Bible in 90 Days

²⁶ It is through faith that all of you are God's children in union with Christ Jesus. ²⁷ You were baptized into union with Christ, and now you are clothed, so to speak, with the life of Christ himself. ²⁸ So there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, between slaves and free people, between men and women; you are all one in union with Christ Jesus. ^29 (A)If you belong to Christ, then you are the descendants of Abraham and will receive what God has promised.

4 But now to continue—the son who will receive his father's property is treated just like a slave while he is young, even though he really owns everything. ² While he is young, there are men who take care of him and manage his affairs until the time set by his father. ³ In the same way, we too were slaves of the ruling spirits of the universe before we reached spiritual maturity. ⁴ But when the right time finally came, God sent his own Son. He came as the son of a human mother and lived under the Jewish Law, ^5 (B)to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might become God's children.

^6 (C)To show that you are^[a] his children, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who cries out, “Father, my Father.” ⁷ So then, you are no longer a slave but a child. And since you are his child, God will give you all that he has for his children.

Paul's Concern for the Galatians

⁸ In the past you did not know God, and so you were slaves of beings who are not gods. ⁹ But now that you know God—or, I should say, now that God knows you—how is it that you want to turn back to those weak and pitiful ruling spirits? Why do you want to become their slaves all over again? ¹⁰ You pay special attention to certain days, months, seasons, and years. ¹¹ I am worried about you! Can it be that all my work for you has been for nothing?

¹² I beg you, my friends, be like me. After all, I am like you. You have not done me any wrong. ¹³ You remember why I preached the gospel to you the first time; it was because I was sick. ¹⁴ But even though my physical condition was a great trial to you, you did not despise or reject me. Instead, you received me as you would an angel from heaven; you received me as you would Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ You were so happy! What has happened? I myself can say that you would have taken out your own eyes, if you could, and given them to me. ¹⁶ Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?

¹⁷ Those other people show a deep interest in you, but their intentions are not good. All they want is to separate you from me, so that you will have the same interest in them as they have in you. ¹⁸ Now, it is good to have such a deep interest if the purpose is good—this is true always, and not merely when I am with you. ¹⁹ My dear children! Once again, just like a mother in childbirth, I feel the same kind of pain for you until Christ's nature is formed in you. ²⁰ How I wish I were with you now, so that I could take a different attitude toward you. I am so worried about you!

The Example of Hagar and Sarah

²¹ Let me ask those of you who want to be subject to the Law: do you not hear what the Law says? ^22 (D)It says that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman, the other by a free woman. ²³ His son by the slave woman was born in the usual way, but his son by the free woman was born as a result of God's promise. ²⁴ These things can be understood as a figure: the two women represent two covenants. The one whose children are born in slavery is Hagar, and she represents the covenant made at Mount Sinai. ²⁵ Hagar, who stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia, is^[b] a figure of the present city of Jerusalem, in slavery with all its people. ^26 (E)But the heavenly Jerusalem is free, and she is our mother. ^27 (F)For the scripture says,

²⁸ Now, you, my friends, are God's children as a result of his promise, just as Isaac was. ^29 (G)At that time the son who was born in the usual way persecuted the one who was born because of God's Spirit; and it is the same now. ^30 (H)But what does the scripture say? It says, “Send the slave woman and her son away; for the son of the slave woman will not have a part of the father's property along with the son of the free woman.” ³¹ So then, my friends, we are not the children of a slave woman but of a free woman.

Preserve Your Freedom

5 Freedom is what we have—Christ has set us free! Stand, then, as free people, and do not allow yourselves to become slaves again.

² Listen! I, Paul, tell you that if you allow yourselves to be circumcised, it means that Christ is of no use to you at all. ³ Once more I warn any man who allows himself to be circumcised that he is obliged to obey the whole Law. ⁴ Those of you who try to be put right with God by obeying the Law have cut yourselves off from Christ. You are outside God's grace. ⁵ As for us, our hope is that God will put us right with him; and this is what we wait for by the power of God's Spirit working through our faith. ⁶ For when we are in union with Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor the lack of it makes any difference at all; what matters is faith that works through love.

⁷ You were doing so well! Who made you stop obeying the truth? How did he persuade you? ⁸ It was not done by God, who calls you. ^9 (I)“It takes only a little yeast to make the whole batch of dough rise,” as they say. ¹⁰ But I still feel confident about you. Our life in union with the Lord makes me confident that you will not take a different view and that whoever is upsetting you will be punished by God.

¹¹ But as for me, my friends, if I continue to preach that circumcision is necessary, why am I still being persecuted? If that were true, then my preaching about the cross of Christ would cause no trouble. ¹² I wish that the people who are upsetting you would go all the way; let them go on and castrate themselves!

¹³ As for you, my friends, you were called to be free. But do not let this freedom become an excuse for letting your physical desires control you. Instead, let love make you serve one another. ^14 (J)For the whole Law is summed up in one commandment: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” ¹⁵ But if you act like wild animals, hurting and harming each other, then watch out, or you will completely destroy one another.

The Spirit and Human Nature

¹⁶ What I say is this: let the Spirit direct your lives, and you will not satisfy the desires of the human nature. ^17 (K)For what our human nature wants is opposed to what the Spirit wants, and what the Spirit wants is opposed to what our human nature wants. These two are enemies, and this means that you cannot do what you want to do. ¹⁸ If the Spirit leads you, then you are not subject to the Law.

¹⁹ What human nature does is quite plain. It shows itself in immoral, filthy, and indecent actions; ²⁰ in worship of idols and witchcraft. People become enemies and they fight; they become jealous, angry, and ambitious. They separate into parties and groups; ²¹ they are envious, get drunk, have orgies, and do other things like these. I warn you now as I have before: those who do these things will not possess the Kingdom of God.

²² But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ humility, and self-control. There is no law against such things as these. ²⁴ And those who belong to Christ Jesus have put to death their human nature with all its passions and desires. ²⁵ The Spirit has given us life; he must also control our lives. ²⁶ We must not be proud or irritate one another or be jealous of one another.

Bear One Another's Burdens

6 My friends, if someone is caught in any kind of wrongdoing, those of you who are spiritual should set him right; but you must do it in a gentle way. And keep an eye on yourselves, so that you will not be tempted, too. ² Help carry one another's burdens, and in this way you will obey^[c] the law of Christ. ³ If you think you are something when you really are nothing, you are only deceiving yourself. ⁴ You should each judge your own conduct. If it is good, then you can be proud of what you yourself have done, without having to compare it with what someone else has done. ⁵ For each of you have to carry your own load.

⁶ If you are being taught the Christian message, you should share all the good things you have with your teacher.

⁷ Do not deceive yourselves; no one makes a fool of God. You will reap exactly what you plant. ⁸ If you plant in the field of your natural desires, from it you will gather the harvest of death; if you plant in the field of the Spirit, from the Spirit you will gather the harvest of eternal life. ⁹ So let us not become tired of doing good; for if we do not give up, the time will come when we will reap the harvest. ¹⁰ So then, as often as we have the chance, we should do good to everyone, and especially to those who belong to our family in the faith.

Final Warning and Greeting

¹¹ See what big letters I make as I write to you now with my own hand! ¹² The people who are trying to force you to be circumcised are the ones who want to show off and boast about external matters. They do it, however, only so that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. ¹³ Even those who practice circumcision do not obey the Law; they want you to be circumcised so that they can boast that you submitted to this physical ceremony. ¹⁴ As for me, however, I will boast only about the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; for by means of his cross the world is dead to me, and I am dead to the world. ¹⁵ It does not matter at all whether or not one is circumcised; what does matter is being a new creature. ¹⁶ As for those who follow this rule in their lives, may peace and mercy be with them—with them and with all of God's people!

¹⁷ To conclude: let no one give me any more trouble, because the scars I have on my body show that I am the slave of Jesus.

¹⁸ May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, my friends. Amen.

1 ^(L)From Paul, who by God's will is an apostle of Christ Jesus—

To God's people in Ephesus,^[d] who are faithful in their life in union with Christ Jesus:

² May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

Spiritual Blessings in Christ

³ Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! For in our union with Christ he has blessed us by giving us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly world. ⁴ Even before the world was made, God had already chosen us to be his through our union with Christ, so that we would be holy and without fault before him.

Because of his love ⁵ God^[e] had already decided that through Jesus Christ he would make us his children—this was his pleasure and purpose. ⁶ Let us praise God for his glorious grace, for the free gift he gave us in his dear Son! ^7 (M)For by the blood of Christ^[f] we are set free, that is, our sins are forgiven. How great is the grace of God, ⁸ which he gave to us in such large measure!

In all his wisdom and insight ⁹ God did what he had purposed, and made known to us the secret plan he had already decided to complete by means of Christ. ¹⁰ This plan, which God will complete when the time is right, is to bring all creation together, everything in heaven and on earth, with Christ as head.

¹¹ All things are done according to God's plan and decision; and God chose us to be his own people in union with Christ because of his own purpose, based on what he had decided from the very beginning. ¹² Let us, then, who were the first to hope in Christ, praise God's glory!

¹³ And you also became God's people when you heard the true message, the Good News that brought you salvation. You believed in Christ, and God put his stamp of ownership on you by giving you the Holy Spirit he had promised. ¹⁴ The Spirit is the guarantee that we shall receive what God has promised his people, and this assures us that God will give complete freedom to those who are his. Let us praise his glory!

Paul's Prayer

¹⁵ For this reason, ever since I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all of God's people, ¹⁶ I have not stopped giving thanks to God for you. I remember you in my prayers ¹⁷ and ask the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, to give you the Spirit, who will make you wise and reveal God to you, so that you will know him. ¹⁸ I ask that your minds may be opened to see his light, so that you will know what is the hope to which he has called you, how rich are the wonderful blessings he promises his people, ¹⁹ and how very great is his power at work in us who believe. This power working in us is the same as the mighty strength ^20 (N)which he used when he raised Christ from death and seated him at his right side in the heavenly world. ²¹ Christ rules there above all heavenly rulers, authorities, powers, and lords; he has a title superior to all titles of authority in this world and in the next. ^22 (O)God put all things under Christ's feet and gave him to the church as supreme Lord over all things. ²³ The church is Christ's body, the completion of him who himself completes all things everywhere.^[g]

From Death to Life

2 ^(P)In the past you were spiritually dead because of your disobedience and sins. ² At that time you followed the world's evil way; you obeyed the ruler of the spiritual powers in space, the spirit who now controls the people who disobey God. ³ Actually all of us were like them and lived according to our natural desires, doing whatever suited the wishes of our own bodies and minds. In our natural condition we, like everyone else, were destined to suffer God's anger.

⁴ But God's mercy is so abundant, and his love for us is so great, ⁵ that while we were spiritually dead in our disobedience he brought us to life with Christ. It is by God's grace that you have been saved. ⁶ In our union with Christ Jesus he raised us up with him to rule with him in the heavenly world. ⁷ He did this to demonstrate for all time to come the extraordinary greatness of his grace in the love he showed us in Christ Jesus. ^8-9 For it is by God's grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of your own efforts, but God's gift, so that no one can boast about it. ¹⁰ God has made us what we are, and in our union with Christ Jesus he has created us for a life of good deeds, which he has already prepared for us to do.

One in Christ

¹¹ You Gentiles by birth—called “the uncircumcised” by the Jews, who call themselves the circumcised (which refers to what men do to their bodies)—remember what you were in the past. ¹² At that time you were apart from Christ. You were foreigners and did not belong to God's chosen people. You had no part in the covenants, which were based on God's promises to his people, and you lived in this world without hope and without God. ¹³ But now, in union with Christ Jesus you, who used to be far away, have been brought near by the blood of Christ.^{[h] 14} For Christ himself has brought us peace by making Jews and Gentiles one people. With his own body he broke down the wall that separated them and kept them enemies. ^15 (Q)He abolished the Jewish Law with its commandments and rules, in order to create out of the two races one new people in union with himself, in this way making peace. ^16 (R)By his death on the cross Christ destroyed their enmity; by means of the cross he united both races into one body and brought them back to God. ^17 (S)So Christ came and preached the Good News of peace to all—to you Gentiles, who were far away from God, and to the Jews, who were near to him. ¹⁸ It is through Christ that all of us, Jews and Gentiles, are able to come in the one Spirit into the presence of the Father.

¹⁹ So then, you Gentiles are not foreigners or strangers any longer; you are now citizens together with God's people and members of the family of God. ²⁰ You, too, are built upon the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets,^[i] the cornerstone being Christ Jesus himself. ²¹ He is the one who holds the whole building together and makes it grow into a sacred temple dedicated to the Lord. ²² In union with him you too are being built together with all the others into a place where God lives through his Spirit.

Paul's Work for the Gentiles

3 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles, pray to God. ² Surely you have heard that God in his grace has given me this work to do for your good. ³ God revealed his secret plan and made it known to me. (I have written briefly about this, ^4 (T)and if you will read what I have written, you can learn about my understanding of the secret of Christ.) ⁵ In past times human beings were not told this secret, but God has revealed it now by the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets. ⁶ The secret is that by means of the gospel the Gentiles have a part with the Jews in God's blessings; they are members of the same body and share in the promise that God made through Christ Jesus.

⁷ I was made a servant of the gospel by God's special gift, which he gave me through the working of his power. ⁸ I am less than the least of all God's people; yet God gave me this privilege of taking to the Gentiles the Good News about the infinite riches of Christ, ⁹ and of making all people see how God's secret plan is to be put into effect. God, who is the Creator of all things, kept his secret hidden through all the past ages, ¹⁰ in order that at the present time, by means of the church, the angelic rulers and powers in the heavenly world might learn of his wisdom in all its different forms. ¹¹ God did this according to his eternal purpose, which he achieved through Christ Jesus our Lord. ¹² In union with Christ and through our faith in him we have the boldness to go into God's presence with all confidence. ¹³ I beg you, then, not to be discouraged because I am suffering for you; it is all for your benefit.

The Love of Christ

¹⁴ For this reason I fall on my knees before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom every family in heaven and on earth receives its true name. ¹⁶ I ask God from the wealth of his glory to give you power through his Spirit to be strong in your inner selves, ¹⁷ and I pray that Christ will make his home in your hearts through faith. I pray that you may have your roots and foundation in love, ^18 (U)so that you, together with all God's people, may have the power to understand how broad and long, how high and deep, is Christ's love. ¹⁹ Yes, may you come to know his love—although it can never be fully known—and so be completely filled with the very nature of God.

²⁰ To him who by means of his power working in us is able to do so much more than we can ever ask for, or even think of: ²¹ to God be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus for all time, forever and ever! Amen.

The Unity of the Body

4 I urge you, then—I who am a prisoner because I serve the Lord: live a life that measures up to the standard God set when he called you. ^2 (V)Be always humble, gentle, and patient. Show your love by being tolerant with one another. ³ Do your best to preserve the unity which the Spirit gives by means of the peace that binds you together. ⁴ There is one body and one Spirit, just as there is one hope to which God has called you. ⁵ There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism; ⁶ there is one God and Father of all people, who is Lord of all, works through all, and is in all.

⁷ Each one of us has received a special gift in proportion to what Christ has given. ^8 (W)As the scripture says,

⁹ Now, what does “he went up” mean? It means that first he came down to the lowest depths of the earth.^{[j] 10} So the one who came down is the same one who went up, above and beyond the heavens, to fill the whole universe with his presence. ¹¹ It was he who “gave gifts to people”; he appointed some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, others to be pastors and teachers. ¹² He did this to prepare all God's people for the work of Christian service, in order to build up the body of Christ. ¹³ And so we shall all come together to that oneness in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God; we shall become mature people, reaching to the very height of Christ's full stature. ¹⁴ Then we shall no longer be children, carried by the waves and blown about by every shifting wind of the teaching of deceitful people, who lead others into error by the tricks they invent. ¹⁵ Instead, by speaking the truth in a spirit of love, we must grow up in every way to Christ, who is the head. ^16 (X)Under his control all the different parts of the body fit together, and the whole body is held together by every joint with which it is provided. So when each separate part works as it should, the whole body grows and builds itself up through love.

The New Life in Christ

¹⁷ In the Lord's name, then, I warn you: do not continue to live like the heathen, whose thoughts are worthless ¹⁸ and whose minds are in the dark. They have no part in the life that God gives, for they are completely ignorant and stubborn. ¹⁹ They have lost all feeling of shame; they give themselves over to vice and do all sorts of indecent things without restraint.

²⁰ That was not what you learned about Christ! ²¹ You certainly heard about him, and as his followers you were taught the truth that is in Jesus. ^22 (Y)So get rid of your old self, which made you live as you used to—the old self that was being destroyed by its deceitful desires. ²³ Your hearts and minds must be made completely new, ^24 (Z)and you must put on the new self, which is created in God's likeness and reveals itself in the true life that is upright and holy.

^25 (AA)No more lying, then! Each of you must tell the truth to the other believer, because we are all members together in the body of Christ. ^26 (AB)If you become angry, do not let your anger lead you into sin, and do not stay angry all day. ²⁷ Don't give the Devil a chance. ²⁸ If you used to rob, you must stop robbing and start working, in order to earn an honest living for yourself and to be able to help the poor. ²⁹ Do not use harmful words, but only helpful words, the kind that build up and provide what is needed, so that what you say will do good to those who hear you. ³⁰ And do not make God's Holy Spirit sad; for the Spirit is God's mark of ownership on you, a guarantee that the Day will come when God will set you free. ³¹ Get rid of all bitterness, passion, and anger. No more shouting or insults, no more hateful feelings of any sort. ^32 (AC)Instead, be kind and tender-hearted to one another, and forgive one another, as God has forgiven you through Christ.

Living in the Light

5 Since you are God's dear children, you must try to be like him. ^2 (AD)Your life must be controlled by love, just as Christ loved us and gave his life for us as a sweet-smelling offering and sacrifice that pleases God.

³ Since you are God's people, it is not right that any matters of sexual immorality or indecency or greed should even be mentioned among you. ⁴ Nor is it fitting for you to use language which is obscene, profane, or vulgar. Rather you should give thanks to God. ⁵ You may be sure that no one who is immoral, indecent, or greedy (for greed is a form of idolatry) will ever receive a share in the Kingdom of Christ and of God.

⁶ Do not let anyone deceive you with foolish words; it is because of these very things that God's anger will come upon those who do not obey him. ⁷ So have nothing at all to do with such people. ⁸ You yourselves used to be in the darkness, but since you have become the Lord's people, you are in the light. So you must live like people who belong to the light, ⁹ for it is the light^[k] that brings a rich harvest of every kind of goodness, righteousness, and truth. ¹⁰ Try to learn what pleases the Lord. ¹¹ Have nothing to do with the worthless things that people do, things that belong to the darkness. Instead, bring them out to the light. (¹² It is really too shameful even to talk about the things they do in secret.) ¹³ And when all things are brought out to the light, then their true nature is clearly revealed; ¹⁴ for anything that is clearly revealed becomes light.^[l] That is why it is said,

¹⁵ So be careful how you live. Don't live like ignorant people, but like wise people. ^16 (AE)Make good use of every opportunity you have, because these are evil days. ¹⁷ Don't be fools, then, but try to find out what the Lord wants you to do.

¹⁸ Do not get drunk with wine, which will only ruin you; instead, be filled with the Spirit. ^19 (AF)Speak to one another with the words of psalms, hymns, and sacred songs; sing hymns and psalms to the Lord with praise in your hearts. ²⁰ In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, always give thanks for everything to God the Father.

Wives and Husbands

²¹ Submit yourselves to one another because of your reverence for Christ.

^22 (AG)Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands as to the Lord. ²³ For a husband has authority over his wife just as Christ has authority over the church; and Christ is himself the Savior of the church, his body. ²⁴ And so wives must submit themselves completely to their husbands just as the church submits itself to Christ.

^25 (AH)Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave his life for it. ²⁶ He did this to dedicate the church to God by his word, after making it clean by washing it in water, ²⁷ in order to present the church to himself in all its beauty—pure and faultless, without spot or wrinkle or any other imperfection. ²⁸ Men ought to love their wives just as they love their own bodies. A man who loves his wife loves himself. (²⁹ None of us ever hate our own bodies. Instead, we feed them, and take care of them, just as Christ does the church; ³⁰ for we are members of his body.) ^31 (AI)As the scripture says, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and unite with his wife, and the two will become one.” ³² There is a deep secret truth revealed in this scripture, which I understand as applying to Christ and the church. ³³ But it also applies to you: every husband must love his wife as himself, and every wife must respect her husband.

Children and Parents

6 ^(AJ)Children, it is your Christian duty to^[m] obey your parents, for this is the right thing to do. ^2 (AK)“Respect your father and mother” is the first commandment that has a promise added: ³ “so that all may go well with you, and you may live a long time in the land.”

^4 (AL)Parents, do not treat your children in such a way as to make them angry. Instead, raise them with Christian discipline and instruction.

Slaves and Masters

^5 (AM)Slaves, obey your human masters with fear and trembling; and do it with a sincere heart, as though you were serving Christ. ⁶ Do this not only when they are watching you, because you want to gain their approval; but with all your heart do what God wants, as slaves of Christ. ⁷ Do your work as slaves cheerfully, as though you served the Lord, and not merely human beings. ⁸ Remember that the Lord will reward each of us, whether slave or free, for the good work we do.

^9 (AN)Masters, behave in the same way toward your slaves and stop using threats. Remember that you and your slaves belong to the same Master in heaven, who judges everyone by the same standard.

The Whole Armor of God

¹⁰ Finally, build up your strength in union with the Lord and by means of his mighty power. ^11 (AO)Put on all the armor that God gives you, so that you will be able to stand up against the Devil's evil tricks. ¹² For we are not fighting against human beings but against the wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world, the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark age. ¹³ So put on God's armor now! Then when the evil day comes, you will be able to resist the enemy's attacks; and after fighting to the end, you will still hold your ground.

^14 (AP)So stand ready, with truth as a belt tight around your waist, with righteousness as your breastplate, ^15 (AQ)and as your shoes the readiness to announce the Good News of peace. ¹⁶ At all times carry faith as a shield; for with it you will be able to put out all the burning arrows shot by the Evil One. ^17 (AR)And accept salvation as a helmet, and the word of God as the sword which the Spirit gives you. ¹⁸ Do all this in prayer, asking for God's help. Pray on every occasion, as the Spirit leads. For this reason keep alert and never give up; pray always for all God's people. ¹⁹ And pray also for me, that God will give me a message when I am ready to speak, so that I may speak boldly and make known the gospel's secret. ²⁰ For the sake of this gospel I am an ambassador, though now I am in prison. Pray that I may be bold in speaking about the gospel as I should.

Final Greetings

^21 (AS)Tychicus, our dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord's work, will give you all the news about me, so that you may know how I am getting along. ²² That is why I am sending him to you—to tell you how all of us are getting along and to encourage you.

²³ May God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give to all Christians peace and love with faith. ²⁴ May God's grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with undying love.

1 ^(AT)From Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus—

To all God's people in Philippi who are in union with Christ Jesus, including the church leaders and helpers:

² May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

Paul's Prayer for His Readers

³ I thank my God for you every time I think of you; ⁴ and every time I pray for you all, I pray with joy ⁵ because of the way in which you have helped me in the work of the gospel from the very first day until now. ⁶ And so I am sure that God, who began this good work in you, will carry it on until it is finished on the Day of Christ Jesus. ⁷ You are always in my heart! And so it is only right for me to feel as I do about you. For you have all shared with me in this privilege that God has given me, both now that I am in prison and also while I was free to defend the gospel and establish it firmly. ⁸ God is my witness that I tell the truth when I say that my deep feeling for you all comes from the heart of Christ Jesus himself.

⁹ I pray that your love will keep on growing more and more, together with true knowledge and perfect judgment, ¹⁰ so that you will be able to choose what is best. Then you will be free from all impurity and blame on the Day of Christ. ¹¹ Your lives will be filled with the truly good qualities which only Jesus Christ can produce, for the glory and praise of God.

To Live Is Christ

¹² I want you to know, my friends, that the things that have happened to me have really helped the progress of the gospel. ^13 (AU)As a result, the whole palace guard and all the others here know that I am in prison because I am a servant of Christ. ¹⁴ And my being in prison has given most of the believers more confidence in the Lord, so that they grow bolder all the time to preach the message^[n] fearlessly.

¹⁵ Of course some of them preach Christ because they are jealous and quarrelsome, but others from genuine good will. ¹⁶ These do so from love, because they know that God has given me the work of defending the gospel. ¹⁷ The others do not proclaim Christ sincerely, but from a spirit of selfish ambition; they think that they will make more trouble for me while I am in prison.

¹⁸ It does not matter! I am happy about it—just so Christ is preached in every way possible, whether from wrong or right motives. And I will continue to be happy, ¹⁹ because I know that by means of your prayers and the help which comes from the Spirit of Jesus Christ I shall be set free. ²⁰ My deep desire and hope is that I shall never fail in my duty, but that at all times, and especially right now, I shall be full of courage, so that with my whole being I shall bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die. ²¹ For what is life? To me, it is Christ. Death, then, will bring more. ²² But if by continuing to live I can do more worthwhile work, then I am not sure which I should choose. ²³ I am pulled in two directions. I want very much to leave this life and be with Christ, which is a far better thing; ²⁴ but for your sake it is much more important that I remain alive. ²⁵ I am sure of this, and so I know that I will stay. I will stay on with you all, to add to your progress and joy in the faith, ²⁶ so that when I am with you again, you will have even more reason to be proud of me in your life in union with Christ Jesus.

²⁷ Now, the important thing is that your way of life should be as the gospel of Christ requires, so that, whether or not I am able to go and see you, I will hear that you are standing firm with one common purpose and that with only one desire you are fighting together for the faith of the gospel. ²⁸ Don't be afraid of your enemies; always be courageous, and this will prove to them that they will lose and that you will win, because it is God who gives you the victory. ²⁹ For you have been given the privilege of serving Christ, not only by believing in him, but also by suffering for him. ^30 (AV)Now you can take part with me in the battle. It is the same battle you saw me fighting in the past, and as you hear, the one I am fighting still.

Christ's Humility and Greatness

2 Your life in Christ makes you strong, and his love comforts you. You have fellowship with the Spirit,^[o] and you have kindness and compassion for one another. ² I urge you, then, to make me completely happy by having the same thoughts, sharing the same love, and being one in soul and mind. ³ Don't do anything from selfish ambition or from a cheap desire to boast, but be humble toward one another, always considering others better than yourselves. ⁴ And look out for one another's interests, not just for your own. ⁵ The attitude you should have is the one that Christ Jesus had:

Shining as Lights in the World

¹² So then, dear friends, as you always obeyed me when I was with you, it is even more important that you obey me now while I am away from you. Keep on working with fear and trembling to complete your salvation, ¹³ because God is always at work in you to make you willing and able to obey his own purpose.

¹⁴ Do everything without complaining or arguing, ^15 (AX)so that you may be innocent and pure as God's perfect children, who live in a world of corrupt and sinful people. You must shine among them like stars lighting up the sky, ¹⁶ as you offer them the message of life. If you do so, I shall have reason to be proud of you on the Day of Christ, because it will show that all my effort and work have not been wasted.

¹⁷ Perhaps my life's blood is to be poured out like an offering on the sacrifice that your faith offers to God. If that is so, I am glad and share my joy with you all. ¹⁸ In the same way, you too must be glad and share your joy with me.

Timothy and Epaphroditus

¹⁹ If it is the Lord's will, I hope that I will be able to send Timothy to you soon, so that I may be encouraged by news about you. ²⁰ He is the only one who shares my feelings and who really cares about you. ²¹ Everyone else is concerned only with their own affairs, not with the cause of Jesus Christ. ²² And you yourselves know how he has proved his worth, how he and I, like a son and his father, have worked together for the sake of the gospel. ²³ So I hope to send him to you as soon as I know how things are going to turn out for me. ²⁴ And I trust in the Lord that I myself will be able to come to you soon.

²⁵ I have thought it necessary to send to you our brother Epaphroditus, who has worked and fought by my side and who has served as your messenger in helping me. ²⁶ He is anxious to see you all and is very upset because you had heard that he was sick. ²⁷ Indeed he was sick and almost died. But God had pity on him, and not only on him but on me, too, and spared me an even greater sorrow. ²⁸ I am all the more eager, then, to send him to you, so that you will be glad again when you see him, and my own sorrow will disappear. ²⁹ Receive him, then, with joy, as a believer in the Lord. Show respect to all such people as he, ³⁰ because he risked his life and nearly died for the sake of the work of Christ, in order to give me the help that you yourselves could not give.

The True Righteousness

3 In conclusion, my friends, be joyful in your union with the Lord. I don't mind repeating what I have written before, and you will be safer if I do so. ² Watch out for those who do evil things, those dogs, those who insist on cutting the body. ³ It is we, not they, who have received the true circumcision, for we worship God by means of his Spirit and rejoice in our life in union with Christ Jesus. We do not put any trust in external ceremonies. ⁴ I could, of course, put my trust in such things. If any of you think you can trust in external ceremonies, I have even more reason to feel that way. ^5 (AY)I was circumcised when I was a week old. I am an Israelite by birth, of the tribe of Benjamin, a pure-blooded Hebrew. As far as keeping the Jewish Law is concerned, I was a Pharisee, ^6 (AZ)and I was so zealous that I persecuted the church. As far as a person can be righteous by obeying the commands of the Law, I was without fault. ⁷ But all those things that I might count as profit I now reckon as loss for Christ's sake. ⁸ Not only those things; I reckon everything as complete loss for the sake of what is so much more valuable, the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have thrown everything away; I consider it all as mere garbage, so that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be completely united with him. I no longer have a righteousness of my own, the kind that is gained by obeying the Law. I now have the righteousness that is given through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God and is based on faith. ¹⁰ All I want is to know Christ and to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings and become like him in his death, ¹¹ in the hope that I myself will be raised from death to life.

Running toward the Goal

¹² I do not claim that I have already succeeded or have already become perfect. I keep striving to win the prize for which Christ Jesus has already won me to himself. ¹³ Of course, my friends, I really do not^[r] think that I have already won it; the one thing I do, however, is to forget what is behind me and do my best to reach what is ahead. ¹⁴ So I run straight toward the goal in order to win the prize, which is God's call through Christ Jesus to the life above.

¹⁵ All of us who are spiritually mature should have this same attitude. But if some of you have a different attitude, God will make this clear to you. ¹⁶ However that may be, let us go forward according to the same rules we have followed until now.

^17 (BA)Keep on imitating me, my friends. Pay attention to those who follow the right example that we have set for you. ¹⁸ I have told you this many times before, and now I repeat it with tears: there are many whose lives make them enemies of Christ's death on the cross. ¹⁹ They are going to end up in hell, because their god is their bodily desires. They are proud of what they should be ashamed of, and they think only of things that belong to this world. ²⁰ We, however, are citizens of heaven, and we eagerly wait for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, to come from heaven. ²¹ He will change our weak mortal bodies and make them like his own glorious body, using that power by which he is able to bring all things under his rule.

Instructions

4 So then, my friends, how dear you are to me and how I miss you! How happy you make me, and how proud I am of you!—this, dear friends, is how you should stand firm in your life in the Lord.

² Euodia and Syntyche, please, I beg you, try to agree as sisters in the Lord. ³ And you too, my faithful partner, I want you to help these women; for they have worked hard with me to spread the gospel, together with Clement and all my other fellow workers, whose names are in God's book of the living.

⁴ May you always be joyful in your union with the Lord. I say it again: rejoice!

⁵ Show a gentle attitude toward everyone. The Lord is coming soon. ⁶ Don't worry about anything, but in all your prayers ask God for what you need, always asking him with a thankful heart. ⁷ And God's peace, which is far beyond human understanding, will keep your hearts and minds safe in union with Christ Jesus.

⁸ In conclusion, my friends, fill your minds with those things that are good and that deserve praise: things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and honorable. ⁹ Put into practice what you learned and received from me, both from my words and from my actions. And the God who gives us peace will be with you.

Thanks for the Gift

¹⁰ In my life in union with the Lord it is a great joy to me that after so long a time you once more had the chance of showing that you care for me. I don't mean that you had stopped caring for me—you just had no chance to show it. ¹¹ And I am not saying this because I feel neglected, for I have learned to be satisfied with what I have. ¹² I know what it is to be in need and what it is to have more than enough. I have learned this secret, so that anywhere, at any time, I am content, whether I am full or hungry, whether I have too much or too little. ¹³ I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me.

¹⁴ But it was very good of you to help me in my troubles. ¹⁵ You Philippians know very well that when I left Macedonia in the early days of preaching the Good News, you were the only church to help me; you were the only ones who shared my profits and losses. ^16 (BB)More than once when I needed help in Thessalonica, you sent it to me. ¹⁷ It is not that I just want to receive gifts; rather, I want to see profit added to your account. ^18 (BC)Here, then, is my receipt for everything you have given me—and it has been more than enough! I have all I need now that Epaphroditus has brought me all your gifts. They are like a sweet-smelling offering to God, a sacrifice which is acceptable and pleasing to him. ¹⁹ And with all his abundant wealth through Christ Jesus, my God will supply all your needs. ²⁰ To our God and Father be the glory forever and ever! Amen.

Final Greetings

²¹ Greetings to each one of God's people who belong to Christ Jesus. The believers here with me send you their greetings. ²² All God's people here send greetings, especially those who belong to the Emperor's palace.

²³ May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

1 From Paul, who by God's will is an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy—

² To God's people in Colossae, who are our faithful friends in union with Christ:

May God our Father give you grace and peace.

Prayer of Thanksgiving

³ We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you. ⁴ For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all God's people. ⁵ When the true message, the Good News, first came to you, you heard about the hope it offers. So your faith and love are based on what you hope for, which is kept safe for you in heaven. ⁶ The gospel keeps bringing blessings and is spreading throughout the world, just as it has among you ever since the day you first heard about the grace of God and came to know it as it really is. ^7 (BD)You learned of God's grace from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is Christ's faithful worker on our^[s] behalf. ⁸ He has told us of the love that the Spirit has given you.

⁹ For this reason we have always prayed for you, ever since we heard about you. We ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will, with all the wisdom and understanding that his Spirit gives. ¹⁰ Then you will be able to live as the Lord wants and will always do what pleases him. Your lives will produce all kinds of good deeds, and you will grow in your knowledge of God. ^11-12 May you be made strong with all the strength which comes from his glorious power, so that you may be able to endure everything with patience. And with joy give thanks to^[t] the Father, who has made you fit to have your share of what God has reserved for his people in the kingdom of light. ¹³ He rescued us from the power of darkness and brought us safe into the kingdom of his dear Son, ^14 (BE)by whom we are set free, that is, our sins are forgiven.

The Person and Work of Christ

^15 (BF)Christ is the visible likeness of the invisible God. He is the first-born Son, superior to all created things. ¹⁶ For through him God created everything in heaven and on earth, the seen and the unseen things, including spiritual powers, lords, rulers, and authorities. God created the whole universe through him and for him. ¹⁷ Christ existed before all things, and in union with him all things have their proper place. ^18 (BG)He is the head of his body, the church; he is the source of the body's life. He is the first-born Son, who was raised from death, in order that he alone might have the first place in all things. ¹⁹ For it was by God's own decision that the Son has in himself the full nature of God. ^20 (BH)Through the Son, then, God decided to bring the whole universe back to himself. God made peace through his Son's blood^[u] on the cross and so brought back to himself all things, both on earth and in heaven.

²¹ At one time you were far away from God and were his enemies because of the evil things you did and thought. ²² But now, by means of the physical death of his Son, God has made you his friends, in order to bring you, holy, pure, and faultless, into his presence. ²³ You must, of course, continue faithful on a firm and sure foundation, and must not allow yourselves to be shaken from the hope you gained when you heard the gospel. It is of this gospel that I, Paul, became a servant—this gospel which has been preached to everybody in the world.

Paul's Work as a Servant of the Church

²⁴ And now I am happy about my sufferings for you, for by means of my physical sufferings I am helping to complete what still remains of Christ's sufferings on behalf of his body, the church. ²⁵ And I have been made a servant of the church by God, who gave me this task to perform for your good. It is the task of fully proclaiming his message, ²⁶ which is the secret he hid through all past ages from all human beings but has now revealed to his people. ²⁷ God's plan is to make known his secret to his people, this rich and glorious secret which he has for all peoples. And the secret is that Christ is in you, which means that you will share in the glory of God. ²⁸ So we preach Christ to everyone. With all possible wisdom we warn and teach them in order to bring each one into God's presence as a mature individual in union with Christ. ²⁹ To get this done I toil and struggle, using the mighty strength which Christ supplies and which is at work in me.

2 Let me tell you how hard I have worked for you and for the people in Laodicea and for all others who do not know me personally. ² I do this in order that they may be filled with courage and may be drawn together in love, and so have the full wealth of assurance which true understanding brings. In this way they will know God's secret, which is Christ himself.^{[v] 3} He is the key that opens all the hidden treasures of God's wisdom and knowledge.

⁴ I tell you, then, do not let anyone deceive you with false arguments, no matter how good they seem to be. ⁵ For even though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, and I am glad as I see the resolute firmness with which you stand together in your faith in Christ.

Fullness of Life in Christ

⁶ Since you have accepted Christ Jesus as Lord, live in union with him. ⁷ Keep your roots deep in him, build your lives on him, and become stronger in your faith, as you were taught. And be filled with thanksgiving.

⁸ See to it, then, that no one enslaves you by means of the worthless deceit of human wisdom, which comes from the teachings handed down by human beings and from the ruling spirits of the universe, and not from Christ. ⁹ For the full content of divine nature lives in Christ, in his humanity, ¹⁰ and you have been given full life in union with him. He is supreme over every spiritual ruler and authority.

¹¹ In union with Christ you were circumcised, not with the circumcision that is made by human beings, but with the circumcision made by Christ, which consists of being freed from the power of this sinful self. ^12 (BI)For when you were baptized, you were buried with Christ, and in baptism you were also raised with Christ through your faith in the active power of God, who raised him from death. ^13 (BJ)You were at one time spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were Gentiles without the Law. But God has now brought you to life with Christ. God forgave us all our sins; ^14 (BK)he canceled the unfavorable record of our debts with its binding rules and did away with it completely by nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ And on that cross Christ freed himself from the power of the spiritual rulers and authorities;^[w] he made a public spectacle of them by leading them as captives in his victory procession.

^16 (BL)So let no one make rules about what you eat or drink or about holy days or the New Moon Festival or the Sabbath. ¹⁷ All such things are only a shadow of things in the future; the reality is Christ. ¹⁸ Do not allow yourselves to be condemned by anyone who claims to be superior because of special visions and who insists on false humility and the worship of angels. For no reason at all, such people are all puffed up by their human way of thinking ^19 (BM)and have stopped holding on to Christ, who is the head of the body. Under Christ's control the whole body is nourished and held together by its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God wants it to grow.

Dying and Living with Christ

²⁰ You have died with Christ and are set free from the ruling spirits of the universe. Why, then, do you live as though you belonged to this world? Why do you obey such rules as ²¹ “Don't handle this,” “Don't taste that,” “Don't touch the other”? ²² All these refer to things which become useless once they are used; they are only human rules and teachings. ²³ Of course such rules appear to be based on wisdom in their forced worship of angels, and false humility, and severe treatment of the body; but they have no real value in controlling physical passions.

3 ^(BN)You have been raised to life with Christ, so set your hearts on the things that are in heaven, where Christ sits on his throne at the right side of God. ² Keep your minds fixed on things there, not on things here on earth. ³ For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ Your real life is Christ and when he appears, then you too will appear with him and share his glory!

The Old Life and the New

⁵ You must put to death, then, the earthly desires at work in you, such as sexual immorality, indecency, lust, evil passions, and greed (for greed is a form of idolatry). ⁶ Because of such things God's anger will come upon those who do not obey him.^{[x] 7} At one time you yourselves used to live according to such desires, when your life was dominated by them.

⁸ But now you must get rid of all these things: anger, passion, and hateful feelings. No insults or obscene talk must ever come from your lips. ^9 (BO)Do not lie to one another, for you have put off the old self with its habits ^10 (BP)and have put on the new self. This is the new being which God, its Creator, is constantly renewing in his own image, in order to bring you to a full knowledge of himself. ¹¹ As a result, there is no longer any distinction between Gentiles and Jews, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarians, savages, slaves, and free, but Christ is all, Christ is in all.

^12 (BQ)You are the people of God; he loved you and chose you for his own. So then, you must clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. ^13 (BR)Be tolerant with one another and forgive one another whenever any of you has a complaint against someone else. You must forgive one another just as the Lord has forgiven you. ¹⁴ And to all these qualities add love, which binds all things together in perfect unity. ¹⁵ The peace that Christ gives is to guide you in the decisions you make; for it is to this peace that God has called you together in the one body. And be thankful. ^16 (BS)Christ's message in all its richness must live in your hearts. Teach and instruct one another with all wisdom. Sing psalms, hymns, and sacred songs; sing to God with thanksgiving in your hearts. ¹⁷ Everything you do or say, then, should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, as you give thanks through him to God the Father.

Personal Relations in the New Life

^18 (BT)Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, for that is what you should do as Christians.

^19 (BU)Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.

^20 (BV)Children, it is your Christian duty to obey your parents always, for that is what pleases God.

^21 (BW)Parents, do not irritate your children, or they will become discouraged.

^22 (BX)Slaves, obey your human masters in all things, not only when they are watching you because you want to gain their approval; but do it with a sincere heart because of your reverence for the Lord. ²³ Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as though you were working for the Lord and not for people. ²⁴ Remember that the Lord will give you as a reward what he has kept for his people. For Christ is the real Master you serve. ^25 (BY)And all wrongdoers will be repaid for the wrong things they do, because God judges everyone by the same standard.

4 ^(BZ)Masters, be fair and just in the way you treat your slaves. Remember that you too have a Master in heaven.

Instructions

² Be persistent in prayer, and keep alert as you pray, giving thanks to God. ³ At the same time pray also for us, so that God will give us a good opportunity to preach his message about the secret of Christ. For that is why I am now in prison. ⁴ Pray, then, that I may speak, as I should, in such a way as to make it clear.

^5 (CA)Be wise in the way you act toward those who are not believers, making good use of every opportunity you have. ^6 (CB)Your speech should always be pleasant and interesting, and you should know how to give the right answer to everyone.

Final Greetings

^7 (CC)Our dear friend Tychicus, who is a faithful worker and fellow servant in the Lord's work, will give you all the news about me. ⁸ That is why I am sending him to you, in order to cheer you up by telling you how all of us are getting along. ^9 (CD)With him goes Onesimus, that dear and faithful friend, who belongs to your group. They will tell you everything that is happening here.

^10 (CE)Aristarchus, who is in prison with me, sends you greetings, and so does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas. (You have already received instructions to welcome Mark if he comes your way.) ¹¹ Joshua, also called Justus, sends greetings too. These three are the only Jewish believers who work with me for the Kingdom of God, and they have been a great help to me.

^12 (CF)Greetings from Epaphras, another member of your group and a servant of Christ Jesus. He always prays fervently for you, asking God to make you stand firm, as mature and fully convinced Christians, in complete obedience to God's will. ¹³ I can personally testify to his hard work for you and for the people in Laodicea and Hierapolis. ^14 (CG)Luke, our dear doctor, and Demas send you their greetings.

¹⁵ Give our best wishes to the believers in Laodicea and to Nympha and the church that meets in her house.^{[y] 16} After you read this letter, make sure that it is read also in the church at Laodicea. At the same time, you are to read the letter that the believers in Laodicea will send you. ^17 (CH)And tell Archippus, “Be sure to finish the task you were given in the Lord's service.”

¹⁸ With my own hand I write this: Greetings from Paul Do not forget my chains!

May God's grace be with you.