1If, then, there is any encouragement in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender affections and compassions,
2complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, united in soul, minded on the one thing.
3doing nothing out of selfish ambition or empty conceit, but in humility considering one another as surpassing yourselves,
4let each of you look not to your own interests, but each of you also to the interests of others.
5Have this mind among yourselves that was also in Christ Jesus,
6who, existing in the form of God, did not regard being equal with God something to be grasped,
7but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, coming to be in the likeness of men; and being found in appearance as a man,
8he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death — and death on a cross.
9Therefore also God highly exalted him and granted him the name that is above every name,
10so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow — of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth —
11and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
12So 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 own salvation with fear and trembling,
13for God is the one working in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
14Do all things without grumblings and disputings,
15so that you may become blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,
16holding fast the word of life, for my boast on the day of Christ, that I did not run in vain nor labor in vain.
17But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and priestly service of your faith, I rejoice, and I rejoice together with you all;
18and in the same way you also rejoice, and rejoice together with me.
19But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be encouraged when I learn how things are with you.
20For I have no one else of like soul, who will genuinely care for the things concerning you;
21for they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.
22But you know his proven worth, that as a child with a father he served with me in the gospel.
23This one, then, I hope to send as soon as I see how things will go with me;
24and I am confident in the Lord that I myself will also come soon.
25But I considered it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, but your messenger and minister to my need,
26since he was longing for you all and was distressed because you heard that he was ill.
27For indeed he was ill, close to death; but God had mercy on him — and not on him only but also on me, so that I might not have sorrow upon sorrow.
28I sent him therefore all the more eagerly, so that seeing him again you may rejoice and I may be less anxious.
29Welcome him therefore in the Lord with all joy, and hold such people in honor,
30because for the work of Christ he came near to death, risking his life so that he might fill up what was lacking in your service to me.
Open in the interactive reader →