More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ
For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness’, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ.
We ought to thank God always for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, since your faith is flourishing and the love each one of you has for one another is increasing.
For if, having escaped the world’s impurity through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in these things and defeated, the last state is worse for them than the first.
For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go out and playfully jump like calves from the stall.