I am alarmed about you, and am afraid that I have perhaps bestowed labour upon you to no purpose.

Brethren, become as I am, I beseech you; for I have also become like you. In no respect did you behave badly to me.

I ask you, then, what has become of your self-congratulations? For I bear you witness that had it been possible you would have torn out your own eyes and have given them to me.

Can it be that I have become your enemy through speaking the truth to you?

Christ has become nothing to any of you who are seeking acceptance with God through the Law: you have fallen away from grace.

*We* have not, for through the Spirit we wait with longing hope for an acceptance with God which is to come through faith.

For my part I have strong confidence in you in the Lord that you will adopt my view of the matter. But the man--be he who he may--who is troubling you, will have to bear the full weight of the judgement to be pronounced on him.

For the entire Law has been obeyed when you have kept the single precept, which says, "You are to love your fellow man equally with yourself."

hard drinking, riotous feasting, and the like. And as to these I forewarn you, as I have already forewarned you, that those who are guilty of such things will have no share in the Kingdom of God.

Against such things as these there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their lower nature with its passions and appetites.

For every man will have to carry his own load.

So then, as we have opportunity, let us labour for the good of all, and especially of those who belong to the household of the faith.

For these very men do not really keep the Law of Moses, but they would have you receive circumcision in order that they may glory in *your* bodies.

It is in Him, and through the shedding of His blood, that we have our deliverance--the forgiveness of our offences--so abundant was God's grace,

In Him we Jews have been made heirs, having been chosen beforehand in accordance with the intention of Him whose might carries out in everything the design of His own will,

caused us, dead though we were through our offences, to live with Christ--it is by grace that you have been saved--

For it is by grace that you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves. It is God's gift, and is not on the ground of merit--

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were so far away have been brought near through the death of Christ.

because it is through Him that Jews and Gentiles alike have access through one Spirit to the Father.

if, that is, you have heard of the work which God has graciously entrusted to me for your benefit,

and that by a revelation the truth hitherto kept secret was made known to me as I have already briefly explained it to you.

I mean the truth that the Gentiles are joint heirs with us Jews, and that they form one body with us, and have the same interest as we have in the promise which has been made good in Christ Jesus through the Good News,

in which I have been appointed to serve, in virtue of the work which God, in the exercise of His power within me, has graciously entrusted to me.

in whom we have this bold and confident access through our faith in Him.

I, then, the prisoner for the Master's sake, entreat you to live and act as becomes those who have received the call that you have received--

Such men being past feeling have abandoned themselves to impurity, greedily indulging in every kind of profligacy.

But these are not the lessons which you have learned from Christ;

if at least you have heard His voice and in Him have been taught--and this is true Christian teaching--

He who has been a thief must steal no more, but, instead of that, should work with his own hands in honest industry, so that he may have something of which he can give the needy a share.

And beware of grieving the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you have been sealed in preparation for the day of Redemption.

Have nothing to do with the barren unprofitable deeds of darkness, but, instead of that, set your faces against them;

I have sent him to you for the very purpose--that you may know about us and that he may encourage you.

And I am justified in having this confidence about you all, because, both during my imprisonment and when I stand up in defence of the Good News or to confirm its truth, I have you in my heart, sharers as you all are in the same grace as myself.

Now I would have you know, brethren, that what I have gone through has turned out to the furtherance of the Good News rather than otherwise.

in fulfilment of my eager expectation and hope that I shall never have reason to feel ashamed, but that by my perfect freedom of speech Christ will be glorified in me, now as always, either by my life or by my death.

so that, as Christians, you may have additional reason for glorying about me as the result of my being with you again.

For you have had the privilege granted you on behalf of Christ--not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer on His behalf;

If then I can appeal to you as the followers of Christ, if there is any persuasive power in love and any common sharing of the Spirit, or if you have any tender-heartedness and compassion, make my joy complete by being of one mind,

Therefore, my dearly-loved friends, as I have always found you obedient, labour earnestly with fear and trembling--not merely as though I were present with you, but much more now since I am absent from you--labour earnestly, I say, to make sure of your own salvation.

For I have no one likeminded with him, who will cherish a genuine care for you.

I am therefore all the more eager to send him, in the hope that when you see him again you may be glad and I may have the less sorrow.

For we are the true circumcision--we who render to God a spiritual worship and make our boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in outward ceremonies:

although I myself might have some excuse for confidence in outward ceremonies. If any one else claims a right to trust in them, far more may I:

Yet all that was gain to me--for Christ's sake I have reckoned it loss.

Nay, I even reckon all things as pure loss because of the priceless privilege of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. And for His sake I have suffered the loss of everything, and reckon it all as mere refuse, in order that I may win Christ and be found in union with Him,

I do not say that I have already won the race or have already reached perfection. But I am pressing on, striving to lay hold of the prize for which also Christ has laid hold of me.

Brethren, I do not imagine that I have yet laid hold of it. But this one thing I do--forgetting everything which is past and stretching forward to what lies in front of me,

But whatever be the point that we have already reached, let us persevere in the same course.

Brethren, vie with one another in imitating me, and carefully observe those who follow the example which we have set you.

For there are many whom I have often described to you, and I now even with tears describe them, as being enemies to the Cross of Christ.

Yes, and I beg you also, my faithful yoke-fellow, to help these women who have shared my toil in connection with the Good News, together with Clement and the rest of my fellow labourers, whose names are recorded in the Book of Life.

But I rejoice with a deep and holy joy that now at length you have revived your thoughtfulness for my welfare. Indeed you have always been thoughtful for me, although opportunity failed you.

I have strength for anything through Him who gives me power.

I have enough of everything--and more than enough. My wants are fully satisfied now that I have received from the hands of Epaphroditus the generous gifts which you sent me--they are a fragrant odor, an acceptable sacrifice, truly pleasing to God.

because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which you cherish towards all God's people,

on account of the hope treasured up for you in Heaven. Of this hope you have already heard in the Message of the truth of the Good News.

For this reason we also, from the day we first received these tidings, have never ceased to pray for you and to entreat that you may be filled with a clear knowledge of His will accompanied by thorough wisdom and discernment in spiritual things;

in whom we have our redemption--the forgiveness of our sins.

if, indeed, you are still firmly holding to faith as your foundation, without ever shifting from your hope that rests on the Good News that you have heard, which has been proclaimed in the whole creation under Heaven, and in which I Paul have been appointed to serve.

I have been appointed to serve the Church in the position of responsibility entrusted to me by God for your benefit, so that I may fully deliver God's Message--

For I would have you know in how severe a struggle I am engaged on behalf of you and the brethren in Laodicea and of all who have not known me personally,

As therefore you have received the Christ, even Jesus our Lord, live and act in vital union with Him;

If you have died with Christ and have escaped from the world's rudimentary notions, why, as though your life still belonged to the world, do you submit to such precepts as

These rules have indeed an appearance of wisdom where self-imposed worship exists, and an affectation of humility and an ascetic severity. But not one of them is of any value in combating the indulgence of our lower natures.

If however you have risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, enthroned at God's right hand.

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Do not speak falsehoods to one another, for you have stripped off the old self with its doings,

and have clothed yourselves with the new self which is being remoulded into full knowledge so as to become like Him who created it.

Masters, deal justly and equitably with your slaves, knowing that you too have a Master in Heaven.

Aristarchus my fellow prisoner sends greeting to you, and so does Barnabas's cousin Mark. You have received instructions as to him; if he comes to you, give him a welcome.

Jesus, called Justus, also sends greeting. These three are Hebrew converts. They alone among such have worked loyally with me for the Kingdom of God--they are men who have been a comfort to me.

For, as you are well aware, we have never used the language of flattery nor have we found pretexts for enriching ourselves--God is our witness;

nor did we seek glory either from you or from any other mere men, although we might have stood on our dignity as Christ's Apostles.

Seeing that we were thus drawn affectionately towards you, it would have been a joy to us to have imparted to you not only God's Good News, but to have given our very lives also, because you had become very dear to us.

For this reason I also, when I could no longer endure the uncertainty, sent to know the condition of your faith, lest perchance the Tempter might have tempted you and our labour have been lost.

for this reason in our distress and trouble we have been comforted about you, brethren, by your faith.

that you be not overmastered by lustful cravings, like the Gentiles who have no knowledge of God;

and that in this matter there be no encroaching on the rights of a brother Christian and no overreaching him. For the Lord is an avenger in all such cases, as we have already taught you and solemnly warned you.

But on the subject of love for the brotherhood it is unnecessary for me to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another;

Now, concerning those who from time to time pass away, we would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, lest you should mourn as others do who have no hope.

For if we believe that Jesus has died and risen again, we also believe that, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who shall have passed away.

For this we declare to you on the Lord's own authority--that we who are alive and continue on earth until the Coming of the Lord, shall certainly not forestall those who shall have previously passed away.

I solemnly charge you in the Lord's name to have this Letter read to all the brethren.

He will come in flames of fire to take vengeance on those who have no knowledge of God, and do not obey the Good News as to Jesus, our Lord.

when He comes on that day to be glorified in His people and to be wondered at among all who have believed, including you--because you believed the testimony which we brought for your acceptance.

not readily to become unsettled in mind or troubled--either by any pretended spiritual revelation or by any message or letter claiming to have been sent by us--through fancying that the day of the Lord is now here.

in order that all may come under judgement who have refused to believe the truth and have taken pleasure in unrighteousness.

To this blessing God has called you by our Good News, so that you may have a share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So then, brethren, stand your ground, and hold fast to the teachings which you have received from us, whether by word of mouth or by letter.

And we have confidence in the Lord in regard to you that you are doing, and will do, what we command.

From these some have drifted away, and have wandered into empty words.

and is not in accordance with the Good News of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.

holding fast to faith and a clear conscience, which some have cast aside and have made shipwreck of their faith.

Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered to Satan so that they may be taught not to blaspheme.

and of which I have been appointed a herald and an Apostle (I am speaking the truth: it is not a fiction)

So then I would have the men everywhere pray, lifting to God holy hands which are unstained with anger or strife;

and I would have the women dress becomingly, with modesty and self-control, not with plaited hair or gold or pearls or costly clothes,

I do not permit a woman to teach, nor have authority over a man, but she must remain silent.

Faithful is the saying, "If any one is eager to have the oversight of a Church, he desires a noble work."

(If a man does not know how to rule his own household, how shall he have the Church of God given into his care?)