2:1 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,
2:2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.
2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,
2:4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
2:5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
2:6 Who, being in very nature* God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; / *Or in the form of
2:7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature* of a servant, being made in human likeness. / *Or the form
2:8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death - even death on a cross!
2:9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,
2:10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
2:11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
2:12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed - not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence - continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,
2:13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
2:14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing,
2:15 so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.”* Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky / *Deut. 32:5
2:16 as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.
2:17 But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.
2:18 So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.
2:19 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you.
2:20 I have no one else like him, who will show genuine concern for your welfare.
2:21 For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.
2:22 But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel.
2:23 I hope, therefore, to send him as soon as I see how things go with me.
2:24 And I am confident in the Lord that I myself will come soon.
2:25 But I think it is necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, co-worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs.
2:26 For he longs for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill.
2:27 Indeed he was ill, and almost died. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow.
2:28 Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again you may be glad and I may have less anxiety.
2:29 So then, welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor people like him,
2:30 because he almost died for the work of Christ. He risked his life to make up for the help you yourselves could not give me.