Philippians 2
Christians should live in the way that Christ lived
1 You belong to Christ and he helps you to be strong. His love comforts you. You are able to help one another because his Spirit is in you. You can be kind to each other, and you can forgive each other. 2 Because of that, this is how you can make me completely happy: In your mind, think about things in the same way as each other. Love one another completely. In your spirit, agree with one another. Work together for the same purpose. 3 In the way that you live, do not just try to help yourself. Do not be proud. Instead, respect other people. Think about other people as more important than yourself. 4 Do not think only about the things that you want to do for yourself. Each of you should think also about how you can help other people.
5 Think about things in the same way that Christ Jesus thought:
6 He had the same nature as God.
He was completely equal with God.
But he did not try to keep hold of that.
7 Instead, he chose to leave heaven.
He took for himself the nature of a slave.
He was born as a human.
8 And when he lived as a man,
he made himself even more humble.
He obeyed God completely, so that he died.
He even died on a cross!
2:8The Romans fixed someone to a cross to die when they were guilty of something very bad. Christ agreed to die like that, but he had not done any wrong thing.
9 Because of that, God raised Jesus Christ to the most important place.
God gave him the name that is greater than every other name.
10 As a result, when people hear Jesus' name,
they must worship him.
Everyone will have to go down on their knees in front of him.
That includes everything that is in heaven,
everything on the earth and everything under the earth.
11 Everyone will say that Jesus Christ is Lord.
This will give great honour to God the Father.
2:11Verses 6-11 may have been a song that Paul knew.
Christians should be like lights in the world
12 So, my friends, you must continue to obey. When I was with you, you always obeyed. Now that I am not with you, that is even more important. God has saved you. You must always live in a way which shows that this is true. Respect God and remember his great power. 13 It is God himself who is working in you. Now you want to obey him, and he makes you able to do that. You do the things that make God very happy.
14 Whatever you are doing, do not complain. And do not argue. 15 Then you will not be guilty of anything that is wrong. You will be clean inside yourselves. You will be living in a completely good way, as God's children should. In this world, you are living among bad people who have turned away from what is good. But you must bring light into this dark place, like stars that shine in the night. 16 Tell people the true message that can give them life with God. Then I will know that my work among you has had good results. Because of that, I will be very happy on the day when Christ returns.
2:15In the Bible, when people do not know the truth about God, it is like they are living in a dark place. God gives light so that people know the truth.
17 You believe in Christ, and you are his servants. That is like you are offering yourselves as a sacrifice to God. Perhaps I will soon have to die. Then my blood would be like a drink offering that I am pouring on your sacrifice to please God. So, if I have to die now, I will be happy. And we should all be happy together. 18 Yes, it is right that you should be happy, and I will also be happy with you.
Timothy and Epaphroditus are good examples
19 I want to send Timothy to come to you soon. I hope that the Lord Jesus will let me do that. Then, when Timothy returns to me, he can tell me news about you. And that will make me happy. 20 Timothy really loves you, as I do. There is nobody else here with me like him. 21 Everyone else thinks only about themselves. They have no interest in the things that are important to Jesus Christ. 22 But you know what Timothy is like. He has worked with me like a son works to help his father. Together we have taught people God's good news. 23 That is why I hope to send him to you soon. But first, I want to know what will happen to me here. 24 I trust the Lord that I will soon come to you myself.
25 But I think I must send Epaphroditus to come back to you. He is our true Christian brother. He has worked with me to serve God. We have worked hard, like soldiers. When I needed help, you sent him to me. He has helped me on your behalf. 26 Now he wants very much to see all of you again. He became very sad, because you heard the message that he was ill. 27 Certainly, he was very ill and he almost died. But God was kind to him. And God was kind to me too. If Epaphroditus had died, I would have become even more sad. 28 So I want even more to send him back to you. Then you can be really happy, and I will not feel sad any more.
29 Be happy to welcome Epaphroditus when he comes. Like you, he belongs to the Lord's people. You should respect people like him and be kind to them. 30 He nearly died because he was working to serve Christ. He came to help me, because you could not help me yourselves. He was even ready to die so that he could do that on your behalf.
2:30Epaphroditus belonged to the group of Christians at Philippi. They had sent him to Rome with their gifts to Paul. See Philippians 4:18. 