For it has been granted to you not only to believe in Christ but also to suffer for him,

As a result God exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name,

For there is no one here like him who will readily demonstrate his deep concern for you.

So I hope to send him as soon as I know more about my situation,

In fact he became so ill that he nearly died. But God showed mercy to him -- and not to him only, but also to me -- so that I would not have grief on top of grief.

Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again you can rejoice and I can be free from anxiety.

So welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor people like him,

and be found in him, not because I have my own righteousness derived from the law, but because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ's faithfulness -- a righteousness from God that is in fact based on Christ's faithfulness.

My aim is to know him, to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings, and to be like him in his death,