Chapter 2

¹So by whatever appeal there is in our relation to Christ, by whatever incentive there is in love, by whatever participation there is in the Spirit, whatever affection and sympathy, ²make me perfectly happy by living in harmony, with the same attitude of love, with the same feeling and purpose. ³Do not act for selfish ends or from vanity, but modestly treat one another as your superiors. ⁴Do not take account of your own interests, but of the interests of others as well. ⁵Have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. ⁶Though he possessed the nature of God, he did not grasp at equality with God, ⁷but laid it aside to take on the nature of a slave and become like other men. ⁸When he had assumed human form, he still further humbled himself and carried his obedience so far as to die, and to die upon the cross. ⁹That is why God has so greatly exalted him, and given him the name above all others, ¹⁰so that in the name of Jesus everyone should kneel, in heaven and on earth and in the underworld, ¹¹and everyone should acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord, and thus glorify God the Father.

¹²So, my dear friends, as you have always been obedient, with reverence and awe make every effort to insure your salvation, not simply as though I were with you, but all the more because I am away. ¹³For it is God who in his good will is at work in your hearts, inspiring your will and your action. ¹⁴Do everything without any grumbling or disputing, ¹⁵so that you will be blameless and honest, faultless children of God in the midst of a crooked and perverted age, in which you appear like stars in a dark world, ¹⁶offering men the message of life. Then I will have reason to boast of you on the Day of Christ, because my exertion and labor have not been wasted. ¹⁷Even if my life is to be poured out as a libation as you offer your faith in a service of sacrifice to God, I am glad to have it so, and I congratulate you upon it, ¹⁸just as you must be glad and congratulate me.

¹⁹I hope, with the help of the Lord Jesus, to send Timothy to you soon, so that I, too, may be cheered by having news about you. ²⁰For I have no one like him who would take such a real interest in you. ²¹For they are all looking out for their own interests, not for those of Jesus Christ. ²²But you know his character, and how like a son helping his father he has worked like a slave with me in preaching the good news. ²³So I hope to send him to you just as soon as I can see how my case is going to turn out. ²⁴I trust the Lord to enable me to come to you myself before long. ²⁵But I feel that I must send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow-laborer, and fellow-soldier, whom you sent to look after my needs.

²⁶For he has been longing to see you all, and has been greatly distressed because you heard that he was sick. ²⁷For he was sick, and nearly died, but God took pity on him, and not only on him, but on me, to save me from having one sorrow after another. ²⁸So I am all the more eager to send him, so that you may have the pleasure of seeing him again, and I may feel more relieved. ²⁹So give him a hearty Christian welcome, and value men like him very highly, ³⁰for he came near dying for the Lord’s work, and risked his life to make up for what was lacking in the service you have done me.