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1If there is any encouragement in Christ, any solace in love, any participation in the Spirit, any compassion and mercy,
2complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking one thing.[#Rom 15:5; 1 Cor 1:10.]
3Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves,[#Rom 12:3, 10; Gal 5:26.]
4each looking out not for his own interests, but [also] everyone for those of others.[#1 Cor 10:24, 33; 13:5.]
5Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus,[#: or, “that also Christ Jesus had.” While it is often held that Christ here functions as a model for moral imitation, it is not the historical Jesus but the entire Christ event that Phil 2:6–11 depict. Therefore, the appeal is to have in relations among yourselves that same relationship you have in Jesus Christ, i.e., serving one another as you serve Christ (Phil 2:4).]
6Who, though he was in the form of God,[#Perhaps an early Christian hymn quoted here by Paul. The short rhythmic lines fall into two parts, Phil 2:6–8 where the subject of every verb is Christ, and Phil 2:9–11 where the subject is God. The general pattern is thus of Christ’s humiliation and then exaltation. More precise analyses propose a division into six three-line stanzas (Phil 2:6; 7abc, 7d–8, 9, 10, 11) or into three stanzas (Phil 2:6–7ab, 7cd–8, 9–11). Phrases such as (Phil 2:8c) are considered by some to be additions (by Paul) to the hymn, as are Phil 2:10c, 11c.; #Jn 1:1–2; 17:5; Col 2:9; Heb 1:3.]
did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.
7Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and found human in appearance,
8he humbled himself,[#Mt 26:39; Jn 10:17; Heb 5:8; 12:2.]
9Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name
that is above every name,
10that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Obedience and Service in the World.
12So 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.[#Ps 2:11; 1 Cor 2:3; 2 Cor 7:15.; #: a common Old Testament expression indicating awe and seriousness in the service of God (cf. Ex 15:16; Jdt 2:28; Ps 2:11; Is 19:16).]
13For God is the one who, for his good purpose, works in you both to desire and to work.[#1:6; 1 Cor 12:6; 15:10; 2 Cor 3:5.]
14Do everything without grumbling or questioning,[#1 Cor 10:10; 1 Pt 4:9.]
15that 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,[#: or “…generation. Among them shine like lights in the world because you hold the word of life….”; #1 Thes 3:13 / Dt 32:5; Mt 10:16; Acts 2:40 / Dn 12:3; Mt 5:14, 16; Eph 5:8.]
16as 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.[#1 Thes 2:19 / Is 49:4; 65:23; Gal 2:2.]
17But, 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.[#: in ancient religious ritual, the pouring out on the ground of a liquid offering as a sacrifice. Paul means that he may be facing death.; #Rom 15:16; 2 Tm 4:6.]
18In the same way you also should rejoice and share your joy with me.[#3:1; 4:4.]
Timothy and Paul.
19I hope, in the Lord Jesus, to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be heartened by hearing news of you.[#: already known to the Philippians (Acts 16:1–15; cf. 1 Cor 4:17; 16:10).; #Acts 16:1–3; 17:14–15; 1 Cor 4:17; 16:10.]
20For I have no one comparable to him for genuine interest in whatever concerns you.
21For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.[#1 Cor 13:5; 2 Tm 4:10.]
22But you know his worth, how as a child with a father he served along with me in the cause of the gospel.
23He it is, then, whom I hope to send as soon as I see how things go with me,
24but I am confident in the Lord that I myself will also come soon.[#: cf. Phil 1:19–25 for the significance of this statement.]
Epaphroditus.
25With 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.[#: sent by the Philippians as their (literally, “apostle”) to aid Paul in his imprisonment, he had fallen seriously ill; Paul commends him as he sends him back to Philippi.; #4:10–11, 15–16, 18.]
26For he has been longing for all of you and was distressed because you heard that he was ill.
27He 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.
28I send him therefore with the greater eagerness, so that, on seeing him, you may rejoice again, and I may have less anxiety.
29Welcome him then in the Lord with all joy and hold such people in esteem,[#1 Cor 16:18.]
30because 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.