Bible in 90 Days

²⁶ You are all God's children because you have believed in Christ Jesus.

²⁷ All of you who have been baptised into Christ have taken Christ as your own.

²⁸ There is no longer any difference between a Jew and one who is not a Jew; between a slave and a free man; between a man and a woman. When you are in the body of Christ Jesus, you are all alike.

²⁹ If you belong to Christ, you are Abraham's children. And if you are Abraham's children, you will receive the blessing that God has promised.

4 Here is what I mean. When a man dies, his son is to receive his property. As long as the son is not grown up, he cannot have it. He has no more right than a servant, even though he really owns all the property.

² He still has people who take care of him and he must obey them until the time set by his father.

³ So it is with us. Before we were grown up, we were like servants. We were just beginning to learn about the things of this world.

⁴ But when the right time came, God sent his Son to make us free. He was born by a woman during the time when men had to obey the law.

⁵ God sent him to set the people free who were under the law. God sent him so that we would receive our rights as sons of God.

⁶ Because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts. The Spirit calls out, `Father!'

⁷ So then, because of what God has done, you are no longer a slave but you are a son. And because you are a son, you will receive what he promised.

⁸ At first, you did not know God. At that time you obeyed things which are not real gods.

⁹ But now you know God. That is, God knows you. Then why do you turn to things that are weak and can do no good? Do you want to obey them again?

¹⁰ You have holy days, holy months, holy seasons, and holy years.

¹¹ I fear that all my work for you has been for nothing.

¹² My brothers, I beg you, be like me because I am like you. You did me no wrong.

¹³ You know that I was sick when I first told you the good news.

¹⁴ My sickness troubled you. But you did not think wrongly of me or turn away from me. You received me as if I were an angel from God, as if I were Christ Jesus.

¹⁵ Why are you not happy any more? I saw myself that you would have taken out your own eyes and given them to me if you could do such a thing.

¹⁶ Do you hate me because I tell you the truth?

¹⁷ Other people are trying hard to get you on their side. But they do not mean to help you. They want to get you away from Christ so that you will listen to them.

¹⁸ Of course, it is good if someone tries to help you, but only if it is for a good reason. It is always good, not only when I am with you.

¹⁹ My dear children, I feel pain for you again, like a mother when her child is being born. I will feel pain until Christ lives in your heart.

²⁰ I wish I could be with you now, and not have to talk this way. But I am troubled about you.

²¹ Tell me, you people that want the law to control you, why do you not listen to the law?

²² The holy writings say that Abraham had two sons. One was the son of the slave woman. The other one was the son of the free woman.

²³ The child of the slave woman was born as any child is born. But the child of the free woman was born because God promised he would be born.

²⁴ These things have another meaning. These two women are like two agreements. One agreement came from Mount Sinai. The children are born slaves. That agreement is like Hagar.

²⁵ So Hagar means Mount Sinai in the country of Arabia. She is like the city of Jerusalem today, because Jerusalem is a slave and her children are too.

²⁶ But the city of Jerusalem in heaven is free, and that is our mother.

²⁷ The holy writings say, `The woman who has not had a child, be happy! You who do not feel the pain of bearing a child, open your mouth and shout. The woman who is left alone has more children than the woman who has a husband!'

²⁸ My brothers, we are like Isaac. We are born because God made a promise.

²⁹ Abraham's child who was born as any child is born, troubled the other child who was born by the Spirit. It is that way today.

³⁰ But what does the holy writings say? They says, `Put away the slave woman and her son. The son of the slave woman will have nothing when the father dies. The son of the free woman will have everything.'

³¹ So, my brothers, we are not the children of the slave woman, but we are children of the free woman.

5 Christ has made us really free. So, stay free! Do not let yourselves be made slaves again.

² I, Paul, say to you again that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ is no help to you at all.

³ Again I say to every man who is circumcised, he must obey all the law.

⁴ Some of you are trying to obey the law, so that God will call you good. If you do this, you have been cut off from Christ. You have lost the blessing of God.

⁵ But we hope to be made right by believing in Christ. The Spirit helps us to do this.

⁶ So if a man belongs to Christ Jesus, it does not matter if he is circumcised or not. He must show by his love that he believes.

⁷ You were doing well. Who stopped you from doing what is right?

⁸ God calls you but he is not the one who made you change your minds.

⁹ Even a little yeast makes all the bread rise.

¹⁰ The Lord makes me sure that you will not think any other way. But the teacher who is troubling your minds will be punished. It does not matter who he is.

¹¹ My brothers, am I still telling people to be circumcised? If I am, why are people still troubling me? If it were true, the cross of Christ, which they do not like, has lost its power.

¹² These teachers are troubling your minds. How I wish they would cut themselves off!

¹³ You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not take that to mean that you can do as you please. But work for each other because you love each other.

¹⁴ This one law is the whole law: `Love your neighbour as you love yourself.'

¹⁵ But if you bite and chew each other, be careful, or you will be killed by each other.

¹⁶ So I say, let the Spirit tell you what you should do. Then you will not do the wrong things you yourselves want to do.

¹⁷ People want to do wrong things that the Spirit does not want them to do. And the Spirit wants people to do things they do not want to do. The Spirit and the wrong things you want to do are against each other, so that you do not do what you yourself want to do.

¹⁸ If you do what the Spirit wants you to do, then you will be free from the law.

¹⁹ It is easy to see the wrong things people want to do. Both married people and those who are not married commit adultery. People make themselves unclean because of their wrong use of sex. They do things they should be ashamed of doing.

²⁰ They worship idols. They use witch-power. They hate. They quarrel. They are jealous. They get angry. They want their own way. They do not agree together and they join different groups against each other.

²¹ They want what other people have. They even kill. They drink too much strong drink. They like to take part in loud drinking and dancing. They do other things like these. I have told you before and I tell you again. Those who do these things will not be in the kingdom of God. 22,

²² But these are the things which the Spirit wants you to show: love, joy, peace, patience, being kind, being good, being true, being gentle, and keeping the body under control. There is no law that says, `These things are wrong.'

²³ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have stopped doing the wrong things they want to do. They have stopped them just as if they were killed on a cross. And they have even stopped wanting to do them.

²⁴ The Spirit gives us life. And so we should do what the Spirit wants us to do.

²⁵ We must not be proud of ourselves. We must not make one another angry. We must not want what other people have.

6 My brothers, perhaps a man has done something wrong. If so, you who are strong in the Spirit must help him to do the right thing again. Help him in a gentle way. Take care yourself, that you are not tried and will want to do wrong.

² Help each other in your troubles. In that way you obey Christ's law.

³ A man who thinks that he is an important person when he is not, that man fools himself.

⁴ Let every man test his own work. Then he will be proud of his own work. He will not be proud because he thinks his own work is better than someone else's work.

⁵ Each man must carry his own load.

⁶ People are taught the word of God. They should give some of all the good things they have to those who teach them.

⁷ Do not be fooled about this. God cannot be fooled. A man gets what he plants.

⁸ The man who plants the wrong things he wants to do will get death, because of those wrong things. But the person who plants what the Spirit wants him to do will live for ever, because of the Spirit.

⁹ We must not get tired of doing good things. If we do not stop doing them, we will get something back when the right time comes.

¹⁰ So then, when we can, we should do good to all people. But most of all, we should do it to those who are in God's family.

¹¹ (See, I am writing this to you in big letters with my own hand.)

¹² Some people want to do things that can be seen. They try to force you to be circumcised. They want to hide from trouble which would come to them if they talk about the cross of Christ.

¹³ Even those who are circumcised do not obey the law. But they want you to be circumcised. Then they can be proud that they made you do it.

¹⁴ But I will not be proud of anything but of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of it, the things of the world have become dead to me, and I have become dead to the world.

¹⁵ It does not matter if a person is circumcised or not, but he must become a new person.

¹⁶ May all who live by this rule have peace. And may God bless them. They are the true people of Israel and they belong to God.

¹⁷ From now on, please do not trouble me. For I have marks on my body that show I belong to the Lord Jesus.

¹⁸ My brothers, may the kindness and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ bless your spirit. May he do it!

1 I am Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ. It was God's wish for me to be his messenger. I send greetings to God's people in the city of Ephesus, to those who believe in Christ Jesus.

² May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ in their kindness give you peace.

³ Praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! He has blessed us in Christ with every blessing which is in heaven, such as the Spirit gives us.

⁴ Before the world was made, God chose us in Christ. He chose us that we should be holy and good before him.

⁵ Because he loved us, he planned that we should be his own children. It is through Jesus Christ that we are God's children. That is the way God wanted it to be.

⁶ Praise him! His kindness is great and wonderful. We have been accepted by God through Jesus Christ, whom he loves so much.

⁷ Jesus Christ has given his blood [died] to make us free. He has forgiven us for our wrong ways. We have been put right with God freely because of his great kindness.

⁸ He has given us blessing after blessing in his wisdom and understanding.

⁹ He has shown us the plan he had. This plan was what he wanted to do through Christ.

¹⁰ When the right time came, God planned to bring together everything in heaven and on earth, and make Christ head of them all.

¹¹ In and through Christ we will have a share in all that belongs to him. Long ago God chose us for this. And he makes things happen that he wants to do.

¹² We believed in Christ first, so we will praise him because he is so great and wonderful.

¹³ You also believed in Christ when you heard the true message. That message is the good news by which you were saved. You received the Holy Spirit whom God had promised. You were marked as belonging to him.

¹⁴ The Holy Spirit is the first part of what we are to receive from God. This proves that we will get all God has promised. Some day we shall have them all. Praise God! He is very great and wonderful. 15,

¹⁵ Here is why I always thank God for you. I have heard that you believe in the Lord Jesus and love all of God's people. I think of you when I talk to God.

¹⁶ He is the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father who is very great and wonderful. I ask him to give you a mind that is wise and will understand about him.

¹⁷ I ask him that you may understand these things in your hearts. I ask him that you may know what a great hope you have because God has called you. I ask him that you may know the rich and great blessings God has promised to his people.

¹⁸ I ask him that you may know the wonderful power he has to do things for us who believe in Christ. His power is very strong.

¹⁹ God used that power when he raised Christ from death and had him sit at his right side in heaven.

²⁰ He is greater than any ruler, power, chief, or king. His name is greater than any other name, not only in this world, but in the world that will come.

²¹ And God has put all things under Christ. He has made him the head of the church people in all matters.

²² The church [all the people who believe in Jesus Christ] is his body. The church people have everything that Christ has. He is the One who is in everything everywhere.

2 There was a time when you were dead. That was because of the bad and the wrong things you did.

² At one time you did those wrong things, just like the people around you. You obeyed the ruler who has the power over things in the air. That ruler is the spirit who is working now in the people who do not obey God.

³ At one time we too all lived like them. We lived to please ourselves. We did what our bodies and our minds wanted us to do. We were people with whom God was angry, just like other people.

⁴ But God was very, very kind. He loved us very, very much.

⁵ We were dead because of the wrong things we had done. He has made us alive with Christ. You have been saved by his love and kindness.

⁶ God raised us from death with Christ Jesus and gave us a place to sit with him in heaven.

⁷ He did this to show us in all times to come how much he can bless people and how kind he is. It was Jesus Christ who brought this kindness to us.

⁸ You have been saved by God's love and kindness because you believed. It was not because of anything you did, but it was a gift from God.

⁹ You were not saved by trying to do what the law says. So no one can be proud about it.

¹⁰ God has made us. In Jesus Christ God made us so that we can do good things. He planned that we should live that way.

¹¹ So remember that you were not born Jews. (They call you `The Uncircumcised').

¹² Remember you did not know Christ at that time. You were far away from the people of Israel. You had no part in the agreements which God promised to them. You had no hope and you were without God in this world.

¹³ At one time you were far away, but now you have been brought near to God by the blood [death] of Jesus Christ.

¹⁴ Christ has made peace between us. He has brought both Jews and non-Jews together into one people. He has broken down the wall that divided us.

¹⁵ In his own body Christ made an end of the law and its rules. He did this so that in him two peoples could become one. In this way, he made peace between us.

¹⁶ He did this so that by the cross he might bring both kinds of people back to God in one body. And by the cross he has stopped our hating each other.

¹⁷ He came and said that there is now peace. There is peace for you who were far away from God and for those who were near.

¹⁸ Because of what Christ has done, we can come to the Father by one Spirit.

¹⁹ So then you are no longer strangers or people far away. But you live with God's people and belong to God's family.

²⁰ God's family is like a house and you are part of the building. The apostles and prophets are like the lower walls of the house and you are the building on this foundation. Jesus Christ is the big stone at the corner.

²¹ He is the one who holds the whole house together, and it becomes a holy house belonging to the Lord.

²² You too are a part of this house. God himself lives in this house by his Spirit.

3 That is why I, Paul, am a prisoner who belongs to Jesus Christ. It is for the sake of you people who are not Jews.

² I am sure you have heard that God gave me work to do for you.

³ He showed me what his plan was. And I have already written a little about it to you.

⁴ When you read this, you can understand why I know about his plan for Christ.

⁵ In the past, God did not tell his plan to people. But now the Holy Spirit has shown it to his holy apostles and prophets.

⁶ This is God's plan. Those who are not Jews will also share in the blessings of God. They also are a part of the body of Jesus Christ. They also will receive the things God has promised in Jesus Christ through the good news.

⁷ God gave me the work of telling that good news. And he blessed me by his power.

⁸ I am less than the least of all God's people, and yet he blessed me. It is my work to tell those who are not Jews about the wonderful blessings of Christ. There are so many that we cannot know them all.

⁹ God has blessed me so that I might tell all people plainly what his plan is. God, who made all things, did not tell anyone about his plan in all the times in the past.

¹⁰ Now he wants those who rule and have power in the sky to know how very wise God is. They will know this when they look at the church people.

¹¹ This is what God has always planned to do. And he did it in Jesus Christ our Lord.

¹² In Christ we are not to be afraid to come to God. We are sure we can come because we believe in Christ.

¹³ So I ask you not to be sad when you think of the troubles I have for your sake. You should be proud about it.

¹⁴ That is why I kneel down before the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

¹⁵ From him every family in heaven or on earth gets its name.

¹⁶ I ask him to make you very strong in heart by his Spirit. He has great and wonderful blessings and is able to do so because of the fullness of his glory.

¹⁷ And I ask that Christ may live in your hearts because you believe in him. I ask that you may live and grow in love.

¹⁸ I ask that God will give you power to know how wide and long and high and deep the love of Christ is. All Christians should know that.

¹⁹ I ask God that you may know the love of Christ which is more than we can ever know. I ask that you may be filled with everything that God has.

²⁰ God can do much more than we ask him to do, or we even think of. He does it by his power which is working in us.

²¹ So, praise him in the church meeting in Christ Jesus. Praise him for ever and ever! May it be so!

4 I am a prisoner who belongs to the Lord. I beg you, live the way people should live who have been called by God.

² Do not be proud at all. Be very humble. Love one another and be patient with each other.

³ The Spirit has made you all one. Try to stay like that. May you be at peace with one another.

⁴ There is one body of Christ and one Spirit. When God called you, there was one hope before you in your calling.

⁵ There is one Lord, one way to believe, and one baptism.

⁶ There is one God and Father of us all. He is over all. He works through all. And he is living in us all.

⁷ But each one of us has received a blessing, whatever amount Christ has given to each one.

⁸ So then, the holy writings say, `When Christ went up to heaven he took those he had won with him. And he gave gifts to men.'

⁹ Now, what does `he went up' mean? Does it not mean that he also came down to the earth below?

¹⁰ The one who came down is the same one who went up higher than all the heavens. He did this so that he would be everywhere.

¹¹ The gifts he gave are these: some are to be apostles; some prophets; some evangelists; some pastors and teachers.

¹² These gifts are to make God's people better able to do their work for him and to make the body of Christ become stronger.

¹³ The gifts are given so that we will all believe the one way and all know the Son of God. They are given so that we will be really grown-up Christians, like Christ himself.

¹⁴ The body of Christ must grow so that we will no longer be like children. We are like children when we are pushed this way and that way. We change our minds every time people bring a different teaching. Some teachers teach the lies of men and fool people so that they believe wrong things.

¹⁵ We must say what is true and say it with love. In that way we will grow up in all things to be like Christ, who is the head of this body.

¹⁶ The whole body is joined and held together by every joint that it has. It is from Christ that the whole body grows as each different part does its work. It grows so that it becomes stronger in love.

¹⁷ Here then is what the Lord has told me to say. You must not live like the people who do not believe in God. They do not think clearly.

¹⁸ Their minds are dark. They are far away from God's life because they do not know the truth. They have no love in their hearts.

¹⁹ Nothing makes them ashamed anymore. They live a very bad life. They do every kind of wrong thing. And they always want to do it more.

²⁰ That is not what you have learned from Christ!

²¹ You were taught by him, and Jesus has the truth!

²² Stop being the person you used to be in your old life. That person was bad because he wanted to do wrong things.

²³ Have a new mind and heart.

²⁴ Be a new person. That new person has been made like God. He does what is right and holy because he knows the truth.

²⁵ So stop telling lies. Tell the truth to each other. We all are parts of the same body.

²⁶ When you are angry, do not do anything wrong. And do not stay angry after the sun goes down.

²⁷ Do not let the devil control you.

²⁸ The person who used to steal must not steal now. But he must do some good work with his own hands. Then he will have something to give to the poor people.

²⁹ Do not let any bad words come out of your mouth. But say good things that will help people. Then those who hear you will also be blessed by what you say.

³⁰ Do nothing that makes the Holy Spirit feel sad. He is the mark God has put on you until the day you will belong to God altogether.

³¹ You must stop all hate, big and small anger, loud talk, saying wrong things about people, and all wanting to do wrong things to people.

³² Be kind to one another. Have a loving and understanding heart. Forgive one another because God has forgiven you for Christ's sake.

5 So try to be like God, because you are his own dear children.

² Love others as Christ has loved us. He gave his life for us, a sweet smelling offering and a sacrifice to God.

³ As God's people, you should not even talk about wrong living, any kind of wrong sex or wanting things you cannot have.

⁴ There should be no dirty talk, no foolish talk, no funny stories with a wrong meaning. This is not a good way to talk. But what you should do is thank God.

⁵ You know this. There are people who use sex wrongly, and who are always wanting what others have. No such a person has any place in the kingdom of Christ and of God. He is worshipping an idol.

⁶ Do not let anyone fool you by their empty talk. It is because people do these wrong things that God is very angry. He is angry with the people who do not obey him.

⁷ So then, have nothing to do with them.

⁸ You were in the dark before, but now the Lord has given you light. Live like people who have the light.

⁹ People who have the light do all that is good and right and true.

¹⁰ Learn what pleases the Lord.

¹¹ Have no part in the empty things people do in the dark. Show them that they are wrong.

¹² It is a shame even to talk about the things they do in secret.

¹³ But when the light shines on something, it can be seen. Anything that shows up wrong ways is light.

¹⁴ So it is said, `Wake up, you who are asleep! Rise from death. And Christ will give you light.'

¹⁵ Take care how you live. Do not live like people who are not wise, but live like people who are wise.

¹⁶ Make good use of time because people live in very wrong ways these days.

¹⁷ So then, be wise and understand what the Lord wants.

¹⁸ Do not get drunk with wine. That is living in a wrong way. But be filled with the Spirit.

¹⁹ Speak to one another by the songs in the holy writings, and songs of praise, and Christian songs. Sing and make a joyful noise in your hearts to the Lord.

²⁰ Always thank God the Father for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

²¹ Give way to each other because you respect Christ.

²² Wives, obey your husbands as you obey the Lord.

²³ The husband is the head of the wife, just as Christ is the head of the church people. The church is his body and he saved it.

²⁴ Wives should obey their husbands in everything, just as the church people obey Christ.

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church people. He gave his life for the church.

²⁶ He did that so that he might make the church people holy, when they were washed with water by God's word.

²⁷ He gave his life for the church so that one day he can look at the church and see that the people are great and wonderful. The people of the church must have no dirty spot or wrinkle or any thing like that. But they are to be holy and good.

²⁸ So husbands should love their wives as they love their own bodies. The man who loves his wife loves himself.

²⁹ No one ever hated his own body. But he feeds it and takes care of it.

³⁰ In the same way Christ takes care of the church because we are parts of his body.

³¹ The holy writings say `For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother. He shall be joined to his wife, and the two of them shall be like one person.'

³² This is a wonderful plan of God. I am speaking here of the plan about Christ and the church people.

³³ However, each one of you should love his wife as he loves himself. And the wife should respect her husband.

6 Children, obey your parents as the Lord wants you to. This is the right thing to do. 2,

² `Respect your father and mother.' This is the first law of God with a promise: `So that all will be well with you, and that you may live long on earth.'

³ Fathers, do not make your children angry. But teach them the things children need to know, and tell them what they must not do. Teach them what Christ would teach them.

⁴ Servants, obey your boss. Respect him with all your heart and try to please him as you would Christ.

⁵ Obey not only when he is looking at you, as if you were pleasing a man. But obey as the servants of Christ, and do with all your heart what God wants you to do.

⁶ Work gladly as if you were working for the Lord and not for men.

⁷ You know that the Lord will pay every man for the good things he does. It does not matter if he is a servant or a free man.

⁸ And you who are bosses, be good to your servants also. Do not talk loud, hard words to them. Remember that both their Lord and yours is in heaven. He does not love one person more than another.

⁹ Last of all, I say this. Be strong in the Lord and use the strength he gives.

¹⁰ Use everything that God has given you so that you can fight against the tricks of the devil.

¹¹ We are not fighting against people of flesh and blood. But we are fighting against rulers and powers whom we cannot see. We are fighting against those who control the darkness of this world, and against bad spirits who have power in the air.

¹² So use everything that God has given you, that you can fight when the bad time comes. You will need to do everything you can do to stand!

¹³ So then, stand and hold on tight to the truth like you put on a belt. Do what is right. Wear it as a cover for your body.

¹⁴ You have the good news of peace. Wear that like shoes on your feet.

¹⁵ You believe in God. Take that and cover all of yourself with it. With that you can stop all the poison arrows of the devil.

¹⁶ You have been saved. Wear your salvation like you wear something on your head to protect yourself. And take with you the big knife or sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

¹⁷ Always talk to God in the Spirit. Talk to him about everything and ask him for what you need. Put your mind on what you are saying, asking God to help all his people.

¹⁸ And also, ask God to help me to talk without fear and tell people God's plan about the good news.

¹⁹ I am in prison with chains on because I speak the good news about Jesus Christ. Ask God to help me to tell the good news without fear as I should tell it.

²⁰ Tychicus will tell you all about me and what I am doing. He is a brother whom I love and a very good helper in the Lord's work.

²¹ I am sending him to you so that you will know about us, and so that he may comfort your hearts.

²² May God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, give our brothers peace and love with faith.

²³ May the kindness of God bless all who love our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 We, Paul and Timothy, are servants of Christ Jesus. We send greetings to all of God's people who belong to Christ Jesus and who live in the city of Philippi. We send greetings to the leaders of the church people and those who have been chosen to help them.

² May the loving kindness of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ bless you and give you peace.

³ Every time I think of you I thank God for you.

⁴ I have joy in my heart every time I ask God to help you.

⁵ I thank God for the joy we share in telling the good news from the very first day until now.

⁶ God began to do a good work in you. And I am sure that he will keep on doing it until he has finished it. He will keep on until the day Jesus Christ comes again.

⁷ I have a right to feel this way about you all because I love you very much. God is good to me and you all share in this goodness. You share in my troubles in prison. You share in my work of staying true to the good news of Jesus.

⁸ I love you all as Jesus Christ loves you. God knows that what I say is true.

¹⁰ When I talk to God I ask that you may have more and more love. I ask him that you will also know and understand, so that you will be able to see what things are right. I want you to be clean with nothing wrong in you when Jesus Christ comes back.

¹¹ I want you to be doing right by the help of Jesus Christ. That will make people praise God and will show how great he is.

¹² My brothers, I want you to know that what has happened to me has made more people know about the good news.

¹³ All the soldiers here and all the other people know that I am in prison because of Christ.

¹⁴ Because I am in prison, most of my Christian brothers are stronger for the Lord. They are strong in the faith now and they are not afraid to tell God's good news about Jesus Christ.

¹⁵ Some of them tell about Christ because they are jealous. They want to prove they are better than me. Some of them tell about Christ because they want to help me.

¹⁶ The first ones do it because they want to prove they are better than I am. They do not have a good reason. But they think they will make trouble for me while I am in prison.

¹⁷ These last ones do it because they love me. They know that I am here to speak for the good news.

¹⁸ But it does not matter. Every way, in the wrong way or in the right way, Christ is talked about. I will be glad because of that.

¹⁹ Yes, I will keep on being glad about it. I know that you will talk to God about me, and I know that the Spirit of Jesus Christ will help me. So I know that things will work out for me to be free.

²⁰ I look forward to this very much and hope that I will not be ashamed at all. But I want to be very strong. I want to bring honour to Christ now as I always have. I can do this if I live or die.

²¹ All I live for is Christ, and to die would give me more blessing.

²² If I keep on living, then I will keep on doing my good work. I really do not know which I want more, to live or to die.

²³ I am caught between these two. I want to die and go to be with Christ, which would be very much better.

²⁴ But you need me more to stay here.

²⁵ Because I am sure of this, I know that I will stay on and be here with you all. That will help you to be better Christians and happy ones.

²⁶ Then you will be even more happy about what Christ Jesus has done for me because I have come back to you.

²⁷ So whatever happens, live as people who believe the good news of Christ should live. Then, if I come and see you, or if I am away and hear about you, you will be standing strong together in one spirit. With one mind you will be working hard together for the good news.

²⁸ Do not fear in any way those who are working against you. It is God who shows them they are lost and you are saved.

²⁹ God has given you a special gift. You can not only believe in Christ but also suffer for him.

³⁰ You have the same trouble which you saw me have. And you hear now that I still have it.

2 Does Christ speak to you? Does love call to you? Do you have a part in the Holy Spirit? Do you have any love and care for others?

² Then make me very, very happy. Live in happiness with one another. Have the same love for each other. Think the same way. Agree together about things. All have one purpose in mind.

³ Do not try to prove you are better than others. Do not be proud of yourselves, but be humble. Think of other people as being better than yourselves.

⁴ Each one of you should not think only about himself, but about other people also.

⁵ Think the same way Jesus Christ thought.

⁶ He was in every way like God. Yet he did not think that being equal to God was something he must hold on to.

⁷ He gave this up and became a servant. He was born a baby.

⁸ And when he was a man, he was humble. He was even willing to die, yes, to die on a cross.

⁹ That is why God has made him very great. God has given him a name above every name.

¹⁰ Everyone in heaven, everyone on earth, and everyone under the earth will kneel before the name of Jesus.

¹¹ Everyone will admit that Jesus Christ is Lord. They will praise God the Father for this.

¹² My dear people, you have always obeyed me. God has saved you from wrong ways. Now show this by the good things that you do. You must live that way, not only when I am with you, but much more now that I am not with you. Think of how wrong it will be if you do not. Try hard to work out how to do it.

¹³ For God is at work in you. He helps you want to do it. And he helps you do what he wants you to do.

¹⁴ Do everything without grumbling or making trouble.

¹⁵ In that way you will be completely good. No one will be able to say anything wrong about you. You will be God's good children living amongst bad people. Among them you will shine like lights in the world.

¹⁶ You will have the message of life for them. I will be proud of you when Christ comes. My work and trouble will not be for nothing.

¹⁷ The life you live because you believe in God is like a sacrifice. Even if I am killed, it will be like wine which people pour on a sacrifice. I am happy to do this for you, and I am happy about you.

¹⁸ In the same way you must be happy. And you must be happy about me.

¹⁹ I hope the Lord Jesus will let me send Timothy to you soon. I will be glad to hear about you.

²⁰ I have no one like Timothy. He is troubled to know about you.

²¹ All the other people think only of themselves and not of Jesus Christ.

²² But you know what a good man Timothy is. You know that he has worked with me in telling the good news. He has worked just as a son works with his father.

²³ So I hope to send him to you as soon as I see what happens to me.

²⁴ And I trust that the Lord will let me come to you soon myself.

²⁵ I thought I must send Epaphroditus, our Christian brother, back to you. He has worked with me and has also been a soldier of Christ with me. He was your messenger and he brought your gift for my needs.

²⁶ I am sending him back because he has been lonely without you all. And his heart has been troubled because you heard that he was sick.

²⁷ He was very sick! He almost died! But God was kind to him. He was not only kind to him, but also to me. God did not let me have one trouble after another.

²⁸ I want even more to send him to you so that you will be happy when you see him again. And I will not be so troubled any more.

²⁹ So receive him with much joy because he is a Christian brother. Give respect to men like him.

³⁰ He almost died doing the work of Christ. You wished to help me, but you could not come. He came instead. He was willing to put his life in danger in order to help me.

3 Now, my brothers, I say be glad for what the Lord has done for you. It is not hard for me to write the same things to you over and over. And it is good for you.

² Watch out for those teachers who are like dogs. Watch out for those teachers who do wrong things. And watch out for those teachers who want you to have the mark of a Jew cut in your bodies.

³ We have God's Spirit and we worship God in the Spirit. So we are the people who have the mark of God. Christ Jesus is our reason for being joyful. We do not trust in having a mark cut in our bodies.

⁴ And yet I could trust in things about myself if I wanted to. If any other man thinks that he has something about himself to trust in, I have more things.

⁵ I had the mark of a Jew cut in my body when I was eight days old. I was born of the people of Israel. I belong to the family of Benjamin, so I was born a true Jew. I was a Pharisee, so I obeyed the Jewish law very carefully.

⁶ I was so full of my own ideas that I sent Christians to prison. But I was a good man in the way the Jewish law calls a man good.

⁷ But all these things that might have helped me, I call them all nothing, because of Christ.

⁸ Yes, I call them all nothing, because to know Christ Jesus my Lord is much better. It is for his sake that I have given them all up and call them just dirt. I have lost them but gained Christ.

⁹ I do it so that I will belong to him. I do not want to be called good because of the Jewish law. But I want to be made good by believing in Christ. I want to be put right with God through faith alone.

¹⁰ I want to know Christ. I want to know the power that raised him from death. I want to have a part in his trouble. I want to be like him in his death.

¹¹ Then I hope to be raised from death.

¹² I do not mean to say that I have got there yet, or that I am perfect yet. But I am trying hard to get there, because that is why Christ saved me.

¹³ My brothers, I do not yet think that I have got all the things of Christ. But there is one thing that I am doing. I forget what is behind me and reach out to what is ahead of me.

¹⁴ Like a man running a race, I try hard to reach the line so that I will receive the prize. Because we belong to Christ Jesus, God is calling us to receive this prize that he has for us in heaven.

¹⁵ All of us who are grown-up Christians should feel this way. And if you do not think this way, God will show you the right way.

¹⁶ But no matter how far we have gone, we must keep on going that way. And let us do it together, having the same things in mind.

¹⁷ My brothers, do as I do, all of you. Look at the people who live the way we have lived.

¹⁸ Many people live as if they hated the cross of Christ. I have often told you about them, and I tell you now with tears.

¹⁹ They will be lost for ever. Their belly is the god they worship. They boast about things they should be ashamed of. They think only about things of this world.

²⁰ But we belong to heaven. And we are waiting for the Saviour to come from heaven. He is the Lord Jesus Christ.

²¹ He will change our body which was made for this world. He will make it like his own wonderful body. He will do this by his power to make all things obey him.

4 And so, my brothers, I love you and want very much to be with you. I am very happy about you. And you are like a prize I have won in a race. My dear people, keep on standing firm and strong in the Lord.

² I beg Euodia and Syntyche to agree to work together. I ask them to be of the same mind in the Lord.

³ I beg you, my real helper, to help these women. They worked hard with me in telling the good news. Clement and my other helpers worked hard with me too. Their names are in God's Book of Life.

⁴ Always be glad for what the Lord has done, I will say it again, be glad.

⁵ Let everyone know that you think kindly of others before yourselves. The Lord is near.

⁶ Do not worry about anything. Talk to God about everything. Thank him for what you have. Ask him for what you need.

⁷ Then God will give you peace, a peace which is too wonderful to understand. That peace will keep your hearts and minds safe as you trust in Christ Jesus.

⁸ Here, my brothers, are some things I want you to think about. Think about things that are true, honest, right, clean and pure, things that are lovely, and things that are good to talk about. If they are good, and if they bring praise to God, think about these things.

⁹ I taught you, and you learned things from me. You heard the things I said, and you saw the things I did. Do these same things yourselves. Then God who gives peace will be with you.

¹⁰ The Lord made me very happy to know that you were thinking about me again. Yes, I know you were thinking of me before, but you had no way to help me.

¹¹ I do not mean that I needed it. I have learned to be satisfied with what I have. I am happy with whatever happens to me.

¹² I know how to live when I am poor, and I know how to live when I am rich. No matter how things are, I have learned how to live: when I have plenty of food, or when I am hungry; when I have more things than I need, and when I do not have enough.

¹³ I can do all things because Christ gives me strength.

¹⁴ But you were kind to help me when I was in trouble.

¹⁵ When I first told the good news after I left the country of Macedonia, you were the only church people who helped me. You sent me money to pay my expenses.

¹⁶ Even when I was in the city of Thessalonica, you sent money to help me more than once.

¹⁷ It is not that I want the gift. But I want you to have more and more blessing because you give.

¹⁸ I have all I need and more. Yes, I have plenty because Epaphroditus gave me what you sent me. Your gift was like a sweet-smelling offering to God. It was a sacrifice which God took and it pleased him.

¹⁹ My God will give you everything you need. He has wonderful riches in heaven because of Christ Jesus.

²⁰ Praise God our Father for ever. Yes, he will do it.

²¹ Please give my greetings to every one who belongs to Christ Jesus. The Christian brothers who are with me greet you.

²² All of God's people send greetings to you, especially the people of Caesar's house.

²³ The loving kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen, may it be so!

1 I am Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ. God wanted me to be an apostle.

² Timothy our brother, and I are writing this letter to God's people, the Christian brothers in the city of Colossae. May the kindness of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ bless you and give you peace.

³ We give thanks to God. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we ask God to bless you, we always thank him for you.

⁴ We have heard that you believe in Christ Jesus and love all of God's people.

⁵ And also, you are looking ahead to what you will have in heaven. You have heard about it already when the good news was told to you.

⁶ That message has reached you. It is doing good and it is spreading everywhere in the world. It is doing the same among you. It began the day you heard and understood God's blessing, which came to you in a clear way.

⁷ Epaphras taught you the truth. He is Christ's servant, as we are also, and we love him. He is a good worker to help you.

⁸ Also, it is he who told us of your love in the Spirit.

⁹ That is why we keep on talking to God about you since the day we heard about you. We ask him that you may know everything he wants you to do. We ask him that you may be very wise and that the Spirit will help you to understand.

¹⁰ We ask him that you will live the way the Lord wants you to live, so that you will please him in everything you do. We ask that you will do everything that is good. We ask that you will see the fruit from what you do. We ask that you will know more and more about God.

¹¹ God has wonderful power. And we ask him to give you all the strength you need to go through all your troubles, to be very patient in them, and to be happy.

¹² Thank the Father who has made us ready to be with the people of God who live in his light.

¹³ He has set us free from the kingdom where it is dark. And he has put us into the kingdom where his dear Son rules.

¹⁴ Because of his Son, we are set free and the wrong things we have done are forgiven.

¹⁵ The Son is like God who cannot be seen. He was his Son before anything was made.

¹⁶ He made everything in the sky and on the earth. He made the things which can be seen and the things which cannot be seen. That means angels, kings, great powers, and rulers. They were all made by him and for him.

¹⁷ He himself was before all things. And he holds all things together.

¹⁸ He is also the head of the body which is the church [the people who believe in Jesus Christ]. He is the beginning, the first one to rise from death, so that he would be the first one in everything.

¹⁹ God wanted Christ to have everything in himself.

²⁰ And God chose him to be the one who would bring all things back to himself. God made peace by the blood which Christ gave on his cross. He would bring back all things on earth and in heaven.

²¹ At one time you were far away from God. You hated him in your hearts and you did wrong things.

²² But now Christ himself has died on a cross, and he has brought you back to God. Christ will bring you before God holy, clean, and good.

²³ But you must keep on believing and stand strong and true. Let nothing shake the hope which the good news brought you. You heard the same good news as is told to everyone in the whole world. I, Paul, was given the work of telling that same good news.

²⁴ And now, even though I suffer for you, I am happy. There are still some things for Christ to suffer in his body, which is the church. So I am glad to take my share of his suffering in my body.

²⁵ God gave me work to do for the church people so that you might know all of God's message.

²⁶ This message is about the secret plan of God. People who lived in all the past times of the world did not know about this plan. But now it has been told to God's people.

²⁷ He wanted them to know that his plan is very great and wonderful for those who are not Jews. And this plan is that Christ is in you! He is your hope for all the wonderful things that are to come.

²⁸ We tell about him. We tell everyone to be careful to live in the right way. We teach everyone all he needs to know. We do this so that we can bring everyone before God and he will be grown up in the things of Christ.

²⁹ And I am working for this with all the strength that God gives me.

2 I want you to know how much I care for you and those in the city of Laodicea, and even all those who have never seen me.

² I want them to be strong and to love one another. I want them to understand everything. I want them to know in a more perfect way about God's plan, which is Christ.

³ All the wonderful things there are to know about the plan are found in Christ.

⁴ I say this so that no one may lead you the wrong way by their fine words.

⁵ Even though I am not with you in body, I am with you in spirit. I am happy to see that you stand together well and that you keep on believing in Christ.

⁶ You received Christ Jesus the Lord. So live in him.

⁷ Let your heart be planted in him. Grow up in him. Believe with all your heart what you were taught. And be very thankful to God.

⁸ Do not let anyone fool you by his wise words. They are not true. They are what men say. They are the teachings of this world and not what Christ says.

⁹ Christ has everything that God has.

¹⁰ And you, too, have everything when you are in him. He rules over every power and ruler.

¹¹ In Christ you were not circumcised by men's hands. But you were circumcised in Christ's way when all the wrong things you did in your bodies were taken away.

¹² You were buried with Christ when you were baptised. You were also raised with him to a new life when you were baptised. You were raised because you believed in the power of God who raised Christ from death.

¹³ You were dead because of the wrong things you had done, and because your lives had not been made clean. But God gave you life with Christ. He forgave you for all the wrong things you did.

¹⁴ He wiped out all the things that were written against us in the laws. He took the writing away and nailed it to a cross.

¹⁵ He won the victory over powers and rulers. He showed that they had no power at all. He showed the world his victory through the cross.

¹⁶ So do not let anyone say you are wrong about what you eat or drink, or about a feast, or a special holy day or a Sabbath day.

¹⁷ They are like a shadow of what is to come. But Christ is the body that makes the shadow.

¹⁸ Do not let anyone tell you that you are wrong and that to be humble you must worship angels. He talks about things he has not seen. He is very proud, but he has nothing to be proud of, because his thoughts come from his own mind.

¹⁹ He is not joined to the real head which is Christ. It is from him that the whole body receives strength and is held together by its joints and muscles. It is from him that the body grows as God makes it grow.

²⁰ Did you die with Christ? Then you left the teachings of this world. So why do you obey laws as if you were still living in this world?

²¹ I mean laws like this: "Do not touch that. Do not eat this. Do not put your hand on that."

²² All such things are gone as soon as they are used. These are laws made and taught by men.

²³ These laws look as if they are good laws. They make a show of doing things for God. They make people humble themselves in some way. They make people control their bodies in certain ways. But they have no power to keep people from doing all the wrong things they want to do.

3 Were you raised from death with Christ? Then look for the things which are in heaven. There Christ is sitting at the right hand of God.

² Think about the things that are in heaven, not about things that are on earth.

³ Your old life died with Christ and your new life is kept with Christ in God.

⁴ Christ is our life. When he comes again and is seen, then you will also be seen with him. And you will be great.

⁵ So then, put to death those things of this world which are in you. I mean these things: wrong sex, things that are not clean, a heart that is burning to do wrong things, wanting what is wrong, and wanting to have what other people have. This last one is like worshipping an idol.

⁶ They are things that make God angry.

⁷ You used to do these things when you lived that way.

⁸ But now you must stop all these: being angry, hating people, wrong feelings toward others, saying wrong things about people, and dirty talking.

⁹ Do not tell lies to one another. You have stopped being the person you used to be who did wrong things.

¹⁰ And now you have become a new person. That new person is always learning more and more until he becomes like God who made him.

¹¹ In this new person, there is no difference between a Greek and a Jew. There is no difference between a man who is circumcised with the mark of the Jew and a man who is not circumcised. There is no difference between a person from a friendly country or someone from a country which is not friendly. There is no difference between a slave and a person who is free. Christ is everything and is in all of them.

¹² You are chosen by God. He loves you and has made you holy. So then, care for one another. Be kind. Do not be proud. Be humble. Be patient.

¹³ Be patient with one another. If any one has a complaint against another, forgive that one. Christ forgave you. So you should forgive each other.

¹⁴ Beside all these, you must have love. This joins everything together as it should be.

¹⁵ Hold on to the peace of God which is in your hearts. You were called to have peace because you are all like one body. Be thankful.

¹⁶ Let your hearts be filled with the word of Christ. Be very wise when you teach people and help them to understand what is right and wrong. Sing with music. Sing praises and Christian songs. Sing to the Lord with praise in your hearts.

¹⁷ Whatever you say, or whatever you do, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. Give thanks to God the Father through Jesus.

¹⁸ Wives, obey your husbands. This is the right way to live when you belong to the Lord.

¹⁹ Husbands, love your wives and do not be unkind to them.

²⁰ Children, obey your parents in everything. This pleases the Lord.

²¹ Fathers, do not make your children angry. They might stop trying to do right.

²² Servants, obey your boss in everything. Obey always, not only when he is looking at you as if you were pleasing a man. Do it with all your heart because you respect the Lord.

²³ Whatever your work is, do it gladly. Do it as you would do it unto the Lord and not for people.

²⁴ You know you will get pay from the Lord, for you are the servants of the Lord Christ.

²⁵ The person who does wrong will be punished for the wrong he has done. God does not love one person more than another.

4 You who are a boss, do what is right to your servants. You know that you also have a Master in heaven.

² Always take time to talk to God. Put your mind on what you are saying. And thank God for what he has done.

³ Talk to God about us too. Ask him to open a way for us to tell people his message. We want to tell God's plan about Christ. That is why I am in prison because of that plan.

⁴ I want to be free to talk about it as I should do.

⁵ Act the right way to people who are not Christians. Make good use of your time.

⁶ Always say good things when you talk. Talk in a way that will make people listen. Then you will know how to answer people.

⁷ Tychicus will tell you all about me. He is a brother whom I love. He is a very good helper and works with me in the Lord's work.

⁸ I am sending him to you so that you will know about us and so that he may comfort your hearts.

⁹ I am sending Onesimus with him. He is also a good brother whom I love. He is one of you. They will tell you all about everything here.

¹⁰ Here are the people who send you greetings: Aristarchus, who is in prison with me, and Mark, a cousin of Barnabas. I have already told you to welcome him if he comes to you.

¹¹ Jesus, whose other name is Justus, also sends greetings. These men are the only Jews who are doing God's work with me. And they have comforted me much.

¹² Epaphras sends you greetings. He is one of you and is a servant of Christ Jesus. He always talks to God about you with all his heart. He asks God to help you to be strong so that you will become grown-up Christians and know all that God wants you to do.

¹³ I myself have seen how hard he has worked for you and for the people in the cities of Laodicea and Hierapolis.

¹⁴ Luke, the doctor whom I love, and Demas also greet you.

¹⁵ Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and also to Nympha and the church people who meet in her house.

¹⁶ When you have read this letter, then be sure that it is also read to the church people in Laodicea. And be sure that you read the letter which will be sent to you from Laodicea.

¹⁷ Tell Archippus, `See that you do all the work which the Lord has given you to do.'

¹⁸ I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember that I am in prison. God bless you.