2:1 If, then, there is any comfort in Christ, any consolation from love, any partnership in the Spirit, any tender affection and sympathy,

2:2 make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

2:3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or empty conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.

2:4 Let each of you look not to your own interests but to the interests of others.

2:5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

2:6 who, though he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped,

2:7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, assuming human likeness. And being found in appearance as a human,

2:8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death-- even death on a cross.

2:9 Therefore God exalted him even more highly and gave him the name that is above every other name,

2:10 so that at the name given to Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

2:11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

2:12 Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence but much more now in my absence, work on your own salvation with fear and trembling,

2:13 for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.