doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself;
Parallel translations
- KJV Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
- BSB Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves.
- NKJV Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.
- NASB Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves;
- NLT Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Do nothing from rivalry or conceit; in humility consider others better than yourself. Humility is the antidote to division.
Overview
Selfish ambition and vanity are named as the great threats to unity. The remedy is humility, a quality the surrounding culture despised but the gospel honors. Counting others more significant than oneself reflects the mind of Christ Paul is about to display.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 21
- Rom 12:10In love of the brothers be tenderly affectionate to one another; in honor preferring one another;
- Gal 5:26Let’s not become conceited, provoking one another, and envying one another.
- Eph 5:21subjecting yourselves to one another in the fear of Christ.
- Eph 4:2with all lowliness and humility, with patience, bearing with one another in love;
- 1 Pet 5:5Likewise, you younger ones, be subject to the elder. Yes, all of you clothe yourselves with humility, to subject yourselves to one another; for “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
- Jas 3:14–16But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, don’t boast and don’t lie against the truth.
- Jas 4:5–6Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who lives in us yearns jealously”?
- Phil 2:14Do all things without murmurings and disputes,
- Luke 18:14I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
- Gal 5:15But if you bite and devour one another, be careful that you don’t consume one another.
- 1 Tim 6:4he is conceited, knowing nothing, but obsessed with arguments, disputes, and word battles, from which come envy, strife, insulting, evil suspicions,
- Prov 13:10Pride only breeds quarrels, but with ones who take advice is wisdom.
- Col 3:8but now you also put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and shameful speaking out of your mouth.
- Luke 14:7–11He spoke a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the best seats, and said to them,
- 1 Pet 2:1–2Putting away therefore all wickedness, all deceit, hypocrisies, envies, and all evil speaking,
- 2 Cor 12:20For I am afraid that by any means, when I come, I might find you not the way I want to, and that I might be found by you as you don’t desire; that by any means there would be strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, whisperings, proud thoughts, riots;
- 1 Cor 3:3for you are still fleshly. For insofar as there is jealousy, strife, and factions among you, aren’t you fleshly, and don’t you walk in the ways of men?
- Phil 1:15–17Some indeed preach Christ even out of envy and strife, and some also out of good will.
- 1 Cor 15:9For I am the least of the apostles, who is not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the assembly of God.
- Gal 5:20–21idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies,
- Rom 13:13Let us walk properly, as in the day; not in reveling and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and lustful acts, and not in strife and jealousy.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The one who, being in the form of God, emptied himself to the point of death on a cross and was exalted to the name above every name — the joy and prize of the believer.
How Philippians 2:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.