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  make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.

2:3  Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;

2:4  do not {merely} look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

2:5  Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,

2:6  who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,

2:7  but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, {and} 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  For this reason also, God 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 prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear 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 glory because I did not run in vain nor toil 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  You too, {I urge you,} 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 encouraged when I learn of your condition.

2:20  For I have no one {else} of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare.

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 see how things {go} with me;

2:24  and I trust in the Lord that I myself also will be coming shortly.

2:25  But I thought 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 {about you.}

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 complete what was deficient in your service to me.