for your fellowship in the gospel from the first clay until now;

Never for a moment quail before your antagonists. Your fearlessness will be to them a sure token of impending destruction, but to you it will be a sure token of your salvation--a token coming from God.

fulfill my joy by thinking the same way, having the same love, sharing the same feelings, focusing on one goal.

So then, my dear ones, just as you have always obeyed [my instructions with enthusiasm], not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation [that is, cultivate it, bring it to full effect, actively pursue spiritual maturity] with awe-inspired fear and trembling [using serious caution and critical self-evaluation to avoid anything that might offend God or discredit the name of Christ].

My goal is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,

Not that I have already reached the goal or am already fully mature, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus.

I don't imagine, my brethren, that I am arriv'd at the goal; but this I do, unmindful of what is pass'd, I stretch towards that which is in view,

I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.