21Therefore if you have any encouragement in Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and compassion,+2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being united in spirit and purpose.+3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves.+4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.+
5Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus:+6Who, existing in the form of God,did not consider equality with Godsomething to be grasped,+7but emptied Himself,taking the form of a servant,being made in human likeness.+8And being found in appearance as a man,He humbled Himselfand became obedient to death —even death on a cross.+9Therefore God exalted Him to the highest placeand gave Him the name above all names,+10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,in heaven and on earth and under the earth,+11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,to the glory of God the Father.+
12Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.+13For it is God who works in you to will and to act on behalf of His good purpose.+14Do everything without complaining or arguing,+15so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine as lights in the world+16as you hold forth the word of life, in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.+17But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.+18So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.+
19Now I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I learn how you are doing.+20I have nobody else like him who will genuinely care for your needs.+21For all the others look after their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.+22But you know Timothy’s proven worth, that as a child with his father he has served with me to advance the gospel.+23So I hope to send him as soon as I see what happens with me.+24And I trust in the Lord that I myself will come soon.+25But I thought it necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger and minister to my needs.+26For he has been longing for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill.+27He was sick indeed, nearly unto death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow.+28Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again you may rejoice, and I may be less anxious.+29Welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor men like him,+30because he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up for your deficit of service to me.+Footnotes (2)
a2:6 Or something to be exploited
b2:15 Deuteronomy 32:5
Berean Standard Bible
The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible (BSB). Dedicated to the public domain.
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