And as you Philippians know, at the beginning of my gospel ministry, when I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in this matter of giving and receiving except you alone.

for all things in heaven and on earth were created by him – all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, ¹  whether principalities or powers – all things were created through him and for him.

He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn ¹  from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things. ² 

But we ought to thank God always for you, brothers and sisters ¹  loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning ²  for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.

For though you should in fact be teachers by this time, ¹  you need someone to teach you the beginning elements of God’s utterances. ²  You have gone back to needing ³  milk, not ⁴  solid food.

Therefore we must progress beyond ¹  the elementary ²  instructions about Christ ³  and move on ⁴  to maturity, not laying this foundation again: repentance from dead works and faith in God,

This is what we proclaim to you: ¹  what was from the beginning, ²  what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and our hands have touched (concerning the word of life –

Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. ¹  The old commandment is the word that you have already ²  heard.

I am writing to you, fathers, that ¹  you have known him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young people, that ²  you have conquered the evil one. ³ 

I have written to you, children, that ¹  you have known the Father. ²  I have written to you, fathers, that ³  you have known him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young people, that ⁴  you are strong, and the word of God resides in you, and you have conquered the evil one.

The one who practices sin is of the devil, ¹  because the devil has been sinning ²  from the beginning. For this purpose ³  the Son of God was revealed: to destroy ⁴  the works of the devil.

(Now this is love: that we walk ¹  according to his commandments.) This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning; thus ²  you should walk in it. ³ 

“To ¹  the angel of the church in Laodicea write the following: ²  “This is the solemn pronouncement of ³  the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the originator ⁴  of God’s creation:

He also said to me, “It is done! ¹  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the one who is thirsty I will give water ²  free of charge ³  from the spring of the water of life.

You people ¹  are from ²  your father the devil, and you want to do what your father desires. ³  He ⁴  was a murderer from the beginning, and does not uphold the truth, ⁵  because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, ⁶  he speaks according to his own nature, ⁷  because he is a liar and the father of lies. ⁸