| 1. | If there is any encouragement in Christ, any solace in love, any participation in the Spirit, any compassion and mercy, |
| 2. | complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking one thing. |
| 3. | Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, |
| 4. | each looking out not for his own interests, but (also) everyone for those of others. |
| 5. | Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus, |
| 6. | Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. |
| 7. | Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, |
| 8. | he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. |
| 9. | Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, |
| 10. | that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, |
| 11. | and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. |
| 12. | So then, my beloved, obedient as you have always been, not only when I am present but all the more now when I am absent, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. |
| 13. | For God is the one who, for his good purpose, works in you both to desire and to work. |
| 14. | Do everything without grumbling or questioning, |
| 15. | that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine like lights in the world, |
| 16. | as you hold on to the word of life, so that my boast for the day of Christ may be that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. |
| 17. | But, even if I am poured out as a libation upon the sacrificial service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with all of you. |
| 18. | In the same way you also should rejoice and share your joy with me. |
| 19. | I hope, in the Lord Jesus, to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be heartened by hearing news of you. |
| 20. | For I have no one comparable to him for genuine interest in whatever concerns you. |
| 21. | For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. |
| 22. | But you know his worth, how as a child with a father he served along with me in the cause of the gospel. |
| 23. | He it is, then, whom I hope to send as soon as I see how things go with me, |
| 24. | but I am confident in the Lord that I myself will also come soon. |
| 25. | With regard to Epaphroditus, my brother and co-worker and fellow soldier, your messenger and minister in my need, I consider it necessary to send him to you. |
| 26. | For he has been longing for all of you and was distressed because you heard that he was ill. |
| 27. | He was indeed ill, close to death; but God had mercy on him, not just on him but also on me, so that I might not have sorrow upon sorrow. |
| 28. | I send him therefore with the greater eagerness, so that, on seeing him, you may rejoice again, and I may have less anxiety. |
| 29. | Welcome him then in the Lord with all joy and hold such people in esteem, |
| 30. | because for the sake of the work of Christ he came close to death, risking his life to make up for those services to me that you could not perform. |
