Chapter 1

P¹aul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, ²Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I³ thank my God every time I remember you. ⁴In every prayer for all of you, I always pray with joy, ⁵because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, ⁶being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. ⁷It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart. For in my chains and in my defense and confirmation of the gospel, you are all partners in grace with me. ⁸God is my witness how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

⁹And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, ¹⁰so that you may be able to test and prove what is best and may 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.

N¹²ow I want you to know, brothers, that my circumstances have actually served to advance the gospel. ¹³As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. ¹⁴And most of the brothers, confident in the Lord by my chains, now dare more greatly to speak the word without fear. ¹⁵It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. ¹⁶The latter do so in love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. ¹⁷The former, however, preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can add to the distress of my chains. ¹⁸What then is the issue? Just this: that in every way, whether by false motives or true, Christ is preached. And in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice,

¹⁹because I know that through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, my distress will turn out for my deliverance. ²⁰I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have complete boldness so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.

F²¹or to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. ²²But if I go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. So what shall I choose? I do not know. ²³I am torn between the two. I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better indeed. ²⁴But it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.

²⁵Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, ²⁶so that through my coming to you again your exultation in Christ Jesus will resound on account of me.

N²⁷evertheless, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending together as one for the faith of the gospel, ²⁸without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a clear sign of their destruction but of your salvation, and it is from God. ²⁹For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him, ³⁰since you are encountering the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.