Philippians 2
1 If therefore there is any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion,
If then I can appeal to you as the followers of Christ, if there is any persuasive power in love and any common sharing of the Spirit, or if you have any tender-heartedness and compassion, make my joy complete by being of one mind,
2 make my joy full by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind;
united by mutual love, with harmony of feeling giving your minds to one and the same object.
3 doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself;
Do nothing in a spirit of factiousness or of vainglory, but, with true humility, let every one regard the rest as being of more account than himself;
4 each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.
each fixing his attention, not simply on his own interests, but on those of others also.
5 Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus,
Let the same disposition be in you which was in Christ Jesus.
6 who, existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped,
Although from the beginning He had the nature of God He did not reckon His equality with God a treasure to be tightly grasped.
7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.
Nay, He stripped Himself of His glory, and took on Him the nature of a bondservant by becoming a man like other men.
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, yes, the death of the cross.
And being recognized as truly human, He humbled Himself and even stooped to die; yes, to die on a cross.
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name,
It is in consequence of this that God has also so highly exalted Him, and has conferred on Him the Name which is supreme above every other,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,
in order that in the Name of JESUS every knee should bow, of beings in Heaven, of those on the earth, and of those in the underworld,
11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
and that every tongue should confess that JESUS CHRIST is LORD, to the glory of God the Father.
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.
Therefore, my dearly-loved friends, as I have always found you obedient, labour earnestly with fear and trembling--not merely as though I were present with you, but much more now since I am absent from you--labour earnestly, I say, to make sure of your own salvation.
13 For it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
For it is God Himself whose power creates within you the desire to do His gracious will and also brings about the accomplishment of the desire.
14 Do all things without complaining and arguing,
Be ever on your guard against a grudging and contentious spirit,
15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without defect in the middle of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world,
so that you may always prove yourselves to be blameless and spotless--irreproachable children of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as heavenly lights in the world,
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.
holding out to them a Message of Life. It will then be my glory on the day of Christ that I did not run my race in vain nor toil in vain.
17 Yes, and if I am poured out on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.
Nay, even if my life is to be poured as a libation upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I rejoice, and I congratulate you all.
18 In the same way, you also should be glad and rejoice with me.
And I bid you also share my gladness, and congratulate me.
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.
But, if the Lord permits it, I hope before long to send Timothy to you, that I, in turn, may be cheered by getting news of you.
20 For I have no one else like-minded, who will truly care about you.
For I have no one likeminded with him, who will cherish a genuine care for you.
21 For they all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ.
Everybody concerns himself about his own interests, not about those of Jesus Christ.
22 But you know that he has proved himself. As a child serves a father, so he served with me in furtherance of the Good News.
But you know Timothy's approved worth--how, like a child working with his father, he has served with me in furtherance of the Good News.
23 Therefore I hope to send him at once, as soon as I see how it will go with me.
So it is he that I hope to send as soon as ever I see how things go with me;
24 But I trust in the Lord that I myself also will come shortly.
but trusting, as I do, in the Lord, I believe that I shall myself also come to you before long.
25 But I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, fellow soldier, and your apostle and servant of my need,
Yet I deem it important to send Epaphroditus to you now--he is my brother and comrade both in labour and in arms, and is your messenger who has ministered to my needs.
26 since he longed for you all, and was very troubled because you had heard that he was sick.
I send him because he is longing to see you all and is distressed at your having heard of his illness.
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.
For it is true that he has been ill, and was apparently at the point of death; but God had pity on him, and not only on him, but also on me, to save me from having sorrow upon sorrow.
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.
I am therefore all the more eager to send him, in the hope that when you see him again you may be glad and I may have the less sorrow.
29 Receive him therefore in the Lord with all joy, and hold such people in honor,
Receive him therefore with heartfelt Christian joy, and hold in honour men like him;
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.
because it was for the sake of Christ's work that he came so near death, hazarding, as he did, his very life in endeavouring to make good any deficiency that there might be in your gifts to me.
