Christ is Worth More Than Everything
An EasyEnglish Version with Notes (1200 word vocabulary) on Paul’s Letter to the Philippians
Cynthia Green
The translated text has been through Advanced Checking.
Words in boxes are comments on the text.
The word list at the end explains words with a star * by them.
Paul wrote this letter while he was in a prison at Rome. Rome is the capital of the country called Italy now. At that time, the king of Rome was very powerful and he ruled many countries. We think that Paul wrote this letter about the year *AD 62. That was more than 30 years after Jesus died. At that time, Philippi was an important city in Macedonia (the north part of Greece).
Paul visited Philippi about 12 years before he wrote this letter. He went there to teach the people about Jesus Christ. Some people there became angry about the things that Paul was doing. So they put Paul in a prison. (See Acts 16:11-40.) We think that Paul visited Philippi again later. He may have been there several times. The Christians there were his special friends.
In his letter, Paul tells the Christians how special they are to him. Like Paul, they are Christ’s servants. So, because they also work for Christ, they help Paul to be stronger for Christ. Paul loves Christ. Christ is much, much more important to him than anything else is. The whole purpose of Paul’s life is to tell people about Christ.
Christ obeyed God so completely that he died on our behalf. Paul wants the Christians at Philippi to obey God completely too. He wants them to be like Christ. Paul is afraid that they might listen to false teachers. The false teachers were teaching wrong ideas. Paul wants the Christians to do the things that make God happy. They must continue to believe God. They must continue to obey him, even when other people are not kind to them.
Also, Paul thanks the Christians at Philippi for the gifts that they had sent to him. He tells them that he will send Timothy and Epaphroditus to Philippi. These men will tell all the news about Paul to the Christians there.
v1 Paul and Timothy, who are servants of Christ Jesus, are writing this letter. We are writing to you, God’s people at Philippi, who are united to Christ Jesus. We are writing to all of you including your leaders and their helpers.
v2 We pray that God our Father and the *Lord Jesus Christ will continue to be very kind to you. We pray also that they will cause you to be without trouble inside yourselves.
v3 Every time that I think about you, I thank my God because of you. v4 I pray for you often. Every time that I pray for you, I feel very happy. v5 I am happy because you are helping people to know the good news about Christ. You have helped me with that work since the first day that you heard the good news. And you are still helping with that work. v6 I know that God has begun to do good things in you. And he will continue to work in you until the day when Jesus Christ returns. Then God will finish this work in you. I am sure about that.
v7 It is right for me to feel like this about you, because I love you so much. You are very special friends to me. You were my friends before I was in prison. Then I was free and I could teach the good news. I explained to people why the good news is certainly true. And you are my friends now, while I am in prison. And, like me, all of you continue to know how very kind God is to us. v8 God himself knows how much I want to be with all of you. I love you in the same way that Christ Jesus himself loves you.
v9 This is what I pray for you. I pray that you will continue to love each other more and more. I pray that you will continue to know God more and more. Then you will understand things more completely. You will understand why things are right or wrong. v10 Then you can choose to do what is best. So you can keep yourselves clean inside until the day when Christ returns. You will have done nothing wrong when that day comes. v11 Jesus Christ will make you completely good and right with God. Jesus will help you also to do many good things. Then you will show everyone what great things God has done in you. So peoplewill say how great God is.
v12 Friends, I want you to know this. God has chosen to let bad things happen to me. But these things have helped more people to hear his good news. v13 I am in prison because I am Christ’s servant. All the soldiers in the king’s house know that. And everyone else knows that too. v14 Also, because I am in prison, most of the other Christians here have become much braver. The *Lord has made them brave so that they are not afraid to speak his message to people.
v15 It is true that some of these Christians do not like me. So, they are telling people about Christ because they want to make me angry. These Christians want people to think great things about them. They want to be better than me. But other Christians are friendly to me. They speak about Christ because they want to help me. v16 They speak about him because they love me. They know that God has put me here in prison. And he wants me to explain to people why the good news is true. v17 Those other Christians, who do not like me, speak about Christ because of wrong reasons. They speak about him because they want to seem important. They do not really want people to know Christ. They want to cause trouble for me while I am here in prison. v18 But it does not matter! All of them are telling people about Christ. That is the most important thing, whether they speak because of wrong reasons or because of right reasons. They are speaking about Christ! So, because of this, I am happy.
Yes, and I will continue to be happy. v19 You are praying for me and Jesus Christ’s Spirit is helping me. So, what has happened to me will have good results for me. God will save me. I know this, so I will continue to be happy. v20 I hope very much that I will always do my duty. I never want to do anything that will cause me to be ashamed. I hope that now, as always, I will be brave. In my body, I want to show how great Christ is. I want to do that, whether I live or I die.
v21 Christ is everything that I live for. And if I die, that will be even better for me. v22 But if I continue to live in this body, I will be able to do more good work. That work will have good results. So perhaps I should go on living. I do not know whether to live or to die. I do not know which to choose. v23 I want to do both these things. I want to leave this world so that I can be with Christ. That is a much better thing. v24 But you people need me to continue living in my body. v25 I am sure that you need me. So I know that I will continue to live. I will continue to help all of you. I will help you to believe Christ more and more. So, you will become happier and happier. v26 And, when I am with you again, you will have an even better reason to thank Christ Jesus. You will say how great Christ is. You will say that because of what he has done for me.
Verses 19-26 Paul is in a prison while he is writing this letter. He is waiting to talk to the people who put him in prison. He is waiting for them to decide what will happen to him. They might decide to kill him. Or they might decide to let him live. Then he can be free to leave the prison.
v27 You have believed the good news about Christ. So, whatever things may happen, you must continue to live for Christ. You must do everything that Christ’s people should do. Then, whether I come to visit you or not, I will hear good things about you. I will know that you are continuing to believe Christ strongly. I will know that you are united by Christ’s Spirit. You will be like one person, because all of you will have the same purpose. You will work together so that more people will believe the good news. v28 You will not be afraid of your enemies, but instead you will be brave. This will show your enemies that God will certainly destroy them. But it will show also that God will certainly save you. v29 God has given you special work to do as Christ’s servants. He wants you to believe Christ. Also, he has chosen that you must have troubles and pain on behalf of Christ. v30 You are fighting the same fight as me. When I was with you, I was fighting that fight. You saw that. And now you know that I am still fighting that fight.
Verse 30 Paul does not mean that he is really fighting anyone with his body. He means the ‘fight’ against enemies of the good news. The *believers at Philippi were having trouble because they were Christ’s people. Paul was also having trouble for the same reason. So they were in the same ‘fight’.
v1 You are united with Christ, so he can make you strong and brave. He can stop you being sad. You can know how much he loves you. All of you can know his Spirit. So you can be kind to each other. You can love each other as Christ loves you. v2 So, make me completely happy because all of you agree. All of you should love each other in the same way. All of you should be like one person, because you have the same purpose. v3 You must not do only the things that you want. You should not do anything just because it makes you seem more important than other people. Instead, always think about what other people need. Do not think that you are better than other people. But think about other people as better than you. v4 Do not think only about the things that are important to you yourself. But each of you should think also about the things that are important to other people. v5 You should think in the same way as Christ thought:
v6 Christ had completely the same nature as God.
He was just as important as God.
But he did not demand that he should continue to be important like that.
v7 Instead, he made himself much, much less important.
He took for himself a servant’s nature.
He became like a man.
And when he was living as a man,
v8 he was ready to become even less important.
He obeyed God so completely that he died.
He even died on a cross!
v9 That is why God raised him to the most important place in *heaven.
God gave him the name that is greater than every other name.
v10 So that, when they hear Jesus’ name, all things must bend down.
Everything that is alive in *heaven must bend down.
Everything that is alive on earth, or under the earth, must bend down.
They must bend their knees to show how great he is.
v11 And everything that is alive must say aloud:
‘Jesus Christ is *Lord.’
That will show how great and how good God the Father is.
Verses 6-11 These verses may have been part or all of a song that Paul knew.
v12 So, my friends, that I love, you must also obey God. When I was with you, you always obeyed. Now that I am not with you, that is even more important. You must do as I ask you. God has worked to save you. And you must continue to do what you can to finish that work. You must be very careful to obey God always. You must remember how very great and powerful he is. v13 Obey God, because he is working in you. He is changing you so that you want to obey him. And he is making you able to do the things that make him happy.
v14 When you do anything, do not become angry about it. Do not argue about it. v15 Then you will be clean inside yourselves. You will be without anything wrong in you, as God’s children should be. In this world, you are living with bad people all round you. They have become very bad. But you must shine among them, like the bright stars that shine in the dark sky at night. v16 You will be like lights to these people while you tell them Christ’s message. That message can cause them to become really alive. If you shine like this, I can be happy because of you. I will be happy on the day when Christ will return. Then I will know that all my work among you had good results. I will know that I did not waste my time.
v17 You believe Christ, so you are his servants. You offer yourselves to God, like a *sacrifice, to work for him. Perhaps I will have to die. Perhaps I must become like part of your *sacrifice. But if I die, I will be happy. And I want you to be happy also. v18 It is right that you should be happy too. You should be happy, as I will be happy.
v19 I hope that the *Lord Jesus will let me send Timothy to you soon. Then, when he returns to me, he can tell me news about you. And that will make me happy. v20 Timothy really loves you, as I do. He really has an interest in you. I have nobody else like him. v21 Everyone else thinks about the things that are important to themselves. They have no interest in the things that are important to Jesus Christ. v22 But you know that Timothy is a good man. He has worked with me like a son works with his father. You know that. He has helped me to tell people the good news. v23 That is why I hope to send him to you. I am waiting to discover what will happen to me. Then, as soon as I know, I will send him. v24 But I believe that the *Lord will let me come to you soon myself.
v25 Epaphroditus is my Christian brother, who works with me. We are both like soldiers in Christ’s army. When I needed help, you sent him to me. But now I think that I must send him back to you. v26 He wants very much to meet all of you again. You knew that he was ill. So he has not been happy that you knew. He does not want you to be sad about him. v27 Certainly, he was very ill, and he almost died. But God was kind to him. God was also kind to me, so that I did not have even more trouble. v28 So I want even more to send him to you. When you see him, you can be happy. And then I will not feel so sad. v29 Like you, he belongs to the *Lord. So you must say ‘welcome’ to him. You should be very happy when he comes to visit you. People like Epaphroditus have done great things. So you should remember how important they are. v30 Epaphroditus nearly died because he worked for Christ. He was ready to die so that he could help me. He helped me because you could not help me yourselves.
Verses 25-30 Epaphroditus belonged to the group of Christians at Philippi. The Christians at Philippi had sent him to Rome. He had brought gifts from them to Paul. (See chapter 4:18.) Epaphroditus had been very ill while he was at Rome. But God had made him well again.
Verse 30 Epaphroditus could help Paul because he was at Rome with Paul. He was helping on behalf of all the Christians at Philippi.
v1 Now, friends, I want to say this to you. Be happy because you are united to the *Lord. It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again. And it will be safer for you. v2 Some people are teaching wrong things. They say that you must cut your bodies. They are like dangerous dogs. Be very careful that you do not believe them. v3 They are not really God’s people. But we are God’s people, because God himself has *circumcised us. We are really his people, because we *worship him by his Spirit. We thank God because of what Christ Jesus has done for us. We do not need to have marks on our bodies. We are sure that we cannot save ourselves.
Verse 3 To ‘circumcise’ means to cut the skin from the end of a boy’s or man’s sex part. God had told Abraham to do this. (See Genesis 17:9-14.) The *Jews *circumcised men and boys to show that Israel’s people belonged to God. But if we believe Christ, God ‘circumcises’ us in our *spirits. We belong to God in our *spirits. We are God’s people because Christ died for us. So we have something much better than a mark on our bodies. Some false teachers were saying that Christians had to cut themselves. They were saying, ‘Unless you cut yourselves, like the *Jews, you cannot really be God’s people.’ That is what they were teaching. So Paul is telling the Christians at Philippi that they must not believe these bad teachers.
v4 I could think that I was good enough to save myself. I have good reasons to think like that. I have better reasons to think like that than anyone else could have. v5 I belong to Israel’s people, to Benjamin’s family group. I am a *Jew completely. They *circumcised me when I was 8 days old. God’s rules, that he gave to Israel’s people, were very important to me. I was one of the Pharisees (a group of *Jews who were very careful to obey all God’s rules). v6 I wanted to be a good *Jew very much. So I caused a lot of trouble and pain for the Christians. I obeyed all God’s rules very carefully. I did everything right, just as the rules said.
v7 All these things were very important to me before. But now they are worth nothing to me, because of Christ. v8 And it is not only these things that are worth nothing to me. Now I think that all things are worth nothing, because of Christ. The only thing that is really important to me is to know Christ Jesus, my *Lord. That is the greatest thing. I have lost everything for him. But all the things that I have lost are only like dirt to me. I think about them like that, so that I may have Christ. v9 I can be united to him, so that I am completely right with God, just like Christ. If I obeyed all God’s rules completely, I could never become right with God. Only God can make me right with himself, because I believe Christ.
v10 The only thing that I want is to know Christ. He rose, to become alive again, after he had died. And I want to know in myself how powerful his new life is. Also, I want to have troubles and pain, as he did. I want to become like him in his death. v11 That is how I hope to rise from death myself. I hope to become alive again after death, so that I will live with God always.
v12 I have not yet become completely as God wants me to be. I am not saying that I have become like that already. But Christ Jesus has made me his own. And it is my whole purpose to become completely what he wants me to be. I am like someone who is running strongly to reach a certain point. v13 My friends, I do not think that I have reached that point yet. But this one thing is what I do. I forget past things, which are behind me. And I try very much to reach the things that are in front of me. v14 I run straight towards that point, so that I can win God’s gift. God has chosen that I should live in *heaven, united to Christ. That is his gift to me.
v15 So all of us who have learned to live properly for Christ should think like this. And if you think differently about anything, God will make it clear to you. v16 The most important thing is that we continue to obey God. We must continue to do what God wants. As far as we understand it, we must do that.
v17 My friends, all of you should try to do what I do. Also, watch everyone else who, like me, obeys God. And try to do what they do. Let us be examples for you to copy. v18 Many people live like enemies of Christ’s death on the cross. I have told you about these people many times before. And it makes me cry to tell you about them now. v19 God must destroy them. Their god is their stomach. They do bad things that should make them ashamed. But they are not ashamed. Instead, they are happy because they do those bad things. They think that they are clever because they do bad things like that. They think only about the things that belong to this world. v20 But we belong to *heaven. Our home is not really in this world. We are waiting for the *Lord Jesus Christ, who saves us, to come from *heaven. We want him to come very much. v21 He will change these poor bodies that we have now on this earth. He will make our bodies like his own beautiful body in *heaven. Christ can do this because he is so powerful. He is so powerful that he can rule over everything.
v1 My friends, I love you very much. And I want very much to meet you again. You make me very happy. You show that my work among you had good results. So I am very happy because of you. My good friends, please remember what I have told you. Then you will continue to believe Christ strongly. You will continue to live for the *Lord, because you are united to him.
v2 I say this to Euodia and I say it to Syntyche. You are like sisters because you are united to the *Lord. So I ask very strongly that you agree with each other. v3 I ask you too, my good friend, to help these women. You have worked with me to tell people the good news. And these women have worked with me too. They have worked very much so that people would believe the good news. They worked with Clement, and they worked with all my other workers. All those workers’ names are in God’s book, which says who will live with him always.
Verse 3 Paul is speaking to someone who is his special friend. He does not say what his friend’s name is. Perhaps it is someone who had travelled with Paul to tell people the good news. Then that person had stayed at Philippi. Some people think that it could be Luke. Luke wrote the book in the Bible called Acts.
v4 Always be happy because you live united to the *Lord. I will say it again, ‘Be happy!’ v5 Always be kind and patient. Then everyone will see how kind and good you are. Remember that the *Lord is near. v6 Do not be afraid about anything. Do not let anything cause you trouble inside yourselves. Instead, tell everything to the *Lord. Pray to him. Ask him for everything that you need. And when you pray, always thank him. v7 Then God will rule you. He will rule your minds. He will rule what you feel like. He will cause you to be without trouble deep inside yourselves. God is so great that he can do that for us. But we cannot understand how he does it.
v8 Now friends, I want to say this to you. Think about the things that are true and honest. Think about the things that are right and good and lovely. Everyone can see that some things are completely good. Think about these things. v9 Do those things that you learned from me. Remember the things that I said. Remember the things that I did. You must do those things too. And then the God who causes us to be without trouble inside ourselves will be with you.
v10 I am very happy that now you want to help me again. I thank the *Lord that you are thinking about me. You helped me before. And I know that you did not forget me. But it is a long time since you had a chance to help me. v11 I am not saying this because I need anything. I have learned to be happy, whatever things may happen to me. v12 I know what it is like to need things. I know what it is like to have plenty. I have learned to be happy at any time and during all things. I have learned this secret. I can be happy whether I have enough food or not. I can be happy whether I have plenty of things or nothing. v13 I can do everything because Christ makes me strong.
v14 But certainly, you have been very kind to me. You have helped me at this time, when I have trouble. v15 You helped me also at that earlier time, when I was starting to tell people the good news. When I left Macedonia, you helped me. You were the only group of Christians who helped me then. You people who live at Philippi know that yourselves. No other group of Christians gave gifts to me as you did. v16 Even when I was at Thessalonica, you helped me. More than once, you sent gifts to me because I needed things.
Verse 15 Macedonia was the north part of the country called Greece now. Philippi city was in Macedonia.
Verse 16 Thessalonica was also a city in Macedonia. Paul had taught the good news at Thessalonica also.
v17 It is not your gifts themselves that I want. But instead, I want you to do good things so that God will be happy about you. Then he will be good to you even more, because you have helped me. v18 Epaphroditus has brought the gifts that you sent to me. I have received those gifts, and now I do not need anything. You have sent me plenty. It is more than enough. Your gifts are like a *sacrifice with a nice smell, that people offer to God. God accepts a *sacrifice like that, because it makes him happy. v19 My God, who has plenty of good things for us because of Christ Jesus, will supply everything for you. By Christ, God will give you everything that you need.
v20 Everyone should always say how very great our God, our Father, is! They should never stop saying that! This is true.
v21 On behalf of me, say ‘hello’ to all God’s people who belong to Christ Jesus. The Christians who are here with me say ‘hello’ to you. v22 All God’s people here say ‘hello’ to you. And those Christians who live in the king’s house say a special ‘hello’ to you.
v23 We pray that the *Lord Jesus Christ will continue to be very kind to all of you.
AD ~ AD 50 means the year that was 50 years after Jesus came, and so on.
being ~ a person or animal that is alive.
believer ~ a person who knows and accepts Christ.
circumcise ~ to cut the skin from the end of a boy’s or man’s sex part. See note after 3:3.
heaven~ the place above the earth where God and Jesus Christ live.
Jew ~ a person who is born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
Lord ~ master; another name for God which means that he is greater than everyone else.
sacrifice ~ a gift that people offer to God; when people choose to give themselves completely to God, to work for him.
spirit~ a *being that is always alive, even without a body. A person’s spirit is the part of them that will always be alive. It will be alive even after their body is dead.
worship~ to love and thank someone (God) more than anyone else.
J. Barton & J. Muddiman (Ed.) ~ Oxford Bible Commentary
R. P. Martin ~ Philippians ~ Tyndale NT Commentary
G. D. Fee ~ New International Commentary on the New Testament ~ Paul’s Letter to the Philippians
A. Marshall ~ The Interlinear Greek-English New Testament
Various Bible versions
© 1997-2003, Wycliffe Associates (UK)
This publication is written in EasyEnglish Level A (1200 words).
July 2003
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