Outline
- Greetings (1:1-2)
- Thanksgiving and Prayer for the Philippians (1:3-11)
- Paul's Personal Circumstances (1:12-26)
- Exhortations (1:27;2:18)
- Paul's Associates in the Gospel (2:19-30)
Warnings against Judaizers and Antinomians (3:1;4:1)Final Exhortations, Thanks and Conclusion (4:2-23)
Philippians 1 NLT
1 This letter is from Paul and Timothy,
slaves of Christ Jesus. I am writing to all of God’s holy people in Philippi
who belong to Christ Jesus, including the elders and deacons.
2May God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ give you grace and peace.
3 Every time I think of you, I give
thanks to my God.
4 Whenever I pray, I make my requests
for all of you with joy,
5 for you have been my partners in
spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until
now.
6 And I am certain that God, who began
the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished
on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
7 So it is right that I should feel as
I do about all of you, for you have a special place in my heart. You share with
me the special favor of God, both in my imprisonment and in defending and
confirming the truth of the Good News.
8 God knows how much I love you and
long for you with the tender compassion of Christ Jesus.
9 I pray that your love will overflow
more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and
understanding.
10 For I want you to understand what really
matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of
Christ’s return.
11 May you always be filled with the
fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus
Christ —for this will bring much glory and praise to God.
12 And I want you to know, my dear
brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped
to spread the Good News.
13 For everyone here, including the
whole palace guard, knows that I am in chains because of Christ.
14 And because of my imprisonment, most
of the believers here have gained confidence and boldly speak God’s message
without fear.
15 It’s true that some are preaching out
of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure
motives.
16 They preach because they love me, for
they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News.
17Those others do not have pure motives as
they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely,
intending to make my chains more painful to me.
18 But that doesn’t matter. Whether
their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached
either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice.
19 For I know that as you pray for me
and the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will lead to my
deliverance.
20 For I fully expect and hope that I
will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I
have been in the past. And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ,
whether I live or die.
21 For to me, living means living for
Christ, and dying is even better.
22 But if I live, I can do more fruitful
work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better.
23 I’m torn between two desires: I long
to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me.
24 But for your sakes, it is better that
I continue to live.
25 Knowing this, I am convinced that I
will remain alive so I can continue to help all of you grow and experience the
joy of your faith.
26 And when I come to you again, you
will have even more reason to take pride in Christ Jesus because of what he is
doing through me.
27 Above all, you must live as citizens
of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about
Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will
know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting
together for the faith, which is the Good News.
28 Don’t be intimidated in any way by
your enemies. This will be a sign to them that they are going to be destroyed,
but that you are going to be saved, even by God himself.
29 For you have been given not only the
privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him.
30 We are in this
struggle together. You have seen my struggle in the past, and you know that I
am still in the midst of it.
Philippians 2 NLT
1 Is there any encouragement from
belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the
Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate?
2 Then make me truly happy by agreeing
wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with
one mind and purpose.
3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to
impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.
4 Don’t look out only for your own
interests, but take an interest in others, too.
5 You must have the same attitude that
Christ Jesus had.
6 Though he was God, he did not think
of equality with God as something to cling to.
7Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he
appeared in human form,
8 he humbled himself in obedience to
God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
9Therefore, God elevated him to the place of
highest honor and gave him the name above all other names,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue declare that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
12 Dear friends, you always followed my
instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more
important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with
deep reverence and fear.
13 For God is working in you, giving you
the desire and the power to do what pleases him.
14 Do everything without complaining and
arguing,
15 so that no one can criticize you.
Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a
world full of crooked and perverse people.
16 Hold firmly to the word of life; then,
on the day of Christ’s return, I will be proud that I did not run the race in
vain and that my work was not useless.
17 But I will rejoice even if I lose my
life, pouring it out like a liquid offering to God, just like your faithful
service is an offering to God. And I want all of you to share that joy.
18 Yes, you should rejoice, and I will
share your joy.
19 If the Lord Jesus is willing, I hope
to send Timothy to you soon for a visit. Then he can cheer me up by telling me
how you are getting along.
20 I have no one else like Timothy, who
genuinely cares about your welfare.
21 All the others care only for
themselves and not for what matters to Jesus Christ.
22 But you know how Timothy has proved
himself. Like a son with his father, he has served with me in preaching the
Good News.
23 I hope to send him to you just as
soon as I find out what is going to happen to me here.
24 And I have confidence from the Lord
that I myself will come to see you soon.
25 Meanwhile, I thought I should send Epaphroditus
back to you. He is a true brother, co-worker, and fellow soldier. And he was
your messenger to help me in my need.
26 I am sending him because he has been
longing to see you, and he was very distressed that you heard he was ill.
27 And he certainly was ill; in fact, he
almost died. But God had mercy on him—and also on me, so that I would not have
one sorrow after another.
28 So I am all the more anxious to send
him back to you, for I know you will be glad to see him, and then I will not be
so worried about you.
29 Welcome him in the Lord’s love and
with great joy, and give him the honor that people like him deserve.
30 For he risked his
life for the work of Christ, and he was at the point of death while doing for
me what you couldn’t do from far away.
