Weymouth New Testament in Modern Speech, Philippians

Part 1

Produced by Martin Ward

Weymouth New Testament in Modern Speech, Philippians

Third Edition 1913

R. F. Weymouth

Book 50 Philippians

001:001 Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Christ Jesus: To all God's people in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the ministers of the Church and their assistants.

001:002 May grace and peace be granted to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

001:003 I thank my God at my every remembrance of you--

001:004 always when offering any prayer on behalf of you all, finding a joy in offering it.

001:005 I thank my God, I say, for your cooperation in spreading the Good News, from the time it first came to you even until now.

001:006 For of this I am confident, that He who has begun a good work within you will go on to perfect it in preparation for the day of Jesus Christ.

001:007 And I am justified in having this confidence about you all, because, both during my imprisonment and when I stand up in defence of the Good News or to confirm its truth, I have you in my heart, sharers as you all are in the same grace as myself.

001:008 For God is my witness how I yearn over all of you with tender Christian affection.

001:009 And it is my prayer that your love may be more and more accompanied by clear knowledge and keen perception, for testing things that differ,

001:010 so that you may be men of transparent character, and may be blameless, in preparation for the day of Christ,

001:011 being filled with these fruits of righteousness which come through Jesus Christ--to the glory and praise of God.

001:012 Now I would have you know, brethren, that what I have gone through has turned out to the furtherance of the Good News rather than otherwise.

001:013 And thus it has become notorious among all the Imperial Guards, and everywhere, that it is for the sake of Christ that I am a prisoner;

001:014 and the greater part of the brethren, made confident in the Lord through my imprisonment, now speak of God's Message without fear, more boldly than ever.

001:015 Some indeed actually preach Christ out of envy and contentiousness but there are also others who do it from good will.

001:016 These latter preach Him from love to me, knowing that I am here for the defence of the Good News;

001:017 while the others proclaim Him from motives of rivalry, and insincerely, supposing that by this they are embittering my imprisonment.

001:018 What does it matter, however? In any case Christ is preached-- either perversely or in honest truth; and in that I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice.

001:019 For I know that it will result in my salvation through your prayers and a bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,

001:020 in fulfilment of my eager expectation and hope that I shall never have reason to feel ashamed, but that by my perfect freedom of speech Christ will be glorified in me, now as always, either by my life or by my death.

001:021 For, with me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

001:022 But since to live means a longer stay on earth, that implies more labour for me--and not unsuccessful labour; and which I am to choose I cannot tell.

001:023 I am in a dilemma, my earnest desire being to depart and be with Christ, for that is far, far better.

Part 2

001:024 But for your sakes it is more important that I should still remain in the body.

001:025 I am convinced of this, and I know that I shall remain, and shall go on working side by side with you all, to promote your progress and joy in the faith;

001:026 so that, as Christians, you may have additional reason for glorying about me as the result of my being with you again.

001:027 Only let the lives you live be worthy of the Good News of the Christ, in order that, whether I come and see you or, being absent, only hear of you, I may know that you are standing fast in one spirit and with one mind, fighting shoulder to shoulder for the faith of the Good News.

001:028 Never for a moment quail before your antagonists. Your fearlessness will be to them a sure token of impending destruction, but to you it will be a sure token of your salvation-- a token coming from God.

001:029 For you have had the privilege granted you on behalf of Christ-- not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer on His behalf;

001:030 maintaining, as you do, the same kind of conflict that you once saw in me and which you still hear that I am engaged in.

002:001 If then I can appeal to you as the followers of Christ, if there is any persuasive power in love and any common sharing of the Spirit, or if you have any tender-heartedness and compassion, make my joy complete by being of one mind,

002:002 united by mutual love, with harmony of feeling giving your minds to one and the same object.

002:003 Do nothing in a spirit of factiousness or of vainglory, but, with true humility, let every one regard the rest as being of more account than himself;

002:004 each fixing his attention, not simply on his own interests, but on those of others also.

002:005 Let the same disposition be in you which was in Christ Jesus.

002:006 Although from the beginning He had the nature of God He did not reckon His equality with God a treasure to be tightly grasped.

002:007 Nay, He stripped Himself of His glory, and took on Him the nature of a bondservant by becoming a man like other men.

002:008 And being recognized as truly human, He humbled Himself and even stooped to die; yes, to die on a cross.

002:009 It is in consequence of this that God has also so highly exalted Him, and has conferred on Him the Name which is supreme above every other,

002:010 in order that in the Name of JESUS every knee should bow, of beings in Heaven, of those on the earth, and of those in the underworld,

002:011 and that every tongue should confess that JESUS CHRIST is LORD, to the glory of God the Father.

002:012 Therefore, my dearly-loved friends, as I have always found you obedient, labour earnestly with fear and trembling-- not merely as though I were present with you, but much more now since I am absent from you--labour earnestly, I say, to make sure of your own salvation.

002:013 For it is God Himself whose power creates within you the desire to do His gracious will and also brings about the accomplishment of the desire.

002:014 Be ever on your guard against a grudging and contentious spirit,

002:015 so that you may always prove yourselves to be blameless and spotless-- irreproachable children of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as heavenly lights in the world,

002:016 holding out to them a Message of Life. It will then be my glory on the day of Christ that I did not run my race in vain nor toil in vain.

002:017 Nay, even if my life is to be poured as a libation upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I rejoice, and I congratulate you all.

002:018 And I bid you also share my gladness, and congratulate me.

002:019 But, if the Lord permits it, I hope before long to send Timothy to you, that I, in turn, may be cheered by getting news of you.

002:020 For I have no one likeminded with him, who will cherish a genuine care for you.

002:021 Everybody concerns himself about his own interests, not about those of Jesus Christ.

Part 3

002:022 But you know Timothy's approved worth--how, like a child working with his father, he has served with me in furtherance of the Good News.

002:023 So it is he that I hope to send as soon as ever I see how things go with me;

002:024 but trusting, as I do, in the Lord, I believe that I shall myself also come to you before long.

002:025 Yet I deem it important to send Epaphroditus to you now-- he is my brother and comrade both in labour and in arms, and is your messenger who has ministered to my needs.

002:026 I send him because he is longing to see you all and is distressed at your having heard of his illness.

002:027 For it is true that he has been ill, and was apparently at the point of death; but God had pity on him, and not only on him, but also on me, to save me from having sorrow upon sorrow.

002:028 I am therefore all the more eager to send him, in the hope that when you see him again you may be glad and I may have the less sorrow.

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