It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.
I do not say this to condemn you, for I said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together.
because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.
for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound!
I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.
Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble.
The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment.
for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.
For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles—
except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me.
And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them,
We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.
I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder,
But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.
sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.
Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.
Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession,
Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God,
For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.
We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.
At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison—
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.
You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.
Then the tribune came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. He inquired who he was and what he had done.
So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed:
Unless otherwise indicated, all content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Contact me: openbibleinfo (at) gmail.com.