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.
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.
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;
But those others tell about Christ because of their selfish ambition. Their reason for doing it is wrong. They only do it because they think it will make trouble for me in prison.
But that doesn't matter. What is important is that they are telling people about Christ, whether they are sincere or not. So I am glad they are doing it. I will continue to be glad,
I am full of hope and feel sure I will not have any reason to be ashamed. I am certain I will have now the same boldness to speak freely that I always have. I will let God use my life to bring more honor to Christ. It doesn't matter whether I live or die.
Just be sure you live as God's people in a way that honors the Good News of Christ. Then if I come and visit you or if I am away from you, I will hear good things about you. I will know that you stand together with the same purpose and that you work together like a team to help others believe the Good News.
God gave you the honor of believing in Christ. But that is not all. He also gave you the honor of suffering for Christ. Both of these bring glory to Christ.