prayer, by work, by
gifts, in the Gospel work,

Ver. 6. +from the first day up to this present. For+ (the thought of
your long consistency suggests the assertion) +I am quite sure of just
this, that He who inaugurated+ (_enarkamenos_: the word has solemn,
ceremonial connexions) +in you the[3] good work will perfect it+, will
evermore put His finishing touches to it (_epitelesei_), up to +Christ
Jesus' Day+, the Day of His promised Return, and of our glorification
with Him. But this is by the way; I return to my joy and my

Ver. 7. thanksgivings over you: +Even as it is just that I+, I above
all men (_emoi_, emphatic, not _moi_), +should feel+ (_phronein_) +like
this over you all, on behalf of you all,[4] because of my having you in
my heart, as those who, alike in my imprisonment+ (_desmois_) +and in
the vindication and establishment of the Gospel+, the defence of it
against its enemies, the developement of its truths and its power in
the believing, +are copartners, all of you, of my grace+; my grace, the
grace granted me, the glorious privilege of suffering and of doing as a
Missionary of Christ. Your loving, working sympathy has inextricably
united you and me, alike in my prison and in my apostolate.

Ver. 8. Yes, I feel this in my inmost being. +For God is my witness,
how I yearn+, as with a homesick affection (_epipothia_), +for you all,
in the heart+ (_splagchna_) +of Christ Jesus+; for to His members His
heart is as it were theirs; our emotions are, by the Spirit, in contact
with His.

Ver. 9. +And+ what are those "requests" which I make for you with joy?
+This is my prayer, that your love+, in the fullest Christian sense,
but above all in the sense of your love to one another, +may abound yet
more and more+ in the attendant and protective blessing of +spiritual
knowledge+ (_epignosis_) and all needed

Ver. 10. +discernment; so that+, amidst life's many temptations to
compromises of conviction or inconsistency of spirit, +you may test the
things that differ+ (_ta diapherona_), sifting truth and holiness from
their counterfeits; +in order to be singlehearted+ (_eilikrineis_[5])
+and without a stumbling-block+, such as error and inconsistency so
easily lay in our further path, +against+, in view of, +Christ's Day+;
so that when that Day dawns you may be found to be not servants whose
time has been half lost for their Lord's work and will, but

Ver. 11. rather those +who have been filled with the frui