1So then, if there is any encouragement in Christ, if any comfort from love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tenderness and mercy,
2make my joy complete. Think the same way, have the same love, be united in spirit and of one mind.
3Do nothing out of rivalry or empty pride. Instead, be humble in mind, and let each of you consider others better than yourselves.
4Do not look only to your own interests, but let each of you also look to the interests of others.
5Have the same mind in you that was also in Christ Jesus.
6He was in the form of God, but he did not count it something to be grasped to be equal with God.
7Instead he made himself nothing, and took on the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.
8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross.
9For this reason God has raised him to the highest place, and given him a name which is above every name,
10so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, 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 dear friends, you have always obeyed. Do so not only when I am with you, but now much more when I am away. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
13For it is God who works in you, both to want to do his good pleasure and to do it.
14Do everything without grumbling and arguing,
15so that you may be blameless and innocent, the sons of God, without fault, in the middle of a crooked and twisted nation. Among them you shine as lights in the world,
16holding out the word of life. Then I may be glad on the day of Christ, because I did not run for nothing, nor work for nothing.
17Yes, and even if I am poured out as an offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad, and I rejoice with you all.
18For the same reason you also should be glad, and rejoice with me.
19But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus to you soon, so that I also may be cheered when I know how you are.
20For I have no one else who thinks as I do, who will truly care about how you are.
21For they all look after their own interests, not the things that belong to Jesus Christ.
22But you know how he has proved himself. Like a son with his father, he has served with me in the gospel.
23So I hope to send him at once, as soon as I see how things will go with me.
24But I trust in the Lord that I myself will also come soon.
25Still, I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and fellow worker, and fellow soldier. He is your messenger, and the one who helped me in my needs.
26For he was longing for you all, and was full of sadness, because you had heard that he had been ill.
27Indeed he was ill, and close to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, so that I should not have sorrow upon sorrow.
28So I have sent him all the more eagerly, so that when you see him again you may rejoice, and I may be less sorrowful.
29So welcome him in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such men in honour.
30For the work of Christ he came close to death. He risked his life to make up for the help you could not give me.