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. |