I know how willing you are, I am proud of it, I have boasted of you to the Macedonians: "Achaia," I tell them, "was all ready last year." And your zeal has been a stimulus to the majority of them.

in case any Macedonians accompany me and find you are not ready ??which would make me (not to speak of yourselves) ashamed of having been so sure.

This service shows what you are, it makes men praise God for the way you have come under the gospel of Christ which you confess, and for the generosity of your contributions to themselves and to all;

they are drawn to you and pray for you, on account of the surpassing grace which God has shown to you.

the weapons of my warfare are not weapons of the flesh, but divinely strong to demolish fortresses ??5 I demolish theories and any rampart thrown up to resist the knowledge of God, I take every project prisoner to make it obey Christ,

My opponent says, 'Paul's letters are weighty and telling, but his personality is weak and his delivery is beneath contempt.'

You put up with it all right, when some interloper preaches a second Jesus (not the Jesus I preached), or when you are treated to a Spirit different from the Spirit you once received, and to a different gospel from what I gave you! Why not put up with me?

'Apostles'? They are spurious apostles, false workmen ??they are masquerading as 'apostles of Christ.'

Are they Hebrews? so am I. Israelites? so am I. Descended from Abraham? so am I.

For I am afraid I may perhaps come and find you are not what I could wish, while you may find I am not what you could wish; I am afraid of finding quarrels, jealousy, temper, rivalry, slanders, gossiping, arrogance, and disorder ??21 afraid that when I come back to you, my God may humiliate me before you, and I may have to mourn for many who sinned some time ago and yet have never repented of the impurity, the sexual vice, and the sensuality which they have practised.

Put yourselves to the proof, not me; test yourselves, to see if you are in the faith. Do you not understand that Christ Jesus is within you? Otherwise you must be failures.

I am glad to be weak if you are strong; mend your ways, that is all I ask.

PAUL an apostle ??not appointed by men nor commissioned by any man but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead, ??2 with all the brothers who are beside me, to the churches of Galatia;

I am astonished you are hastily shifting like this, deserting Him who called you by Christ's grace and going over to another gospel.

It simply means that certain individuals are unsettling you; they want to distort the gospel of Christ.

But I saw they were swerving from the true line of the gospel; so I said to Cephas in presence of them all, "If you live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, though you are a Jew yourself, why do you oblige the Gentiles to become Jews?" ??15 We may be Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners,'

If it is discovered that in our quest for justification in Christ we are 'sinners' as well as the Gentiles, does that make Christ an agent of sin? Never!

Are you such fools? Did you begin with the spirit only to end now with the flesh?

Well then, you see that the real sons of Abraham are those who rely on faith.

So that those who rely on faith are blessed along with believing Abraham.

But faith has come, and we are wards no longer;

you are all sons of God by your faith in Christ Jesus

There is no room for Jew or Greek, there is no room for slave or freeman, there is no room for male and female; you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Now if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring; in virtue of the Promise, you are heirs.

It is because you are sons that God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying 'Abba! Father!'

So you are servant no longer but son, and as son you are also heir, all owing to God.

In those days, when you were ignorant of God, you were in servitude to gods who are really no gods at all;

but now that you know God ??or rather, are known by God ??how is it you are turning back again to the weakness and poverty of the Elemental spirits? Why do you want to be enslaved all over again by them?

Tell me, you who are keen to be under the Law, will you not listen to the Law?

Now this is an allegory. The women are two covenants. One comes from mount Sinai, bearing children for servitude; that is Hagar,

For it is written, Rejoice, O thou barren who bearest not, break into joy, thou who travailest not; for the children of the desolate woman are far more than of the married.

Now you are the children of the Promise, brothers, like Isaac;

Hence we are children of no slave-woman, my brothers, but of the free-woman,

You are for justification by the Law? Then you are done with Christ, you have deserted grace,

O that those who are upsetting you would get themselves castrated!

For the passion of the flesh is against the Spirit, and the passion of the Spirit against the flesh ??the two are at issue, so that you are not free to do as you please.

If you are under the sway of the Spirit, you are not under the Law.

Now the deeds of the flesh are quite obvious, such as sexual vice, impurity, sensuality,

Even if anyone is detected in some trespass, brothers, you are spiritual, you must set the offender right in a spirit of gentleness; let each of you look to himself, in case he too is tempted.

Those who are taught must share all the blessings of life with those who teach them the Word.

These men who are keen upon you getting circumcised are just men who want to make a grand display in the flesh ??it is simply to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ.

PAUL, by the will of God an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the saints who are faithful in Jesus Christ:

God has made us what we are, creating us in Christ Jesus for the good deeds which are prepared beforehand by God as our sphere of action.

Remember, then, that once upon a time you Gentiles in the flesh, who are called 'the Uncircumcision' by that so-called 'Circumcision' which is itself the product of human hands in the flesh ??12 remember you were in those days outside Christ, aliens to the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the Promise, devoid of hope and God within the world.

Thus you are strangers and foreigners no longer, you share the membership of the saints, you belong to God's own household,

you are a building that rests on the apostles and prophets as its foundation, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone;

and in him you are yourselves built into this to form a habitation for God in the Spirit.

namely, that in Christ Jesus the Gentiles are co-heirs, companions, and co-partners in the Promise.

So I beg of you not to lose heart over what I am suffering on your behalf; my sufferings are an honour to you.

till we should all attain the unity of the faith and knowledge of God's Son, reaching maturity, reaching the full measure of development which belongs to the fulness of Christ ??14 instead of remaining immature, blown from our course and swayed by every passing wind of doctrine, by the adroitness of men who are dexterous in devising error;

we are to hold by the truth, and by our love to grow up wholly into Him. For He, Christ, is the head, and under him,

Now in the Lord I insist and protest that you must give up living like pagans; for their purposes are futile,

their intelligence is darkened, they are estranged from the life of God by the ignorance which their dulness of heart has produced in them ??19 men who have recklessly abandoned themselves to sensuality, with a lust for the business of impurity in every shape and form.

Lay aside falsehood, then, let each tell his neighbour the truth, for we are members one of another.

Let no bad word pass your lips, but only such speech as is good for edification, as occasion may require, words that are gracious and a means of grace to those who hear them.

Let no one deceive you with specious arguments; these are the vices that bring down God's anger on the sons of disobedience.

For while once upon a time you were darkness, now in the Lord you are light; lead the life of those who are children of the light

make the very most of your time, for these are evil days.

as the church is subject to Christ, so wives are to be subject to their husbands in every respect.

for we are members of his Body).

Servants, be obedient to those who are your masters here below with reverence and trembling, with singleness of heart as to Christ himself;

PAUL and Timotheus, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, as well as to the bishops and deacons:

Some of them, it is true, are actually preaching Christ from envy and rivalry, others from goodwill;

Only, do lead a life that is worthy of the gospel of Christ. Whether I come and see you or only hear of you in absence, let me know you are standing firm in a common spirit, fighting side by side like one man for the faith of the gospel.

I pray you to give me the utter joy of knowing you are living in harmony, with the same feelings of love, with one heart and soul,

Even if my life-blood has to be poured as a libation on the sacred sacrifice of faith you are offering to God, I rejoice, I congratulate you all ??18 and you in turn must rejoice and congratulate me.

We are the true Circumcision, we who worship God in spirit, we who pride ourselves on Christ Jesus, we who rely upon no outward privilege.

For all those of our number who are mature, this must be the point of view; God will reveal that to any of you who look at things differently.

But we are a colony of heaven, and we wait for the Saviour who comes from heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ,

And you, my true comrade, lend a hand to these women, I beg of you; they have fought at my side in the active service of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow-workers, whose names are in the book of life.

You Philippians are well aware that in the early days of the gospel, when I had left Macedonia, no church but yourselves had any financial dealings with me;

"Hands off this!" "Taste not that!" "Touch not this!" ??22 referring to things that perish by being used? These rules are determined by human precepts and tenets;

they get the name of 'wisdom' with their self-imposed devotions, with their fasting, with their rigorous discipline of the body, but they are of no value, they simply pamper the flesh!

So put to death those members that are on earth: sexual vice, impurity, appetite, evil desire, and lust (which is idolatry),

The reason why I am sending him to you is that he may ascertain how you are, and encourage your hearts.

and so does Jesus who is called Justus. These are the only comrades in the work of God's realm, belonging to the circumcised, who have been any comfort to me.

You are witnesses, and so is God, to our behaviour among you believers, how pious and upright and blameless it was,

Why, you, you are our glory and joy!

to prevent anyone being disturbed by these troubles. (Troubles are our lot, you know that well;

for we told you beforehand, when we were with you, that "we Christians are to have trouble" ??and, as you know, it has been so.)

Finally, brothers, we beg and beseech you in the Lord Jesus to follow our instructions about the way you are to live so as to satisfy God; you are leading that life, but you are to excel in it still further.

You need no one to write you upon brotherly love, for you are yourselves taught by God to love one another,

We would like you, brothers, to understand about those who are asleep in death. You must not grieve for them, like the rest of men who have no hope.

For we tell you, as the Lord has told us, that we the living, who survive till the Lord comes, are by no means to take precedence of those who have fallen asleep.

when 'all's well' and 'all is safe' are on the lips of men, then all of a sudden Destruction is upon them, like pangs on a pregnant woman ??escape there is none.

But, brothers, you are not in the darkness for the Day to surprise you like thieves;

you are all sons of the Light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or the darkness.

for sleepers sleep by night and drunkards are drunk by night,

Encourage one another, therefore, and let each edify the other ??as indeed you are doing.

Brothers, we beg you to respect those who are working among you, presiding over you in the Lord and maintaining discipline;

We are bound always to thank God for you, brothers ??it is proper that we should, because your faith grows apace and your mutual love, one and all, is increasing.

So much so, that throughout the churches of God we are proud of you, proud of the stedfastness and faith you display through all the persecutions and the troubles in which you are involved.

They are proof positive of God's equity; you are suffering for the realm of God, and he means to make you worthy of it ??6 since God considers it but just to repay with trouble those who trouble you,

and repay you who are troubled (as well as us) with rest and relief, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven together with the angels of his power

and with the full deceitfulness of evil for those who are doomed to perish, since they refuse to love the Truth that would save them.

Now we are bound always to thank God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you as the first to be reaped for salvation, by the consecration of your spirit and by faith in the Truth;

But we are informed that some of your number are loafing, busybodies instead of busy.

You are not to treat him as an enemy, but to put him under discipline, as a brother.

As I asked you when I was on my way to Macedonia, stay where you are at Ephesus and warn certain individuals against teaching novelties

Well, my very first counsel is that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgiving, are to be offered for all men ??2 for kings and all in authority, that we may lead a tranquil life in all piety and gravity;