So, I urge you, brothers, because God is so merciful [to us], to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, [fully] dedicated and very pleasing to God. For this is a reasonable [or spiritual] way for you to worship [or serve] Him.
Philemon 1:9 - An Understandable Version (2005 edition) yet out of [mutual] love, I appeal to you [to do what I ask]. For I Paul, am an old man, and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus. [Note: Most calculations suggest that Paul was approximately 60 years old, which was considered a relatively advanced age in that day]. More versionsKing James Version (Oxford) 1769 yet for love's sake I rather beseech thee, being such an one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. Amplified Bible - Classic Edition Yet for love's sake I prefer to appeal to you just for what I am–I, Paul, an ambassador [of Christ Jesus] and an old man and now a prisoner for His sake also– American Standard Version (1901) yet for love’s sake I rather beseech, being such a one as Paul the aged, and now a prisoner also of Christ Jesus: Common English Bible I would rather appeal to you through love. I, Paul—an old man, and now also a prisoner for Christ Jesus— Catholic Public Domain Version but I beg you instead, for the sake of charity, since you are so much like Paul: an old man and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. Douay-Rheims version of The Bible - 1752 version For charity sake I rather beseech, whereas thou art such a one, as Paul an old man, and now a prisoner also of Jesus Christ. |
So, I urge you, brothers, because God is so merciful [to us], to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, [fully] dedicated and very pleasing to God. For this is a reasonable [or spiritual] way for you to worship [or serve] Him.
So, we [apostles] are ambassadors, [speaking] on behalf of Christ. [It is] as though God were appealing [to people] through us: “We urge you people, on behalf of Christ, to be restored to fellowship with God.”
As workers together with God we urge you also, who have received God’s unearned favor, do not allow it to be for nothing,
For all of you are children of God through your faith in Christ Jesus [as God’s only Son].
This is the reason that I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles, [pray for you. See 3:14-19].
I urge you, therefore, as a prisoner of the Lord, to live in a way that measures up to [the standard required by] God when He called you.
for which I am an ambassador in prison. [And pray] that I may be able to proclaim the Gospel boldly, as I ought to.
I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has strengthened me, appointing me to the ministry [i.e., to His service], because He considered me trustworthy,
Older men should be sober-minded [See note at I Tim. 3:2], dignified [i.e., respectable], sensible, sound in the faith [or, “in their faith”], in their love and in their perseverance.
And I urge you people earnestly to do this [i.e., pray for me], so that I can be sent back to you sooner [i.e., by God’s providence].
My dearly loved ones, I urge you, as a people who are foreigners and strangers [in this world], do not give in to sinful desires, which wage war against the soul.