Philippians 1-2

Philippians 1

¹Paul and Timothy, servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, with the Bishops and Deacons of the church:

²Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³I give praise to my God at every memory of you,

⁴And in all my prayers for you all, making my request with joy,

⁵Because of your help in giving the good news from the first day till now;

⁶For I am certain of this very thing, that he by whom the good work was started in you will make it complete till the day of Jesus Christ:

⁷So it is right for me to take thought for you all in this way, because I have you in my heart; for in my chains, and in my arguments before the judges in support of the good news, making clear that it is true, you all have your part with me in grace.

⁸For God is my witness, how my love goes out to you all in the loving mercies of Christ Jesus.

⁹And my prayer is that you may be increased more and more in knowledge and experience;

¹⁰So that you may give your approval to the best things; that you may be true and without wrongdoing till the day of Christ;

¹¹Being full of the fruits of righteousness, which are through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

¹²Now it is my purpose to make clear to you, brothers, that the cause of the good news has been helped by my experiences;

¹³So that it became clear through all the Praetorium, and to all the rest, that I was a prisoner on account of Christ;

¹⁴And most of the brothers in the Lord, taking heart because of my chains, are all the stronger to give the word of God without fear.

¹⁵Though some are preaching Christ out of envy and competition, others do it out of a good heart:

¹⁶These do it from love, conscious that I am responsible for the cause of the good news:

¹⁷But those are preaching Christ in a spirit of competition, not from their hearts, but with the purpose of giving me pain in my prison.

¹⁸What then? only that in every way, falsely or truly, the preaching of Christ goes on; and in this I am glad, and will be glad.

¹⁹For I am conscious that this will be for my salvation, through your prayer and the giving out of the stored wealth of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,

²⁰In the measure of my strong hope and belief that in nothing will I be put to shame, but that without fear, as at all times, so now will Christ have glory in my body, by life or by death.

²¹For to me life is Christ and death is profit.

²²But if I go on living in the flesh — if this is the fruit of my work — then I do not see what decision to make.

²³I am in a hard position between the two, having a desire to go away and be with Christ, which is very much better:

²⁴Still, to go on in the flesh is more necessary because of you.

²⁵And being certain of this, I am conscious that I will go on, yes, and go on with you all, for your growth and joy in the faith;

²⁶So that your pride in me may be increased in Christ Jesus through my being present with you again.

²⁷Only let your behaviour do credit to the good news of Christ, so that if I come and see you or if I am away from you, I may have news of you that you are strong in one spirit, working together with one soul for the faith of the good news;

²⁸Having no fear of those who are against you; which is a clear sign of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God;

²⁹Because to you it has been given in the cause of Christ not only to have faith in him, but to undergo pain on his account:

³⁰Fighting the same fight which you saw in me, and now have word of in me.

Philippians 2

¹If then there is any comfort in Christ, any help given by love, any uniting of hearts in the Spirit, any loving mercies and pity,

²Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in harmony and of one mind;

³Doing nothing through envy or through pride, but with low thoughts of self let everyone take others to be better than himself;

⁴Not looking everyone to his private good, but keeping in mind the things of others.

⁵Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus,

⁶To whom, though himself in the form of God, it did not seem that to take for oneself was to be like God;

⁷But he made himself as nothing, taking the form of a servant, being made like men;

⁸And being seen in form as a man, he took the lowest place, and let himself be put to death, even the death of the cross.

⁹For this reason God has put him in the highest place and has given to him the name which is greater than every name;

¹⁰So that at the name of Jesus every knee may be bent, of those in heaven and those on earth and those in the underworld,

¹¹And that every tongue may give witness that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

¹²So then, my loved ones, as you have at all times done what I say, not only when I am present, but now much more when I am not with you, give yourselves to working out your salvation with fear in your hearts;

¹³For it is God who is the cause of your desires and of your acts, for his good pleasure.

¹⁴Do all things without protests and arguments;

¹⁵So that you may be holy and gentle, children of God without sin in a twisted and foolish generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world,

¹⁶Offering the word of life; so that I may have glory in you in the day of Christ, because my running was not for nothing and my work was not without effect.

¹⁷And even if I am offered like a drink offering, giving myself for the cause and work of your faith, I am glad and have joy with you all:

¹⁸And in the same way do you be glad and have a part in my joy.

¹⁹But I am hoping in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you before long, so that I may be comforted when I have news of you.

²⁰For I have no man of like mind who will truly have care for you.

²¹For they all go after what is theirs, not after the things of Christ.

²²But his quality is clear to you; how, as a child is to its father, so he was a help to me in the work of the good news.

²³Him then I am hoping to send as quickly as possible, when I am able to see how things will go for me:

²⁴But I have faith in the Lord that I myself will come before long.

²⁵But 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;

²⁶Because his heart was with you all, and he was greatly troubled because you had news that he was ill:

²⁷For in fact he was ill almost to death: but God had mercy on him; and not only on him but on me, so that I might not have grief on grief.

²⁸I have sent him, then, the more gladly, so that when you see him again, you may be happy and I may have the less sorrow.

²⁹So take him to your hearts in the Lord with all joy, and give honour to such as he is:

³⁰Because for the work of Christ he was near to death, putting his life in danger to make your care for me complete.