It’s right for me to feel this way about all of you. You have a special place in my heart. Whether I’m being held in chains or standing up for the truth of the good news, either way, all of you share together in God’s grace with me.
And I urge you, my true companion, to help these women, because they’ve worked with me to spread the good news. So has Clement, and so have the rest of those who’ve worked together with me. Their names are all written in the book of life.
You believers at Philippi know what happened when I left Macedonia in the early days when you first heard the good news. Not one church helped me in the matter of giving and receiving except for you.
But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so I was able to preach the message completely, and all the Gentiles heard it. I was saved from the lion’s mouth.