Philippians
Chapter 1
1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in
Philippi, with the bishops and
deacons: 2 Grace to
you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 I thank my God
every time I remember you, 4 constantly praying with joy in
every one of my prayers for all of you, 5 because of your
sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 I am
confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it
to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.
7 It is right for me
to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God's grace with me,
both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8 For
God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ
Jesus.
9 And this is my
prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full
insight 10 to help you to determine what is best, so that in
the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, 11 having
produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the
glory and praise of God.
12 I want you to
know, beloved, that what has happened to me has actually helped to spread the
gospel, 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole
imperial guard and to everyone else that my imprisonment is for Christ; 14 and
most of the brothers and sisters, having been made confident in the Lord by my
imprisonment, dare to speak the word with greater boldness and without fear. 15 Some
proclaim Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill. 16 These
proclaim Christ out of love, knowing that I have been put here for the defense
of the gospel; 17 the others proclaim Christ out of selfish
ambition, not sincerely but intending to increase my suffering in my
imprisonment. 18 What does it matter? Just this, that Christ
is proclaimed in every way, whether out of false motives or true; and in that I
rejoice.
Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, 19 for
I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ
this will turn out for my deliverance. 20 It is my eager
expectation and hope that I will not be put to shame in any way, but that by my
speaking with all boldness, Christ will be exalted now as always in my body,
whether by life or by death.
21 For to me, living
is Christ and dying is gain. 22 If I am to live in the
flesh, that means fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which I prefer. 23 I
am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for
that is far better; 24 but to remain in the flesh is more
necessary for you. 25 Since I am convinced of this, I know
that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in
faith, 26 so that I may share abundantly in your boasting in
Christ Jesus when I come to you again.
27 Only, live your
life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and
see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm
in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel,
28 and are in no way intimidated by your opponents. For them
this is evidence of their destruction, but of your salvation. And this is God's
doing. 29 For he has graciously granted you the privilege
not only of believing in Christ, but of suffering for him as well— 30 since
you are having the same struggle that you saw I had and now hear that I still
have.
Chapter 2
1 If then there is
any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the
Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2 make my joy complete:
be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one
mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in
humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4 Let each
of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. 5 Let
the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 6 who,
though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something
to be exploited, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a
slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, 8 he
humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a
cross. 9 Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him
the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of
Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father.
12 Therefore, my
beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much
more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for
it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his
good pleasure.
14 Do all things
without murmuring and arguing, 15 so that you may be
blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a
crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine like stars in the world. 16 It
is by your holding fast to the word of life that I can boast on the day of
Christ that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. 17 But
even if I am being poured out as a libation over the sacrifice and the offering
of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you— 18 and
in the same way you also must be glad and rejoice with me. 19 I
hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I may be cheered by
news of you. 20 I have no one like him who will be genuinely
concerned for your welfare. 21 All of them are seeking their
own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. 22 But Timothy's
worth you know, how like a son with a father he has served with me in the work
of the gospel. 23 I hope therefore to send him as soon as I
see how things go with me; 24 and I trust in the Lord that I
will also come soon. 25 Still, I think it necessary to send
to you Epaphroditus—my brother and co-worker and fellow soldier, your messenger
and minister to my need; 26 for he has been longing for all
of you, and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill. 27 He
was indeed so ill that he nearly died. But God had mercy on him, and not only
on him but on me also, so that I would not have one sorrow after another. 28 I
am the more eager to send him, therefore, in order that you may rejoice at
seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious. 29 Welcome
him then in the Lord with all joy, and honor such people, 30 because
he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up for
those services that you could not give me.
Chapter 3
1 Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice
in the Lord.
To write the same things to you is not
troublesome to me, and for you it is a safeguard. 2 Beware of
the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh! 3 For
it is we who are the circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and boast
in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh— 4 even
though I, too, have reason for confidence in the flesh.
If anyone else has reason to be confident in the
flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, a
member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of
Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a
persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 Yet
whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8 More
than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of
knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all
things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
9 and be found in
him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that
comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. 10 I
want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his
sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11 if somehow
I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I
have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to
make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Beloved,
I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do:
forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I
press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ
Jesus.
15 Let those of us
then who are mature be of the same mind; and if you think differently about
anything, this too God will reveal to you. 16 Only let us
hold fast to what we have attained.
17 Brothers and
sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the
example you have in us. 18 For many live as enemies of the
cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with
tears. 19 Their end is destruction; their god is the belly;
and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. 20 But
our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. 21 He will transform the body
of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the
power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.
Chapter 4
1 Therefore, my
brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in
the Lord in this way, my beloved. 2 I urge Euodia and I urge
Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. 3 Yes, and I
ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled
beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my
co-workers, whose names are in the book of life. 4 Rejoice
in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your
gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6 Do not
worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And
the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and
your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, beloved, whatever is
true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is
pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is
anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 Keep
on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in
me, and the God of peace will be with you.
10 I rejoice in the
Lord greatly that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you
were concerned for me, but had no opportunity to show it. 11 Not
that I am referring to being in need; for I have learned to be content with
whatever I have. 12 I know what it is to have little, and I
know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the
secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in
need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
14 In any case, it was kind of you to share my distress. 15 You
Philippians indeed know that in the early days of the gospel, when I left
Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving,
except you alone. 16 For even when I was in Thessalonica,
you sent me help for my needs more than once. 17 Not that I
seek the gift, but I seek the profit that accumulates to your account. 18 I
have been paid in full and have more than enough; I am fully satisfied, now
that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering,
a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. 19 And my God
will fully satisfy every need of yours according to his riches in glory in
Christ Jesus.
20 To our God and
Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. 21 Greet every saint
in Christ Jesus. The friends who are with me greet you. 22 All
the saints greet you, especially those of the emperor's household. 23 The
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
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This page maintained by
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Last revised: February 8, 2003