life. Then I will be proud when the Messiah returns that I did not run in vain or work hard in vain.

Now I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon so that I can be encouraged when I learn of your condition.

Indeed, I am confident in the Lord that I will come to visit you soon.

For he has been longing for all of you and is troubled because you heard that he was sick.

Indeed, he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him, and not only on him but also on me, so that I would not have one sorrow on top of another.

Therefore, I am especially eager to send him so that you may have the joy of seeing him again, and so that I may feel relieved.

What is more, I continue to consider all these things to be a loss for the sake of what is far more valuable, knowing the Messiah Jesus, my Lord. It is because of him that I have experienced the loss of all those things. Indeed, I consider them rubbish in order to gain the Messiah

and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the Law, but one that comes through the faithfulness of the Messiah, the righteousness that comes from God and that depends on faith.

It's not that I have already reached this goal or have already become perfect. But I keep pursuing it, hoping somehow to embrace it just as I have been embraced by the Messiah Jesus.

For I have often told you, and now tell you even with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of the Messiah.

Our citizenship, however, is in heaven, and it is from there that we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus, the Messiah.

He will change our unassuming bodies and make them like his glorious body through the power that enables him to bring everything under his authority.

You Philippians also know that in the early days of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church participated with me in the matter of giving and receiving except for you.

It is not that I am looking for a gift. No, I want to see that you receive the fruit that increases to your benefit.

I have been paid in full and have more than enough. I am fully supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus what you sent a fragrant aroma, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.

because we have heard about your faith in the Messiah Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints,

that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and spreading all over the world, so it has been doing among you from the day you heard it and came to know the grace of God in truth.

For this reason, since the day we heard about this, we have not stopped praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the full knowledge of God's will with respect to all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

so that you might live in a manner worthy of the Lord and be fully pleasing to him as you bear fruit while doing all kinds of good things and growing in the full knowledge of God.

You are being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might, so that you might patiently endure everything with joy

He is also the head of the body, which is the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself might have first place in everything.

he has now reconciled by the death of his physical body, so that he may present you holy, blameless, and without fault before him.

However, you must remain firmly established and steadfast in the faith, without being moved from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

I became its servant as God commissioned me to work for you, so that I may complete my ministry of the word of God.

It is he whom we proclaim as we admonish and wisely teach everyone, so that we may present everyone mature in the Messiah.

I work hard and struggle to do this, using the energy that he powerfully provides in me.

Because they are united in love, I pray that their hearts may be encouraged by all the riches that come from a complete understanding of the full knowledge of the Messiah, who is the mystery of God.

I say this so that no one will mislead you with nice-sounding rhetoric.

See to it that no one enslaves you through philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to the Messiah,

having erased the charges that were brought against us, along with their obligations that were hostile to us. He took those charges away when he nailed them to the cross.

"Don't handle this! Don't taste or touch that!"

Therefore, if you have been raised with the Messiah, keep focusing on the things that are above, where the Messiah is seated at the right hand of God.

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

It is because of these things that the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient.

You know that it is from the Lord that you will receive the inheritance as a reward. It is the Lord Messiah whom you are serving!

Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.

At the same time also pray for us that God would open before us a door for the word so that we may tell the secret about the Messiah, for which I have been imprisoned.

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

Tychicus will tell you everything that has happened to me. He is a dear brother, a faithful minister, and a fellow servant in the Lord.

I am sending him to you for this very reason, so that you may know how we are doing and that he may encourage your hearts.

He is coming with Onesimus, that faithful and dear brother, who is one of you. They will tell you everything that is happening here.

Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of the Messiah Jesus, sends you his greetings. He is always wrestling in his prayers for you, so that you may stand mature, completely convinced of the entire will of God.

For I can testify on his behalf that he has a deep concern for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis.

Give my greetings to the brothers in Laodicea, especially to Nympha and the church that is in her house.

Tell Archippus, "See that you complete the ministry you have received from the Lord."

This greeting is written with my own signature "Paul." Remember that I remain imprisoned. May grace be with you! Amen.

Brothers whom God loves, we know that he has chosen you,

You became imitators of us and of the Lord. In spite of a great deal of suffering, you welcomed the word with the joy that the Holy Spirit produces.

For you yourselves know, brothers, that our visit to you was not a waste of time.

We cared so deeply for you that we were determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but our very lives. That is how dear you were to us.

Brothers, you remember our labor and toil. We worked night and day so that we would not become a burden to any of you while we proclaimed the gospel of God to you.

You know very well that we treated each of you the way a father treats his children.

For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Judea that are in union with the Messiah Jesus. You suffered the same persecutions from the people of your own country as they did from those Jews

That is why we wanted to come to you. Certainly I, Paul, wanted to come time and again, but Satan blocked our way.