1 I f there is therefore any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassions,

2 m ake full my joy, that ye be of the same mind, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind;

3 d oing nothing through faction or through vainglory, but in lowliness of mind each counting other better than himself;

4 n ot looking each of you to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.

5 H ave this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

6 w ho, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped,

7 b ut emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men;

8 a nd being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.

9 W herefore also God highly exalted him, and gave unto him the name which is above every name;

10 t hat in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth,

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

12 S o 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;

13 f or it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.

14 D o all things without murmurings and questionings:

15 t hat 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,

16 h olding 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.

17 Y ea, and if I am offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all:

18 a nd in the same manner do ye also joy, and rejoice with me.

19 B ut 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.

20 F or I have no man likeminded, who will care truly for your state.

21 F or they all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ.

22 B ut ye know the proof of him, that, as a child serveth a father, so he served with me in furtherance of the gospel.

23 H im therefore I hope to send forthwith, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me:

24 b ut I trust in the Lord that I myself also shall come shortly.

25 B ut 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;

26 s ince he longed after you all, and was sore troubled, because ye had heard that he was sick:

27 f or 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.

28 I have sent him therefore the more diligently, that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful.

29 R eceive him therefore in the Lord with all joy; and hold such in honor:

30 b ecause for the work of Christ he came nigh unto death, hazarding his life to supply that which was lacking in your service toward me.