Philippians 2:19-4:3

Updated
2001-05-26; 14:32:45utc

Phil. 2:19 - 3:1.

"I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you.
I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare.
For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.
But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel. 23 I hope, therefore, to send him as soon as I see how things go with me.
And I am confident in the Lord that I myself will come soon.
But I think it is necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs. For he longs for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill. Indeed he was ill, and almost died. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow.
Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again you may be glad and I may have less anxiety.
Welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor men like him,
Because he almost died for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up for the help you could not give me.

Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you."

Paul's sending of Timothy to Philippi, however, is more than an effort to receive some emotional uplift. Timothy is one of the co-signers of this epistle. He may have been Paul's secretary who took Paul's dictation. He cannot have been a prisoner with Paul; otherwise, Paul would not have been able to send him. He probably was Paul's daily visitor and comforter, and so the sending of Timothy must have been a real sacrifice for Paul. Timothy's absence made Paul a lonely man. We read later that Timothy himself underwent suffering and imprisonment. Heb. 13:23 says: "I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been released."

A visit by Timothy to Philippi would be for the church almost equal to a visit by Paul himself since Timothy had adopted Paul's love for these people. The sending of Timothy is the second phase of a plan. His going is preceded by the sending back of Epaphroditus, who had come from Philippi with a gift from the church for Paul, which Paul mentions at the end of the letter (ch. 4:18). Let us turn our attention to the person of Timothy. Paul had met him for the first time in Lystra, according to Acts 16:1-3, and from that moment Timothy was a member of the team; consequently, he was an eyewitness to the birth of the church in Philippi. We don't read that he had been imprisoned with Paul and Silas, possibly because his father was a Greek. It is possible that Timothy stayed behind in Philippi when Paul and Silas were evicted from the city. We do read, though, that he and Silas joined Paul again when the latter had arrived in Corinth.

Most of the above, of course, is speculation. It is quite possible that, although Paul was the spiritual father of the church, Timothy had actually spent more time there. According to ch. 2:22, the Philippians were quite familiar with Timothy.

Paul's bitter ejaculation, "For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ," (vs. 21) indicates the fact that is still true centuries later: genuine and faithful servants of Jesus Christ have not been abundant. This, of course, is speaking generally. It remains true, however, that sin has affected man so deeply that, even after his regeneration, an important part of his ego remains untouched. Looking out for the interest of Jesus Christ is not the predominant point of the lives of most of Christ's servants . At best there is a mixture of interests.

Paul is still talking about the mind of Christ; as we said, that the mind should also be in us. The main characteristic of this mind is that we "should look not only to our own interests, but also to the interests of others," and that "in humility consider others better than ourselves." (vs. 4,3). The love of Christ in us means, after all, that we are willing to give our lives for our brothers. Servants of Jesus Christ who are willing to do this are an exception, rather than the rule. Timothy was ready to give his life for Paul; and on the basis of this, Paul knew that he would do the same for the Philippians.

We are often trapped in the maze of our own interests because we do not use praise as a weapon. Our whole perspective changes when we see how praise can cause earthquakes, and how shackles that bind people to the walls of their prison are shaken loose, and how people's hearts are set free.

Paul presents his relationship between Timothy as a child with his father; they reach out spontaneously to one another. He says that if this is Timothy's attitude toward him it will guarantee his love to the Philippians. Also, Paul harbors the hope that he will be able to come himself and to renew and strengthen the bond of love between himself and the church. Whether he was able to carry out his plan or whether his execution made this impossible, we don't know.

We see the same thought presented in 1:24 "But it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body." Paul had led many people to the Lord in Philippi, and he loved them passionately in Christ. The plans he makes to visit them are plans for the future. The immediate need, however, is the departure of Epaphroditus, who will have to carry Paul's letter to them.

Epaphroditus originated from Philippi; he had been sent by the church to take a present to Paul, probably a gift of money. Paul calls him "My brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier" (2:25). Probably, Epaphroditus was one of those of whom Paul says in 1:5 that they were in "partnership in the gospel from the first day until now." The fact that Paul calls him "my brother" means that he had put his faith in Jesus Christ. The expression "fellow worker" points to the help he had given to Paul and others in the founding and building up of the church. But "fellow soldier" speaks of insight in the fact that there is a battle to be fought in the Heavenlies. He understood that people would not be converted unless "the strong man" who kept them in his power was bound first. The reference is to Matt. 12:29 where Jesus says: "Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house." For this spiritual insight which Epaphroditus evinced he had to pay a high price. What seemed to be nothing more than a trip to Paul to deliver a package turned out to be a dangerous trek through enemy territory, by which he was almost fatally wounded. Serving Jesus Christ is not child's play.

Epaphroditus' concern that word of his sickness might have reached Philippi shows the depth of his spirituality. He knew people would worry about him; somehow a rumor had traveled back to Philippi, and the root of worry had sprung up in the hearts of those who loved him. This thought could have slowed down his recovery, and it may have bothered him once he was back on his feet.

We don't read either that he experienced divine healing, but this does not exclude divine intervention.

From the way Paul describes it, we get the impression that those supernatural powers that sometimes streamed through Paul were not active in his case. It seems as if the extraordinary miracles God did through Paul as mentioned in Acts 19:11-12 were not repeated here. (See also Acts 28:8-10). This would prove that divine healing cannot always be expected automatically. There are, of course, the matters of our faith and of demonic resistance that play a role in this.

Indirectly, the joy in the Lord Paul constantly talks about comes up again in vs. 27. The circumstances in which Paul finds himself are described as a chain of sorrows. The eventual death of Epaphroditus would have meant "sorrow upon sorrow" for Paul. It is important to see that the pressure of circumstances does not exclude the joy in the Lord; they do not even mutually influence one another. Circumstances work upon our emotions, but the joy of God works upon our spirit. Nights without sleep are not necessarily proof of spiritual defeat. We read in Acts 12:6: "The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance." We tend to see this as a proof of Peter's spirituality. This may have been the case, but it could also be that he was mentally exhausted because of the tensions he had passed through. But it could also be that the Holy Spirit possessed him to such a degree that his body functioned without any tenseness. The worst thing we can do is to blame ourselves for a lack of spirituality or to worry about our spirituality if we cannot sleep.

There is no contradiction between God's mercy to Epaphroditus by which he did not die and Paul's words in 1:21 that "to die is gain." We have already seen when we studied that verse, that Paul did not deny the hostile character of death. It is indeed God's mercy if we are healed from a fatal disease, as it is His mercy when He brings us through death into His eternal glory. It is also His mercy when He spares our loved ones the grief of being separated from us through death. For death is often much harder for those who remain behind than for the one who dies.

It is interesting to see that Paul did not lack a sense of humor, as examplified by his gift of making simple things seem complicated. The church in Philippi was worried about Epaphroditus. Epaphroditus was worried about their being worried, and Paul rounds off the circle by adding his own worry to this!

At several points the contrast between outward circumstances and the joy of Jesus Christ is mentioned. In 1:29 Paul calls this contrast "grace." Here, in 2:30, just before the joy of the Lord breaks through in the next chapter, Paul describes how Epaphroditus had risked his life to pay off the spiritual debt of the Philippian church to Paul. Of course, this is no debt in the real sense of the word. Paul cannot draw a balance by deducting the debits from the credits. The point is the same as the one he makes in Philemon vs. 19 and 20, where he says: "I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it back; not to mention that you owe me your very self. I do wish, brother, that I may have some benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ." Philemon owed his life in Christ to Paul, and so did the Philippians.

We could say that Paul shows a tendency to braggadocio. After all, it is only the grace of God that flows through him to others. And if one is paid for this, then what does grace mean? This is hard to understand, yet it seems that when the grace of God flows through a person it adds to the person's glory. God gives crowns for what He bestows upon us in grace!

Another strange phenomenon is that Paul sends such a strong recommendation of Epaphroditus to the church in Philippi; after all, he was their envoy but Paul sounds as if Epaphroditus would be unknown to them. It could be that Epaphroditus himself was a shy person, who would not have been able to bring himself to recount his experiences in such vivid detail. Also a prophet is never honored in his own city. And, finally, this all fits in the theme of this chapter, which says that we should "in humility consider others better than ourselves" (vs. 3).

If we are able to rejoice truly in the spiritual growth of others, the joy of the Lord will not be very far away. Later on, in 4:4 Paul says: "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" If we have fellowship with Jesus Christ, we are connected with the source of all joy. Jesus Himself promised us that our joy would be full in our fellowship with Him. "Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete" (John 16:24).

In John 17:26 He says: "I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them." The love the Father has for Christ will be in us. So we will be able to testify: "For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light" (Ps. 36:9).

We often skip over the fact that Paul follows his words, "Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord!" with, "It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you" (3:1). The KJV says: "Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous." There is in these words a suggestion of danger as far as the Philippians are concerned and of grief for Paul. We should not underestimate the tragedy of Paul's circumstances. "Sorrow upon sorrow" sums it up quite well. There is the tension of Paul's court case hanging over his head in which his life is at stake. There are the people surrounding Paul who suppose that they can stir up trouble for him while he is in chains (see 1:17); as if imprisonment in itself is not trouble enough! And there is the deep disappointment of seeing how people who say they are servants of the Gospel "look out for [their] own interests, not those of Jesus Christ" (2:21). We will get to Euodia and Syntyche later in ch. 4:2.

"The joy of the LORD is your strength" Nehemiah said to his people (Neh. 8:10). The word "strength" may be translated as "stronghold" or "refuge." If we flee towards God's joy, we don't flee from reality but to towards it. "Rejoice in the Lord!" is a flight. In that sense of the word, we should always flee. If we flee towards God's joy, we are safe. If we think we can withstand in our own strength the tensions and bombardments of the devil, we are foolish.

The joy of the Lord is only found in fellowship with the Lord, and for fellowship we need rest and times of quietness.

VI. Phil. 3:2-4:3

"Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh.
For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh;
Though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more:
Circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee;
As for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.
But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.
What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ
And be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ; the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
And so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.
Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.
For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.
Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in Heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,

Who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

Phil 4:1-3

Therefore, my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends!
I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord.
Yes, and I ask you, loyal yokefellow, help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life."

The chapter divisions seem to be lack some logic in this epistle. The verses above have one common theme, that is what the attitude of a child of God and a servant of Christ should be. The section opens and closes with bad examples which should not be followed and in between those Paul presents himself as a model to be imitated.

This part opens in vs. 2 with a sudden and sharp attack against a certain category of people Paul calls "those dogs." We should bear in mind that he does not speak here about the same group as was mentioned in 1:15 and 17, those who preached "Christ out of envy and rivalry, ... out of selfish ambition." As we saw already, Paul rejoices in their preaching.

But he doesn't have anything good to say about these Judaists. We meet them for the first time in Antioch where they proclaim that people cannot be saved without circumcision (Acts 15:1,2). They meet with immediate resistance from Paul and Barnabas. In the subsequent church council in Jerusalem they are defeated. We meet them again in Asia Minor where they "bewitched" the church in Galatia.

For us, twentieth century Christians, who have no Jewish background, it is hard to understand what the dispute was all about. The points in question are no longer relevant for us, but the underlying principle is as important nowadays in our lives as it was then. Both for Jews and non-Jews the question is: "What is the basis of our trust for salvation?"

In arguing against the need for circumcision, Paul does not deny Israel's predestination by God as part of the plan of salvation for this world, but he reacts to the misunderstanding and wrong interpretation by the average Israelite of God's intention in choosing Israel.

In the Old Testament the spiritual reality is represented in earthly images. Without fellowship with God those images had no content. Since most Israelites had no personal relationship with God the picture became the reality for them. Decrees and ordinances were kept meticulously as if God demanded the keeping of the ritual of circumcision, the shedding of the blood of animals and the observance of the Sabbath. With the coming of Jesus Christ the images lost their importance, and the emphasis became love, obedience and compassion.

The Old Testament itself makes clear what God considered important: for instance, in I Sam. 15:22: "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams;" and in Ps. 40:7-9, "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced; burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require. Then I said, 'Here I am, I have come; it is written about me in the scroll. I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.'"

So Paul reacts against the fact that people put their trust in things that were images of reality and in their own efforts to observe those images instead of in the sacrifice Jesus brought when He died on the cross and in His subsequent resurrection and glory. Glorying in Christ means renouncing all merit because of the honor God gives to us and the glory which awaits us. On the other hand, it consists of our positive praise of Christ for the love He showed us. As Rev. 5:12 says: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!"

Putting no confidence in the flesh puts the stress on the putting into practice of the things mentioned above. "Flesh" stands here for the whole complexity of man who is fallen and not renewed. The word has different connotations in various contexts. Sometimes it doesn't mean anything but physical existence on earth, as in ch. 1:22, "But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour" (KJV). In the context of chapter 3 it stands for the man who, in the depths of his soul, does not submit to the will of God. In Rom. 8:1-9 Paul contrasts the mind set of the flesh with the mind of the Spirit. The mind of the flesh denies the complete bankruptcy of self, as well as the complete payment of all debt by Jesus Christ. A man who puts confidence in the flesh thinks that he can come before God with the remains of his own inventory and that God will accept that as payment for his debt. The tendency to think this never dies completely even among born again Christians and the Holy Spirit has to bring us back, over and over again, to the fact that we are "circumcised in Christ." In Col. 2:11,12 Paul puts it this way: "In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, Having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead." To be circumcised in Christ means to consider oneself as being crucified with Christ Jesus. In verses 5 and 6 Paul looks back on the things that used to be important to him before he had his encounter with Christ on the way to Damascus. He paints a typical Jewish attitude toward religion, as we still see it in orthodox Jews of today. I am reminded of Herman Wouck's book This Is My God. One's heritage and tradition and external ritual seem more important than spiritual fellowship with God, which should give content to those rituals.

The qualifications Paul had are very impressive. He was born and reared an Israelite, of the branch of Judaism that took their religion very seriously. Even his persecution of Christians was proof to him that he was on the right track. He was uncompromising in every respect. But this last characteristic became his undoing. He persecuted Jesus Christ, the Man who was the content and meaning of the rituals he observed.

The expression as we find it in the KJV in vs. 6 "touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless," has always been a problem phrase for me. The NIV clarifies this in a satisfactory way by saying: "as for legalistic righteousness, faultless." But it could be that the NIV is too negative in its rendering. We read about Zechariah and Elisabeth: "Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly (Luke 1:6). There is an obedience to the best of our knowledge. The big difference between Paul and Zechariah is, of course, that the blood of Jesus Christ had been shed in the meantime. Before the cross, people were deemed righteous before God on the basis of animal sacrifices. But it is also true that Paul does not mean the same thing that Luke meant when Paul speaks about being blameless and faultless. Paul uses the term in the sense of observing the prescriptions of the law in a meticulous way. The condition of the heart was of no consequence in this.

In the Gospels we see scores of examples of this contrast between the righteousness of the law, or legalistic righteousness and the sinful condition of the human heart. In Mark 3:1-6 we read about people who wanted to enforce the Sabbaths law so strictly that a sick person could not even be healed on that day. They had more compassion for their animals than for humans. They spied on Jesus, hoping that they would be able to trap Him, and then they planned to kill Him.

Obviously, observing the law meticulously does not bring us any closer to God, even though God gave this law. Only the Holy Spirit can draw us into fellowship with the Father. That is why Jesus tells Nicodemus, the Pharisee, that he has to be born again. When Paul says: "Whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ" (vs. 7), he indicates that rituals and liturgy can become a hindrance to the knowledge of God, if rituals and liturgy are all the religion we have.

As Christians from a Gentile background, we can hardly imagine how enormous Paul's sacrifice of this "heritage" must have seemed. Only the enormity of the sacrifice of Christ can put this in the right perspective. That is what Paul does here. There is nothing in life that is worth as much as the knowledge of Christ Jesus. And, of course, knowledge stands here for more than intellectual knowledge, although that is not excluded. Knowing Christ does not offend our intellectual faculties.

Paul puts the stress here upon "the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith" (vs. 9). Thus, he emphasizes the legal aspect of our relationship with God. The basis for this relationship is the death of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Golgotha. The knowledge of this, that is the deeper penetration into the mystery of such love and obedience, such purity and sin, such cruelty and light, such a struggle and victory, demands a lifetime to accomplish. It will be impossible to try to increase our understanding and at the same time to cling to human efforts to bring ourselves up to the level where God wants us. God considers our self-righteousness as garbage, and we will do well to do the same. As Isaiah 64:6 says, "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags."

To "gain Christ" is not the same as accepting the sacrifice of Christ, and it is even more than seeing oneself as being crucified with Christ. Paul speaks about what grows in our lives as a result of our identification with Christ in His death and resurrection. Christ had already taken hold of Paul and had "gained" Paul, so to speak; but Paul did not feel that Christ had been completely formed in him. There is more at stake than a subjective experience. We are to God "the aroma of Christ", as Paul testifies about himself in II Cor. 2:15. To "be found in Him ..... having ....." as vs. 9 puts it, is what others see in us and that goes often further than that of which we are conscious within ourselves.

Paul does not indulge here in forced humility. He demonstrates a healthy dissatisfaction with the status quo; otherwise, there would be no incentive to press on and take hold of that which is an essential factor in the spiritual battle in which we all are engaged.

It is clear what the difference is between the righteousness that is imputed to us because of faith in Jesus Christ and the righteousness that we present to God as our own. If our righteousness is the result of the death and resurrection of Jesus and our participation therein by faith, there will be manifestations of righteousness in our life, but they will be the fruit of our relationship, not the basis for our justification before God. It is because we believe and accept that we are completely covered before God by the sacrifice of Jesus, that moral changes will occur in our life and other people will be able to see the difference in our behavior. But God does not accept us because we have started to behave differently.

The core of all that Paul is saying is "the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." (vs. 8) and "I want to know Christ" (vs. 10). He speaks about intimate knowledge between two persons.

Our knowledge of Christ in this sense of the word is usually rather superficial. The most precious experiences which deepen our knowledge of our Lord are usually had in difficult and trying circumstances. George Müller said at the end of a life of marvelous answers to prayer: "I know the Lord." A missionary in the Philippines, a young lady, was kidnapped and raped by extremists. She testified that at the moment of her deepest trial she felt the presence of the Lord in a way she never had before, and she was able to forgive the man who violated her. Such experiences deepen our knowledge of Jesus Christ; yet we will not know Him as He knows us. We don't even know ourselves as He knows us. In I Cor. 13:12 Paul says: "Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." These words are said in the context of the chapter about love. The point in question is not the gathering of knowledge but loving a person. As Paul says in I Cor. 8:3, "But the man who loves God is known by God." When we love Him, we want to become one with Him in His suffering for us, and we want to experience some of what He went through. In ch. 1:29 Paul called this "grace." If we become bitter because we suffer we, obviously, do not really love Jesus. If we see our suffering in relation to His suffering, our love and fellowship with Him will deepen. There is no stronger bond than the bond between two people who have suffered together. I remember people who survived life in a concentration camp together, or hostages who went through the ordeal together. To be crucified with Christ is the deepest fellowship that exists.

This is just the beginning, not the end. The bond of love with Christ exists also in the common experience of His resurrection. This is backed up by "all power in Heaven and on earth." It means victory over death, not only for Christ but also in us now. When John saw Him, he says: "I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: 'Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades'" (Rev. 1:17,18). So John experienced the power of Christ's resurrection.

Our lives may not be congruent with this truth, but this truth is the basis on which our likeness with Christ will grow. The seed of resurrection is already in us; the principle of victory over death has been implanted in us. It is a paradox that we may rest therein, but at the same time we must pursue it. The tendency of our life on earth is to rot and weaken. We have to fight this with all our might. Both, when we are young and when we grow older, we have to keep the goal before us. "Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint" (Isaiah 40:30,31).

To "hope in the LORD," or, as the KJV puts it, to "wait upon the LORD" is a strenuous activity. It is more exhausting than going on a hunt. Some commentators believe that Paul uses an image of a course with horses and chariots.

Vs. 13 is the clearest refutation of the doctrine that says that a child of God can achieve sinless perfection on earth. "Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Even if our sinful nature were completely eliminated, (and I cannot think of any example of anyone who has had this experience,) there still remains the pollution of the air of sin we breath in and the arrows of the Evil One that wound us. Also, if perfection consists in the not falling short of the glory of God, then it should be clear that no man, living on this side of death, has obtained this.

"One thing I do ...." If we can reduce our whole philosophy of life and our whole lifestyle to "one thing," we are not far from the truth. Jesus says to Martha: "But only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her" (Luke 10:42). And David says: "One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple" (Ps. 27:4). This one thing which David and Jesus mention is fellowship with God. This is the object of Paul's pursuit also. Paul describes it as a pursuit, actually as a hunt. Paul's attitude does not contradict the words of Jesus or of David. The point is to make fellowship with God in Jesus Christ the top priority of our life. In the great commandment of Deut. 6:5 Moses says: "Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." (Cf. Matt. 22:37,38). This pursuit in life is the one thing that is worth all we have.

When Paul wrote these words, he was already an old man. He says he wants to forget what is behind. The past is often the only thing older people do not forget. They have a tendency to live in the past more than in the future. I write this as a missionary who is in his retirement. I realize how dangerous it can be to spend one's time going over the experiences and achievements of the past. I want the motto of my life to be "forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead …."

"The prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus," (vs. 14) is the reward for obedience to the God Who calls us from on high. The love for God will culminate in partaking of His glory and holiness. A glimpse of this glory, as Paul saw it on the road to Damascus, was enough to transform his life into the great pursuit: to know Him, to love Him, and to be like Him. The verses 15 and 16 seem to form a strange conclusion of this section. The NIV says: "All of us who are mature should take such a view of things." The KJV translates it more literally with: "Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded." We find the same kind of contrast where Paul want to take hold of Christ because Christ has taken hold of him. It is on the basis of our being perfect in Christ that we pursue perfection. This is not contradictory. Two commentaries I read refer to Bishop Lightfoot who thought that Paul used the word "perfect" in an ironic sense, but the Tyndale Commentary sees the connection between Paul's admonition here and the following verses. The Greek word used is teleioi, which means maturity or ripeness, as in I Cor. 2:6. All this proves is that loving God is a growing process. This love is planted in us as a seed when we are converted. The seed will grow as we open ourselves up more and more to the love of Christ. But even maturity is not static: it is a stage. We do not stop growing when we are mature, but as spiritual adults we increase the speed of our pursuit of the prize.

Most of us would hesitate to say what Paul says in vs. 17 and offer ourselves as an example. We read: "Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you." We might consider such utterances to be a lack of humility. How about putting it this way: If we cannot say to people who hear our preaching that they should follow our example, what do we say? The opposite would be, "listen to me but don't do as I do!" What it amounts to is that Paul practiced what he preached.

The KJV uses the word "walk" instead of "live." There is an interesting contrast between the pressing on of vs. 14 and the walk of this verse. Of course, we shouldn't put literal interpretations to the images used. The paradox is solved if we put the ultimate goal of life next to the daily life. There difference is not in the speed but in the vision and the practical working out of that vision. People who "press toward the goal," "walk with God." This kind of walking indicates both the style and the content of life.

Paul puts this walk of life he propagates in contrast with the "enemies of the cross of Christ." He does not elaborate here on who those people are. Commentators do not agree concerning whether he speaks about Judaists, or Christians from among the Gentiles, who use their liberty in Christ as an excuse to live a life of debauchery. The mention of "their stomach" in vs. 19 does not fit in Paul preaching against circumcision. In the lives of the Jews who were so meticulous in their observance of the law, there was no place for sexual immorality. It is clear, however, from I Cor. 6:12-20 and Gal. 5:13-26 that sexual immorality was a serious problem among Gentile converts. Also, Paul's tears would be more fitting for the latter.

It is amazing how clever we can be in disguising ourselves. Even after we have accepted the Lord Jesus as our Redeemer, it is possible that our deceitful heart deceives us. Unless we open ourselves up for the searching eye of the Holy Spirit and pray, as David did in Psalm 139:23,24: "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting," we are in danger of being pulled away from the cross of Christ. It is so easy to lose sight of reality. To set our mind on earthly things means to be enchanted by an illusion.

When Paul tells the Philippians: "Our citizenship is in Heaven," in vs. 20, he must have touched a familiar chord. As we saw before, most of them were Romans, who had settled in the city as colonists. They were far from the place were they were born and grew up. Similarly, Christians are strangers on earth. Peter confirms this in I Pet. 2:11 where he says: "Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul." We have to be careful not to adapt to the custom of the country in which we live; we should not neglect or give up our heavenly culture and civilization. It is very difficult with the pressure under which we live to remain unsoiled. It is only possible to remain clean when "we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ."

The expectation of Christ's return has lost its cutting edge in our days. Maybe this has been the case throughout the ages. In the first century of Christianity the expectation had lost its sharpness already, as is clear from Peter's admonition. "They will say, 'Where is this ''coming'' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation'" (II Pet. 3:4). I admit that in my own life I am more occupied with my own death than with the return of Jesus. I wonder if Paul sometimes had the same problem. In ch. 1:23 he says: "I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far." But the expectation of Christ's return is more than just the end of our lives on earth; it includes the resurrection of our bodies and the perfection of our glory. Christ's return will take us home to the country we belong to. When we get there a reception will await us of which the return of hostages and POWs only gives a vague foretaste.

Paul calls our bodies "lowly"; (KJV "vile"). A literal translation would be "the body of our humiliation." The body God created for us is honorable and good. Sin has humiliated us and put us to shame. Sin, sickness and death have worked together to make us lowly. In the expiation of our sin lies the seed of exoneration, healing and victory over death. At Christ's return our lowly bodies will be transformed "so that they will be like his glorious body."

The stress in these verses is not so much upon the body as upon the condition in which we live, of which the body gives expression. Transition of sin into redemption means passing from death to life, from humiliation to glory. The power of God's omnipotence is needed to bring this about. We don't have in ourselves what it takes. The transition is made available for us in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. There the energy which was needed for this glorification was released; therefore, we can say that the kingdom of Heaven is greatest power in the universe.

The Roman Empire did not lack manifestations of power. The "Pax Romana" was enforced with an iron hand. It was a power unto death. It was important for Christians in this Roman colony to realize that they had submitted themselves to Him who had all power in Heaven and on earth. This omnipotence was not unto death but unto life. Ultimately everything will be subjected to this life. Death will have no say whatsoever.

When Paul starts chapter 4 by saying "therefore" he means: "on the basis of this hope, of this power, of this victory, don't allow yourselves to be confused." Before he uses the word "agree with each other," (which is the same word as the one used in 2:2 - phronein "Think the same thing," "be of the same mind") he gives expression to his deep love for the Philippians. He longs for them in the solitude of his imprisonment and he calls them "my joy and crown."

The Wycliffe BibleCommentary distinguishes in this verse "six terms of endearment." It is not hard to recognize them. "Therefore, my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends!"

Paul considers the church in Philippi to be the proof of the genuineness of his ministry. This does not mean that the church is the result of his hard and arduous labor. God Himself built this church. Paul had only been obedient to a vision; he only sang when the darkness closed in upon him. We can hardly say that the earthquake and the conversion of the jailer were the results of his campaign with the Gospel. The important thing we learn from this is that what we do is not the important part, but whether we are obedient and available. That is how we obtain our crown and wreath of glory. See also I Thess. 2:19,20: "For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy."

Therefore, the standing firm in the Lord consists in the holding on to our heavenly nationality and to a behavior that is in accordance with that. The first characteristic of this behavior is the being of one mind. In saying this, Paul gives the first personal admonition in this letter.

We don't know who Euodia and Syntyche were. The same goes for Clement and the "loyal yokefellow." The Greek word here is Syzugos, which when translated is "yokefellow." According to the Wycliffe Bible Commentary, this word is best left untranslated and considered as a proper name. That names may have a meaning and that Paul is able to make plays of words on names is evident from the Epistle to Philemon, where we meet with "Onesimus," the "Useful One." It seems more logical that Paul is speaking to a certain Syzugos, otherwise we have to suppose that the letter is addressed to an anonymous person and that is in conflict with ch. 1:1.

Furthermore, Paul talks about another group of his "fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life." Wycliffe suggests that this could mean that those people had given their lives in the service of the Gospel. But there seems to be no Biblical grounds for such an interpretation. Jesus uses the same expression in Luke 10:20 when He says: "However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in Heaven." There He speaks to people who were still on earth. Obviously, Paul is saying that the salvation of those people is assured. The fact that Paul says such things about his fellow laborers means that the fruit of their salvation is visible in their lives.

The question arises: "What is being 'of the same mind?'" Euodia and Syntyche belong to those whose names are in the book of life, but they cannot work together. It is obvious that God created each one of us with our specific individual characteristics. No two persons think or speak in the same manner. The confusion of Babel has made our differences into contrasts which are sharpened and manipulated by the devil. Our regeneration has, of course, brought about a structural change in our condition, but the differences between one individual and another have not disappeared. Our "old man" is not dead. Communism has tried to make people all say the same thing for fear of death, but this has not brought about inner unity. It is clear that Paul is not interested in a mere outward appearance of unity. The central point, the pivot of genuine unity is the cross of Christ. According to Eph. 2:15,16, the cross of Christ is the basis of unity among nations. We read: "His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, And in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility." The cross made the two one and put to death hostility. This is not only valid for the relationship between Jews and Gentiles, but also between individuals. A lack of unity is the struggle between one "old man" and another. Paul does not intend that the two sister would abandon their individuality, but that they would realize that they are both members of the body of Christ and that, therefore, they cannot afford to work independently of one another.

In Phil. 2:2,3 the apostle gives a definition of being like-minded: "having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves." Sometimes our brothers and sisters in Christ need help to obtain this vision. That is the reason that Paul appeals to Syzugos to bring the sisters together.

This ends the sixth part of this epistle.