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;

So we are no longer to be children, tossed back and forth by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching by the trickery of people who craftily carry out their deceitful schemes.

But, pursuing truth - may, in love, grow into him in all things, - who is the head, Christ, -

Out of whom all the body - fitly framing itself together, and connecting itself, through means of every joint of supply, by way of energising in the measure of each single part - secureth the growing of the body, unto an upbuilding of itself in love.

Whose thoughts are dark, to whom the life of God is strange because they are without knowledge, and their hearts have been made hard;

Who, indeed, having become past feeling, have delivered, themselves, up, with wantonness, unto making a trade of all impurity with greed.

(for it is Christ whom you have been taught, it is in Christ that you have been instructed ??the real Christ who is in Jesus);

That ye were to strip off - as regardeth the former behaviour - the old man, who corrupteth himself according to his deceitful covetings,

And were to put on the man of new mould, who, after God, hath been created in his truthful righteousness and loving kindness.

Let him who stole steal no more, but let him work, and in honest industry toil with his hands, so that he may have something to give to the needy.

Do not let unwholesome [foul, profane, worthless, vulgar] words ever come out of your mouth, but only such speech as is good for building up others, according to the need and the occasion, so that it will be a blessing to those who hear [you speak].

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God [but seek to please Him], by whom you were sealed and marked [branded as God’s own] for the day of redemption [the final deliverance from the consequences of sin].

And live a life of love, following the example of the Christ, who loved you and gave himself for you as 'an offering and a sacrifice to God, that should be fragrant and acceptable.'

For, this, ye know, if ye take note - that no fornicator, or impure or greedy person, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of the Christ and God.

Do not be turned from the right way by foolish words; for because of these things the punishment of God comes on those who do not put themselves under him.

for you people were once darkness [i.e., when living in sin], but now you are light in [fellowship with] the Lord. [So], live like people who belong to light [i.e., who live godly lives],

Do not have fellowship with [people who practice] worthless deeds of darkness [i.e., sinful living], but expose them instead.

Therefore he says, Awake, thou who sleep. And arise from the dead, and the Christ will shine upon thee.

giving thanks at all times for all things to him who is God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

For the husband is the head of his wife as the Messiah is the head of the church. It is he who is the Savior of the body.

You who are husbands must love your wives, just as Christ loves the church and gave himself for her,

Even so husbands should and are morally obligated to love their own wives as [being in a sense] their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself.

Ye servants, be obedient unto them who, after the flesh, are your masters, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto the Christ;

not like those who do their work only when someone is watching -- as people-pleasers -- but as slaves of Christ doing the will of God from the heart.

You masters, do the same [showing goodwill] toward them, and give up threatening and abusive words, knowing that [He who is] both their true Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with Him [regardless of one’s earthly status].

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this [present] darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) places.

But that ye also may know my affairs, and what I am doing here, Tychicus a beloved brother, and a faithful minister in the Lord, shall make all known to you: whom I have sent to you,

Whom I have sent unto you for this very purpose, that ye may get to know the things concerning us, and he may encourage your hearts.

Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with undying and incorruptible love.

Paul and Timothy, servants of Jesus Christ, - unto all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with overseers and ministers: -

Being persuaded of this very thing - that, he who hath begun in you a good work, will perfect it, until the day of Jesus Christ;

As it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, who were all partakers of my grace, both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel.

it is true, there are some who preach Christ out of a spirit of envy and contention; but others do it out of pure affection.

Those who do it out of love [for me] know that I am prepared to defend the Gospel [i.e., before government authorities].

but they who are of a factious spirit preach Christ with no pure intent, thinking to stir up affliction to my bonds.

And not being frightened in anything by those who oppose, which is indeed a sign of destruction to them, but to you of salvation, and this from God.

who, although He existed in the form and unchanging essence of God [as One with Him, possessing the fullness of all the divine attributes—the entire nature of deity], did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped or asserted [as if He did not already possess it, or was afraid of losing it];

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

For it is [not your strength, but it is] God who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work [that is, strengthening, energizing, and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfill your purpose] for His good pleasure.

so that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and guileless, innocent and uncontaminated, children of God without blemish in the midst of a [morally] crooked and [spiritually] perverted generation, among whom you are seen as bright lights [beacons shining out clearly] in the world [of darkness],

you, who display the doctrine of eternal life) that in the day of Christ I may have the satisfaction of not having pursued my laborious course in vain.

I hope, however, as one who trusts in the Lord Jesus, to send Timothy to you before long, so that I may myself be cheered by receiving news of you.

For I have no one else [like him who is] so kindred a spirit who will be genuinely concerned for your [spiritual] welfare.

It is Timothy, then, whom I hope to send, as soon as ever I can foresee how it will go with me.

And I am confident, as one who trusts in the Lord Jesus, that before long I myself shall follow.

But it seemed to me necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, who has taken part with me in the work and in the fight, and your servant, sent by you for help in my need;

Look out for the dogs [the Judaizers, the legalists], look out for the troublemakers, look out for the false circumcision [those who claim circumcision is necessary for salvation];

for we [who are born-again have been reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, set apart for His purpose and] are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory and take pride and exult in Christ Jesus and place no confidence [in what we have or who we are] in the flesh—

But indeed therefore I even consider all things to be loss because of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, because of whom I suffered the loss of all things, and consider them to be rubbish, so that I may gain C

the justification which God grants to those who acknowledge Christ and the power of his resurrection, who suffer after his example, and die to sin, as he died to the world,

All of us who are mature [pursuing spiritual perfection] should have this attitude. And if in any respect you have a different attitude, that too God will make clear to you.

Brothers and sisters, together follow my example and observe those who live by the pattern we gave you.

For there are many, of whom I have often told you, and now tell you even with tears, who live as enemies of the cross of Christ [rejecting and opposing His way of salvation],

whose end is destruction, whose god is the belly, and the glory in their shame, who mind earthly things.

For our country is in heaven; from where the Saviour for whom we are waiting will come, even the Lord Jesus Christ:

who, by exerting that power which enables Him even to subject everything to Himself, will [not only] transform [but completely refashion] our earthly bodies so that they will be like His glorious resurrected body.

Therefore, my fellow believers, whom I love and long for, my delight and crown [my wreath of victory], in this way stand firm in the Lord, my beloved.

Yes, I ask thee also, genuine yokefellow, help them--the women who labored with me in the good-news--with Clement also, and the rest of my co-workmen whose names are in the book of life.

Practice the things you learned, received, and heard from me, things that you saw me do, and then the God who gives us peace will be with you.

But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last {you have renewed your concern for me}, for whom also you were thinking, but you had no opportunity [to express it].

Not that I speak concerning want; for I have learned, among whom I am, to be satisfied with my condition.

I can do all things [which He has called me to do] through Him who strengthens and empowers me [to fulfill His purpose—I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency; I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses me with inner strength and confident peace.]

Remember me to every saint in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me greet you.

All the saints send their love to you, specially those who are of Caesar's house.

To the saints and faithful believers in Christ [who are] at Colossae: Grace to you and peace [inner calm and spiritual well-being] from God our Father.

Just as also ye learned from Epaphras our beloved fellow bondman, who is a faithful helper of the Christ for you,

the man who also made clear to us your love in Spirit.

giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints (God’s people) in the Light.

Who rescued us out of the power of darkness, and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of his love,

in whom we have redemption [because of His sacrifice, resulting in] the forgiveness of our sins [and the cancellation of sins’ penalty].

who is an image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might become preeminent in all things.

And you, who in the past were cut off and at war with God in your minds through evil works, he has now made one

If you continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you have heard, and which was preached to every creature who is under heaven; of which I Paul am made a minister;

Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church:

In it, by divine appointment, I became a worker, that I might preach among you the message of God in its fulness??26 that secret, hidden from the ages and generations, but now disclosed to those who are consecrated to him,

God [in His eternal plan] chose to make known to them how great for the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in and among you, the hope and guarantee of [realizing the] glory.

Whom we proclaim, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, so that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.

For which also I labour, striving according to his mighty working, who worketh in me mightily.

For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those [believers] at Laodicea, and for all who [like yourselves] have never seen me face to face.

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.

In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

See that there be no one who shall lead you away as a prey through philosophy and vain deceit, according to the teaching of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ.

And ye are men who have been made full in him, who is the head of every principal office and position of authority.

In whom also ye were circumcised a circumcision not made with hands, in the removal of the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of the Christ.

Having been buried with him in immersion, in which also ye were raised together through faith of the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh (worldliness, manner of life), God made you alive together with Christ, having [freely] forgiven us all our sins,

for these were only the shadows of future things, prefiguring Christ, who is the substance.

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.

and not holding fast to the head [of the body, Jesus Christ], from whom the entire body, supplied and knit together by its joints and ligaments, grows with the growth [that can come only] from God.

(all of which are for the destruction of those who use them,) according to the commandments and teachings of men;

When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

Because of these [sinful] things the [divine] wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience [those who fail to listen and who routinely and obstinately disregard God’s precepts],

and in these [sinful things] you also once walked, when you were habitually living in them [without the knowledge of Christ].

and have put on the new [spiritual] self who is being continually renewed in true knowledge in the image of Him who created the new self—

a renewal in which there is no [distinction between] Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, [nor between nations whether] barbarian or Scythian, [nor in status whether] slave or free, but Christ is all, and in all [so believers are equal in Christ, without distinction].

So, as God’s own chosen people, who are holy [set apart, sanctified for His purpose] and well-beloved [by God Himself], put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience [which has the power to endure whatever injustice or unpleasantness comes, with good temper];

Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is appropriate for those who belong to the Lord.

You who are husbands must love your wives and not be harsh to them.

Children, always obey your parents; for that is pleasant to see in those who belong to the Lord.