Kiononia (sharing in the gospel)

Kiononia (sharing in the gospel)

Posted by Chad Langdon on Sunday, May 6, 2018

Koinonia – Greek for partnership, fellowship, mutual sharing & affection, close relationship

Philippians 1:1-18a

NLT

[1] (1) This letter is from Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus. I am writing to all of God’s holy people in Philippi who belong to Christ Jesus, including the elders and deacons. (2) May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. (3) Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. (4) Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy, (5) for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now. (6) And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. (7) So it is right that I should feel as I do about all of you, for you have a special place in my heart. You share with me the special favor of God, both in my imprisonment and in defending and confirming the truth of the Good News. (8) God knows how much I love you and long for you with the tender compassion of Christ Jesus. (9) I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. (10) For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return. (11) May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation-the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ -for this will bring much glory and praise to God. (12) And I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News. (13) For everyone here, including the whole palace guard, knows that I am in chains because of Christ. (14) And because of my imprisonment, most of the believers here have gained confidence and boldly speak God’s message without fear. (15) It’s true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives. (16) They preach because they love me, for they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News. (17) Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me. (18) But that doesn’t matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice.

NRSV

[1] (1) Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: (2) Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (3) I thank my God every time I remember you, (4) constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, (5) because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. (6) I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. (7) It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God’s grace with me, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. (8) For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus. (9) And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight (10) to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, (11) having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God. (12) I want you to know, beloved, that what has happened to me has actually helped to spread the gospel, (13) so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to everyone else that my imprisonment is for Christ; (14) and most of the brothers and sisters, having been made confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, dare to speak the word with greater boldness and without fear. (15) Some proclaim Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill. (16) These proclaim Christ out of love, knowing that I have been put here for the defense of the gospel; (17) the others proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but intending to increase my suffering in my imprisonment. (18) What does it matter? Just this, that Christ is proclaimed in every way, whether out of false motives or true; and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice.

Previous
Athens
Next
Humility