The Holy Bible – Knox Translation
The Epistle of the Blessed Apostle Paul to the Philippians
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Chapter 2
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1 2 3 4
1
If anything is meant by encouragement in Christ, by loving sympathy, by common fellowship in the spirit, by feelings of tenderness and pity,
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fill up my cup of happiness by thinking with the same mind, cherishing the same bond of charity, soul knit to soul in a common unity of thought.
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You must never act in a spirit of factiousness, or of ambition; each of you must have the humility to think others better men than himself,
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and study the welfare of others, not his own.
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Yours is to be the same mind which Christ Jesus shewed.
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His nature is, from the first, divine, and yet he did not see, in the rank of Godhead, a prize to be coveted;
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he dispossessed himself, and took the nature of a slave, fashioned in the likeness of men, and presenting himself to us in human form;
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and then he lowered his own dignity, accepted an obedience which brought him to death, death on a cross.
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That is why God has raised him to such a height, given him that name which is greater than any other name;
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so that everything in heaven and on earth and under the earth must bend the knee before the name of Jesus,
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and every tongue must confess Jesus Christ as the Lord, dwelling in the glory of God the Father.

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Beloved, you have always shewn yourselves obedient; and now that I am at a distance, not less but much more than when I am present, you must work to earn your salvation, in anxious fear.
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Both the will to do it and the accomplishment of that will are something which God accomplishes in you, to carry out his loving purpose.
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Do all that lies in you, never complaining, never hesitating,
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to shew yourselves innocent and single-minded, God’s children, bringing no reproach on his name. You live in an age that is twisted out of its true pattern, and among such people you shine out, beacons to the world,
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upholding the message of life. Thus, when the day of Christ comes, I shall be able to boast of a life not spent in vain, of labours not vainly undergone.
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Meanwhile, though your faith should prove to be a sacrifice which cannot be duly made without my blood for its drink-offering, I congratulate myself and all of you over that;
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on your side, you too must congratulate yourselves and me.

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It is my hope in the Lord Jesus that I shall be sending Timothy to visit you before long; then I shall be able to refresh myself with news of you;
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I have no one else here who shares my thoughts as he does, no one who will concern himself so unaffectedly with your affairs;
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one and all have their own interest at heart, not Christ’s;
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his worth is well tried, you must know that he has shared my task of preaching the gospel like a son helping his father.
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Him, then, I hope to send without delay, when I have had time to see how I stand;
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and I am persuaded in the Lord that I myself shall be coming to you before long.
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Meanwhile, here is Epaphroditus, my brother, my companion in so many labours and battles, your own delegate, who has provided for my needs. I felt that I must send him to you,
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so great was his longing to see you, and his distress that you should have heard about his illness.
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Ill he certainly was, and in near danger of death; but God had pity on him, and not only on him but on me too; he would not let me have anxiety added to anxiety.
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So I am hastening to send him back to you; it will be a happiness for you to see him again, and I shall be anxious no longer.
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Welcome him, then, in the Lord gladly, and do honour to such a man as he is;
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one who came close to death’s door on Christ’s errand, risking life itself to do me that kindness, which was all your kindness left to be desired.