Bible in 90 Days

^26-27 You were all baptized into Christ, and so you were all clothed with Christ. This means that you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁸ In Christ, there is no difference between Jew and Greek, slave and free person, male and female. You are all the same in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ You belong to Christ, so you are Abraham’s descendants. You will inherit all of God’s blessings because of the promise God made to Abraham.

4 I want to tell you this: While those who will inherit their fathers’ property are still children, they are no different from slaves. It does not matter that the children own everything. ² While they are children, they must obey those who are chosen to care for them. But when the children reach the age set by their fathers, they are free. ³ It is the same for us. We were once like children, slaves to the useless rules of this world. ⁴ But when the right time came, God sent his Son who was born of a woman and lived under the law. ⁵ God did this so he could buy freedom for those who were under the law and so we could become his children.

⁶ Since you are God’s children, God sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, and the Spirit cries out, “Father.”^{[a] 7} So now you are not a slave; you are God’s child, and God will give you the blessing he promised, because you are his child.

Paul’s Love for the Christians

⁸ In the past you did not know God. You were slaves to gods that were not real. ⁹ But now you know the true God. Really, it is God who knows you. So why do you turn back to those weak and useless rules you followed before? Do you want to be slaves to those things again? ¹⁰ You still follow teachings about special days, months, seasons, and years. ¹¹ I am afraid for you, that my work for you has been wasted.

¹² Brothers and sisters, I became like you, so I beg you to become like me. You were very good to me before. ¹³ You remember that it was because of an illness that I came to you the first time, preaching the Good News. ¹⁴ Though my sickness was a trouble for you, you did not hate me or make me leave. But you welcomed me as an angel from God, as if I were Jesus Christ himself! ¹⁵ You were very happy then, but where is that joy now? I am ready to testify that you would have taken out your eyes and given them to me if that were possible. ¹⁶ Now am I your enemy because I tell you the truth?

¹⁷ Those people^[b] are working hard to persuade you, but this is not good for you. They want to persuade you to turn against us and follow only them. ¹⁸ It is good for people to show interest in you, but only if their purpose is good. This is always true, not just when I am with you. ¹⁹ My little children, again I feel the pain of childbirth for you until you truly become like Christ. ²⁰ I wish I could be with you now and could change the way I am talking to you, because I do not know what to think about you.

The Example of Hagar and Sarah

²¹ Some of you still want to be under the law. Tell me, do you know what the law says? ²² The Scriptures say that Abraham had two sons. The mother of one son was a slave woman, and the mother of the other son was a free woman. ²³ Abraham’s son from the slave woman was born in the normal human way. But the son from the free woman was born because of the promise God made to Abraham.

²⁴ This story teaches something else: The two women are like the two agreements between God and his people. One agreement is the law that God made on Mount Sinai,^[c] and the people who are under this agreement are like slaves. The mother named Hagar is like that agreement. ²⁵ She is like Mount Sinai in Arabia and is a picture of the earthly city of Jerusalem. This city and its people are slaves to the law. ²⁶ But the heavenly Jerusalem, which is above, is like the free woman. She is our mother. ²⁷ It is written in the Scriptures:

²⁸ My brothers and sisters, you are God’s children because of his promise, as Isaac was then. ²⁹ The son who was born in the normal way treated the other son badly. It is the same today. ³⁰ But what does the Scripture say? “Throw out the slave woman and her son. The son of the slave woman should not inherit anything. The son of the free woman should receive it all.”^{[d] 31} So, my brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.

Keep Your Freedom

5 We have freedom now, because Christ made us free. So stand strong. Do not change and go back into the slavery of the law. ² Listen, I Paul tell you that if you go back to the law by being circumcised, Christ does you no good. ³ Again, I warn every man: If you allow yourselves to be circumcised, you must follow all the law. ⁴ If you try to be made right with God through the law, your life with Christ is over—you have left God’s grace. ⁵ But we have the true hope that comes from being made right with God, and by the Spirit we wait eagerly for this hope. ⁶ When we are in Christ Jesus, it is not important if we are circumcised or not. The important thing is faith—the kind of faith that works through love.

⁷ You were running a good race. Who stopped you from following the true way? ⁸ This change did not come from the One who chose you. ⁹ Be careful! “Just a little yeast makes the whole batch of dough rise.” ¹⁰ But I trust in the Lord that you will not believe those different ideas. Whoever is confusing you with such ideas will be punished.

¹¹ My brothers and sisters, I do not teach that a man must be circumcised. If I teach circumcision, why am I still being attacked? If I still taught circumcision, my preaching about the cross would not be a problem. ¹² I wish the people who are bothering you would castrate^[e] themselves!

¹³ My brothers and sisters, God called you to be free, but do not use your freedom as an excuse to do what pleases your sinful self. Serve each other with love. ¹⁴ The whole law is made complete in this one command: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”^{[f] 15} If you go on hurting each other and tearing each other apart, be careful, or you will completely destroy each other.

The Spirit and Human Nature

¹⁶ So I tell you: Live by following the Spirit. Then you will not do what your sinful selves want. ¹⁷ Our sinful selves want what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit wants what is against our sinful selves. The two are against each other, so you cannot do just what you please. ¹⁸ But if the Spirit is leading you, you are not under the law.

¹⁹ The wrong things the sinful self does are clear: being sexually unfaithful, not being pure, taking part in sexual sins, ²⁰ worshiping gods, doing witchcraft, hating, making trouble, being jealous, being angry, being selfish, making people angry with each other, causing divisions among people, ²¹ feeling envy, being drunk, having wild and wasteful parties, and doing other things like these. I warn you now as I warned you before: Those who do these things will not inherit God’s kingdom. ²² But the Spirit produces the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control. There is no law that says these things are wrong. ²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their own sinful selves. They have given up their old selfish feelings and the evil things they wanted to do. ²⁵ We get our new life from the Spirit, so we should follow the Spirit. ²⁶ We must not be proud or make trouble with each other or be jealous of each other.

Help Each Other

6 Brothers and sisters, if someone in your group does something wrong, you who are spiritual should go to that person and gently help make him right again. But be careful, because you might be tempted to sin, too. ² By helping each other with your troubles, you truly obey the law of Christ. ³ If anyone thinks he is important when he really is not, he is only fooling himself. ⁴ Each person should judge his own actions and not compare himself with others. Then he can be proud for what he himself has done. ⁵ Each person must be responsible for himself.

⁶ Anyone who is learning the teaching of God should share all the good things he has with his teacher.

Life Is like Planting a Field

⁷ Do not be fooled: You cannot cheat God. People harvest only what they plant. ⁸ If they plant to satisfy their sinful selves, their sinful selves will bring them ruin. But if they plant to please the Spirit, they will receive eternal life from the Spirit. ⁹ We must not become tired of doing good. We will receive our harvest of eternal life at the right time if we do not give up. ¹⁰ When we have the opportunity to help anyone, we should do it. But we should give special attention to those who are in the family of believers.

Paul Ends His Letter

¹¹ See what large letters I use to write this myself. ¹² Some people are trying to force you to be circumcised so the Jews will accept them. They are afraid they will be attacked if they follow only the cross of Christ.^{[g] 13} Those who are circumcised do not obey the law themselves, but they want you to be circumcised so they can brag about what they forced you to do. ¹⁴ I hope I will never brag about things like that. The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is my only reason for bragging. Through the cross of Jesus my world was crucified, and I died to the world. ¹⁵ It is not important if a man is circumcised or uncircumcised. The important thing is being the new people God has made. ¹⁶ Peace and mercy to those who follow this rule—and to all of God’s people.

¹⁷ So do not give me any more trouble. I have scars on my body that show^[h] I belong to Christ Jesus.

¹⁸ My brothers and sisters, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

1 From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus. I am an apostle because that is what God wanted.

To God’s holy people living in Ephesus,^[i] believers in Christ Jesus:

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

Spiritual Blessings in Christ

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ, God has given us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly world. ⁴ That is, in Christ, he chose us before the world was made so that we would be his holy people—people without blame before him. ⁵ Because of his love, God had already decided to make us his own children through Jesus Christ. That was what he wanted and what pleased him, ⁶ and it brings praise to God because of his wonderful grace. God gave that grace to us freely, in Christ, the One he loves. ⁷ In Christ we are set free by the blood of his death, and so we have forgiveness of sins. How rich is God’s grace, ⁸ which he has given to us so fully and freely. God, with full wisdom and understanding, ⁹ let us know his secret purpose. This was what God wanted, and he planned to do it through Christ. ¹⁰ His goal was to carry out his plan, when the right time came, that all things in heaven and on earth would be joined together in Christ as the head.

¹¹ In Christ we were chosen to be God’s people, because from the very beginning God had decided this in keeping with his plan. And he is the One who makes everything agree with what he decides and wants. ¹² We are the first people who hoped in Christ, and we were chosen so that we would bring praise to God’s glory. ¹³ So it is with you. When you heard the true teaching—the Good News about your salvation—you believed in Christ. And in Christ, God put his special mark of ownership on you by giving you the Holy Spirit that he had promised. ¹⁴ That Holy Spirit is the guarantee that we will receive what God promised for his people until God gives full freedom to those who are his—to bring praise to God’s glory.

Paul’s Prayer

¹⁵ That is why since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, ¹⁶ I have not stopped giving thanks to God for you. I always remember you in my prayers, ¹⁷ asking the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, to give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you will know him better. ¹⁸ I pray also that you will have greater understanding in your heart so you will know the hope to which he has called us and that you will know how rich and glorious are the blessings God has promised his holy people. ¹⁹ And you will know that God’s power is very great for us who believe. That power is the same as the great strength ²⁰ God used to raise Christ from the dead and put him at his right side in the heavenly world. ²¹ God has put Christ over all rulers, authorities, powers, and kings, not only in this world but also in the next. ²² God put everything under his power and made him the head over everything for the church, ²³ which is Christ’s body. The church is filled with Christ, and Christ fills everything in every way.

We Now Have Life

2 In the past you were spiritually dead because of your sins and the things you did against God. ² Yes, in the past you lived the way the world lives, following the ruler of the evil powers that are above the earth. That same spirit is now working in those who refuse to obey God. ³ In the past all of us lived like them, trying to please our sinful selves and doing all the things our bodies and minds wanted. We should have suffered God’s anger because we were sinful by nature. We were the same as all other people.

⁴ But God’s mercy is great, and he loved us very much. ⁵ Though we were spiritually dead because of the things we did against God, he gave us new life with Christ. You have been saved by God’s grace. ⁶ And he raised us up with Christ and gave us a seat with him in the heavens. He did this for those in Christ Jesus ⁷ so that for all future time he could show the very great riches of his grace by being kind to us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ I mean that you have been saved by grace through believing. You did not save yourselves; it was a gift from God. ⁹ It was not the result of your own efforts, so you cannot brag about it. ¹⁰ God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us to do good works, which God planned in advance for us to live our lives doing.

One in Christ

¹¹ You were not born Jewish. You are the people the Jews call “uncircumcised.”^[j] Those who call you “uncircumcised” call themselves “circumcised.” (Their circumcision is only something they themselves do on their bodies.) ¹² Remember that in the past you were without Christ. You were not citizens of Israel, and you had no part in the agreements^[k] with the promise that God made to his people. You had no hope, and you did not know God. ¹³ But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away from God are brought near through the blood of Christ’s death. ¹⁴ Christ himself is our peace. He made both Jewish people and those who are not Jews one people. They were separated as if there were a wall between them, but Christ broke down that wall of hate by giving his own body. ¹⁵ The Jewish law had many commands and rules, but Christ ended that law. His purpose was to make the two groups of people become one new people in him and in this way make peace. ¹⁶ It was also Christ’s purpose to end the hatred between the two groups, to make them into one body, and to bring them back to God. Christ did all this with his death on the cross. ¹⁷ Christ came and preached peace to you who were far away from God, and to those who were near to God. ¹⁸ Yes, it is through Christ we all have the right to come to the Father in one Spirit.

¹⁹ Now you who are not Jewish are not foreigners or strangers any longer, but are citizens together with God’s holy people. You belong to God’s family. ²⁰ You are like a building that was built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Christ Jesus himself is the most important stone^[l] in that building, ²¹ and that whole building is joined together in Christ. He makes it grow and become a holy temple in the Lord. ²² And in Christ you, too, are being built together with the Jews into a place where God lives through the Spirit.

Paul’s Work in Telling the Good News

3 So I, Paul, am a prisoner of Christ Jesus for you who are not Jews. ² Surely you have heard that God gave me this work to tell you about his grace. ³ He let me know his secret by showing it to me. I have already written a little about this. ⁴ If you read what I wrote then, you can see that I truly understand the secret about the Christ. ⁵ People who lived in other times were not told that secret. But now, through the Spirit, God has shown that secret to his holy apostles and prophets. ⁶ This is that secret: that through the Good News those who are not Jews will share with the Jews in God’s blessing. They belong to the same body, and they share together in the promise that God made in Christ Jesus.

⁷ By God’s special gift of grace given to me through his power, I became a servant to tell that Good News. ⁸ I am the least important of all God’s people, but God gave me this gift—to tell those who are not Jews the Good News about the riches of Christ, which are too great to understand fully. ⁹ And God gave me the work of telling all people about the plan for his secret, which has been hidden in him since the beginning of time. He is the One who created everything. ¹⁰ His purpose was that through the church all the rulers and powers in the heavenly world will now know God’s wisdom, which has so many forms. ¹¹ This agrees with the purpose God had since the beginning of time, and he carried out his plan through Christ Jesus our Lord. ¹² In Christ we can come before God with freedom and without fear. We can do this through faith in Christ. ¹³ So I ask you not to become discouraged because of the sufferings I am having for you. My sufferings are for your glory.

The Love of Christ

¹⁴ So I bow in prayer before the Father ¹⁵ from whom every family in heaven and on earth gets its true name. ¹⁶ I ask the Father in his great glory to give you the power to be strong inwardly through his Spirit. ¹⁷ I pray that Christ will live in your hearts by faith and that your life will be strong in love and be built on love. ¹⁸ And I pray that you and all God’s holy people will have the power to understand the greatness of Christ’s love—how wide and how long and how high and how deep that love is. ¹⁹ Christ’s love is greater than anyone can ever know, but I pray that you will be able to know that love. Then you can be filled with the fullness of God.

²⁰ With God’s power working in us, God can do much, much more than anything we can ask or imagine. ²¹ To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus for all time, forever and ever. Amen.

The Unity of the Body

4 I am in prison because I belong to the Lord. Therefore I urge you who have been chosen by God to live up to the life to which God called you. ² Always be humble, gentle, and patient, accepting each other in love. ³ You are joined together with peace through the Spirit, so make every effort to continue together in this way. ⁴ There is one body and one Spirit, and God called you to have one hope. ⁵ There is one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. ⁶ There is one God and Father of everything. He rules everything and is everywhere and is in everything.

⁷ Christ gave each one of us the special gift of grace, showing how generous he is. ⁸ That is why it says in the Scriptures,

⁹ When it says, “He went up,” what does it mean? It means that he first came down to the earth. ¹⁰ So Jesus came down, and he is the same One who went up above all the heaven. Christ did that to fill everything with his presence. ¹¹ And Christ gave gifts to people—he made some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to go and tell the Good News, and some to have the work of caring for and teaching God’s people. ¹² Christ gave those gifts to prepare God’s holy people for the work of serving, to make the body of Christ stronger. ¹³ This work must continue until we are all joined together in the same faith and in the same knowledge of the Son of God. We must become like a mature person, growing until we become like Christ and have his perfection.

¹⁴ Then we will no longer be babies. We will not be tossed about like a ship that the waves carry one way and then another. We will not be influenced by every new teaching we hear from people who are trying to fool us. They make plans and try any kind of trick to fool people into following the wrong path. ¹⁵ No! Speaking the truth with love, we will grow up in every way into Christ, who is the head. ¹⁶ The whole body depends on Christ, and all the parts of the body are joined and held together. Each part does its own work to make the whole body grow and be strong with love.

The Way You Should Live

¹⁷ In the Lord’s name, I tell you this. Do not continue living like those who do not believe. Their thoughts are worth nothing. ¹⁸ They do not understand, and they know nothing, because they refuse to listen. So they cannot have the life that God gives. ¹⁹ They have lost all feeling of shame, and they use their lives for doing evil. They continually want to do all kinds of evil. ²⁰ But what you learned in Christ was not like this. ²¹ I know that you heard about him, and you are in him, so you were taught the truth that is in Jesus. ²² You were taught to leave your old self—to stop living the evil way you lived before. That old self becomes worse, because people are fooled by the evil things they want to do. ²³ But you were taught to be made new in your hearts, ²⁴ to become a new person. That new person is made to be like God—made to be truly good and holy.

²⁵ So you must stop telling lies. Tell each other the truth, because we all belong to each other in the same body.^{[m] 26} When you are angry, do not sin, and be sure to stop being angry before the end of the day. ²⁷ Do not give the devil a way to defeat you. ²⁸ Those who are stealing must stop stealing and start working. They should earn an honest living for themselves. Then they will have something to share with those who are poor.

²⁹ When you talk, do not say harmful things, but say what people need—words that will help others become stronger. Then what you say will do good to those who listen to you. ³⁰ And do not make the Holy Spirit sad. The Spirit is God’s proof that you belong to him. God gave you the Spirit to show that God will make you free when the final day comes. ³¹ Do not be bitter or angry or mad. Never shout angrily or say things to hurt others. Never do anything evil. ³² Be kind and loving to each other, and forgive each other just as God forgave you in Christ.

Living in the Light

5 You are God’s children whom he loves, so try to be like him. ² Live a life of love just as Christ loved us and gave himself for us as a sweet-smelling offering and sacrifice to God.

³ But there must be no sexual sin among you, or any kind of evil or greed. Those things are not right for God’s holy people. ⁴ Also, there must be no evil talk among you, and you must not speak foolishly or tell evil jokes. These things are not right for you. Instead, you should be giving thanks to God. ⁵ You can be sure of this: No one will have a place in the kingdom of Christ and of God who sins sexually, or does evil things, or is greedy. Anyone who is greedy is serving a false god.

⁶ Do not let anyone fool you by telling you things that are not true, because these things will bring God’s anger on those who do not obey him. ⁷ So have nothing to do with them. ⁸ In the past you were full of darkness, but now you are full of light in the Lord. So live like children who belong to the light. ⁹ Light brings every kind of goodness, right living, and truth. ¹⁰ Try to learn what pleases the Lord. ¹¹ Have nothing to do with the things done in darkness, which are not worth anything. But show that they are wrong. ¹² It is shameful even to talk about what those people do in secret. ¹³ But the light makes all things easy to see, ¹⁴ and everything that is made easy to see can become light. This is why it is said:

¹⁵ So be very careful how you live. Do not live like those who are not wise, but live wisely. ¹⁶ Use every chance you have for doing good, because these are evil times. ¹⁷ So do not be foolish but learn what the Lord wants you to do. ¹⁸ Do not be drunk with wine, which will ruin you, but be filled with the Spirit. ¹⁹ Speak to each other with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music in your hearts to the Lord. ²⁰ Always give thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Wives and Husbands

²¹ Yield to obey each other as you would to Christ.

²² Wives, yield to your husbands, as you do to the Lord, ²³ because the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church. And he is the Savior of the body, which is the church. ²⁴ As the church yields to Christ, so you wives should yield to your husbands in everything.

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it ²⁶ to make it belong to God. Christ used the word to make the church clean by washing it with water. ²⁷ He died so that he could give the church to himself like a bride in all her beauty. He died so that the church could be pure and without fault, with no evil or sin or any other wrong thing in it. ²⁸ In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they love their own bodies. The man who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ No one ever hates his own body, but feeds and takes care of it. And that is what Christ does for the church, ³⁰ because we are parts of his body. ³¹ The Scripture says, “So a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two will become one body.”^{[n] 32} That secret is very important—I am talking about Christ and the church. ³³ But each one of you must love his wife as he loves himself, and a wife must respect her husband.

Children and Parents

6 Children, obey your parents as the Lord wants, because this is the right thing to do. ² The command says, “Honor your father and mother.”^[o] This is the first command that has a promise with it— ³ “Then everything will be well with you, and you will have a long life on the earth.”^[p]

⁴ Fathers, do not make your children angry, but raise them with the training and teaching of the Lord.

Slaves and Masters

⁵ Slaves, obey your masters here on earth with fear and respect and from a sincere heart, just as you obey Christ. ⁶ You must do this not only while they are watching you, to please them. With all your heart you must do what God wants as people who are obeying Christ. ⁷ Do your work with enthusiasm. Work as if you were serving the Lord, not as if you were serving only men and women. ⁸ Remember that the Lord will give a reward to everyone, slave or free, for doing good.

⁹ Masters, in the same way, be good to your slaves. Do not threaten them. Remember that the One who is your Master and their Master is in heaven, and he treats everyone alike.

Wear the Full Armor of God

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his great power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God so that you can fight against the devil’s evil tricks. ¹² Our fight is not against people on earth but against the rulers and authorities and the powers of this world’s darkness, against the spiritual powers of evil in the heavenly world. ¹³ That is why you need to put on God’s full armor. Then on the day of evil you will be able to stand strong. And when you have finished the whole fight, you will still be standing. ¹⁴ So stand strong, with the belt of truth tied around your waist and the protection of right living on your chest. ¹⁵ On your feet wear the Good News of peace to help you stand strong. ¹⁶ And also use the shield of faith with which you can stop all the burning arrows of the Evil One. ¹⁷ Accept God’s salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. ¹⁸ Pray in the Spirit at all times with all kinds of prayers, asking for everything you need. To do this you must always be ready and never give up. Always pray for all God’s people.

¹⁹ Also pray for me that when I speak, God will give me words so that I can tell the secret of the Good News without fear. ²⁰ I have been sent to preach this Good News, and I am doing that now, here in prison. Pray that when I preach the Good News I will speak without fear, as I should.

Final Greetings

²¹ I am sending to you Tychicus, our brother whom we love and a faithful servant of the Lord’s work. He will tell you everything that is happening with me. Then you will know how I am and what I am doing. ²² I am sending him to you for this reason—so that you will know how we are, and he can encourage you.

²³ Peace and love with faith to you brothers and sisters from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ Grace to all of you who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love that never ends.

1 From Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus.

To all of God’s holy people in Christ Jesus who live in Philippi, including your overseers and deacons:

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

Paul’s Prayer

³ I thank my God every time I remember you, ⁴ always praying with joy for all of you. ⁵ I thank God for the help you gave me while I preached the Good News—help you gave from the first day you believed until now. ⁶ God began doing a good work in you, and I am sure he will continue it until it is finished when Jesus Christ comes again.

⁷ And I know that I am right to think like this about all of you, because I have you in my heart. All of you share in God’s grace with me while I am in prison and while I am defending and proving the truth of the Good News. ⁸ God knows that I want to see you very much, because I love all of you with the love of Christ Jesus.

⁹ This is my prayer for you: that your love will grow more and more; that you will have knowledge and understanding with your love; ¹⁰ that you will see the difference between good and bad and will choose the good; that you will be pure and without wrong for the coming of Christ; ¹¹ that you will be filled with the good things produced in your life by Christ to bring glory and praise to God.

Paul’s Troubles Help the Work

¹² I want you brothers and sisters to know that what has happened to me has helped to spread the Good News. ¹³ All the palace guards and everyone else knows that I am in prison because I am a believer in Christ. ¹⁴ Because I am in prison, most of the believers have become more bold in Christ and are not afraid to speak the word of God.

¹⁵ It is true that some preach about Christ because they are jealous and ambitious, but others preach about Christ because they want to help. ¹⁶ They preach because they have love, and they know that God gave me the work of defending the Good News. ¹⁷ But the others preach about Christ for selfish and wrong reasons, wanting to make trouble for me in prison.

¹⁸ But it doesn’t matter. The important thing is that in every way, whether for right or wrong reasons, they are preaching about Christ. So I am happy, and I will continue to be happy. ¹⁹ Because you are praying for me and the Spirit of Jesus Christ is helping me, I know this trouble will bring my freedom. ²⁰ I expect and hope that I will not fail Christ in anything but that I will have the courage now, as always, to show the greatness of Christ in my life here on earth, whether I live or die. ²¹ To me the only important thing about living is Christ, and dying would be profit for me. ²² If I continue living in my body, I will be able to work for the Lord. I do not know what to choose—living or dying. ²³ It is hard to choose between the two. I want to leave this life and be with Christ, which is much better, ²⁴ but you need me here in my body. ²⁵ Since I am sure of this, I know I will stay with you to help you grow and have joy in your faith. ²⁶ You will be very happy in Christ Jesus when I am with you again.

²⁷ Only one thing concerns me: Be sure that you live in a way that brings honor to the Good News of Christ. Then whether I come and visit you or am away from you, I will hear that you are standing strong with one purpose, that you work together as one for the faith of the Good News, ²⁸ and that you are not afraid of those who are against you. All of this is proof that your enemies will be destroyed but that you will be saved by God. ²⁹ God gave you the honor not only of believing in Christ but also of suffering for him, both of which bring glory to Christ. ³⁰ When I was with you, you saw the struggles I had, and you hear about the struggles I am having now. You yourselves are having the same kind of struggles.

2 Does your life in Christ give you strength? Does his love comfort you? Do we share together in the spirit? Do you have mercy and kindness? ² If so, make me very happy by having the same thoughts, sharing the same love, and having one mind and purpose. ³ When you do things, do not let selfishness or pride be your guide. Instead, be humble and give more honor to others than to yourselves. ⁴ Do not be interested only in your own life, but be interested in the lives of others.

Be Unselfish Like Christ

⁵ In your lives you must think and act like Christ Jesus.

Be the People God Wants You to Be

¹² My dear friends, you have always obeyed God when I was with you. It is even more important that you obey now while I am away from you. Keep on working to complete your salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³ because God is working in you to help you want to do and be able to do what pleases him.

¹⁴ Do everything without complaining or arguing. ¹⁵ Then you will be innocent and without any wrong. You will be God’s children without fault. But you are living with crooked and mean people all around you, among whom you shine like stars in the dark world. ¹⁶ You offer the teaching that gives life. So when Christ comes again, I can be happy because my work was not wasted. I ran the race and won.

¹⁷ Your faith makes you offer your lives as a sacrifice in serving God. If I have to offer my own blood with your sacrifice, I will be happy and full of joy with all of you. ¹⁸ You also should be happy and full of joy with me.

Timothy and Epaphroditus

¹⁹ I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon. I will be happy to learn how you are. ²⁰ I have no one else like Timothy, who truly cares for you. ²¹ Other people are interested only in their own lives, not in the work of Jesus Christ. ²² You know the kind of person Timothy is. You know he has served with me in telling the Good News, as a son serves his father. ²³ I plan to send him to you quickly when I know what will happen to me. ²⁴ I am sure that the Lord will help me to come to you soon.

²⁵ Epaphroditus, my brother in Christ, works and serves with me in the army of Christ. When I needed help, you sent him to me. I think now that I must send him back to you, ²⁶ because he wants very much to see all of you. He is worried because you heard that he was sick. ²⁷ Yes, he was sick, and nearly died, but God had mercy on him and me too so that I would not have more sadness. ²⁸ I want very much to send him to you so that when you see him you can be happy, and I can stop worrying about you. ²⁹ Welcome him in the Lord with much joy. Give honor to people like him, ³⁰ because he almost died for the work of Christ. He risked his life to give me the help you could not give in your service to me.

The Importance of Christ

3 My brothers and sisters, be full of joy in the Lord. It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it will help you to be more ready. ² Watch out for those who do evil, who are like dogs, who demand to cut^[q] the body. ³ We are the ones who are truly circumcised. We worship God through his Spirit, and our pride is in Christ Jesus. We do not put trust in ourselves or anything we can do, ⁴ although I might be able to put trust in myself. If anyone thinks he has a reason to trust in himself, he should know that I have greater reason for trusting in myself. ⁵ I was circumcised eight days after my birth. I am from the people of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin. I am a Hebrew, and my parents were Hebrews. I had a strict view of the law, which is why I became a Pharisee. ⁶ I was so enthusiastic I tried to hurt the church. No one could find fault with the way I obeyed the law of Moses. ⁷ Those things were important to me, but now I think they are worth nothing because of Christ. ⁸ Not only those things, but I think that all things are worth nothing compared with the greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him, I have lost all those things, and now I know they are worthless trash. This allows me to have Christ ⁹ and to belong to him. Now I am right with God, not because I followed the law, but because I believed in Christ. God uses my faith to make me right with him. ¹⁰ I want to know Christ and the power that raised him from the dead. I want to share in his sufferings and become like him in his death. ¹¹ Then I have hope that I myself will be raised from the dead.

Continuing Toward Our Goal

¹² I do not mean that I am already as God wants me to be. I have not yet reached that goal, but I continue trying to reach it and to make it mine. Christ wants me to do that, which is the reason he made me his. ¹³ Brothers and sisters, I know that I have not yet reached that goal, but there is one thing I always do. Forgetting the past and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I keep trying to reach the goal and get the prize for which God called me through Christ to the life above.

¹⁵ All of us who are spiritually mature should think this way, too. And if there are things you do not agree with, God will make them clear to you. ¹⁶ But we should continue following the truth we already have.

¹⁷ Brothers and sisters, all of you should try to follow my example and to copy those who live the way we showed you. ¹⁸ Many people live like enemies of the cross of Christ. I have often told you about them, and it makes me cry to tell you about them now. ¹⁹ In the end, they will be destroyed. They do whatever their bodies want, they are proud of their shameful acts, and they think only about earthly things. ²⁰ But our homeland is in heaven, and we are waiting for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, to come from heaven. ²¹ By his power to rule all things, he will change our humble bodies and make them like his own glorious body.

What the Christians Are to Do

4 My dear brothers and sisters, I love you and want to see you. You bring me joy and make me proud of you, so stand strong in the Lord as I have told you.

² I ask Euodia and Syntyche to agree in the Lord. ³ And I ask you, my faithful friend, to help these women. They served with me in telling the Good News, together with Clement and others who worked with me, whose names are written in the book of life.^[r]

⁴ Be full of joy in the Lord always. I will say again, be full of joy.

⁵ Let everyone see that you are gentle and kind. The Lord is coming soon. ⁶ Do not worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks. ⁷ And God’s peace, which is so great we cannot understand it, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

⁸ Brothers and sisters, think about the things that are good and worthy of praise. Think about the things that are true and honorable and right and pure and beautiful and respected. ⁹ Do what you learned and received from me, what I told you, and what you saw me do. And the God who gives peace will be with you.

Paul Thanks the Christians

¹⁰ I am very happy in the Lord that you have shown your care for me again. You continued to care about me, but there was no way for you to show it. ¹¹ I am not telling you this because I need anything. I have learned to be satisfied with the things I have and with everything that happens. ¹² I know how to live when I am poor, and I know how to live when I have plenty. I have learned the secret of being happy at any time in everything that happens, when I have enough to eat and when I go hungry, when I have more than I need and when I do not have enough. ¹³ I can do all things through Christ, because he gives me strength.

¹⁴ But it was good that you helped me when I needed it. ¹⁵ You Philippians remember when I first preached the Good News there. When I left Macedonia, you were the only church that gave me help. ¹⁶ Several times you sent me things I needed when I was in Thessalonica. ¹⁷ Really, it is not that I want to receive gifts from you, but I want you to have the good that comes from giving. ¹⁸ And now I have everything, and more. I have all I need, because Epaphroditus brought your gift to me. It is like a sweet-smelling sacrifice offered to God, who accepts that sacrifice and is pleased with it. ¹⁹ My God will use his wonderful riches in Christ Jesus to give you everything you need. ²⁰ Glory to our God and Father forever and ever! Amen.

²¹ Greet each of God’s people in Christ Jesus. Those who are with me send greetings to you. ²² All of God’s people greet you, particularly those from the palace of Caesar.

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

1 From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus. I am an apostle because that is what God wanted. Also from Timothy, our brother.

² To the holy and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ that live in Colossae:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father.^[s]

³ In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴ because we have heard about the faith you have in Christ Jesus and the love you have for all of God’s people. ⁵ You have this faith and love because of your hope, and what you hope for is kept safe for you in heaven. You learned about this hope when you heard the message about the truth, the Good News ⁶ that was told to you. Everywhere in the world that Good News is bringing blessings and is growing. This has happened with you, too, since you heard the Good News and understood the truth about the grace of God. ⁷ You learned about God’s grace from Epaphras, whom we love. He works together with us and is a faithful servant of Christ for us.^{[t] 8} He also told us about the love you have from the Holy Spirit.

⁹ Because of this, since the day we heard about you, we have continued praying for you, asking God that you will know fully what he wants. We pray that you will also have great wisdom and understanding in spiritual things ¹⁰ so that you will live the kind of life that honors and pleases the Lord in every way. You will produce fruit in every good work and grow in the knowledge of God. ¹¹ God will strengthen you with his own great power so that you will not give up when troubles come, but you will be patient. ¹² And you will joyfully give thanks to the Father who has made you^[u] able to have a share in all that he has prepared for his people in the kingdom of light. ¹³ God has freed us from the power of darkness, and he brought us into the kingdom of his dear Son. ¹⁴ The Son paid for our sins,^[v] and in him we have forgiveness.

The Importance of Christ

¹⁵ No one can see God, but Jesus Christ is exactly like him. He ranks higher than everything that has been made. ¹⁶ Through his power all things were made—things in heaven and on earth, things seen and unseen, all powers, authorities, lords, and rulers. All things were made through Christ and for Christ. ¹⁷ He was there before anything was made, and all things continue because of him. ¹⁸ He is the head of the body, which is the church. Everything comes from him. He is the first one who was raised from the dead. So in all things Jesus has first place. ¹⁹ God was pleased for all of himself to live in Christ. ²⁰ And through Christ, God has brought all things back to himself again—things on earth and things in heaven. God made peace through the blood of Christ’s death on the cross.

²¹ At one time you were separated from God. You were his enemies in your minds, and the evil things you did were against God. ²² But now God has made you his friends again. He did this through Christ’s death in the body so that he might bring you into God’s presence as people who are holy, with no wrong, and with nothing of which God can judge you guilty. ²³ This will happen if you continue strong and sure in your faith. You must not be moved away from the hope brought to you by the Good News that you heard. That same Good News has been told to everyone in the world, and I, Paul, help in preaching that Good News.

Paul’s Work for the Church

²⁴ I am happy in my sufferings for you. There are things that Christ must still suffer through his body, the church. I am accepting, in my body, my part of these things that must be suffered. ²⁵ I became a servant of the church because God gave me a special work to do that helps you, and that work is to tell fully the message of God. ²⁶ This message is the secret that was hidden from everyone since the beginning of time, but now it is made known to God’s holy people. ²⁷ God decided to let his people know this rich and glorious secret which he has for all people. This secret is Christ himself, who is in you. He is our only hope for glory. ²⁸ So we continue to preach Christ to each person, using all wisdom to warn and to teach everyone, in order to bring each one into God’s presence as a mature person in Christ. ²⁹ To do this, I work and struggle, using Christ’s great strength that works so powerfully in me.

2 I want you to know how hard I work for you, those in Laodicea, and others who have never seen me. ² I want them to be strengthened and joined together with love so that they may be rich in their understanding. This leads to their knowing fully God’s secret, that is, Christ himself. ³ In him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are safely kept.

⁴ I say this so that no one can fool you by arguments that seem good, but are false. ⁵ Though I am absent from you in my body, my heart is with you, and I am happy to see your good lives and your strong faith in Christ.

Continue to Live in Christ

⁶ As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so continue to live in him. ⁷ Keep your roots deep in him and have your lives built on him. Be strong in the faith, just as you were taught, and always be thankful.

⁸ Be sure that no one leads you away with false and empty teaching that is only human, which comes from the ruling spirits of this world, and not from Christ. ⁹ All of God lives fully in Christ (even when Christ was on earth), ¹⁰ and you have a full and true life in Christ, who is ruler over all rulers and powers.

¹¹ Also in Christ you had a different kind of circumcision, a circumcision not done by hands. It was through Christ’s circumcision, that is, his death, that you were made free from the power of your sinful self. ¹² When you were baptized, you were buried with Christ, and you were raised up with him through your faith in God’s power that was shown when he raised Christ from the dead. ¹³ When you were spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were not free from the power of your sinful self, God made you alive with Christ, and he forgave all our sins. ¹⁴ He canceled the debt, which listed all the rules we failed to follow. He took away that record with its rules and nailed it to the cross. ¹⁵ God stripped the spiritual rulers and powers of their authority. With the cross, he won the victory and showed the world that they were powerless.

Don’t Follow People’s Rules

¹⁶ So do not let anyone make rules for you about eating and drinking or about a religious feast, a New Moon Festival, or a Sabbath day. ¹⁷ These things were like a shadow of what was to come. But what is true and real has come and is found in Christ. ¹⁸ Do not let anyone disqualify you by making you humiliate yourself and worship angels. Such people enter into visions, which fill them with foolish pride because of their human way of thinking. ¹⁹ They do not hold tightly to Christ, the head. It is from him that all the parts of the body are cared for and held together. So it grows in the way God wants it to grow.

²⁰ Since you died with Christ and were made free from the ruling spirits of the world, why do you act as if you still belong to this world by following rules like these: ²¹ “Don’t handle this,” “Don’t taste that,” “Don’t even touch that thing”? ²² These rules refer to earthly things that are gone as soon as they are used. They are only human commands and teachings. ²³ They seem to be wise, but they are only part of a human religion. They make people pretend not to be proud and make them punish their bodies, but they do not really control the evil desires of the sinful self.

Your New Life in Christ

3 Since you were raised from the dead with Christ, aim at what is in heaven, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. ² Think only about the things in heaven, not the things on earth. ³ Your old sinful self has died, and your new life is kept with Christ in God. ⁴ Christ is your^[w] life, and when he comes again, you will share in his glory.

⁵ So put all evil things out of your life: sexual sinning, doing evil, letting evil thoughts control you, wanting things that are evil, and greed. This is really serving a false god. ⁶ These things make God angry.^{[x] 7} In your past, evil life you also did these things.

⁸ But now also put these things out of your life: anger, bad temper, doing or saying things to hurt others, and using evil words when you talk. ⁹ Do not lie to each other. You have left your old sinful life and the things you did before. ¹⁰ You have begun to live the new life, in which you are being made new and are becoming like the One who made you. This new life brings you the true knowledge of God. ¹¹ In the new life there is no difference between Greeks and Jews, those who are circumcised and those who are not circumcised, or people who are foreigners, or Scythians.^[y] There is no difference between slaves and free people. But Christ is in all believers, and Christ is all that is important.

¹² God has chosen you and made you his holy people. He loves you. So you should always clothe yourselves with mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. ¹³ Bear with each other, and forgive each other. If someone does wrong to you, forgive that person because the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴ Even more than all this, clothe yourself in love. Love is what holds you all together in perfect unity. ¹⁵ Let the peace that Christ gives control your thinking, because you were all called together in one body^[z] to have peace. Always be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the teaching of Christ live in you richly. Use all wisdom to teach and instruct each other by singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. ¹⁷ Everything you do or say should be done to obey Jesus your Lord. And in all you do, give thanks to God the Father through Jesus.

Your New Life with Other People

¹⁸ Wives, yield to the authority of your husbands, because this is the right thing to do in the Lord.

¹⁹ Husbands, love your wives and be gentle with them.

²⁰ Children, obey your parents in all things, because this pleases the Lord.

²¹ Fathers, do not nag your children. If you are too hard to please, they may want to stop trying.

²² Slaves, obey your masters in all things. Do not obey just when they are watching you, to gain their favor, but serve them honestly, because you respect the Lord. ²³ In all the work you are doing, work the best you can. Work as if you were doing it for the Lord, not for people. ²⁴ Remember that you will receive your reward from the Lord, which he promised to his people. You are serving the Lord Christ. ²⁵ But remember that anyone who does wrong will be punished for that wrong, and the Lord treats everyone the same.

4 Masters, give what is good and fair to your slaves. Remember that you have a Master in heaven.

What the Christians Are to Do

² Continue praying, keeping alert, and always thanking God. ³ Also pray for us that God will give us an opportunity to tell people his message. Pray that we can preach the secret that God has made known about Christ. This is why I am in prison. ⁴ Pray that I can speak in a way that will make it clear, as I should.

⁵ Be wise in the way you act with people who are not believers, making the most of every opportunity. ⁶ When you talk, you should always be kind and pleasant so you will be able to answer everyone in the way you should.

News About the People with Paul

⁷ Tychicus is my dear brother in Christ and a faithful minister and servant with me in the Lord. He will tell you all the things that are happening to me. ⁸ This is why I am sending him: so you may know how we are^[aa] and he may encourage you. ⁹ I send him with Onesimus, a faithful and dear brother in Christ, and one of your group. They will tell you all that has happened here.

¹⁰ Aristarchus, a prisoner with me, and Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, greet you. (I have already told you what to do about Mark. If he comes, welcome him.) ¹¹ Jesus, who is called Justus, also greets you. These are the only Jewish believers who work with me for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me.

¹² Epaphras, a servant of Jesus Christ, from your group, also greets you. He always prays for you that you will grow to be spiritually mature and have everything God wants for you. ¹³ I know he has worked hard for you and the people in Laodicea and in Hierapolis. ¹⁴ Demas and our dear friend Luke, the doctor, greet you.

¹⁵ Greet the brothers and sisters in Laodicea. And greet Nympha and the church that meets in her house. ¹⁶ After this letter is read to you, be sure it is also read to the church in Laodicea. And you read the letter that I wrote to Laodicea. ¹⁷ Tell Archippus, “Be sure to finish the work the Lord gave you.”

¹⁸ I, Paul, greet you and write this with my own hand. Remember me in prison. Grace be with you.