Philippians 2:1-13

Good News Translation

Christ's Humility and Greatness

2 Your life in Christ makes you strong, and his love comforts you. You have fellowship with the Spirit,^[a] and you have kindness and compassion for one another. ²I urge you, then, to make me completely happy by having the same thoughts, sharing the same love, and being one in soul and mind. ³Don't do anything from selfish ambition or from a cheap desire to boast, but be humble toward one another, always considering others better than yourselves. ⁴And look out for one another's interests, not just for your own. ⁵The attitude you should have is the one that Christ Jesus had:

⁶He always had the nature of God,
    but he did not think that by force he should try to remain^[b] equal with God.
⁷Instead of this, of his own free will he gave up all he had,
    and took the nature of a servant.
He became like a human being
    and appeared in human likeness.
⁸He was humble and walked the path of obedience all the way to death—
    his death on the cross.
⁹For this reason God raised him to the highest place above
    and gave him the name that is greater than any other name.
¹⁰^(A)And so, in honor of the name of Jesus
    all beings in heaven, on earth, and in the world below^[c]
    will fall on their knees,
¹¹and all will openly proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.

Shining as Lights in the World

¹²So then, dear friends, as you always obeyed me when I was with you, it is even more important that you obey me now while I am away from you. Keep on working with fear and trembling to complete your salvation, ¹³because God is always at work in you to make you willing and able to obey his own purpose.

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Footnotes

Philippians 2:1 You have fellowship with the Spirit; or The Spirit has brought you into fellowship with one another.
Philippians 2:6 remain; or become.
Philippians 2:10 It was thought that the dead continued to exist in a dark world under the ground.