Chapter Text
2:1 Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion,
2:2 fulfill my joy, that you think the same way, by maintaining the same love, being united in spirit, thinking on one purpose,
2:3 doing nothing from selfish ambition or vain glory, but with humility of mind regarding one another as more important than yourselves,
2:4 not merely looking out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.
2:5 Have this way of thinking in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
2:6 who, although existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
2:7 but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a slave, by being made in the likeness of men.
2:8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
2:9 Therefore, God also highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,
2:10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
2:11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
2:12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;
2:13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
2:14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing,
2:15 so that you will be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,
2:16 holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to boast because I did not run in vain nor labor in vain.
2:17 But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all.
2:18 And you also, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.
2:19 But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be in good spirits when I learn of your circumstances.
2:20 For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned about your circumstances.
2:21 For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus.
2:22 But you know of his proven worth, that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his father.
2:23 Therefore I hope to send him immediately, as soon as I evaluate my own circumstances,
2:24 and I am confident in the Lord that I myself also will be coming shortly.
2:25 But I regarded it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger and minister to my need;
2:26 because he was longing for you all and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick.
2:27 For indeed he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow.
2:28 Therefore I have sent him all the more eagerly so that when you see him again you may rejoice and I may be less concerned.
2:29 Receive him then in the Lord with all joy, and hold men like him in high regard
2:30 because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to fulfill what was lacking in your service to me.