+I. The apostle pleaded for a consistent Christian Church.+--1. _The
Christian life must be characterised by truthfulness._ 2. _By love._
3. _By purity._
+II. The apostle pleaded for a united Christian Church.+--1. _This
union was necessary to resist their common adversaries._ 2. _To
develop their Christian graces._ 3. _To establish the true faith._
+III. The apostle pleaded for a zealous Christian Church.+--1. _This
zeal demanded for a noble object._ "The faith of the gospel." 2. _To
be exercised in a commendable manner._ "Striving together."--_J. T.
Woodhouse._
_Evangelical Consistency._
+I. What that conduct is which becomes the Gospel.+--1. _It must be
the genuine result of Gospel dispositions._ 2. _It must be maintained
under the influence of Gospel principles and in the use of Gospel
ordinances._ 3. _It must resemble Gospel patterns._ 4. _It must be
conformable to Gospel precepts._
+II. What obligations are we under to maintain this
conduct.+--1. _God requires us to conduct ourselves according to the
Gospel._ 2. _Consistency requires it._ 3. _Our personal comfort
requires it._ 4. _Our connection with society requires it._ 5. _Our
final salvation requires it._
+Lessons.+--1. _How excellent is the Christian religion._ 2. _How
illiberal and unreasonable is the conduct of those who censure
Christianity on account of the unworthy actions of its inconsistent
professors.--R. Treffry._
_The Effects of the Gospel upon those who receive it._
+I. Illustrate the exhortation of the apostle.+--1. _The Gospel of
Christ is a system which assumes and proceeds upon the invaluable
value of the soul._ 2. _Which assumes and depicts the danger and
guilt of the soul, and provides a plan for its immediate restoration
to the Divine favour._ 3. _Is a system of peculiar and authoritative
truth._ 4. _Is a system of godliness._ 5. _Of morals._ 6. _Of
universal charity._
+II. The sources of the apostle's anxiety.+--1. _He desired the
Philippians thus to act from a regard of the honour of the Gospel and
its Author._ 2. _Out of a regard for the Philippians themselves._
3. _From a regard to the Gentiles._ 4. _From a regard to himself, his
own peace and his own joy.--T. Binney._
Vers. 28, 29. _Conflict and Suffering._--1. Faith in Christ must go
before suffering for Christ, so that to suffer for Him is of greater
importance, and in some respects more honourable, than simply to
believe in Him. 2. Then are sufferings truly Christian and an
evidence of salvation, when as the sufferer is first a believer, so
his sufferings are for Christ's sake--for His truth. 3. Christian
courage under suffering will not be kept up without conflict. 4. In
suffering for truth nothing befalls us but what is common to
men.--_Fergusson._
* * * * * * * *
+CHAPTER II.+
_CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES._
Ver. 1. +Consolation in Christ.+--_Exhortation_ would be better,
inasmuch as consolation anticipates the comfort of the next phrase.
+Comfort of love.+--Encouragement which love gives. +Fellowship of
the Spirit.+--"Participation in the Spirit." _Meyer's_ remark is,
"This is to be explained of the Holy Spirit." _Beet_ intimates a
widening of the idea--"brotherliness prompted by the Holy Spirit."
+Bowels and mercies.+--On the former term see ch. i. 8. The word for
mercies denotes the yearning of the heart, though, it may be, there
is no ability to help.
Ver. 2. +Fulfil ye my joy.+--"Fill up" my cup of joy. See ch. i. 4.
+Likeminded.+--"General harmony, . . . identity of sentiment"
(_Meyer_). On this verse, with its accumulations, Chrysostom
exclaims, "Bless me! how often he says the same thing!"
Ver. 3. +Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory.+--The verb
is suppressed in the Greek, a construction more natural and more
forcible than to connect the nothing with the preceding clause.
"Partisanship and pomposity." For the ruin of how many Churches are
this pair responsible! +In lowliness of mind.+--A rare flower,
scattering its fragrance unseen. "It was one great result of the life
of Christ (on which St. Paul dwells here) to raise humility to its
proper level; and, if not fresh coined for this purpose, the word
(for 'lowliness of mind') now first became current through the
influence of Christian ethics" (_Lightfoot_).
Ver. 5. +Let this mind be in you.+--The apostle's word reminds us
that he had already counselled his readers to be likeminded amongst
themselves. "Each to each, and all to Christ," this verse seems to
say. What follows--to ver. 11--is the very marrow of the Gospel.
Ver. 6. +Who, being in the form of God.+--R.V. margin, "being
originally." Form here implies not the external accidents, but the
essential attributes. Similar to this, but not so decisive, are the
expressions used elsewhere of the Divinity of the Son (2 Cor. iv. 4;
Col. i. 15; Heb. i. 3). Similar is the term "The Word." +Thought it
not robbery.+--"Did not deem His being on an equality with God a
thing to be seized on--and retained as a prize" (_Ellicott_). "Yet
did not regard it as a prize, a treasure to be clutched and retained
at all hazards" (_Lightfoot_). This interpretation of the two eminent
bishops is accepted by the R.V., the _Speaker's Commentary,_ and is
the common and indeed almost universal interpretation of the Greek
Fathers (_Lightfoot,_ flatly contradicted by _Beet_). _Meyer_
(followed by _Beet_), _Cremer_ and _Hofmann_ contend for the active
meaning--"robbing." +To be equal with God.+--The Jews considered
Christ's peculiar claim of Sonship as a "making Himself equal with
God" (John v. 18).
Ver. 7. +But made Himself of no reputation.+--R.V. "emptied Himself."
The emphasis is upon _Himself._ In contrast to the idea lying in
"robbery"--that of emptying the treasures of some one else--it was
Himself whom He made bare. +And took upon Him the form of a
servant.+--By taking the form of a slave. Note the antitheses in
these verses (6, 7), "being in the form of God," "took the form of a
servant," "equality with God," "emptied Himself." +And was made in
the likeness of men.+--Lit. "becoming in similitude of men." The word
"likeness" (A.V. margin, "habit") differs from "form" and "fashion."
There is, of course, no support for the Docetic teaching that Christ
was only seemingly a man.
Ver. 8. +In fashion.+--The entire outwardly perceptible mode and
form. Men saw in Christ a human form, bearing, language, action, mode
of life, wants and their satisfaction, in general, the state and
relations of a human being so that He was recognised "as a man"
(_Meyer_). "Form" in (vers. 6, 7) is that which is intrinsic and
essential. "Fashion" is that which is outward and accidental. +Became
obedient unto death.+--Does not mean that He humbled Himself so as to
become a cringing slave to the King of Terrors; but that His
obedience to God went to the uttermost limit--as far as death--even
the death of the cross. That is, the death of the accursed, the death
reserved for malefactors. Jewish hatred still speaks of Christ as,
"The man who was hung."
Ver. 9. +Highly exalted.+--A word much stronger than those, _e.g.,_
in the Acts, which describe the raising up of the murdered Lord of
life. We trace the descent step by step to the last rung of the
ladder; by one stupendous act (Rom. i. 4) God graced His Son with
unique honour and dignity (Eph. i. 21).
Ver. 10. +That at the name of Jesus.+--Not at the mention of the name
Jesus, but _in_ the name of Jesus. For illustration of the phrase see
Christ's own words, "in My name" (John xiv. 13, 14, etc.). +Every
knee should bow.+--The outward symbol of an inward submission or
recognition of superiority. By what language could the apostle
express the exaltation above creaturely needs if not by this? If used
of a creature, it would be blasphemous. The jealous God does not
allow bowing down in worship to any but Himself. As Pliny said,
_Quasi Deo._
Ver. 11. +Should confess.+--"Proclaim with thanksgiving"
(_Lightfoot_). It is the word which describes the frank admission [of
wrong, Matt. iii. 6]. +That Jesus Christ is Lord.+--The emphasis is
on "Lord." The specific Christian profession of faith is "Jesus is
Lord"; its opposite "Anathema Jesus" (1 Cor. xii. 3 and Rom. x. 9).
Ver. 12. +Ye have always obeyed.+--Obedience describes the attitude
of the mind of these Philippians in presence of the commanding truths
of the Gospel; "Obedience" or "obedience of faith" is found several
times in the epistle to the Romans; and in 2 Cor. vii. 15 stands in
close connection with "fear and trembling," as here. +Fear and
trembling.+--Such an apprehensive desire to be right with God as is
figured by bodily tremor.
Ver. 13. +For it is God which worketh in you.+--This sentence removes
all merit from the most punctilious diligence, whilst it as
effectually takes away the paralysing fear of failure to which
"workers together with God" need never give place.
Ver. 14. +Do all things without murmurings.+--Without mutterings, as
men who in cowardice dare not speak plainly what they think. We must
consider the warning as against God on account of what He imposed on
them both to do and to suffer. +And disputings.+--The word goes much
deeper than the restricted meaning of "disputings." It seems here to
mean without first entering upon scrupulous considerings as to
whether you are under any obligation thereto, whether it is not too
difficult, whether prudent, and the like (_Meyer_).
Ver. 15. +That ye may be blameless.+--Sons of God they are already;
they are now to become worthy sons. In the word "blameless" we have
the idea of a character in which no grace is defective (Heb. viii. 7
is a good illustration. If the first covenant had been _faultless,_ a
second would have been superfluous). +And harmless.+--Christ's own
counsel. "Be harmless as doves." Lit. the word means unmixed,
unadulterated, and figuratively, artless. Of sophistries and the deep
things of Satan he would rather they were in happy ignorance (Matt.
x. 16; Rom. xvi. 19). +Without rebuke.+--Vulgate, _"immaculatum."_
The word is originally a sacrificial term. It describes the victim in
which the keen inquisitorial eye of the official inspector has found
no fault. So (1 Pet. i. 19) of the Lamb of God, in the whiteness of
spotless innocency.
Ver. 16. +Holding forth the word of life.+--"If we are to look for
any metaphor it would most naturally be that of offering food or
wine" (_Lightfoot_). Why it should be at all events wholly
unconnected with the preceding image in "lights in the world" one
does not quite see. There is nothing objectionable in the thought of
a star holding forth its beam to the mariner, or the benighted
wayfarer, and it has the advantage of continuity of the metaphor in
the verse previous. +That I may rejoice in the day of Christ.+--As
good news of his convert's fidelity was like a new lease of life to
the worn apostle (1 Thess. iii. 8), so his sweetest hope was to be
able to stand before his Lord with his children by his side. +Have
not run . . . laboured.+--Athletic terms familiar to St. Paul's
readers.
Ver. 17. +If I be offered upon the sacrifice.+--R.V. margin, "poured
out as a drink-offering." Whether the reference is the the cup of
wine poured over the heathen sacrifice or the drink-offering of the
Jewish is doubted, and is of little consequence, since in either case
his meaning would be clear enough. +And service.+--Priestly function
(Luke i. 23).
Ver. 20. +No man likeminded.+--A.V. margin, "so dear unto me,"
evidently because the same word is used in Ps. lv. 13. "Likeminded"
with whom? "With me," says Meyer, that is, "having the same tender
feeling towards you as I have." +Who will naturally care.+--Not of
necessity, nor grudgingly.
Ver. 21. +All seek their own.+--Interpret how we will, this is a
bitter sentence. We are apt to be severe on those who have other
engagements when we feel our need of friends.
Ver. 22. +Ye know the proof.+--The character that shows itself under
strain or testing (Acts xvi. 1 and xvii. 14, xix. 22, xx. 3, 4). +As
a son with the father.+--R.V. "as a child serveth." The older man and
the younger had slaved for the Gospel; as for some dear object of
desire a father and his son may be seen at work together.
Ver. 24. +I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come
shortly.+--The apostle, in personal matters, is on the same footing
with the most obscure Christian. When his friends forsake him he must
bear it with what fortitude he can. When darkness surrounds him he
must wait God's time--no prophecy lifts the veil.
Ver. 25. +Epaphroditus.+--Brother, work-mate, comrade-in-arms,
Church-messenger, and serving-man. What a designation! St. Paul
thinks him worthy of all the honour (ver. 29) that the Church can
give, and he himself immortalises him by this unusual estimate of his
personal character and worth.
Ver. 26. +Was full of heaviness.+--The same word is used of our Lord
when in Gethsemane--"He began to be very heavy." Its etymology is an
open question, Grimm, following Buttmann, says it means "the
uncomfortable feeling of one who is not at home." If this, the almost
universally accepted derivation be the correct one, it is a beautiful
idyll we have presented to us. A convalescent, far from home, as his
strength returns feels the pangs of home-sickness strengthen and
eagerly returns to dispel the misgivings of those made anxious by
tidings of his critical illness.
Ver. 27. +Nigh unto death.+--Or as we say colloquially, "next door to
death." +God had mercy on him.+--St. Paul speaks after the manner of
men, as we could not have dared to say anything else if Epaphroditus
had died. The cry of woe so often heard by Christ was "have mercy."
+Sorrow upon sorrow.+--"He does not parade the apathy of the Stoics,
as though he were iron and far removed from human affections"
(_Calvin_).
"When sorrows come they come not single spies,
But in battalions."
Ver. 28. +The more carefully.+--R.V. "diligently." "With increased
eagerness" (_Lightfoot_). How difficult it must have been for St.
Paul to relinquish the company of so worthy a man we do not realise;
but he who gives up is worthy of the friend he gives up, for neither
of them is consulting his own wishes. "Love seeketh not her own."
What a contrast to sordid Hedonism--old or new! +Ye may rejoice, and
that I may be the less sorrowful.+--A variation on the theme of the
letter--the sum of which is, as Bengel says, "I rejoice; rejoice ye."
What an exquisitely chosen form of expression! "A prior sorrow will
still remain unremoved," says Lightfoot; "but if he cannot go so far
as to say he will rejoice, the alleviation of the loss of such a
friend's society is the fact that they have him again."
Ver. 29. +Hold such in honour.+--Learn to know the value of
such--"grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel."
Ver. 30. +For the work of Christ.+--What noble self-oblivion the
apostle manifests! He thinks more of the cause dear to his heart than
of his own comfort or even life. +Not regarding his life.+--R.V.
"hazarding his life." There is the difference of a single letter in
the long word of the R.V. The word of the R.V. means "having gambled
with his life." Just as to-day a visitor to Rome in the autumn must
run the risk of malarial fever, so Epaphroditus, for the work of
Christ, had faced that, and other dangers as great, probably. The
A.V. would mean "as far as his life was concerned he followed an
ill-advised course of action." +To supply your lack of service toward
me.+--Does not mean that they had been remiss in their attention.
They did not lack the will, but the opportunity.
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 1-4.
_Christian Unity an Occasion of Joy._
+I. Christian unity is a striving after the Spirit of Christ.+--"That
ye be likeminded" (ver. 2).
1. _Manifested in loving consolation to those in distress._--"If
there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love"
(ver. 1). If the pagan expressed unity by those who dwelt in one
village and drank of one fountain, how much more real is the union of
those who drink of the same Spirit and practise the lovingkindness of
the one Christ. A striking evidence of the unity of Christianity is
seen in its sympathy everywhere for the poor, the sick, and the
unfortunate. It is Christ-like to comfort and help the distressed.
2. _Manifested in spiritual fellowship._--"If any fellowship of the
Spirit" (ver. 1). Christians are one by their communion together,
flowing from their joint participation in the same Spirit. The union
of hearts is more real and stable than the external union expressed
by creeds and contracts. The Spirit is the unifying power of
Christendom.
3. _Manifested in compassion for the suffering._--"If any bowels and
mercies" (ver. 1). Christianity is a mission to the suffering. Before
the Christian era there were no hospitals and infirmaries, no care
for the afflicted poor. Unselfish benevolence was almost unknown.
Nothing is more remarkable than the spirit of tender compassion that
Christianity has breathed into social and national life.
+II. Christianity is opposed to a spirit of faction and empty
boasting.+--"Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory" (ver.
3). The message of the Gospel is one of peace and goodwill to all
men. It is foreign to its spirit to exalt the interests of party or
of self; it seeks to promote a universal and all-pervasive charity.
The Germans have a legend connected with the terrific battle of
Chalons between the Visigoths and the Romans against Attila. The
bloody work of the sword was done, the plain was strewn with heaps of
the slain; but for three nights following--so ran the story--the
spirits of the slain hovered over the scene and continued the strife
in the air. The like has been done again and again in the party
strifes and controversies of the Church. Unity is impossible where
contention and vanity have sway.
+III. Christian unity is strengthened by the maintenance of a humble
spirit.+--1. _In comparing oneself with others._ "In lowliness of
mind let each esteem other better than themselves" (ver. 3). The man
who walks humbly with God, realising his complete dependence on Him,
will not unduly exalt himself, and will highly esteem others, as
knowing that they are equally with himself dependent on God for their
abilities. Instead of fixing your eyes on those points in which you
may excel, fix them on those in which your neighbour excels you: to
do this is true humility. The excellencies of others are better known
than their defects, and our own defects are better known to ourselves
than to others. A sense of personal short-coming will keep us humble.
Humility is a special product of Christianity. The whole Roman
language, with all the improvements of the Augustan age, does not
afford so much as a name for humility; nor was one found in all the
copious language of the Greeks, till it was made by the great apostle.
2. _In considering other people's interests as well as your
own._--"Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on
the things of others" (ver. 4). The truly humble are thoroughly
disinterested. The work of the meek and lowly Jesus is the loftiest
example of disinterestedness. He looked to the things of others
rather than to His own. In unselfishly seeking the good of others we
promote our own. When Augustine was asked, "What is the first thing
in religion?" he answered, "Humility." "What is the second?"
"Humility." "And what is the third?" "Humility." Speaking of pride,
Augustine truly said, "That which first overcame man is the last
thing he overcomes." Humility is a strong bond of Christian unity.
+IV. Christian unity is an occasion of great joy.+--"Fulfil ye my
joy" (ver. 2). The weak spot in the disposition of the Philippians
was a tendency to quarrelsomeness; hence he insists upon unity. They
had given him joy in the other Christian excellencies they possessed;
he asks them to complete his joy in cherishing the grace of unity.
"Behold," exclaimed the rejoicing Psalmist, as he contemplated the
union of the Jewish tribes, "how good and how pleasant a thing it is
for brethren to dwell together in unity" (Ps. cxxxiii. 1). The bundle
of arrows cannot be broken while it remains a bundle. Tacitus, an
ancient Latin historian, says of the Germans, what sceptics and
others find true of Christians, "Whilst fighting separately, all are
conquered together." The strength of the Christian Church lies in its
consolidation.
+Lessons.+--1. _Christian unity is of supreme importance._ 2. _Is
absolutely necessary to represent the Spirit of Christ._ 3. _Is the
cause of much joy to the anxious minister._
_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._
Vers. 1, 2. _Unity and Concord in the Church._--1. As unity and
concord is necessary in itself and at all times, so is it most
necessary in suffering times: the enjoyment of Christ's presence, the
reaping of any spiritual advantage by the communion and love of the
saints, fellowship with God through the operation of the Spirit,
depend upon it. 2. The success of the Gospel will be matter of joy to
a public-spirited Christian, even in the midst of his own crosses and
sufferings. 3. That unity and concord among the Churches may be solid
and lasting, there should be unity of will and affections, of designs
and endeavours, and in opinion and matters of judgment.--_Fergusson._
Ver. 3. _Humility an Antidote to Contention._--1. The lust of
vainglory, whereby a man pursues more after the applause of men than
to be approved of God, is the mother of contention and strife, and
unfriendly to union and peace. 2. The grace of humility does not
consist in an affected strain of words and gestures, but, being
seated in the heart, makes a man think meanly of himself and of
anything that is his. 3. So conscious should we be of our own
infirmities, so modest in the esteem of our own graces and virtues,
so prone to charity, that we ought to esteem any other, for what we
know of him, to be better than ourselves.--_Ibid._