Study Desk

For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church,

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will.

The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment.

as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.

But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.

and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.

For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake,

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,

But you know Timothy's proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel.

Indeed he was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,