• Christ’s Humility and Exaltation

  • 1 Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion,
  • 2 fulfill my joy, that you think the same way, by maintaining the same love, being united in spirit, thinking on one purpose,
  • 3 doing nothing from selfish ambition or vain glory, but with humility of mind regarding one another as more important than yourselves,
  • 4 not merely looking out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.
  • 5 Have this way of thinking in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
  • 6 who, although existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
  • 7 but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a slave, by being made in the likeness of men.
  • 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
  • 9 Therefore, God also highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,
  • 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
  • 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
  • 12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;
  • 13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
  • 14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing,
  • 15 so that you will be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,
  • 16 holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to boast because I did not run in vain nor labor in vain.
  • 17 But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all.
  • 18 And you also, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.

  • Timothy and Epaphroditus Sent

  • 19 But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be in good spirits when I learn of your circumstances.
  • 20 For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned about your circumstances.
  • 21 For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus.
  • 22 But you know of his proven worth, that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his father.
  • 23 Therefore I hope to send him immediately, as soon as I evaluate my own circumstances,
  • 24 and I am confident in the Lord that I myself also will be coming shortly.
  • 25 But I regarded it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger and minister to my need;
  • 26 because he was longing for you all and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick.
  • 27 For indeed he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow.
  • 28 Therefore I have sent him all the more eagerly so that when you see him again you may rejoice and I may be less concerned.
  • 29 Receive him then in the Lord with all joy, and hold men like him in high regard
  • 30 because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to fulfill what was lacking in your service to me.