Chapter 2

  If there is therefore any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion,  

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  make my joy full, that you be of the same mind, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind;  

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  doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself;  

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  each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.  

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  Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus,  

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  who, existing in the form of God, didn't consider it robbery to be equal with God,  

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  but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.  

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  Being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross.  

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  Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name;  

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  that at the name of Jesus every knee would bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,  

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  and that every tongue would confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God, the Father.  

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  So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.  

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  For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.  

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  Do all things without murmurings and disputes,  

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  that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world,  

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  holding up the word of life; that I may have something to boast in the day of Christ, that I didn't run in vain nor labor in vain.  

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  Yes, and if I am poured out on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice, and rejoice with you all.  

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  In the same way, you also rejoice, and rejoice with me.  

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  But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered up when I know how you are doing.  

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  For I have no one else like-minded, who will truly care about you.  

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  For they all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ.  

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  But you know the proof of him, that, as a child serves a father, so he served with me in furtherance of the gospel.  

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  Therefore I hope to send him at once, as soon as I see how it will go with me.  

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  But I trust in the Lord that I myself also will come shortly.  

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  But I counted it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need;  

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  since he longed for you all, and was very troubled, because you had heard that he was sick.  

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  For indeed he was sick, nearly to death, but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, that I might not have sorrow on sorrow.  

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

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  Receive him therefore in the Lord with all joy, and hold such in honor,  

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  because for the work of Christ he came near to death, risking his life to supply that which was lacking in your service toward me.  

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