The Message Bible MSG
King James Version KJV
1 If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care -
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If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
2 then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends.
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Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
3 Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead.
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Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
4 Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.
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Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
5 Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself.
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Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what.
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Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human!
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But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death - and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion.
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And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
9 Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever,
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Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
10 so that all created beings in heaven and on earth - even those long ago dead and buried - will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ,
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That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father.
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And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
12 What I'm getting at, friends, is that you should simply keep on doing what you've done from the beginning. When I was living among you, you lived in responsive obedience. Now that I'm separated from you, keep it up. Better yet, redouble your efforts. Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God.
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Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
13 That energy is God's energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure.
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For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
14 Do everything readily and cheerfully - no bickering, no second-guessing allowed!
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Do all things without murmurings and disputings:
15 Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night
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That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
16 so I'll have good cause to be proud of you on the day that Christ returns. You'll be living proof that I didn't go to all this work for nothing.
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Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.
17 Even if I am executed here and now, I'll rejoice in being an element in the offering of your faith that you make on Christ's altar, a part of your rejoicing.
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Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.
18 But turnabout's fair play - you must join me in my rejoicing. Whatever you do, don't feel sorry for me.
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For the same cause also do ye joy, and rejoice with me.
19 I plan (according to Jesus' plan) to send Timothy to you very soon so he can bring back all the news of you he can gather. Oh, how that will do my heart good!
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But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state.
20 I have no one quite like Timothy. He is loyal, and genuinely concerned for you.
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For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state.
21 Most people around here are looking out for themselves, with little concern for the things of Jesus.
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For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's.
22 But you know yourselves that Timothy's the real thing. He's been a devoted son to me as together we've delivered the Message.
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But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel.
23 As soon as I see how things are going to fall out for me here, I plan to send him off.
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Him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me.
24 And then I'm hoping and praying to be right on his heels.
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But I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly.
25 But for right now, I'm dispatching Epaphroditus, my good friend and companion in my work. You sent him to help me out; now I'm sending him to help you out.
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Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellowsoldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants.
26 He has been wanting in the worst way to get back with you. Especially since recovering from the illness you heard about, he's been wanting to get back and reassure you that he is just fine.
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For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick.
27 He nearly died, as you know, but God had mercy on him. And not only on him - he had mercy on me, too. His death would have been one huge grief piled on top of all the others.
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For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.
28 So you can see why I'm so delighted to send him on to you. When you see him again, hale and hearty, how you'll rejoice and how relieved I'll be.
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I sent him therefore the more carefully, that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful.
29 Give him a grand welcome, a joyful embrace! People like him deserve the best you can give.
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Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness; and hold such in reputation:
30 Remember the ministry to me that you started but weren't able to complete? Well, in the process of finishing up that work, he put his life on the line and nearly died doing it.
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Because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
The King James Version is in the public domain.