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.

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.

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

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

since you are encountering the same conflict that you saw me face and now hear that I am facing.

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

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,

who will transform these humble bodies of ours into the likeness of his glorious body by means of that power by which he is able to subject all things to himself.