2:1 If there is therefore any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion,
2:2 make my joy full, by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind;
2:3 doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself;
2:4 each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.
2:5 Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus,
2:6 who, existing in the form of God, didn't consider it robbery to be equal with God,
2:7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.
2:8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross.
2:9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name;
2:10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,
2:11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
2:12 So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
2:13 For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.
2:14 Do all things without murmurings and disputes,
2:15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world,
2:16 holding up the word of life; that I may have something to boast in the day of Christ, that I didn't run in vain nor labor in vain.
2:17 Yes, and if I am poured out on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice, and rejoice with you all.
2:18 In the same way, you also rejoice, and rejoice with me.
2:19 But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered up when I know how you are doing.
2:20 For I have no one else like-minded, who will truly care about you.
2:21 For they all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ.
2:22 But you know the proof of him, that, as a child serves a father, so he served with me in furtherance of the Gospel.
2:23 Therefore I hope to send him at once, as soon as I see how it will go with me.
2:24 But I trust in the Lord that I myself also will come shortly.
2:25 But I counted it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, fellow soldier, and your apostle and minister to my need;
2:26 since he longed for you all, and was very troubled, because you had heard that he was sick.
2:27 For indeed he was sick, nearly to death, but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, that I might not have sorrow on sorrow.
2:28 I have sent him therefore the more diligently, that, when you see him again, you may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful.
2:29 Receive him therefore in the Lord with all joy, and hold such in honor,
2:30 because for the work of Christ he came near to death, risking his life to supply that which was lacking in your service toward me.