1:4 always in every prayer of mine for you all, making request with joy,
1:5 for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now,
1:6 being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ.
1:7 Even as it is right for me to think this of you all because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are joint partakers of my grace.
1:8 For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.
1:9 And this I pray that your charity may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all perception,
1:10 that ye may approve the best, that ye may be sincere and without offense until the day of Christ,
1:11 being filled with fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
1:12 But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel,
1:13 so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all other places;
1:14 and many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
1:15 Some indeed preach the Christ even out of envy and strife, but others also out of good will.
1:16 Some preach the Christ out of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add tribulation to my bonds,
1:17 but the others out of charity, knowing that I am placed here for the defense of the gospel.
1:18 What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretense, or in truth, Christ is preached, and I therein do rejoice, and will even rejoice.
1:19 For I know that this shall become my saving health through your prayer and the nourishment of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,
1:20 according to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death.
1:21 For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.
1:22 But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour, yet I do not know what to choose.
1:23 For I am in a strait between the two, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better:
1:24 nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.
1:25 And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith,
1:26 that your glorying in Jesus Christ may be more abundant by my coming to you again.
1:27 Only let your conversation be as is worthy of the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, unanimous, working together for the faith of the gospel,
1:28 and in nothing terrified by your adversaries, which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of saving health and that of God.
1:29 For unto you it is granted regarding Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake,
1:30 having the same conflict which ye saw in me and now hear to be in me.
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