1. Greetings from Paul and Timothy, servants of Jesus Christ. To all of you in Philippi who are God’s holy people in Christ Jesus, including your elders and special servants.
2. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3. I thank God every time I remember you.
4. And I always pray for all of you with joy.
5. I thank God for the help you gave me while I told people the Good News. You helped from the first day you believed until now.
6. I am sure that the good work God began in you will continue until he completes it on the day when Jesus Christ comes again.
7. I know I am right to think like this about all of you because you are so close to my heart. This is because you have all played such an important part in God’s grace to me—now, during this time that I am in prison, and whenever I am defending and proving the truth of the Good News.
8. God knows that I want very much to see you. I love all of you with the love of Christ Jesus.
9. This is my prayer for you: that your love will grow more and more; that you will have knowledge and understanding with your love;
10. that you will see the difference between what is important and what is not and choose what is important; that you will be pure and blameless for the coming of Christ;
11. that your life will be full of the many good works that are produced by Jesus Christ to bring glory and praise to God.
12. Brothers and sisters, I want you to know that all that has happened to me has helped to spread the Good News.
13. All the Roman guards and all the others here know that I am in prison for serving Christ.
14. My being in prison has caused most of the believers to put their trust in the Lord and to show more courage in telling people God’s message.
15. Some people are telling the message about Christ because they are jealous and bitter. Others do it because they want to help.