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When you do things, do not let ·selfishness [rivalry; selfish ambition] or pride be your guide. Instead, be humble and give more ·honor [regard; value] to others than to yourselves. Do not ·be interested only in your own life [look out for your own interests], but ·be interested in the lives of others [look out for others’ interests].

Be Unselfish like Christ

In your lives you must ·think and act like [have the same attitude as] Christ Jesus. [C What follows may be from an early Christian hymn.]

·Christ himself was like God in everything [L Who, being in the form of God].
    But he did not think that being equal with God was something to be ·used for his own benefit [or grasped; seized; held on to].
But he ·gave up his place with God and made himself nothing [L emptied himself].
    He ·became like [L took the form of] a ·servant [slave; bondservant]
    and was born ·as a man [L in the likeness of humanity/men].
And ·when he was living [L being found in appearance/likeness] as a ·man [human being],
    he humbled himself and was fully obedient to God,
    even ·when that caused his [to the point of] death—death on a cross.
So God ·raised [exalted] him to the highest place.
    God ·made his name [or gave him the name] ·greater than [far above] every other name
10 so that every knee will bow to the name of Jesus—
    everyone in heaven, on earth, and under the earth.
11 And ·everyone [L every tongue] will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord
    and bring glory to God the Father.

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Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit [through factional motives, or strife], but with [an attitude of] humility [being neither arrogant nor self-righteous], regard others as more important than yourselves. Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this same attitude in yourselves which was in Christ Jesus [look to Him as your example in selfless humility], who, although He existed in the form and unchanging essence of God [as One with Him, possessing the fullness of all the divine attributes—the entire nature of deity], did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped or asserted [as if He did not already possess it, or was afraid of losing it]; but emptied Himself [without renouncing or diminishing His deity, but only temporarily giving up the outward expression of divine equality and His rightful dignity] by assuming the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men [He became completely human but was without sin, being fully God and fully man]. After He was found in [terms of His] outward appearance as a man [for a divinely-appointed time], He humbled Himself [still further] by becoming obedient [to the Father] to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also [because He obeyed and so completely humbled Himself], God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus [a]every knee shall bow [in submission], of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,(A) 11 and that every tongue will confess and openly acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord (sovereign God), to the glory of God the Father.

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Footnotes

  1. Philippians 2:10 All intelligent beings in the universe, whether saved or unsaved, whether in spirit or as mortal mankind, will acknowledge Him.