Daily Scripture and Thoughts About It

Philippians

Paul writes around the year 56-57 AD to the church at Philippi from prison somewhere (Ephesus, Caesaria or Rome). Timothy is with him. Paul had founded the church at Philippi in 50, during his second journey (Acts 16: 12-40) and revisited it twice during the third (in the autumn of 57 and again at Passover in 58). The JB associates this letter with the great Pauline letters (notably Corinthians) rather than grouping it with Eph, Col and Philemon.

Phil. 1 – Paul greets “the saints in Christ Jesus” in Philippi along with the “bishops and deacons.” (NRSV v. 1) (The JB says the word “episcopos,” which they translate as elders, has not yet come to have the meaning later associated with bishop) He expresses thanks for them and prays “that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, . . .” (10). He uses the phrase “day of Christ Jesus in verse 6 as well, so indicating the prominence this expectation still has in his thinking. He reassures them that while his imprisonment for Christ is something he must deal with, it has not hindered the spread of the gospel but has actually “helped” to spread it—among the imperial guard and among others.

The word about Christ is getting out—in some cases by those who are acting “out of love” and in some cases by those who are actually trying to “increase [his] suffering” (16) by seeking to rival or compete with Paul. It does not matter to Paul. Everyone who speaks about the gospel of Christ helps in the long run. He does not even care if he must suffer death for Christ. In fact, he even yearns for an end to his life: “my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better; but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you. Since I am convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in faith. . .” (24-25).

He ends this section by encouraging them to “live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, . . .” (27) or as it is translated in the JB, “avoid anything in your everyday lives that would be unworthy of the gospel of Christ.” Any suffering they must endure is a privilege.

One of the things I appreciate very much about Paul is his emphasis on the importance of cultivating “knowledge” or “wisdom,” about the faith we have placed in Christ. This gnosis is very important. It deepens our awareness of the redemptive love of God towards all men and makes our love more like the kind of love Christ had for us, a love that went out to us not because we are deserving but despite the fact that we in varying degrees undeserving of God’s love. This is one of the biggest challenges for people, to learn to love not as we define love but to come to understand and enter into the love God has for all. Forgiveness and compassion come from this kind of love instead of the fault-finding that comes from comparing your own worth with the shortcomings of those you are asked to love. I see the difficulty of learning this in talking to adolescents. They are generally very idealistic and understand the virtue of love very well. They especially understand its capacity to bring out the best in them. They can appreciate instances where someone else’s patience or compassion for them helped them in some way. But ask them to extend that same love to those who are unlikable to them in some way, however trifling, and you see that they have not yet grown to the point where they see that all men are in the same boat. The obnoxious bus driver who drives them crazy needs to feel their love as much as they need to feel it from others. The nerdy kid who just can’t attain what they consider to be normality also has a claim on their love if they would call their love Christian love. The planting, watering, cultivation and growth of this love, all of it, is the work of the gospel in us. And it is not a sudden burgeoning growth, but one of slow root development and continued examination in the light, which Christ gives us both inwardly and in the lessons his life and death teach us. Grant oh Lord, that this love may be formed in us and made ever more profound and secure. Keep the value of this love fresh in us and help it transform the details of our lives so that others may learn of it through us. In unity with Jesus and with Paul who lived and died to plant this love in the world we pray.

Phil. 2 - Paul urges his readers to aspire to unity of heart and mind—“be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind” (2); and the key to unity is humility—“Let each of you look not to [his] own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus” (4-5).

Who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
[as] something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness.
and found human in appearance,
he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to death,
even death on a cross.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name
that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth
and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father (6-11, NAB).

Ray Brown and my JB both say it is uncertain if Paul was the author of this hymn or was just using it here in this letter, but it is amazing stuff. One of Paul’s great moments – probably simply giving us a worship formula used in the earliest church. It has been pointed out what beautiful literature this is in addition to be profound spiritual insight – the emptying out and coming down to the humiliation of the cross is followed immediately by seeing Christ as lifted up and exalted – capturing the whole paradox of Christ’s incarnation. JB also says what I believe, that use of this formula is evidence that the very early church “believed in the divine pre-existence of Jesus” (260) way before John’s time.

Through his great humility and self-giving Christ unified himself with the human race and it is likewise by humbling ourselves of our self-involved human nature that we can achieve a degree of unity with Him and through Him, with God. In this modern era, where nothing is so sought after as self-actualization, self-determination, and self-expression, it is not surprising that those institutions, which are built on unity, namely marriage and the church as well as civic communities of all kinds, are suffering. If we can only come to be sensible of Christ’s great act of love for us and be moved thereby to respond to him with even a degree of surrender and love, he will lead us in a different path. So that even in a world where self-aggrandizement is the chief love of almost everyone, one can hope to redeem one’s life.

Paul goes on to tell his readers that they must “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (12-13). This is a very Quaker friendly passage. The salvation we come into is not a once for all time event, and not something that “happens” when we profess faith in Christ. It is a process, something we work out with God’s help; “it is God who is at work in [us].” He empowers us not only to know His mind (4) and His will but to be obedient to Him in all we do.

Paul speaks of sending Timothy off to them soon, and he sets Timothy apart among many who “are seeking their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ” (21) as one who is seriously concerned with their welfare. And he is also sending Epaphroditus, “my brother and co-worker” who is ill, even close to death (26).

Phil. 3 - Paul begins to conclude his letter with a renewed call for his readers to rejoice. But he warns them not to be misled by those whom he call “the dogs” (2), the “judaizers” who “mutilate the flesh.” The people who are “the circumcision” are those “who worship in the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh” (3). He has the fleshly circumcision and every other fleshly connection with the people of Israel, but they are not seen as strengths by him any more—now that he has come to know Christ. “For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead” (8-11).

These are beautiful words that capture so well the overriding vision Paul has of salvation. For him salvation seems eminently personal, a being gathered up into the very person, life and work of Jesus Christ. In that is our glory and our boast.

Paul addresses the matter of whether his sense of salvation amounts to “perfect maturity” and he declines to make this claim. But he continues to live and act on the faith that he will attain to it (like an athlete who strains for the victory at the end of all his striving). The people whose minds “are set on earthly things” will end with destruction.

Phil. 4 - Continuing his loving conclusion, Paul urges his readers to help those who have shared in Paul’s work: women co-workers Euodia and Syntyche, and Clement. And others “whose names are in the book of life” (3).

He admonishes his readers once again to “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice” (4). “The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (5-7). And finally, in those now famous words, Paul urges us to cultivate and contemplate everything that is worthy in life:

“[W]hatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (8).

He thanks them for the support they have sent to him and especially tells them that it is the benefit to them their generosity entails in spiritual reward that makes him the happiest.

Throughout this lovely letter, we not only hear how we are to grow in the depth and breadth of love, and come to know the resignation to God’s will that brings complete peace and equanimity of mind, but we see it in Paul and hear it in the tone and feeling of his words.