• 1. If there is therefore any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion,
  • 2. make my joy full, by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind;
  • 3. doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself;
  • 4. each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.
  • 5. Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus,
  • 6. who, existing in the form of God, didn't consider equality with God a thing to be grasped,
  • 7. but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.
  • 8. And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross.
  • 9. Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name;
  • 10. that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,
  • 11. and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
  • 12. So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
  • 13. For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.
  • 14. Do all things without murmurings and disputes,
  • 15. that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world,
  • 16. holding up the word of life; that I may have something to boast in the day of Christ, that I didn't run in vain nor labor in vain.
  • 17. Yes, and if I am poured out on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice, and rejoice with you all.
  • 18. In the same way, you also rejoice, and rejoice with me.
  • 19. But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered up when I know how you are doing.
  • 20. For I have no one else like-minded, who will truly care about you.
  • 21. For they all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ.
  • 22. But you know the proof of him, that, as a child serves a father, so he served with me in furtherance of the Good News.
  • 23. Therefore I hope to send him at once, as soon as I see how it will go with me.
  • 24. But I trust in the Lord that I myself also will come shortly.
  • 25. But I counted it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, fellow soldier, and your apostle and servant of my need;
  • 26. since he longed for you all, and was very troubled, because you had heard that he was sick.
  • 27. For indeed he was sick, nearly to death, but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, that I might not have sorrow on sorrow.
  • 28. I have sent him therefore the more diligently, that, when you see him again, you may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful.
  • 29. Receive him therefore in the Lord with all joy, and hold such in honor,
  • 30. because for the work of Christ he came near to death, risking his life to supply that which was lacking in your service toward me.