Philippians 2:19-3:11.
Philippians 2:19-3:11 (GNT)
19If it is the Lord's will, I hope that I will be able to send Timothy to
you soon, so that I may be encouraged by news about you. 20He is the only
one who shares my feelings and who really cares about you. 21Everyone else
is concerned only with their own affairs, not with the cause of Jesus
Christ. 22And you yourselves know how he has proved his worth, how he and
I, like a son and his father, have worked together for the sake of the
gospel. 23So I hope to send him to you as soon as I know how things are
going to turn out for me. 24And I trust in the Lord that I myself will be
able to come to you soon. 25I have thought it necessary to send to you our
brother Epaphroditus, who has worked and fought by my side and who has
served as your messenger in helping me. 26He is anxious to see you all and
is very upset because you had heard that he was sick. 27Indeed he was sick
and almost died. But God had pity on him, and not only on him but on me,
too, and spared me an even greater sorrow. 28I am all the more eager,
then, to send him to you, so that you will be glad again when you see him,
and my own sorrow will disappear. 29Receive him, then, with joy, as a
believer in the Lord. Show respect to all such people as he, 30because he
risked his life and nearly died for the sake of the work of Christ, in
order to give me the help that you yourselves could not give. 1In
conclusion, my friends, be joyful in your union with the Lord. I don't
mind repeating what I have written before, and you will be safer if I do
so. 2Watch out for those who do evil things, those dogs, those who insist
on cutting the body. 3It is we, not they, who have received the true
circumcision, for we worship God by means of his Spirit and rejoice in our
life in union with Christ Jesus. We do not put any trust in external
ceremonies. 4I could, of course, put my trust in such things. If any of
you think you can trust in external ceremonies, I have even more reason to
feel that way. 5I was circumcised when I was a week old. I am an Israelite
by birth, of the tribe of Benjamin, a pure-blooded Hebrew. As far as
keeping the Jewish Law is concerned, I was a Pharisee, 6and I was so
zealous that I persecuted the church. As far as a person can be righteous
by obeying the commands of the Law, I was without fault. 7But all those
things that I might count as profit I now reckon as loss for Christ's
sake. 8Not only those things; I reckon everything as complete loss for the
sake of what is so much more valuable, the knowledge of Christ Jesus my
Lord. For his sake I have thrown everything away; I consider it all as
mere garbage, so that I may gain Christ 9and be completely united with
him. I no longer have a righteousness of my own, the kind that is gained
by obeying the Law. I now have the righteousness that is given through
faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God and is based on
faith. 10All I want is to know Christ and to experience the power of his
resurrection, to share in his sufferings and become like him in his death,
11in the hope that I myself will be raised from death to life.
God bless you.
19If it is the Lord's will, I hope that I will be able to send Timothy to
you soon, so that I may be encouraged by news about you. 20He is the only
one who shares my feelings and who really cares about you. 21Everyone else
is concerned only with their own affairs, not with the cause of Jesus
Christ. 22And you yourselves know how he has proved his worth, how he and
I, like a son and his father, have worked together for the sake of the
gospel. 23So I hope to send him to you as soon as I know how things are
going to turn out for me. 24And I trust in the Lord that I myself will be
able to come to you soon. 25I have thought it necessary to send to you our
brother Epaphroditus, who has worked and fought by my side and who has
served as your messenger in helping me. 26He is anxious to see you all and
is very upset because you had heard that he was sick. 27Indeed he was sick
and almost died. But God had pity on him, and not only on him but on me,
too, and spared me an even greater sorrow. 28I am all the more eager,
then, to send him to you, so that you will be glad again when you see him,
and my own sorrow will disappear. 29Receive him, then, with joy, as a
believer in the Lord. Show respect to all such people as he, 30because he
risked his life and nearly died for the sake of the work of Christ, in
order to give me the help that you yourselves could not give. 1In
conclusion, my friends, be joyful in your union with the Lord. I don't
mind repeating what I have written before, and you will be safer if I do
so. 2Watch out for those who do evil things, those dogs, those who insist
on cutting the body. 3It is we, not they, who have received the true
circumcision, for we worship God by means of his Spirit and rejoice in our
life in union with Christ Jesus. We do not put any trust in external
ceremonies. 4I could, of course, put my trust in such things. If any of
you think you can trust in external ceremonies, I have even more reason to
feel that way. 5I was circumcised when I was a week old. I am an Israelite
by birth, of the tribe of Benjamin, a pure-blooded Hebrew. As far as
keeping the Jewish Law is concerned, I was a Pharisee, 6and I was so
zealous that I persecuted the church. As far as a person can be righteous
by obeying the commands of the Law, I was without fault. 7But all those
things that I might count as profit I now reckon as loss for Christ's
sake. 8Not only those things; I reckon everything as complete loss for the
sake of what is so much more valuable, the knowledge of Christ Jesus my
Lord. For his sake I have thrown everything away; I consider it all as
mere garbage, so that I may gain Christ 9and be completely united with
him. I no longer have a righteousness of my own, the kind that is gained
by obeying the Law. I now have the righteousness that is given through
faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God and is based on
faith. 10All I want is to know Christ and to experience the power of his
resurrection, to share in his sufferings and become like him in his death,
11in the hope that I myself will be raised from death to life.
God bless you.
Comments