Bible (American Standard)/Philippians

The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Philippians
==Chapter 1==
 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the
saints in Christ Jesus that are at Philippi, with the bishops
and deacons: 
 Grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 I thank my God upon all my
remembrance of you, 
 always in every supplication of mine
on behalf of you all making my supplication with joy, 
 for
your fellowship in furtherance of the gospel from the first day
until now; 
 being confident of this very thing, that he who
began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus
Christ: 
 even as it is right for me to be thus minded on
behalf of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as,
both in my bonds and in the defence and confirmation of the
gospel, ye all are partakers with me of grace. 
 For God is
my witness, how I long after you all in the tender mercies of
Christ Jesus. 
 And this I pray, that your love may abound
yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment; 
 so
that ye may approve the things that are excellent; that ye may
be sincere and void of offence unto the day of Christ; 
 being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are through
Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God. 
 Now I
would have you know, brethren, that the things [which happened]
unto me have fallen out rather unto the progress of the gospel;
 so that my bonds became manifest in Christ throughout the
whole praetorian guard, and to all the rest; 
 and that
most of the brethren in the Lord, being confident through my
bonds, are more abundantly bold to speak the word of God without
fear. 
 Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife;
and some also of good will: 
 the one [do it] of love,
knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel; 
 but
the other proclaim Christ of faction, not sincerely, thinking to
raise up affliction for me in my bonds. 
 What then? only
that in every way, whether in pretence or in truth, Christ is
proclaimed; and therein I rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. 
 For I know that this shall turn out to my salvation, through
your supplication and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,
 according to my earnest expectation and hope, that in
nothing shall I be put to shame, but [that] with all boldness,
as always, [so] now also Christ shall be magnified in my body,
whether by life, or by death. 
 For to me to live is
Christ, and to die is gain. 
 But if to live in the flesh,
--[if] this shall bring fruit from my work, then what I shall
choose I know not. 
 But I am in a strait betwixt the two,
having the desire to depart and be with Christ; for it is very
far better: 
 yet to abide in the flesh is more needful for
your sake. 
 And having this confidence, I know that I
shall abide, yea, and abide with you all, for your progress and
joy in the faith; 
 that your glorying may abound in Christ
Jesus in me through my presence with you again. 
 Only let
your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ: that,
whether I come and see you and be absent, I may hear of your
state, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one soul striving
for the faith of the gospel; 
 and in nothing affrighted by
the adversaries: which is for them an evident token of
perdition, but of your salvation, and that from God; 
 because to you it hath been granted in the behalf of Christ, not
only to believe on him, but also to suffer in his behalf: 
 having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be
in me.
==Chapter 2==
 If there is therefore any exhortation in Christ, if any
consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any
tender mercies and compassions, 
 make full my joy, that ye
be of the same mind, having the same love, being of one accord,
of one mind; 
 [doing] nothing through faction or through
vainglory, but in lowliness of mind each counting other better
than himself; 
 not looking each of you to his own things,
but each of you also to the things of others. 
 Have this
mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 
 who, existing
in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with
God a thing to be grasped, 
 but emptied himself, taking the
form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; 
 and
being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming
obedient [even] unto death, yea, the death of the cross. 
 Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and gave unto him the
name which is above every name; 
 that in the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, of [things] in heaven and [things] on
earth and [things] under the earth, 
 and that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God
the Father. 
 So then, my beloved, even as ye have always
obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my
absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;
 for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to
work, for his good pleasure. 
 Do all things without
murmurings and questionings: 
 that ye may become blameless
and harmless, children of God without blemish in the midst of a
crooked and perverse generation, among whom ye are seen as
lights in the world, 
 holding forth the word of life; that
I may have whereof to glory in the day of Christ, that I did not
run in vain neither labor in vain. 
 Yea, and if I am
offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and
rejoice with you all: 
 and in the same manner do ye also
joy, and rejoice with me. 
 But I hope in the Lord Jesus to
send Timothy shortly unto you, that I also may be of good
comfort, when I know your state. 
 For I have no man
likeminded, who will care truly for your state. 
 For they
all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ. 
 But
ye know the proof of him, that, as a child [serveth] a father,
[so] he served with me in furtherance of the gospel. 
 Him
therefore I hope to send forthwith, so soon as I shall see how
it will go with me: 
 but I trust in the Lord that I myself
also shall come shortly. 
 But I counted it necessary to
send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow-worker and
fellow-soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need;
 since he longed after you all, and was sore troubled,
because ye had heard that he was sick: 
 for indeed he was
sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him
only, but on me also, that I might not have sorrow upon sorrow.
 I have sent him therefore the more diligently, that, when
ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less
sorrowful. 
 Receive him therefore in the Lord with all
joy; and hold such in honor: 
 because for the work of
Christ he came nigh unto death, hazarding his life to supply
that which was lacking in your service toward me.
==Chapter 3==
 Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the
same things to you, to me indeed is not irksome, but for you it
is safe. 
 Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers,
beware of the concision: 
 for we are the circumcision, who
worship by the Spirit of God, and glory in Christ Jesus, and
have no confidence in the flesh: 
 though I myself might
have confidence even in the flesh: if any other man thinketh to
have confidence in the flesh, I yet more: 
 circumcised the
eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a
Hebrew of Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; 
 as
touching zeal, persecuting the church; as touching the
righteousness which is in the law, found blameless. 
 Howbeit what things were gain to me, these have I counted loss
for Christ. 
 Yea verily, and I count all things to be loss
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for
whom I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but
refuse, that I may gain Christ, 
 and be found in him, not
having a righteousness of mine own, [even] that which is of the
law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the
righteousness which is from God by faith: 
 that I may know
him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of
his sufferings, becoming conformed unto his death; 
 if by
any means I may attain unto the resurrection from the dead.
 Not that I have already obtained, or am already made
perfect: but I press on, if so be that I may lay hold on that
for which also I was laid hold on by Christ Jesus. 
 Brethren, I could not myself yet to have laid hold: but one
thing [I do], forgetting the things which are behind, and
stretching forward to the things which are before, 
 I
press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of
God in Christ Jesus. 
 Let us therefore, as many as are
perfect, be thus minded: and if in anything ye are otherwise
minded, this also shall God reveal unto you: 
 only,
whereunto we have attained, by that same [rule] let us walk.
 Brethren, be ye imitators together of me, and mark them
that so walk even as ye have us for an ensample. 
 For many
walk, of whom I told you often, and now tell you even weeping,
[that they are] the enemies of the cross of Christ: 
 whose
end is perdition, whose god is the belly, and [whose] glory is
in their shame, who mind earthly things. 
 For our
citizenship is in heaven; whence also we wait for a Saviour, the
Lord Jesus Christ: 
 who shall fashion anew the body of our
humiliation, [that it may be] conformed to the body of his
glory, according to the working whereby he is able even to
subject all things unto himself.
==Chapter 4==
 Wherefore, my brethren beloved and longed for, my joy
and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my beloved. 
 I exhort
Euodia, and I exhort Syntyche, to be of the same mind in the
Lord. 
 Yea, I beseech thee also, true yokefellow, help
these women, for they labored with me in the gospel, with
Clement also, and the rest of my fellow-workers, whose names are
in the book of life. 
 Rejoice in the Lord always: again I
will say, Rejoice. 
 Let your forbearance be known unto all
men. The Lord is at hand. 
 In nothing be anxious; but in
everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your
requests be made known unto God. 
 And the peace of God,
which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and
your thoughts in Christ Jesus. 
 Finally, brethren,
whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honorable,
whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,
whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good
report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise,
think on these things. 
 The things which ye both learned
and received and heard and saw in me, these things do: and the
God of peace shall be with you. 
 But I rejoice in the Lord
greatly, that now at length ye have revived your thought for me;
wherein ye did indeed take thought, but ye lacked opportunity.
 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned,
in whatsoever state I am, therein to be content. 
 I know
how to be abased, and I know also how to abound: in everything
and in all things have I learned the secret both to be filled
and to be hungry, both to abound and to be in want. 
 I can
do all things in him that strengtheneth me. 
 Howbeit ye
did well that ye had fellowship with my affliction. 
 And
ye yourselves also know, ye Philippians, that in the beginning
of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church had
fellowship with me in the matter of giving and receiving but ye
only; 
 for even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again
unto my need. 
 Not that I seek for the gift; but I seek
for the fruit that increaseth to your account. 
 But I have
all things, and abound: I am filled, having received from
Epaphroditus the things [that came] from you, and odor of a
sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God.
 And my God shall supply every need of yours according to
his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. 
 Now unto our God and
Father [be] the glory for ever and ever. Amen. 
 Salute
every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren that are with me
salute you. 
 All the saints salute you, especially they
that are of Caesar's household. 
 The grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ be with your spirit.