1 If there is any encouragement in Christ, any solace in love, any participation in the Spirit, any compassion and mercy,

2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking one thing.

3 Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves,

4 each looking out not for his own interests, but (also) everyone for those of others.

5 Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus,

6 Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.

7 Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance,

8 he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.

9 Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,

10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

12 So then, my beloved, obedient as you have always been, not only when I am present but all the more now when I am absent, work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

13 For God is the one who, for his good purpose, works in you both to desire and to work.

14 Do everything without grumbling or questioning,

15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine like lights in the world,

16 as you hold on to the word of life, so that my boast for the day of Christ may be that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

17 But, even if I am poured out as a libation upon the sacrificial service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with all of you.

18 In the same way you also should rejoice and share your joy with me.

19 I hope, in the Lord Jesus, to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be heartened by hearing news of you.

20 For I have no one comparable to him for genuine interest in whatever concerns you.

21 For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.

22 But you know his worth, how as a child with a father he served along with me in the cause of the gospel.

23 He it is, then, whom I hope to send as soon as I see how things go with me,

24 but I am confident in the Lord that I myself will also come soon.

25 With regard to Epaphroditus, my brother and co-worker and fellow soldier, your messenger and minister in my need, I consider it necessary to send him to you.

26 For he has been longing for all of you and was distressed because you heard that he was ill.

27 He was indeed ill, close to death; but God had mercy on him, not just on him but also on me, so that I might not have sorrow upon sorrow.

28 I send him therefore with the greater eagerness, so that, on seeing him, you may rejoice again, and I may have less anxiety.

29 Welcome him then in the Lord with all joy and hold such people in esteem,

30 because for the sake of the work of Christ he came close to death, risking his life to make up for those services to me that you could not perform.