章 |
2:1 |
If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy,
|
2:2 |
make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.
|
2:3 |
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.
|
2:4 |
Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.
|
2:5 |
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
|
2:6 |
who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,
|
2:7 |
but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form,
|
2:8 |
he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death-- even death on a cross.
|
2:9 |
Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name,
|
2:10 |
so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
|
2:11 |
and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
|
2:12 |
Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;
|
2:13 |
for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
|
2:14 |
Do all things without murmuring and arguing,
|
2:15 |
so that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine like stars in the world.
|
2:16 |
It is by your holding fast to the word of life that I can boast on the day of Christ that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.
|
2:17 |
But even if I am being poured out as a libation over the sacrifice and the offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you--
|
2:18 |
and in the same way you also must be glad and rejoice with me.
|
2:19 |
I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I may be cheered by news of you.
|
2:20 |
I have no one like him who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare.
|
2:21 |
All of them are seeking their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.
|
2:22 |
But Timothy's worth you know, how like a son with a 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 trust in the Lord that I will also come soon.
|
2:25 |
Still, I think it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus-- my brother and co-worker and fellow soldier, your messenger and minister to my need;
|
2:26 |
for he has been longing for all of you, and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill.
|
2:27 |
He was indeed so ill that he nearly died. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, so that I would not have one sorrow after another.
|
2:28 |
I am the more eager to send him, therefore, in order that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious.
|
2:29 |
Welcome him then in the Lord with all joy, and honor such people,
|
2:30 |
because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up for those services that you could not give me.
|