Philippians 1

Greeting

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

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

Thanksgiving and Prayer

³I thank my God in all my remembrance of you,⁴always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy,⁵because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.⁶And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.⁷It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.⁸For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.⁹And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment,¹⁰so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,¹¹filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

The Advance of the Gospel

¹²I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel,¹³so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.¹⁴And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

¹⁵Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will.¹⁶The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.¹⁷The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment.¹⁸What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice,¹⁹for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance,²⁰as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.²¹For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.²²If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell.²³I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.²⁴But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.²⁵Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith,²⁶so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.

²⁷Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel,²⁸and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.²⁹For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake,³⁰engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.