Polycarp — Letter to the Philippians

The Letter of Polycarp to the Philippians

Polycarp and the elders with him, to the assembly of God that sojourns at Philippi: may mercy and peace from God Almighty and from Jesus the Anointed our Savior be multiplied to you.

I rejoiced greatly with you in our Lord Jesus the Anointed, that you welcomed those who followed the pattern of true love and accompanied, as was fitting, those bound in chains worthy of the saints. I rejoice too that the firm root of your faith, proclaimed from of old, still abides and bears fruit in our Lord Jesus the Anointed, who endured death itself for our sins, whom God raised, loosing the pangs of the grave.

In him, though you have not seen him, you believe with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Into this joy many long to enter, knowing that by grace you are saved—not by works, but by the will of God through Jesus the Anointed.

Therefore gird up your loins and serve God in reverence and truth, leaving behind empty talk and the error of the crowd, and believing in him who raised our Lord Jesus the Anointed from the dead and gave him glory. To him all things in heaven and on earth are subject; him every breathing thing serves; he comes as judge of the living and the dead, and God will require his blood from those who refuse to believe.

He who raised him will raise us also, if we do his will and walk in his commandments and love what he loved: keeping from all wrong, greed, love of money, slander, and false witness; not returning evil for evil, or insult for insult, or blow for blow, or curse for curse; remembering what the Lord taught—Do not judge, that you may not be judged; forgive, and you will be forgiven; be merciful, that you may receive mercy; the measure you give will be the measure you receive—and that blessed are the poor and those persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of God.

Let the elders be tender and merciful to all, turning back the wandering, visiting the sick, not neglecting the widow, the orphan, or the poor; providing always what is honorable before God and men; keeping far from anger, partiality, and unjust judgment, and from all love of money. Let them not be quick to believe a charge against anyone, nor harsh in judgment, knowing that we all owe the debt of sin.

The deacons likewise must be blameless before God’s righteousness, as servants of God and the Anointed and not of men: not slanderers, not double-tongued, not lovers of money, but self-controlled in all things, compassionate, diligent, walking according to the truth of the Lord, who became the servant of all. The younger must be pure in all things, caring above all for purity, bridling themselves from every evil; the wives must walk in the faith given them, in love and purity, cherishing their husbands in all faithfulness and loving all others alike in self-restraint, and rearing their children in the fear of God.

I grieve greatly for Valens, who was once an elder among you, that he so forgets the office given him. I warn you to keep from greed, and to be pure and truthful. Keep from every evil. For how can one who cannot govern himself in these things preach to another? If a man does not keep from the love of money, he will be defiled by idolatry and counted among the nations. Yet I have not so found among you, in whose midst the blessed Paul labored, who are praised in the beginning of his letter.

Stand firm, therefore, in these things and follow the example of the Lord, steadfast and unmovable in faith, loving the brotherhood, joined together in the truth, helping one another in the gentleness of the Lord, despising no one. As for Valens and his wife, I pray the Lord grant them true repentance; and be moderate in this matter, not counting such as enemies, but calling them back as suffering and straying members, that the whole body of you may be made whole.

I write these things concerning righteousness because you asked it. For neither I nor any like me can attain to the wisdom of the blessed and glorious Paul, who taught the word of truth firmly among you when he was present, and who, when absent, wrote you letters by which, if you study them, you may be built up in the faith given you.

May the God and Father of our Lord Jesus the Anointed, and the eternal high priest himself, the Son of God Jesus the Anointed, build you up in faith and truth, in all gentleness and freedom from anger, in patience and steadfastness and purity; and may he give you a share and a place among his saints, and to us with you, and to all under heaven who shall believe in our Lord Jesus the Anointed and in his Father who raised him from the dead. Pray for all the saints; pray also for kings and rulers, and for those who persecute and hate you, and for the enemies of the cross, that your fruit may be evident among all and that you may be perfect in him. Farewell in the Lord.