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love your wives, even as the Christ also loved the Community and gave 26 himself up for her, to sanctify her by the word-cleansing her with the 27 bath of water-to present the Community in splendour to himself with

never a spot or wrinkle or any such flaw, but that she might be holy and 28 faultless. So ought husbands 1 to love their own wives as being their own 29 bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh: nay, it is nourished and cherished by him, even as is the Com30, 31 munity also by the Christ-for we are members of his body. Instead, a man shall leave his father and his mother and join himself fast to his wife, 32 and the two shall become one flesh. This symbol is great: but I interpret it 33 of Christ and the Community. At any rate with you, let each individual love his own wife as being himself; and as for the wife-let her see 61 that she reverence her husband. Children, obey your parents in 2 the Lord, for this is right. Honour thy father and mother (it is the chief 3 commandment with a promise) that it may be well with thee; and thou 4 shalt live long on the earth. And, fathers, do not enrage your children, but nurture them in the discipline and admonition of the Lord Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters after the flesh with fear and trembling, with singleness in your heart, as to the 6 Christ not by way of eyeservice like those who court human favour, but 7 as slaves of Christ obeying the will of God right heartily, rendering 8 service with goodwill as to the Lord and not to men; since you know that each shall be paid back from the Lord for whatever good he does, 9 whether he be slave or free man. And you masters, act in the same way to them and refrain from threats; since you know that their Master and yours is in heaven, and with him there is no respect of persons.

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In future, be strong in the Lord and in the might of his strength. 11 Put on the full armour of God so that you may be able to stand against 12 the artifices of the devil. For ours is no wrestling against blood and

flesh! It is against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-princes of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil 13 in the heavenly regions. Therefore take to yourselves the full armour of God, that on the evil day you may be able to withstand, and, after all 14 has been accomplished, to stand. Stand then, girt with truth upon your 15 loins, and clad with uprightness as your coat of mail, and your feet shod with 16 the firm footing of the gospel of peace, in all things taking to yourselves the

shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench the fiery darts of 17 the evil one; take also the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit 18 (that is, God's word), praying at every season with all prayer and entreaty in the Spirit, and attending to that with all constancy and entreaty for all 19 the saints-and on my behalf, that I may have speech given me as often as I open my mouth to make known with confidence the secret of the 20 gospel for which I am an envoy in chains, that therein I may have confidence to declare it as I should.

Now, that you also may know my affairs and how I am, Tychicus the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord shall give you all 22 information; I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts.

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Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father 24 and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all whose love to our Lord Jesus Christ is love imperishable.

1 Omitting [[]].

PHILIPPIANS

The epistle to the Philippians has been aptly called "the love-letter" of the Pauline epistles. The love of the Philippians for their apostle shows itself practically in the gift for which Paul sends his thanks in this epistle, and the epistle itself breathes from first to last the warmest love for this congregation, which of all the congregations he had founded lay nearest to his heart. Written from the heart, the letter bears no didactic character. Even the few theological excursuses, which are introduced here and there, upon the person of Christ and justification, serve practical ends. At the same time we get

painted for us the outward situation of the apostle during his last days, imprisoned, forsaken, distressed; and we are enabled to learn the moods and feelings which moved him as he came close to death. The soft, charitable tone of the apostle's judgment even upon his Judaistic opponents is to be easily explained by his mood at the moment; and at such a crisis in his life the invitation to rejoice, which again and again he issues to his Philippians, comes with a specially affecting power. As an expression of the apostle's final counsels and warnings, his final wishes and prayers, his final hopes and fears, the letter may be described as the testament which he left to his best-loved congregation.-Lipsius.

11.2 Greeting.

13-11 Thanksgiving and prayer:

for present attainments and

future advance in the Christian faith and life.

112-26 Personal: The situation of Paul in Rome: prospects of the gospel

there.

His confidence and desire.

127.218 Appeal and counsel: For unity through humility:

The example and imitation of Christ

Paul's aid and anxiety.

219-31 Personal: His own movements.

The mission of Timotheus in the future.
The mission of Epaphroditus in the past.

32-41 A Warning: against errorists of Judaism:

his own experience and example:
a résumé.

42-9 Appeal and counsel: to unity,

joy,

moral effort.

410-20 Thanksgiving: for gift from Philippi.

421-23 Farewell.

PHILIPPIANS

1 PAUL and Timotheus, slaves of Christ Jesus,

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3, 4

to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the overseers and ministers:

grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus

Christ.

I thank my God whenever I remember you-as in every prayer of 5 mine I always offer prayer for you all with joy-for your fellowship as 6 regards the gospel from the first day up to the present, confident as I am of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will finish 7 it, up to the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to have these thoughts on behalf of you all, because I carry you in my heart-you who are all partakers of my grace, both in my imprisonment and in the 8 defence and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I 9 long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And my prayer is this, that your love may excel more and more in full knowledge and all 10 moral perception, that you may prize the things that transcend, so as to 11 be sincere and void of offence in view of the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of uprightness which is through Jesus Christ to the honour and praise of God.

12 Now, brothers, I would have you understand, that my affairs have 13 really tended to the progress of the gospel; the result being that throughout the whole Court of Appeal and everywhere else, my imprisonment 14 has been recognised to be the imprisonment of a Christian; and further, my imprisonment has given confidence to the greater number of the brothers in the Lord, who wax more and more bold in speaking the word 15 of God fearlessly. Some indeed are preaching Christ even out of envy 16 and quarrelsomeness, and some also out of good will. The latter proclaim Christ from love, as they know that I am destined to defend the 17 gospel; the former from factiousness, from no pure motive, thinking to 18 cause me distress as well as imprisonment. What does it matter? at all events, in every way, be it in pretext or in honesty, Christ is being 19 proclaimed; and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I shall rejoice; for I know that all this will result in my deliverance through your prayer and the 20 supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, as I eagerly anticipate and hope that I shall be put to shame in nothing, but that with all confidence now as ever Christ will be magnified in my body, either by life or 21, 22 by death. For to me life is Christ and death is gain. Yet if life in the flesh-if that means fruitful work for me, then I cannot tell which to 23 prefer. I am in a dilemma between two courses: I have the desire 24 to depart and be with Christ, for that is far far better; however, to stay 25 on in the flesh is more needful on your account. So, persuaded of this, I know that I shall remain and live on with you all for your progress and 26 joy in the faith; that through me you may have abundant reason for 27 exulting in Christ Jesus, over my return to you. Only, conduct

yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving together with one soul for the faith of 28 the gospel, and not scared in anything by your adversaries: such fearlessness is a proof to them of perdition, but to you of salvation, and salvation too 29 from God; because you have had this grace given you on behalf of Christ, 30 not only to believe on him but also to suffer on his behalf-while you wage the very contest that, as once you saw and now you hear, I wage.

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I pray you then, by every exhortation in Christ, by every incentive of love, by any participation in the Spirit, by all affection and tender mercies, 2 complete my joy and be of the same mind, with the same love, with one 3 soul and one mind: do nothing by way of faction or empty pride, but 4 in humility let each consider the other better than himself, consulting not your own interests, but also those of each other.

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Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus

6 Who though existing in the form of God, considered not equality with God a prize to be seized,

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But emptied himself by taking the form of a slave:

8 Born in the likeness of men, and found in fashion like a man

He humbled himself in obedience as far as death, even the death of the cross.

9 Therefore God also lifted him on high

And bestowed on him a name above every name,

10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow

In heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11 And every tongue confess that "Jesus is Lord "--to the honour of God the Father.

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So then, my beloved, even as you have always been obedient, not as when I am present merely, but much more now when I am absent, work out 13 with fear and trembling your own salvation; for it is God who renders 14 both will and deed effective in you, for his own good pleasure. Do 15 all without murmurs and disputes; that you may be blameless and

guileless, the children of God, faultless in the midst of a generation crooked and perverse, among whom you appear like luminaries in the world: 16 holding fast the word of life, that I may have reason to exult in the day 17 of Christ that I did not run in vain or labour in vain. Yes, although I have my blood poured out on the sacrifice and sacred service of your 18 faith, I rejoice for myself and rejoice with you all; even so do you rejoice and rejoice with me.

19 But I hope in the Lord Jesus soon to send you Timotheus, that I also 20 may be of good courage when I learn of your affairs. For I have no man with a soul like his, who will have a genuine concern for your affairs; 21 one and all are seeking their own interests, not the interests of Jesus 22 Christ. But you know his tried character, how he served with me in the 23 gospel, like a child with his father. I hope then to send him directly, so 24 soon as I see how my own affairs turn out; but I am confident in the 25 Lord that before long I shall also come myself. And I consider it needful to send you Epaphroditus, who is my brother and fellow-worker and fellow26 soldier, as well as your messenger and minister to my need; for he was longing for you all and sorely troubled because you had heard that he 27 was ill-and ill he was indeed, nearly to death; but God had pity on him, and not merely on him, but also on me, lest I should have sorrow 28 upon sorrow. I send him then all the more eagerly, that you may rejoice 29 once more at seeing him, and that I may be the less sorrowful. Receive

30 him in the Lord then with all joy, and value men like him; because for the work of Christ he came near to death, hazarding his life to make up for the lack of your ministry towards me.

31 Well then, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write you the same 2 things is not irksome to me, and it is prudent for you.-Beware_of 3 the dogs! Beware of the wicked workers! Beware of the Incision. For we are the Circumcision, we who worship with the Spirit of God and exult 4 in Christ Jesus, and put no reliance on the flesh. Though I myself also possess ground for relying on the flesh. If any one else presumes to put 5 reliance on the flesh, far more can I!-circumcised on the eighth day, belonging to the race of Israel, to the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born 6 of Hebrews, as regards the law a Pharisee, as regards zeal a persecutor of the Community, as regards the uprightness of the law proved blameless. 7,8 But what was gain to me, this I have for Christ considered loss. Yes indeed, and I consider everything to be loss for the sake of the surpassing knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. For him I forfeited everything, and 9 consider it as mere refuse, that I may gain Christ and be found in him (possessing not the uprightness which is from the law as my uprightness, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the uprightness which 10 faith has from God), so as to know him-know the power of his resurrection and what it is to participate in his sufferings, being conformed to 11 his death, if so be that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have obtained it already, or that already I am perfected; nay

I press on to try and overtake it, seeing that I myself have been over13 taken by Christ Jesus. Brothers, I do not1 reckon myself to have overtaken it. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and stretching 14 forward to what lies before, I press on to the goal for the prize of the 15 high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let all of us therefore who are perfect be of this mind; and if you differ in mind upon any matter, God 16 shall reveal that also to you. At any rate, so far as we have attained, let 17 us walk in the same steps. Brothers, unite in imitating me, and 18 mark those who walk even as you have us for a pattern. For many are walking-of whom I often used to tell you and tell you now with tears, 19 that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: perdition is their fate, the

belly their god, in their shame they glory, men whose mind is set on earthly 20 things. It is in heaven our commonwealth exists; and from heaven we 21 wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall fashion the body that belongs to our humiliation till it is like the body that belongs to his majesty, in virtue of the force with which he is also able to subject everything to himself.

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So then, my brothers, beloved and longed for, my joy and wreath, 2 stand thus firm in the Lord, beloved. I appeal to Euôdia and Í 3 appeal to Syntychê to be of the same mind in the Lord. Also I pray thee, true Synzygus, assist these women'; for they strove by my side in the service of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my 4 fellow-workers, whose names are in the book of life. Rejoice in the Lord 5 always. Again I will say it, rejoice. Let your forbearance be known to 6 all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious about nothing, but in everything by prayer and entreaty together with thanksgiving let your requests be 7 made known before God; so shall the peace of God which surpasses all conception guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Well then, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is serious, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is courteous, all

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