Christian Unity and Christ’s Humility

2:1 Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort provided by love, any fellowship in the Spirit,1 any affection or mercy,2 2:2 complete my joy and be of the same mind,3 by having the same love, being united in spirit,4 and having one purpose. 2:3 Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition5 or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself. 2:4 Each of you should be concerned6 not only7 about your own interests, but about the interests of others as well.8 2:5 You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had,9

2:6 10 who though he existed in the form of God11

did not regard equality with God

as something to be grasped,

2:7 but emptied himself

by taking on the form of a slave,12

by looking like other men,13

and by sharing in human nature.14

2:8 He humbled himself,

by becoming obedient to the point of death

—even death on a cross!

2:9 As a result God exalted him

and gave him the name

that is above every name,

2:10 so that at the name of Jesus

every knee will bow

—in heaven and on earth and under the earth—

2:11 and every tongue confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord

to the glory of God the Father.