He should be honored because he almost died for the work of Christ. He put his life in danger so that he could help me. This was help that you could not give me.
I am so happy, and I thank the Lord that you have again shown your care for me. You continued to care about me, but there was no way for you to show it.
I don’t care about my own life. The most important thing is that I finish my work. I want to finish the work that the Lord Jesus gave me to do—to tell people the Good News about God’s grace.
I have everything I need. I have even more than I need. I have all I need because Epaphroditus brought your gift to me. Your gift is like a sweet-smelling sacrifice offered to God. God accepts that sacrifice and it pleases him.
They defeated him by the blood sacrifice of the Lamb and by the message of God that they told people. They did not love their lives too much. They were not afraid of death.
Your faith makes you give your lives as a sacrifice in serving God. Maybe I will have to offer my own life with your sacrifice. But if that happens, I will be glad, and I will share my joy with all of you.
This body that ruins must clothe itself with something that will never ruin. And this body that dies must clothe itself with something that will never die.