PURITY AND PEACE IN THE PRESENT LORD
PHILIPPIANS iv. 1-9
Euodia and Syntyche--Conditions to unanimity--Great uses of small
occasions--Connexion to the paragraphs--The fortress and the
sentinel--A golden chain of truths--Joy in the
Lord--Yieldingness--Prayer in everything--Activities of a heart at rest
Ver. 1. +So, my brethren beloved and longed for+, _missed_ indeed, at
this long distance from you, +my joy and crown+ of victory
(_stephanos_), +thus+, as having such certainties and such aims, with
such a Saviour, and looking for such a heaven, +stand firm in the Lord,
beloved ones+.
The words are a link of gold between the passage just ended and that
which is to follow. They sum up the third chapter of the Epistle into
one practical issue. In view of all that can tempt them away to alien
thoughts and beliefs St Paul once more points the converts to Jesus
Christ; or rather, he once more bids them remember that in Him they
are, and that their safety, their life, is to stay there, recollected
and resolved. There is the point of overwhelming advantage against
error, and against sin; and only there. "Standing in the Lord," in
remembrance and _in use_ of their vital union with Him, they would be
armed alike against the pharisaic and the antinomian heresy.
Counterfeits and perversions would be seen, or at least _felt_, to be
such while they were thus in living and working contact with the
REALITY. There, with a holy instinct, they would repudiate utterly a
merit of their own before God, and a strength of their own against sin.
There, with equal inward certainty, they would detect and reject the
suggestion that they "should not surely die," though impurity was
cloaked and loved.
But the words we have just rendered look forward also. St Paul is
about to allude, for the last time, and quite explicitly, to that blot
on the fair Philippian fame, the presence in the little mission Church
of certain jealousies and divisions. One instance of this evil is
prominent in his thoughts, no doubt on Epaphroditus' report. Two
Christian women, Euodia[1] and Syntyche, evidently well-known Church
members, possibly officials, "deaconesses," like Phoebe (Rom. xvi. 1),
were at personal variance. Into their life and work for Christ (for
workers they were, or however had been; they had "wrestled along with
Paul in the Gospel,") had come this grievous inconsistency. Somehow
(modern experiences in religious activity supply illustrations only too
easily) they had let the spirit of self come in; jealousy and a sense
of grievance lay between them. And out of this unhappy state it was
the Apostle's deep desire to bring them, quickly and completely. He
appeals to them personally about it, with a directness and explicitness
which remind us how homelike still were the conditions of the mission
Church. He calls on his "true yoke-fellow," and on Clement, and on his
other "fellow-labourers," to "help" the two to a better mind, by all
the arts of Christian friendship. But surely first, in this verse, he
leads not only the Philippians generally but Euodia and Syntyche in
particular up to a level where the self-will and self-assertion must,
of themselves, expire. "Stand firm in the Lord." In recollection and
faith surround yourselves with Jesus Christ. The more you do so the
more you will find that so to be in Him is to "be of one mind in Him."
In that PRESENCE self is put to shame indeed. Pique, and petty
jealousies, and miserable heart-burnings, and "just pride," die of
inanition there, and heart meets heart in love, because in Christ.
It is not guaranteed to us, I think, that we shall certainly be brought
here on earth to perfect intellectual agreement by a realized union
with Christ all round. Such agreement will certainly be promoted by
such a realization; we all know how powerfully, in almost all matters
outside number and figure, feeling can influence reasoning; and to have
feeling rightly adjusted, "in Him that is true," must be a great aid to
just reasoning, and so a great contribution to mental agreement.
Thomas Scott, in his _Force of Truth_, (a memorable record of
experience,) maintains that vastly more doctrinal concord would be
attained in Christendom if all true Christians unreservedly and with a
perfect will sought for "God's heart" (and mind) "in God's words."[2]
But it is a law of our present state, even in Christ, that "we know in
part"; and while this is so, certain discrepancies of inference would
seem to be necessary, where many minds work each with its partial
knowledge. It is otherwise with "_the spirit_ of our mind," the
attitude of will and affection in which we think. In the Lord Jesus
Christ _this_ is meant to be, and can be, rectified indeed, as "every
thought is brought into captivity" to Him. If so, to "stand firm in
Him" is the way of escape out of all such miseries of dissension
(whether between two friends, or two Churches, or two enterprises) as
are due not to reasoning but to feeling. "In Him" there is _really_ no
room for envy, and retaliation, and "the unhappy desire of becoming
great," and the eager combat for our own opinion _as such_. "Standing
firm in Him" the Euodias and Syntyches of all times and places _must
tend_ to be of one mind, one attitude of mind (_phronein_). So far as
they are, in a sinful sense, not so "minded," it is because they are
half out of Him.
But now St Paul comes to them, name by name. What must the tender
weight of the words have been as they were first read aloud at Philippi!
Ver. 2. +To Euodia I appeal+ (_parakalo_),[3] +and to Syntyche I
appeal, to be of the same mind, in the Lord+; to lay aside differences
of feeling, born of self, in the power of their common union in
Christ.[5] +Aye+ (read
Ver. 3. _nai_, not _kai_), +and I beg thee also+, thee in _thy_ place,
as I seek to do in mine, +thou genuine yoke-fellow,[5] help them+
(_autais_)--these sisters of ours thus at variance, +women who+
(_aitines_) +wrestled along with me+, as devoted and courageous
workers, +in the+ cause of the +Gospel+, when the first conflicts with
the powers of evil were fought at Philippi; yes, do this loving
service, +with Clement[6] too, and my other fellow-workers, whose names
are in the Book of Life+; the Lord's own, "written in heaven," His for
ever.[7]
Wonderful is the great use of small occasions everywhere in Scripture.
Minor incidents in a biography are texts for sentences which afford
oracles of truth and hope for ever. Local and transitory errors, like
that of the Thessalonians about their departed friends, give
opportunity for a prophecy on which bereaved hearts are to rest and
rejoice till the last trumpet sounds. The unhappy disagreement of two
pious women at Philippi is dealt with in words which lead up to the
thought of the eternal love of God for His chosen; as if the very
unworthiness of the matter in hand, by a sort of repulsion, drove the
inspired thought to the utmost height, without for one moment diverting
it from its purpose of peace and blessing. And now, in the passage
which is to follow, the thought still keeps its high and holy level.
It says no more indeed of the Book of Life. But it unfolds in one
sentence after another the manifestation here below of the eternal life
in all its holy loveliness. It invites Euodia, and Syntyche, and us
with them, to the sight of what the believer is called to be, and may
be, day by day, as he rejoices in the Lord, and recollects His
presence, and tells Him everything as it comes, and so lives "in rest
and quietness," deep in His peace; and finds his happy thoughts
occupied not with the miseries of self-esteem and self-assertion, but
with all that is pure and good, in the smile of the God of peace.
The passage now to be translated has surely this among its other
precious attractions and benefits, that it stands related to what has
gone just before. The precepts and promises are not given as it were
in the air; they are occasioned by Euodia and Syntyche, or rather by
what they have suggested to St Paul's mind, the crime and distress of
an unchristian spirit in Christians. It is with this he is dealing.
And he deals with it not by an elaborate exposure of its obvious wrong,
but by carrying it into the sanctuary of holiness and peace, there to
die.
With this recollection let us read the words now before us.
Ver. 4. +Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say+ (_ero_),
+Rejoice+; I have said it above, as my antidote-word to every subtle
error; I come back (_palin_) to say it again, as my antidote to
self-will. Your
Ver. 5. +yieldingness+, your selflessness, the spirit which will yield
in _anything_ that is only of self, for Christ's sake, +let it be known
to all men+, let it be proved a reality in real life, by all and sundry
who have to do with you; +the Lord is near+, always beside you, to
Ver. 6. know, to love, to elevate, to calm.[8] +About nothing be
anxious+ (_merimnate_); _never_ let yourselves be burthened and
distracted _as those who are alone from your Lord_; +but in
everything+, however great, however little, +by your+ (_te_) +prayer+,
your whole worshipping approach to Him, +and your+ (_te_)
+supplication+, your definite petitions of Him, +with thanksgiving+,
thanks at least for this, that you have Him to speak to and to trust,
+let your requests be made known towards our God+ (_pros ton Theon_),
with perfect simplicity of detail, putting aside all the mysteries of
prayer in the
Ver. 7. recollection that He bids you pray. +And+, and thus, not
anyhow, but thus, in adoring, trusting communion with Him, +the peace
of God+, the innermost tranquillity caused by contact with Him,
breathed by His Spirit into ours, the peace +which transcends all
mind+, for no reasoning can explain and define its nature and its
consciousness, +shall+ (it is nothing less than a promise) +safeguard+,
as garrison, as sentinel (_phrouresei_), +your hearts+, in all their
depths of will, affection, and reflexion, +and your thoughts+, the very
workings of those hearts in detail, +in Christ Jesus+. In Him you are,
as your Fortress of rest and holiness; and, while there you rest, this
sacred keeper watches the door; the peace of God is sentinel.
Such was to be the condition for the true play of the inner life; such,
not in a dream but at Philippi, were to be their "hearts and thoughts,
in Christ Jesus"; thus happy, gentle, unanxious, prayerful, thankful,
all the day. And now, what is to be the matter for such conditions,
the food for such thinking and such willing? There is to be no vacuum,
called peace. These "hearts and thoughts" are to be active,
discursive, reflective; "reckoning," "calculating," "reasoning out"
(_logixesthai_) innumerable things--all with a view, of course, to the
life-long work of serving God and man.
Ver. 8. For, +finally, brethren, all things that are true, all things
that are honourable+, serious, sacred, venerable, self-respectful, +all
things that are righteous+, as between man and man in common life, +all
things that are pure+, clean words, clean deeds, +all things that are
amiable+, gracious, kindly; for manner as well as matter falls under
the will of God; +all things that are sweet to speak of+, things
prompting a loving and noble tone of conversation; +whatever virtue
there is+, truly so called, not in the pagan sense of self-grounded
vigour, even in right directions, but in that of the energy for right
which is found in God; +and whatever praise there is+, given rightly by
the human conscience to deeds and purposes of good; +these things think
out+, reckon, reason on (_logixesthe_). Let _right_ in all its
practical, all its noble forms, be the subject-matter of your
considering and designing activities within. Strong, not in yourselves
but in your Lord's presence and His peace, use His strength in you to
work out every precept of His Word, every whisper of His Spirit, every
dictate of the conscience He has given.
Then follows one word of a more personal kind; it is no egotism, but as
if he would remind them amidst these great generalities of principle
that they well knew a human life which strove to realize them in
practice.
Ver. 9. +The things you learnt+ of me, +and received+ as revealed
truth from me, and +heard and saw in me, these things practise+
(_prassette_), make them the habits of your lives; and so +the God of
peace+, Author and Giver of peace within, and of harmony around, +shall
be with you+; your Companion and Guardian, "Lord of the Sabbath" of the
soul, secret of the true unity of the group, and of the Church.
Thus we read over again this golden chain of "commandments which are
not grievous" and "exceeding precious promises." Few passages of equal
length, even in St Paul's Epistles, at once invite more attention to
details of language and convey richer spiritual messages. Very
passingly and partially I have noted the more important details of word
and phrase, in the course of the translation. It remains to say not
what I would but what I can, in brief compass, upon the messages to the
Christian's soul.
Let us be quite practical, and let our study take the simplest form.
In this wonderful paragraph let us not only wonder; let us take its
sentences as revelations of fact. Here the Holy Spirit through the
Apostle sets before us some of the intended facts of the normal
Christian life. These precepts were not meant to dissolve into bright
dreams; they were to be obeyed in Philippi then, and in England now;
they were spoken for not ideal but actual human beings, the rank and
file of the followers of the Lord. These promises were not meant to be
met with an aspiration, followed by a sigh. They were to be received
and used, as certainties of the grace of God, "before the sons of men."
Come then to the paragraph once again, to study it with real life in
immediate view, and in the full consciousness of our own sin and
weakness. Here are some of the normal "possibilities of grace," not
for the strong and holy but for the very weak, for those who know that
"in their flesh dwelleth no good thing," but who come to Jesus, and (if
only for very fear and need) stay by Him.
Here then is the fact, first, that the Christian life, as such, is to
be, and may be, a life of "joy in the Lord always." Such is "the Lord"
that He is indeed able to be a perpetual cause of joy. The believer
has but to recollect HIM, to consider HIM, to converse with HIM, to
make use of HIM, in order to have in himself (not _of_ himself) "a well
of water, springing up unto eternal life." "In joy and sorrow, life
and death, His love is still the same"; for HE is still the same; and
the believing man is His.
He will henceforth covet, and cultivate, this life of holy "joy in the
Lord always." It is not a boisterous mirth; it is pure and chastened;
but it _is joy_. It is an unfigurative happiness, a deep practical
cheerfulness, full of health for him who has it, and a most powerful
secret for influence over those who have to do with him. Think of the
track of light left behind by lives of holy joy which we have watched!
It was good to be near them. The very things and places round them
were warmed and beautified by them. And their source and strength lay,
not in the believer, but in "the Lord"; therefore the way is open for
us too; we may be bearers of such sunshine too, happy and making happy.
"By influence of the light divine
Let thy own light to others shine;
Reflect all heaven's propitious rays
In ardent love and cheerful praise." [9]
Again, here is the fact that the normal Christian life is, as such, a
life of "moderation known unto all men," in the controlling calm of the
nearness of the Lord. The meaning of this "moderation" (_to epieikes_)
we have seen; it is that blessed facility, that unselfish yieldingness,
which is not weakness at all but the outcome of the meekness of a heart
which Christ has overcome. It is the instinctive spirit, where He is
in full command of thought and will, when personal "grievances" cross
us, when our personal claims are slighted, our feelings disregarded,
and even our legitimate rights overridden. Of course more
considerations than one have to be taken as to our action when our
rights are overridden. We have to ask whether our yielding will be
helpful or hurtful _to others_; we have even to ask whether to yield
may not do harm to the invader. But these questions, if honestly
asked, stand clear of the spirit of self; they regard others. And
wherever they can be so answered as to leave us free to yield in view
of others, we, if Christians indeed, living really our Christian life,
shall find it quite possible, in the Lord Jesus, to let our
"yieldingness be known unto all men," in the deep calm of "the Lord at
hand." Yes, this can be so, in the most complicated life, and with the
most irritable character, if we will fully "receive the grace of God"
(2 Cor. vi. 1). And the "all men" who "know" it will note it, and will
recognize, sooner or later, the Master in the servant.
Yet again, the normal Christian life is given here as a life free from
care, from that miserable anxiety, _merimna_, which blights and withers
human happiness far and wide, whether it comes in the form of a weight
of large responsibilities or of the most trifling misgivings. "Be
careful for nothing"; "care-ful" in the antique sense of the word;
"burthened with care." In the modern sense of careful, no one should
be more careful than we; "faithful in the least," "shewing all good
fidelity in all things," "walking circumspectly," accurately, _akribos_
(Eph. v. 15), "pleasing the neighbour for his good unto edification,"
"whether we eat or drink, doing all to the glory of God," "watching and
praying always." But in the other sense we are, we positively are,
enjoined to live "without carefulness"; to take pains, but in peace; to
work and serve, but at rest within; to "provide," to think beforehand
(_pronoeisthai_, Rom. xii. 17), but in the repose of soul given by the
fact that with the morrow will come the Lord, or rather that He will
walk with us and lead us into it. It is a great triumph to live such a
life; but it is His triumph, not ours. Let us leave Him free (may the
word be used in reverence?) to win it; to "do this mighty work," to
"bear our burthen daily" (so we may render Ps. lxxviii. 19). Nothing
will much more glorify Him in eyes that notice our daily walk than to
see us always taking care, yet always unanxious while we take it.
"In the calm of sweet communion
Let thy daily work be done;
In the peace of soul-outpouring
Care be banish'd, patience won." [10]
The sweet hymn leads us straight to the next point. The normal
Christian life, according to this paragraph, is a life of perpetual,
habitual, converse with God, converse about everything. And such
converse has everything to do with the unanxious life. The man who
would be unanxious is to cultivate the practice of reverent,
worshipping (_proseuche_), thankful, _detailed prayer_; so shall he
enter into peace. Here is a large subject; it is inexhaustible; from
every aspect prayer is wonderful; and there are many kinds and types of
prayer, as regards the act and exercise of it. But the all-important
thing to remember here is that we are called _to pray_ as the great
means to a divine unanxious peace; and that we are called to pray in
the sense of "making our requests known _in everything_." Shall we, in
the grace of God, set ourselves to do it? Shall we remember the
presence of the Hearer, and "practise the Presence"? Shall we act upon
it? More, and more, and always more, shall we really "_in everything_"
turn to Him, and tell Him? Thought is good, but prayer is better; or
rather, thought in the form of prayer is, in ten thousand cases, the
best thought. Let us make it a rule, God helping, "in everything"
which calls for pause, for consideration, for judgment, to pray first
and then to think. Innumerable futile thoughts will thus be saved,
thoughts made fruitless by a hurry of spirit, or a heat, or a hardness,
which puts all our view out of order. We shall indeed need to take
pains. For while nothing is simpler in idea than the act of speaking
to the unseen Friend, nothing is more easy, alas, to let slip in
practice. But the pains will be infinitely worth the while; it will be
all applied at the right point. Wonderful result, guaranteed here by
the Hearer of prayer; His "peace shall safeguard our hearts and our
thoughts, in Christ Jesus," in the living Sanctuary of security and
strength. There all our powers shall be active, yet at rest; dealing
with a thousand things, yet always conditioned by Him who is "the One
Thing Needful." Unity will lie at the heart of multiplicity; Christ
will rule life from the centre.
Lastly, the normal Christian life, thus conditioned, is a life whose
mental energies (_logixesthe_) are fully at work, always gravitating
towards purposes and actions true, pure, gracious, virtuous,
commendable; "sowing the fruit of righteousness in peace," at the side
of "the God of peace." True, the man may have many things to think of
which are either perfectly secular in themselves (he may be a servant,
he may be a man of business, he may be a physician, he may be a
minister of state); or which are evil in themselves (he may be an
investigator, or a judge, of crime). Nevertheless, this will not
deflect the true current of the mind. These "thinkings" will all find
place and direction in the "thought" which remembers that the thinker
is the Lord's, and that in his _whole_ life he is to be true to the
Lord's glory and the good of man. "The God of peace will be with him"
wherever he goes, whatever he does; deep below the surface, but so as
to control the whole surface all the while.
Such is the Christian life, where the Christian "stands firm in the
Lord." It was thus at Philippi. In the early generations of the
Church (let the _Apology of Aristides_ alone be adequate witness) it
was thus, to a degree and to an extent most memorable, in at least very
many Christian circles. It is thus still, in many an individual life.
But is it in any sense whatever thus in the rule and average or even
earnest Christian lives? Is it thus in ours?
"Henceforth, let us _live_--not unto ourselves, but unto Him who died
for us, and rose again." To Him, in Him, by Him, we are bound to live
so (Rom. viii. 12, _opheileta_), we are able to live so. Let us
"present ourselves to God" (Rom. vi. 13), watching and praying, and it
shall be.
"Two arms I find to hold Thee fast,
Submission meek and reverent faith;
Held by Thy hand that hold shall last
Through life and over death.
"Not me the dark foe fears at all,
But hid in Thee I take the field;
Now at my feet the mighty fall,
For Thou hast bid them yield." [11]
[1] So certainly read, not _Euodias_, which would be a man's name, a
contraction of Euodianus. Euodias as a fact is not found in
inscriptions. Euodia on the other hand is a known feminine name; and
the words just following ("help these women") make it practically
certain that the two persons just named were both female converts.
(_Euodian_ of course may be the accusative of either _Euodias_ or
_Euodia_.)
[2] _Cor Dei in verbis Dei_; Gregory the Great's noble description of
the Bible, in a letter to the courtier Theodoras, begging him to study
daily "the Letter of the heavenly Emperor."
[3] "I exhort," R.V. A slightly tenderer word seems better to
represent _parakalein_ in this personal connexion. "I beseech" (A.V.)
is _perhaps_ rather too tender.
[4] "As a curiosity of interpretation, Ellicott (see also Lightfoot, p.
170) mentions the conjecture of Schwegler, that Euodia and Syntyche are
really designations of _Church-parties_ [the imagined Petrine and
Pauline parties], the names being devised and significant
[Euodia='_Good-way_,' Orthodoxy; Syntyche='_Combination_,' of Gentiles
and Jews on equal terms]. This theory of course regards our Epistle as
a fabrication of a later generation, intended as an _eirenicon_. 'What
will not men affirm?'" (Note on ver. 2 in _The Cambridge Bible for
Schools_).
[5] We know nothing for certain of this person. Lightfoot suggests
that it was Epaphroditus, whom St Paul would thus commission not only
orally but in writing, as a sort of credential. One curious and most
improbable conjecture is that it was _St Paul's wife_. Renan (_Saint
Paul_, p. 148) renders here _ma chere epouse_.
[6] Perhaps the bishop of Rome of a later day. So Origen and Eusebius.
But we cannot be certain of the identity.
[7] "Cp. Rev. iii. 5, xiii. 8, xvii. 8, xx. 12, 15, xxi. 27; and Luke
x. 20. And see Exod. xxxii. 32, 33; Ps. lxix. 28, lxxxvii. 6; Isa. iv.
3; Ezek. xiii. 9; Dan. xii. 1. The result of the comparison of these
passages with this seems to be that St Paul here refers to the Lord's
'knowledge of them that are His' (2 Tim. ii. 19: cp. John x. 27, 28),
for time and eternity. All the passages in the Revelation, save iii.
5, are clearly in favour of a reference of the phrase to the certainty
of the ultimate salvation of all true saints . . . so too Dan. xii. 1
and Luke x. 20. Rev. iii. 5 appears to point in another direction (see
Trench on that passage). But in view of the other mentions of the
'Book' in the Revelation the language of iii. 5 may well be only a
vivid assertion that the name in question _shall be found_ in an
indelible register. . . . Practically, the Apostle here speaks of
Clement and the rest as having given illustrious proof of their part
and lot in that 'life eternal' which is 'to know the only true God, and
Jesus Christ whom He hath sent' (John xvii. 3).--The word '_names_'
powerfully suggests the individuality and speciality of divine love."
(Note in _The Cambridge Bible for Schools_.)
[8] I think the Apostle has in mind Ps. cxix. 151, where the Septuagint
version has _su eggus ei, Kurie_. He is thinking of "the secret _of
the Presence_" (Ps. xxxi. 20). We need not shut out the calming
thought of the Lord's approaching _Return_; but it does not seem to be
the leading thought here.
[9] Bishop Ken.
[10] G. M. Taylor, in _Hymns of Consecration_, 349.
[11] _In the House of the Pilgrimage_.
_THE COLLECTION FOR ST PAUL: THE FAREWELL_
"Is thy cruse of comfort wasting? rise and share it with another,
And through all the years of famine it shall serve thee
and thy brother.
"Is thy burthen hard and heavy? do thy steps drag wearily?
Help to bear thy brother's burthen; God will bear both it and thee.
"Is the heart a living power? self-entwin'd, its strength sinks low;
It can only live in loving, and by serving love will grow."
E. RUNDLE CHARLES.