So I hope to send him as soon as I know more about my situation,

Be imitators of me, ¹  brothers and sisters, ²  and watch carefully those who are living this way, just as you have us as an example.

But these assets I have come to regard as liabilities because of Christ.

As a result God exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name,

¹ who though he existed in the form of God ²  did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped,

Each of you should be concerned ¹  not only ²  about your own interests, but about the interests of others as well. ³ 

Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition ¹  or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself.

So then, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, continue working out your salvation with awe and reverence, ¹ 

More than that, I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things – indeed, I regard them as dung! ¹  – that I may gain Christ,

I was circumcised on the eighth day, from the people of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. I lived according to the law as a Pharisee. ¹ 

so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without blemish though you live in a crooked and perverse society, in which you shine as lights in the world ¹ 

My confident hope ¹  is that I will in no way be ashamed ²  but that with complete boldness, even now as always, Christ will be exalted in my body, whether I live or die. ³ 

And as you Philippians know, at the beginning of my gospel ministry, when I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in this matter of giving and receiving except you alone.

In my zeal for God I persecuted the church. According to the righteousness stipulated in the law I was blameless.

He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross!

But you know his qualifications, that like a son working with his father, he served with me in advancing the gospel.

Therefore let those of us who are “perfect” embrace this point of view. ¹  If you think otherwise, God will reveal to you the error of your ways. ² 

But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice together with all of you.

For many live, about whom I have often told you, and now, with tears, I tell you that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ.

But our citizenship is in heaven – and we also await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,