Journey Through God's Word

¹¹Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience.

¹²We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart.

¹³For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.

¹⁴For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died;

¹⁵and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

¹⁶From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.

¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

¹⁸All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;

¹⁹that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

²⁰Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

²¹For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

¹⁵He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

¹⁶For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things were created through him and for him.

¹⁷And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

¹⁸And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

¹⁹For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,

²⁰and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

²¹And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,

²²he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,

²³if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

²⁴Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,

²⁵of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known,

²⁶the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.

²⁷To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

²⁸Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

²⁹For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

¹Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved fellow worker

²and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house:

³Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers,

⁵because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints,

⁶and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.

⁷For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.

⁸Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required,

⁹yet for love's sake I prefer to appeal to you — I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus —

¹⁰I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment.

¹¹(Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.)

¹²I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart.

¹³I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel,

¹⁴but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own accord.

¹⁵For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever,

¹⁶no longer as a bondservant but more than a bondservant, as a beloved brother — especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.

¹⁷So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me.

¹⁸If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account.

¹⁹I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it — to say nothing of your owing me even your own self.

²⁰Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ.

²¹Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.

²²At the same time, prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping that through your prayers I will be graciously given to you.

²³Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you,

²⁴and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.

²⁵The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.