Philippians 1:1–30

¹Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus, to all the holy ones in union with Christ Jesus who are in Phi‧lip′pi, along with overseers and ministerial servants:

²May ​YOU​ have undeserved kindness and peace from God our Father and [the] Lord Jesus Christ.

³I thank my God always upon every remembrance of ​YOU⁴in every supplication of mine for all of ​YOU, as I offer my supplication with joy,⁵because of the contribution ​YOU​ have made to the good news from the first day until this moment.⁶For I am confident of this very thing, that he who started a good work in ​YOU​ will carry it to completion until the day of Jesus Christ.⁷It is altogether right for me to think this regarding all of ​YOU, on account of my having ​YOU​ in my heart, all of ​YOU​ being sharers with me in the undeserved kindness, both in my [prison] bonds and in the defending and legally establishing of the good news.

⁸For God is my witness of how I am yearning for all of ​YOU​ in such tender affection as Christ Jesus has.⁹And this is what I continue praying, that ​YOUR​ love may abound yet more and more with accurate knowledge and full discernment;¹⁰that ​YOU​ may make sure of the more important things, so that ​YOU​ may be flawless and not be stumbling others up to the day of Christ,¹¹and may be filled with righteous fruit, which is through Jesus Christ, to God’s glory and praise.

¹²Now I desire ​YOU​ to know, brothers, that my affairs have turned out for the advancement of the good news rather than otherwise,¹³so that my bonds have become public knowledge in association with Christ among all the Prae‧to′ri‧an Guard and all the rest;¹⁴and most of the brothers in [the] Lord, feeling confidence by reason of my [prison] bonds, are showing all the more courage to speak the word of God fearlessly.

¹⁵True, some are preaching the Christ through envy and rivalry, but others also through goodwill.¹⁶The latter are publicizing the Christ out of love, for they know I am set here for the defense of the good news;¹⁷but the former do it out of contentiousness, not with a pure motive, for they are supposing to stir up tribulation [for me] in my [prison] bonds.¹⁸What then? [Nothing,] except that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is being publicized, and in this I rejoice. In fact, I will also keep on rejoicing,¹⁹for I know this will result in my salvation through ​YOUR​ supplication and a supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ,²⁰in harmony with my eager expectation and hope that I shall not be ashamed in any respect, but that in all freeness of speech Christ will, as always before, so now be magnified by means of my body, whether through life or through death.

²¹For in my case to live is Christ, and to die, gain.²²Now if it be to live on in the flesh, this is a fruitage of my work—and yet which thing to select I do not make known.²³I am under pressure from these two things; but what I do desire is the releasing and the being with Christ, for this, to be sure, is far better.²⁴However, for me to remain in the flesh is more necessary on ​YOUR​ account.²⁵So, being confident of this, I know I shall remain and shall abide with all of ​YOU​ for ​YOUR​ advancement and the joy that belongs to [YOUR] faith,²⁶so that ​YOUR​ exultation may overflow in Christ Jesus by reason of me through my presence again with ​YOU.

²⁷Only behave in a manner worthy of the good news about the Christ, in order that, whether I come and see ​YOU​ or be absent, I may hear about the things which concern ​YOU, that ​YOU​ are standing firm in one spirit, with one soul striving side by side for the faith of the good news,²⁸and in no respect being frightened by ​YOUR​ opponents. This very thing is a proof of destruction for them, but of salvation for ​YOU; and this [indication] is from God,²⁹because to ​YOU​ the privilege was given in behalf of Christ, not only to put ​YOUR​ faith in him, but also to suffer in his behalf.³⁰For ​YOU​ have the same struggle as ​YOU​ saw in my case and as ​YOU​ now hear about in my case.