New Testament Plan

¹Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus: To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons.

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

³I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you,

⁴always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer,

⁵because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

⁶I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

⁷Indeed, it is right for me to think this way about all of you, because I have you in my heart, and you are all partners with me in grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.

⁸For God is my witness, how deeply I miss all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

⁹And I pray this: that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment,

¹⁰so that you may approve the things that are superior and may be pure and blameless in the day of Christ,

¹¹filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

¹²Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually advanced the gospel,

¹³so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard, and to everyone else, that my imprisonment is because I am in Christ.

¹⁴Most of the brothers have gained confidence in the Lord from my imprisonment and dare even more to speak the word fearlessly.

¹⁵To be sure, some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of good will.

¹⁶These preach out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel;

¹⁷the others proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, thinking that they will cause me trouble in my imprisonment.

¹⁸What does it matter? Only that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is proclaimed, and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice

¹⁹because I know this will lead to my salvation through your prayers and help from the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

²⁰My eager expectation and hope is that I will not be ashamed about anything, but that now as always, with all courage, Christ will be highly honored in my body, whether by life or by death.

²¹For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

²²Now if I live on in the flesh, this means fruitful work for me; and I don’t know which one I should choose.

²³I am torn between the two. I long to depart and be with Christ  — which is far better  —

²⁴but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.

²⁵Since I am persuaded of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith,

²⁶so that, because of my coming to you again, your boasting in Christ Jesus may abound.

²⁷Just one thing: As citizens of heaven, live your life worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or am absent, I will hear about you that you are standing firm in one spirit, in one accord, contending together for the faith of the gospel,

²⁸not being frightened in any way by your opponents. This is a sign of destruction for them, but of your salvation  — and this is from God.

²⁹For it has been granted to you on Christ’s behalf not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him,

³⁰since you are engaged in the same struggle that you saw I had and now hear that I have.

¹If then there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy,

²make my joy complete by thinking the same way, having the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.

³Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves.

⁴Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

⁵Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus,

⁶who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited.

⁷Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man,

⁸he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death — even to death on a cross.

⁹For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name,

¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow  — in heaven and on earth and under the earth  —

¹¹and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

¹²Therefore, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

¹³For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose.

¹⁴Do everything without grumbling and arguing,

¹⁵so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world,

¹⁶by holding firm to the word of life. Then I can boast in the day of Christ that I didn’t run or labor for nothing.

¹⁷But even if I am poured out as a drink offering on the sacrificial service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.

¹⁸In the same way you should also be glad and rejoice with me.

¹⁹Now I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon so that I too may be encouraged by news about you.

²⁰For I have no one else like-minded who will genuinely care about your interests;

²¹all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.

²²But you know his proven character, because he has served with me in the gospel ministry like a son with a father.

²³Therefore, I hope to send him as soon as I see how things go with me.

²⁴I am confident in the Lord that I myself will also come soon.

²⁵But I considered it necessary to send you Epaphroditus  — my brother, coworker, and fellow soldier, as well as your messenger and minister to my need  —

²⁶since he has been longing for all of you and was distressed because you heard that he was sick.

²⁷Indeed, he was so sick that he nearly died. However, God had mercy on him, and not only on him but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow.

²⁸For this reason, I am very eager to send him so that you may rejoice again when you see him and I may be less anxious.

²⁹Therefore, welcome him in the Lord with great joy and hold people like him in honor,

³⁰because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up what was lacking in your ministry to me.

¹In addition, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. To write to you again about this is no trouble for me and is a safeguard for you.

²Watch out for the dogs, watch out for the evil workers, watch out for those who mutilate the flesh.

³For we are the circumcision, the ones who worship by the Spirit of God, boast in Christ Jesus, and do not put confidence in the flesh —

⁴although I have reasons for confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more:

⁵circumcised the eighth day; of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; regarding the law, a Pharisee;

⁶regarding zeal, persecuting the church; regarding the righteousness that is in the law, blameless.

⁷But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ.

⁸More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ

⁹and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ  — the righteousness from God based on faith.

¹⁰My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death,

¹¹assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead.

¹²Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus.

¹³Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead,

¹⁴I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.

¹⁵Therefore, let all of us who are mature think this way. And if you think differently about anything, God will reveal this also to you.

¹⁶In any case, we should live up to whatever truth we have attained.

¹⁷Join in imitating me, brothers and sisters, and pay careful attention to those who live according to the example you have in us.

¹⁸For I have often told you, and now say again with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.

¹⁹Their end is destruction; their god is their stomach; their glory is in their shame. They are focused on earthly things,

²⁰but our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.

²¹He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of his glorious body, by the power that enables him to subject everything to himself.