To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the
overseers and deacons:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ.
I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every
prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of
your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I
am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it
to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to
feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for
you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and
in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my
witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ
Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more,
with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is
excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,
filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus
Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has
really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known
throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my
imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become
confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to
speak the word without fear.
Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from
good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here
for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of
selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my
imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in
pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.
Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and
the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my
deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not
be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ
will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me
to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the
flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I
cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to
depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in
the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I
know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your
progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample
cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.
Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ,
so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you
that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving
side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in
anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their
destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. For it has
been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only
believe in him but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same
conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.
