0:1 Polycarp and the presbyters that are with him unto the Church of
God which sojourneth at Philippi;
0:2 mercy unto you and peace from God Almighty and Jesus Christ our
Saviour be multiplied.
1:1 I rejoiced with you greatly in our Lord Jesus Christ, for that
ye received the followers of the true Love and escorted them on their way,
as befitted you--those men encircled in saintly bonds which are the diadems
of them that be truly chosen of God and our Lord;
1:2 and that the stedfast root of your faith which was famed from primitive
times abideth until now and beareth fruit unto our Lord Jesus Christ, who
endured to face even death for our sins, {whom God raised, having loosed
the pangs of Hades;
1:3 on whom, though ye saw Him not, ye believe with joy unutterable
and full of glory;}
1:4 unto which joy many desire to enter in;
1:5 forasmuch as ye know that it is {by grace ye are saved, not of
works,} but by the will of God through Jesus Christ.
2:1 {Wherefore gird up your loins and serve God in fear} and truth,
forsaking the vain and empty talking and the error of the many, {for that
ye have believed on Him that raised our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead
and gave unto Him glory} and a throne on His right hand;
2:2 unto whom all things were made subject that are in heaven and that
are on the earth;
2:3 to whom every creature that hath breath doeth service;
2:4 who cometh as {judge of quick and dead;}
2:5 whose blood God will require of them that are disobedient unto
Him.
2:6 Now {He that raised Him} from the dead {will raise us also;}
2:7 if we do His will and walk in His commandments and love the things
which He loved, abstaining from all unrighteousness, covetousness, love
of money, evil speaking, false witness;
2:8 {not rendering evil for evil or railing for railing} or blow for
blow or cursing for cursing;
2:9 but remembering the words which the Lord spake as He taught;
2:10 {Judge not that ye be not judged.
2:11 Forgive, and it shall be forgiven to you.
2:12 Have mercy that ye may receive mercy.
2:13 With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again;}
2:14 and again {Blessed are the poor and they that are persecuted for
righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of God.}
3:1 These things, brethren, I write unto you concerning righteousness,
not because I laid this charge upon myself, but because ye invited me.
3:2 For neither am I, nor is any other like unto me, able to follow
the wisdom of the blessed and glorious Paul, who when he came among you
taught face to face with the men of that day the word which concerneth
truth carefully and surely;
3:3 who also, when he was absent, wrote a letter unto you, into the
which if ye look diligently, ye shall be able to be builded up unto the
faith given to you, {which is the mother of us all,} while hope followeth
after and love goeth before--love toward God and Christ and toward our
neighbour.
3:4 For if any man be occupied with these, he hath fulfilled the commandment
of righteousness;
3:5 for he that hath love is far from all sin.
4:1 {But the love of money is the beginning of all troubles.}
4:2 Knowing therefore that {we brought nothing into the world neither
can we carry anything out,} let us arm ourselves with the armour of righteousness,
and let us teach ourselves first to walk in the commandment of the Lord;
4:3 and then our wives also, to walk in the faith that hath been given
unto them and in love and purity, cherishing their own husbands in all
truth and loving all men equally in all chastity, and to train their children
in the training of the fear of God.
4:4 Our widows must be sober-minded as touching the faith of the Lord,
making intercession without ceasing for all men, abstaining from all calumny,
evil speaking, false witness, love of money, and every evil thing, knowing
that they are God's altar, and that all sacrifices are carefully inspected,
and nothing escapeth Him either of their thoughts or intents or any of
the secret things of the heart.
5:1 Knowing then that {God is not mocked,} we ought to walk worthily
of Him commandment and His glory.
5:2 In like manner deacons should be blameless in the presence of His
righteousness, as deacons of God and Christ and not of men;
5:3 not calumniators, not double-tongued, not lovers of money, temperate
in all things, compassionate, diligent, walking according to the truth
of the Lord who became {a minister (deacon) of all.}
5:4 For if we be well pleasing unto Him in this present world, we shall
receive the future world also, according as He promised us to raise us
from the dead, and that if we conduct ourselves worthily of Him {we shall
also reign with Him,} if indeed we have faith.
5:5 In like manner also the younger men must be blameless in all things,
caring for purity before everything and curbing themselves from every evil.
5:6 For it is a good thing to refrain from lusts in the world, for
every {lust warreth against the Spirit,} and {neither whoremongers nor
effeminate persons nor defilers of themselves with men shall inherit the
kingdom of God,} neither they that do untoward things.
5:7 Wherefore it is right to abstain from all these things, submitting
yourselves to the presbyters and deacons as to God and Christ.
5:8 The virgins must walk in a blameless and pure conscience.
6:1 And the presbyters also must be compassionate, merciful towards
all men, {turning back the sheep that are gone astray,} visiting all the
infirm, not neglecting a widow or an orphan or a poor man:
6:2 but {providing always for that which is honorable in the sight
of God and of men,} abstaining from all anger, respect of persons, unrighteous
judgment, being far from all love of money, not quick to believe anything
against any man, not hasty in judgment, knowing that we all are debtors
of sin.
6:3 If then we entreat the Lord that He would forgive us, we also ought
to forgive:
6:4 for we are before the eyes of our Lord and God, and we must {all
stand at the judgment-seat of Christ,} and {each man must give an account
of himself.}
6:5 Let us therefore so serve Him with fear and all reverence, as He
himself gave commandment and the Apostles who preached the Gospel to us
and the prophets who proclaimed beforehand the coming of our Lord;
6:6 being zealous as touching that which is good, abstaining from offences
and from the false brethren and from them that bear the name of the Lord
in hypocrisy, who lead foolish men astray.
7:1 For every one {who shall not confess that Jesus Christ is come in
the flesh, is antichrist:}
7:2 and whosoever shall not confess the testimony of the Cross, is
of the devil;
7:3 and whosoever shall pervert the oracles of the Lord to his own
lusts and say that there is neither resurrection nor judgment, that man
is the first-born of Satan.
7:4 Wherefore let us forsake the vain doing of the many and their false
teachings, and turn unto the word which was delivered unto us from the
beginning, {being sober unto prayer} and constant in fastings, entreating
the all-seeing God with supplications that He {bring us not into temptation,}
according as the Lord said, {The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh
is weak.}
8:1 Let us therefore without ceasing hold fast by our hope and by the
earnest of our righteousness, which is Jesus Christ who {took up our sins
in His own body upon the tree, who did no sin, neither was guile found
in His mouth,} but for our sakes He endured all things, that we might live
in Him.
8:2 Let us therefore become imitators of His endurance;
8:3 and if we should suffer for His name's sake, let us glorify Him.
8:4 For He gave this example to us in His own person, and we believed
this.
9:1 I exhort you all therefore to be obedient unto the word of righteousness
and to practise all endurance, which also ye saw with your own eyes in
the blessed Ignatius and Zosimus and Rufus, yea and in others also who
came from among yourselves, as well as in Paul himself and the rest of
the Apostles;
9:2 being persuaded that all these {ran not in vain} but in faith and
righteousness, and that they are in their due place in the presence of
the Lord, with whom also they suffered.
9:3 For they {loved not the present world,} but Him that died for our
sakes and was raised by God for us.
10:1 Stand fast therefore in these things and follow the example of
the Lord, {being firm in the faith} and {immovable, in love of the brotherhood
kindly affectioned one to another,} partners with the truth, {forestalling
one another} in the gentleness of the Lord, despising no man.
10:2 {When ye are able to do good,} defer it not, for {Pitifulness
delivereth from death.
10:3 Be ye all subject one to another, having your conversation} unblameable
{among the Gentiles, that from your good works} both ye may receive praise
and the Lord may not be blasphemed in you.
10:4 But {woe to him through whom the name of the Lord is blasphemed.}
10:5 Therefore teach all men soberness, in which ye yourselves also
walk.
11:1 I was exceedingly grieved for Valens, who aforetime was a presbyter
among you, because he is so ignorant of the office which was given unto
him.
11:2 I warn you therefore that ye refrain from covetousness, and that
ye be pure and truthful.
11:3 Refrain from all evil.
11:4 But he who cannot govern himself in these things, how doth he
enjoin this upon another? If a man refrain not from covetousness, he shall
be defiled by idolatry, and shall be judged as one of the Gentiles who
{know not the judgment of the Lord.
11:5 Nay, know we not, that the saints shall judge the world,} as Paul
teacheth? But I have not found any such thing in you, neither have heard
thereof, among whom the blessed Paul laboured, who were his {letters} in
the beginning.
11:6 For {he boasteth of you in} all those {churches} which alone at
that time knew God;
11:7 for we knew Him not as yet.
11:8 Therefore I am exceedingly grieved for him and for his wife, unto
whom may the Lord grant true repentance.
11:9 Be ye therefore yourselves also sober herein, and {hold not such
as enemies,} but restore them as frail and erring members, that ye may
save the whole body of you.
11:10 For so doing, ye do edify one another.
12:1 For I am persuaded that ye are well trained in the sacred writings,
and nothing is hidden from you.
12:2 But to myself this is not granted.
12:3 Only, as it is said in these scriptures, {Be ye angry and sin
not,} and {Let not the sun set on your wrath.}
12:4 Blessed is he that remembereth this;
12:5 and I trust that this is in you.
12:6 Now may the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the eternal
High-priest Himself, the [Son of] God Jesus Christ, build you up in faith
and truth, and in all gentleness and in all avoidance of wrath and in forbearance
and long suffering and in patient endurance and in purity;
12:7 and may He grant unto you a lot and portion among His saints,
and to us with you, and to all that are under heaven, who shall believe
on our Lord and God Jesus Christ and on His Father {that raised Him from
the dead.
12:8 Pray for all the saints.}
12:9 Pray also {for kings} and powers and princes, and {for them that
persecute} and hat {you,} and for {the enemies of the cross,} that your
fruit may be {manifest among all men,} that ye may be perfect in Him.
13:1 Ye wrote to me, both ye yourselves and Ignatius, asking that if
any one should go to Syria he might carry thither the letters from you.
13:2 And this I will do, if I get a fit opportunity, either I myself,
or he whom I shall send to be ambassador on your behalf also.
13:3 The letters of Ignatius which were sent to us by him, and others
as many as we had by us, we send unto you, according as ye gave charge;
13:4 the which are subjoined to this letter;
13:5 from which ye will be able to gain great advantage.
13:6 For they comprise faith and endurance and every kind of edification,
which pertaineth unto our Lord.
13:7 Moreover concerning Ignatius himself and those that were with
him, if ye have any sure tidings, certify us.
14:1 I write these things to you by Crescens, whom I commended to you
recently and now commend unto you:
14:2 for he hath walked blamelessly with us;
14:3 and I believe also with you in like manner.
14:4 But ye shall have his sister commended, when she shall come to
you.
14:5 Fare ye well in the Lord Jesus Christ in grace, ye and all yours.
Amen.