1If there is therefore any exhortation in Christ , if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit , if any tender mercies and compassions, 2make full my joy , that ye be of the same mind , having the same love, being of one accord , of one mind ; 3doing nothing through faction or through vainglory , but in lowliness of mind each counting other better than himself ; 4not looking each of you to his own things , but each of you also to the things of others . 5Have this mind in you , which was also in Christ Jesus : 6who , existing in the form of God , counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7but emptied himself , taking the form of a servant , being made in the likeness of men ; 8and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself , becoming obedient even unto death , yea , the death of the cross . 9Wherefore also God highly exalted him , and gave unto him the name which is above every name ; 10that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow , of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth , 11and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord , to the glory of God the Father .
Shining as Lights in the World
12So then , my beloved, even as ye have always obeyed , not as in my presence only , but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling ; 13for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work , for his good pleasure . 14Do all things without murmurings and questionings: 15that ye may become blameless and harmless, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation , among whom ye are seen as lights in the world , 16holding forth the word of life ; that I may have whereof to glory in the day of Christ , that I did not run in vain neither labor in vain . 17Yea , and if I am offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith , I joy , and rejoice with you all : 18and in the same manner do ye also joy , and rejoice with me .
Timothy and Epaphroditus
19But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy shortly unto you , that I also may be of good comfort , when I know your state . 20For I have no man likeminded , who will care truly for your state . 21For they all seek their own , not the things of Jesus Christ . 22But ye know the proof of him , that , as a child serveth a father , so he served with me in furtherance of the gospel . 23Him therefore I hope to send forthwith, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me : 24but I trust in the Lord that I myself also shall come shortly . 25But I counted it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus , my brother and fellow-worker and fellow-soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need ; 26since he longed after you all , and was sore troubled, because ye had heard that he was sick : 27for indeed he was sick nigh unto death : but God had mercy on him ; and not on him only , but on me also , that I might not have sorrow upon sorrow . 28I have sent him therefore the more diligently , that , when ye see him again , ye may rejoice , and that I may be the less sorrowful. 29Receive him therefore in the Lord with all joy ; and hold such in honor : 30because for the work of Christ he came nigh unto death , hazarding his life to supply that which was lacking in your service toward me .