For there is no one here like him who will readily demonstrate his deep concern for you. ¹ 

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

since you are encountering ¹  the same conflict that you saw me face and now hear that I am facing. ² 

– though mine too are significant. ¹  If someone thinks he has good reasons to put confidence in human credentials, ²  I have more:

Be imitators of me, ¹  brothers and sisters, ²  and watch carefully those who are living this way, just as you have us as an example.

I feel torn between the two, ¹  because I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far,

complete my joy and be of the same mind, ¹  by having the same love, being united in spirit, ²  and having one purpose.

In fact he became so ill that he nearly died. ¹  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.

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 ¹  – a righteousness from God that is in fact ²  based on Christ’s ³  faithfulness. ⁴ 

For ¹  it is right for me to think this about all of you, because I have you in my heart, ²  since both in my imprisonment ³  and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel all of you became partners in God’s grace ⁴  together with me.