Philippians 2:19-3:11.
Philippians 2:19-3:11 (Good News Translation)
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.
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