002:006 Although from the beginning He had the nature of God He did not
reckon His equality with God a treasure to be tightly grasped.
002:007 Nay, He stripped Himself of His glory, and took on Him the nature
of a bondservant by becoming a man like other men.
002:008 And being recognized as truly human, He humbled Himself
and even stooped to die; yes, to die on a cross.
002:009 It is in consequence of this that God has also so highly
exalted Him, and has conferred on Him the Name which is supreme
above every other,
002:010 in order that in the Name of JESUS every knee should bow,
of beings in Heaven, of those on the earth, and of those
in the underworld,
002:011 and that every tongue should confess that JESUS CHRIST is LORD, to the glory of God the Father.
002:012 Therefore, my dearly-loved friends, as I have always found you obedient, labour earnestly with fear and trembling— not merely as though I were present with you, but much more now since I am absent from you—labour earnestly, I say, to make sure of your own salvation.
002:013 For it is God Himself whose power creates within you the desire to do His gracious will and also brings about the accomplishment of the desire.
002:014 Be ever on your guard against a grudging and contentious spirit,
002:015 so that you may always prove yourselves to be blameless and spotless— irreproachable children of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as heavenly lights in the world,