Text -- Philippians 4:8 (NET)

4:8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of respect, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if something is excellent or praiseworthy, think about these things.

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Robertson: Phi 4:8

Finally ( to loipon ).

See note on Phi 3:1.

Robertson: Phi 4:8

Whatsoever ( hosa ).

Thus he introduces six adjectives picturing Christian ideals, old-fashioned and familiar words not necessarily from any philosophic list of moral excellencies Stoic or otherwise. Without these no ideals can exist. They are pertinent now when so much filth is flaunted before the world in books, magazines and moving-pictures under the name of realism (the slime of the gutter and the cess-pool).

Robertson: Phi 4:8

Honourable ( semna ).

Old word from sebō , to worship, revere. So revered, venerated (1Ti 3:8).

Robertson: Phi 4:8

Pure ( hagna ).

Old word for all sorts of purity. There are clean things, thoughts, words, deeds.

Robertson: Phi 4:8

Lovely ( prosphilē ).

Old word, here only in N.T., from pros and phileō , pleasing, winsome.

Robertson: Phi 4:8

Of good report ( euphēma . Old word, only here in N.T., from eu and phēmē , fair-speaking, attractive.

Robertson: Phi 4:8

If there be any ( ei tis ).

Paul changes the construction from hosa (whatsoever) to a condition of the first class, as in Phi 2:1, with two substantives.

Robertson: Phi 4:8

Virtue ( aretē ).

Old word, possibly from areskō , to please, used very often in a variety of senses by the ancients for any mental excellence or moral quality or physical power. Its very vagueness perhaps explains its rarity in the N.T., only four times (Phi 4:8; 1Pe 2:9; 2Pe 1:3, 2Pe 1:5). It is common in the papyri, but probably Paul is using it in the sense found in the lxx (Isa 42:12; 43:21) of God’ s splendour and might (Deissmann, Bible Studies , p. 95) in connection with "praise"(epainos ) as here or even meaning praise.

Robertson: Phi 4:8

Think on these things ( tauta logizesthe ).

Present middle imperative for habit of thought. We are responsible for our thoughts and can hold them to high and holy ideals.

Vincent: Phi 4:8

Honest ( σεμνὰ )

Rev., honorable , reverend in margin. In classical Greek an epithet of the gods, venerable , reverend . The word occurs only here and in the pastoral epistles, 1Ti 3:8, 1Ti 3:11; Tit 2:2, where it is rendered grave , both in A.V. and Rev. There lies in it the idea of a dignity or majesty which is yet inviting and attractive, and which inspires reverence. Grave , as Trench observes, does not exhaust the meaning. Gravity may be ridiculous. " The word we want is one in which the sense of gravity and dignity, and of these as inviting reverence , is combined." Ellicott's venerable is perhaps as near as any word, if venerable be divested of its modern conventional sense as implying age , and confined to its original sense, worthy of reverence .

Vincent: Phi 4:8

Pure ( ἁγνά )

See on 1Jo 3:3.

Vincent: Phi 4:8

Lovely ( προσφιλῆ )

Only here in the New Testament. Adapted to excite love, and to endear him who does such things.

Vincent: Phi 4:8

Of good report ( εὔφημα )

Only here in the New Testament. Lit., sounding well . The kindred verb is commonly used in an active sense. Hence not well spoken of , but fairspeaking , and so winning , gracious (Rev., in margin).

Vincent: Phi 4:8

Virtue ( ἀρετὴ )

With this exception the word occurs only in Peter's epistles; 1Pe 2:9 (note); 2Pe 1:3, 2Pe 1:5 (note).

Vincent: Phi 4:8

Praise ( ἔπαινος )

Commendation corresponding to the moral value of the virtue. In the Septuagint, ἀρετὴ virtue is four times used to translate the Hebrew praise . The two ideas seem to be coordinated. Lightfoot remarks that Paul seems studiously to avoid this common heathen term for moral excellence, and his explanation is very suggestive: " Whatever value may reside in your old heathen conception of virtue, whatever consideration is due to the praise of men."

Wesley: Phi 4:8

To sum up all.

Wesley: Phi 4:8

Here are eight particulars placed in two fourfold rows; the former containing their duty; the latter, the commendation of it. The first word in the former row answers the first in the latter; the second word, the second and so on.

Wesley: Phi 4:8

In speech.

Wesley: Phi 4:8

In action.

Wesley: Phi 4:8

With regard to others.

Wesley: Phi 4:8

With regard to yourselves.

Wesley: Phi 4:8

And what more lovely than truth? Of good report - As is honesty, even where it is not practised.

Wesley: Phi 4:8

And all virtues are contained in justice.

Wesley: Phi 4:8

In those things which relate rather to ourselves than to our neighbour.

Wesley: Phi 4:8

That ye may both practise them yourselves, and recommend them to others.

JFB: Phi 4:8

Summary of all his exhortations as to relative duties, whether as children or parents, husbands or wives, friends, neighbors, men in the intercourse of the world, &c.

JFB: Phi 4:8

Sincere, in words.

JFB: Phi 4:8

Old English for "seemly," namely, in action; literally, grave, dignified.

JFB: Phi 4:8

Towards others.

JFB: Phi 4:8

"chaste," in relation to ourselves.

JFB: Phi 4:8

Lovable (compare Mar 10:21; Luk 7:4-5).

JFB: Phi 4:8

Referring to the absent (Phi 1:27); as "lovely" refers to what is lovable face to face.

JFB: Phi 4:8

"whatever virtue there is" [ALFORD]. "Virtue," the standing word in heathen ethics, is found once only in Paul's Epistles, and once in Peter's (2Pe 1:5); and this in uses different from those in heathen authors. It is a term rather earthly and human, as compared with the names of the spiritual graces which Christianity imparts; hence the rarity of its occurrence in the New Testament. Piety and true morality are inseparable. Piety is love with its face towards God; morality is love with its face towards man. Despise not anything that is good in itself; only let it keep its due place.

JFB: Phi 4:8

Whatever is praiseworthy; not that Christians should make man's praise their aim (compare Joh 12:43); but they should live so as to deserve men's praise.

JFB: Phi 4:8

Have a continual regard to, so as to "do" these things (Phi 4:9) whenever the occasion arises.

Clarke: Phi 4:8

Finally, brethren - The object of the apostle is to recommend holiness and righteousness to them in every point of view; and to show that the Gospel of Christ requires all its professors to have the mind that was in Christ, and to walk as he himself also walked. That they were not to attend to one branch of righteousness or virtue only, but to every thing by which they might bring honor to God, good to their fellow creatures, and credit to themselves

Clarke: Phi 4:8

Whatsoever things are true - Ὁσα - αληθη· All that is agreeable to unchangeable and eternal truth. Whether that which is to be learned from the nature and state of created things, or that which comes immediately from God by revelation

Clarke: Phi 4:8

Whatsoever things are honest - Ὁσα σεμνα· Whatever is grave, decent, and venerable. Whatever becomes you as men, as citizens, and as Christians

Clarke: Phi 4:8

Whatsoever things are just - Ὁσα δικαια· Whatsoever is agreeable to justice and righteousness. All that ye owe to God, to your neighbor, and to yourselves

Clarke: Phi 4:8

Whatsoever things are pure - Ὁσα ἁγνα· Whatsoever is chaste. In reference to the state of the mind, and to the acts of the body

Clarke: Phi 4:8

Whatsoever things are lovely - Ὁσα προσφιλη· Whatsoever is amiable on its own account and on account of its usefulness to others, whether in your conduct or conversation

Clarke: Phi 4:8

Whatsoever things are of good report - Ὁσα ευφημα· Whatsoever things the public agree to acknowledge as useful and profitable to men; such as charitable institutions of every kind, in which genuine Christians should ever take the lead

Clarke: Phi 4:8

If there be any virtue - If they be calculated to promote the general good of mankind, and are thus praiseworthy

Clarke: Phi 4:8

Think on these things - Esteem them highly, recommend them heartily, and practice them fervently

Instead of ει τις επαινος, if there be any praise, several eminent MSS., as D*EFG, add επιστημης, of knowledge; and the Vulgate and the Itala have disciplinae , of discipline; but none of these appear to be an original reading.

Calvin: Phi 4:8

8.Finally What follows consists of general exhortations which relate to the whole of life. In the first place, he commends truth, which is nothing else than the integrity of a good conscience, with the fruits of it: secondly, gravity, or sanctity, for τὸ σεμνόν ²⁴⁰ denotes both — an excellence which consists in this, that we walk in a manner worthy of our vocation, (Eph 4:1,) keeping at a distance from all profane filthiness: thirdly, justice, which has to do with the mutual intercourse of mankind — that we do not injure any one, that we do not defraud any one; and, fourthly, purity, which denotes chastity in every department of life. Paul, however, does not reckon all these things to be sufficient, if we do not at the same time endeavor to make ourselves agreeable to all, in so far as we may lawfully do so in the Lord, and have regard also to our good name. For it is in this way that I understand the words —

If any praise, ²⁴¹ that is, anything praiseworthy, for amidst such a corruption of manners there is so great a perversity in men’s judgments that praise is often bestowed ²⁴² upon what is blameworthy, and it is not allowable for Christians to be desirous even of true praise among men, inasmuch as they are elsewhere forbidden to glory, except in God alone. (1Co 1:31.) Paul, therefore, does not bid them try to gain applause or commendation by virtuous actions, nor even to regulate their life according to the judgments of the people, but simply means, that they should devote themselves to the performance of good works, which merit commendation, that the wicked, and those who are enemies of the gospel, while they deride Christians and cast reproach upon them, may, nevertheless, be constrained to commend their deportment.

The word, προσφιλὢ καὶ εὔφημα however, among the Greeks, is employed, like cogitare among the Latins, to mean, meditate. ²⁴³ Now meditation comes first, afterwards follows action.

Defender: Phi 4:8

Think on "these things" - therefore, not on other things. This is an important guideline for educators. If God does not want us to think on evil or ugly things, then surely our school's curricula should keep away from them, except to provide antidotes for them. This principle should also guide our individual study and activities."

TSK: Phi 4:8

Finally : Phi 3:1

whatsoever : Rom 12:9-21; 1Co 13:4-7; Gal 5:22; Jam 3:17; 2Pe 1:5-7

are true : Mat 22:16; Joh 7:18; Rom 12:9; 2Co 6:8; Eph 4:25, Eph 5:9, Eph 6:14; 1Pe 1:22; 1Jo 3:18

honest : or, venerable, Act 6:3; Rom 12:17, Rom 13:13; 2Co 8:21, 2Co 13:7; 1Th 4:12; 1Ti 2:2, 1Ti 3:4, 1Ti 3:8, 1Ti 3:11; Tit 2:2, Tit 2:7 *Gr: Tit 3:14 *marg. Heb 13:18; 1Pe 2:12

are just : Gen 18:19; Deu 16:20; 2Sa 23:3; Psa 82:2; Pro 11:1, Pro 16:11, Pro 20:7; Isa 26:7; Mar 6:20; Luk 2:25, Luk 23:50; Act 10:22; Tit 1:8

are pure : 1Ti 4:12, 1Ti 5:2; Tit 2:14; Jam 1:27, Jam 3:17; 2Pe 3:1; 1Jo 3:3

are lovely : 2Sa 1:23; Son 5:16; 1Co 13:1-13; 1Pe 4:8

are of : Act 6:3, Act 10:22, Act 22:12; Col 4:5; 1Th 5:22; 1Ti 3:7, 1Ti 5:10; Heb 11:2

virtue : Rth 3:11; Pro 12:4, Pro 31:10,Pro 31:29; 2Pe 1:3, 2Pe 1:4

praise : Pro 31:31; Rom 2:29, Rom 13:3; 1Co 4:5; 2Co 8:18

think : Luk 16:15; 1Th 5:21; 1Jo 4:1

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: Phi 4:8

Finally, brethren - As for what remains - τὸ λοιπὸν to loipon - or as a final counsel or exhortation.

Whatsoever things are true - In this exhortation the apostle assumes that there were certain things admitted to be true, and pure, and good, in the world, which had not been directly revealed, or which were commonly regarded as such by the people of the world, and his object is to show them that such things ought to be exhibited by the Christian. Everything that was honest and just toward God and toward people was to be practiced by them, and they were in all things to be examples of the highest kind of morality. They were not to exhibit partial virtues; not to perform one set of duties to the neglect or exclusion of others; not to be faithful in their duties to God, and to neglect their duty to people, not to be punctual in their religious rites, and neglectful of the comment laws of morality; but they were to do everything that could be regarded as the fair subject of commendation, and that was implied in the highest moral character. The word true refers here to everything that was the reverse of falsehood. They were to be true to their engagements; true to their promises; true in their statements; and true in their friendships. They were to maintain the truth about God; about eternity; about the judgment; and about every man’ s character. Truth is a representation of things as they are; and they were constantly to live under the correct impression of objects. A man who is false to his engagements, or false in his statements and promises, is one who will always disgrace religion.

Whatsoever things are honest - σεμνὰ semna . Properly, venerable, reverend; then honorable, reputable. The word was originally used in relation to the gods, and to the things that pertained to them, as being worthy of honor or veneration - Passow. As applied to people, it commonly means grave, dignified, worthy of veneration or regard. In the New Testament it is rendered "grave"in 1Ti 3:8, 1Ti 3:11, and Tit 2:2, the only places where the word occurs except this; and the noun ( σεμνότης semnotēs ) is rendered "honesty"in 1Ti 2:2, and "gravity"in 1Ti 3:4, and Tit 2:7. It occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. The word, therefore, does not express precisely what the word "honest"does with us, as confined to dealings or business transactions, but rather has reference to what was regarded as worthy of reputation or honor; what there was in the customs of society, in the respect due to age and rank, and in the contact of the world, that deserved respect or esteem. It includes indeed what is right in the transaction of business, but it embraces also much more, and means that the Christian is to show respect to all the venerable and proper customs of society, when they did not violate conscience or interfere with the law of God; compare 1Ti 3:7.

Whatsoever things are just - The things which are right between man and man. A Christian should be just in all his dealings. His religion does not exempt him from the strict laws which bind people to the exercise of this virtue, and there is no way by which a professor of religion can do more injury perhaps than by injustice and dishonesty in his dealings. It is to be remembered that the people of the world, in estimating a person’ s character, affix much more importance to the virtues of justice and honesty than they do to regularity in observing the ordinances of religion; and therefore if a Christian would make an impression on his fellow-men favorable to religion, it is indispensable that he manifest uncorrupted integrity in his dealings.

Whatsoever things are pure - Chaste - in thought, in feeling, and in the conversation between the sexes; compare the notes at 1Ti 5:2.

Whatsoever things are lovely - The word used here means properly what is dear to anyone; then what is pleasing. Here it means what is amiable - such a temper of mind that one can love it; or such as to be agreeable to others. A Christian should not be sour, crabby, or irritable in his temper - for nothing almost tends so much to injure the cause of religion as a temper always chafed; a brow morose and stern; an eye that is severe and unkind, and a disposition to find fault with everything. And yet it is to be regretted that there are many persons who make no pretensions to piety, who far surpass many professors of religion in the virtue here commended. A sour and crabby temper in a professor of religion will undo all the good that he attempts to do.

Whatsoever things are of good report - That is, whatsoever is truly reputable in the world at large. There are actions which all people agree in commending, and which in all ages and countries are regarded as virtues. courtesy, urbanity, kindness, respect for parents, purity between brothers and sisters, are among those virtues, and the Christian should be a pattern and an example in them all. His usefulness depends much more on the cultivation of these virtues than is commonly supposed.

If there be any virtue - If there is anything truly virtuous. Paul did not suppose that he had given a full catalogue of the virtues which he would have cultivated. He, therefore, adds, that if there was anything else that had the nature of true virtue in it, they should be careful to cultivate that also. The Christian should be a pattern and an example of every virtue.

And if there be any praise - Anything worthy of praise, or that ought to be praised.

Think on these things - Let them be the object of your careful attention and study, so as to practice them. Think what they are; think on the obligation to observe them; think on the influence which they would have on the world around you.

Poole: Phi 4:8

As to what remains, he doth, with the fair compellation of

brethren furthermore propose to their serious consideration, living in the neighbourhood of the Gentiles, what he doth here, hastening to a conclusion, heap up and fold together: especially,

whatsoever things are true agree with truth and doctrine, in word and conversation, which show candour and sincerity of conscience, both with reference to believers and to infidels, Psa 15:2 Eph 4:14,15,25 .

Honest venerable and grave, as becometh the gospel, Phi 1:27 , to adorn the gospel of God our Saviour, Rom 12:17 13:13 Tit 2:10 ; avoiding what may argue levity or dishonesty in gesture, apparel, words, and deeds, 2Co 7:2 .

Just giving what is due to every one by the law of nature, or nations, or the country, without guile, and not injuring any one, Rth 3:13 Neh 5:11 Mat 22:21 Rom 13:7,8 Col 4:1 1Ti 5:8 Tit 1:8 2:12 .

Pure keeping themselves undefiled in the way, Psa 119:1 , from the pollution of sin, 1Jo 3:3 , and the blemishes of filthy words and deeds, Eph 4:29 5:3-5 .

Lovely whatsoever may gain the real respect of, and be grateful to, good men, in an affable deportment acceptable to God, Tit 3:2 .

Of good report whatsoever is in a tendency to maintain a good name; not to court vain-glory or popular applause, Gal 1:10 , but that which may be for the honour of Christ, and the reputation of the gospel among the Gentiles, Rom 15:2 1Pe 2:12 ; in agreement with the word of God; otherwise we must pass through evil as well as good report, Luk 16:15 2Co 6:8 .

If there be any virtue, and if there be any praise and upon supposition there be really any other commendable practice amongst any, any praiseworthy deportment.

Think on these things diligently consider and prosecute these things.

Haydock: Phi 4:8

For the rest, brethren, whatsoever things are true, &c. Here the apostle enumerates general precepts of morality, which they ought to practise. ---

Whatsoever things are true. In words, in promises, in lawful oaths, &c. he commands rectitude of mind and sincerity of heart. ---

Whatsoever things are modest. By these words he prescribes gravity in manners, modesty in dress, and decency in conversation. ---

Whatsoever things are just. That is, in dealing with others, in buying or selling, in trade or business, to be fair and honest. Whatsoever things are holy. By these words may be understood, that those who are in a religious state professed, or in holy orders, should lead a life of sanctity and chastity, according to the vows they make; but these words being applied to those in the world, indicate the virtuous life they are bound by the divine commandments to follow. ---

Whatsoever things are amiable. That is to practise those good offices in society that procure us the esteem and good will of our neighbours. ---

Whatsoever things are of good repute. That is, that by our conduct and behaviour we should edify our neighbours, and give them good example by our actions. ---

If there be any virtue, if there be any praise of discipline: that those in error, by seeing the morality and good discipline of the true religion, may be converted. And finally, the apostle commands not only the Philippians, but all Christians, to think on these things: that is, to make it their study and concern, that the peace of God might be with them. (Challoner)

Gill: Phi 4:8

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true,.... To close all with respect to the duties of Christianity incumbent on the professors of it, the apostle exhorts to a regard to everything that is true; that is agreeable to the Scriptures of truth, to the Gospel the word of truth, or to the law and light of nature; and whatever was really so, even among the very Heathens, in opposition to falsehood, lying, and hypocrisy

whatsoever things are honest; in the sight of men; or grave, or "venerable" in speech, in action or attire, in opposition to levity, frothiness, or foppery:

whatsoever things are just; between man and man, or with respect both to God and men; giving to God what belongs to him, and to man what is his due; studying to exercise a conscience void of offence to both, in opposition to all impiety, injustice, violence, and oppression:

whatsoever things are pure; or "chaste", in words and deeds, in opposition to all filthiness and foolish talking, to obscene words and actions. The Vulgate Latin and Arabic versions render it, "whatsoever things are holy"; which are agreeable to the holy nature, law, and will of God, and which tend to promote holiness of heart and life:

whatsoever are lovely; which are amiable in themselves, and to be found even among mere moral men, as in the young man whom Christ as man is said to love, Mar 10:21; and which serve to cultivate and increase love, friendship, and amity among men; and which things also are grateful to God and lovely in his sight, in opposition to all contention, strife, wrath, and hatred:

whatsoever things are of good report; are well spoken of, and tend to get and establish a good name, which is better than precious ointment, Ecc 7:1; for though a good name, credit, and reputation among men, are to be sacrificed for the sake of Christ when called for; yet care is to be taken to preserve them by doing things which may secure them, and cause professors of religion to be well reported of; and which beautiful in all, and absolutely necessary in some:

if there be any virtue; anywhere, among any persons whatever, in opposition to vice:

and if there be any praise; that is praiseworthy among men, and deserves commendation, even though in an unjust steward, Luk 16:8, it should be regarded. The Vulgate Latin adds, "of discipline", without any authority from any copy. The Claromontane manuscript reads, "if any praise of knowledge":

think on these things: meditate upon them, revolve them in your minds, seriously consider them, and reason with yourselves about them, in order to put them into practice.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Phi 4:8

¹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:12.

Geneva Bible: Phi 4:8

^{( 7 )} Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things ^{( i )} [are] honest, whatsoever things [are] just, whatsoever things [are] pure, whatsoever things [are] lovely, whatsoever things [are] of good report; if [there be] any virtue, and if [there be] any praise, think on these things.

^{( 7 )} A general conclusion, that as they have been taught both in word and example, so they build their lives to the rule of all holiness and righteousness.

^{( i )} Whatever things are such that they beautify and set you apart with a holy gravity.

Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: Phi 4:1-23

1 From particular admonitions,

4 he proceeds to general exhortations,

10 shewing how he rejoiced at their liberality towards him lying in prison, not so much for the supply of his own wants as for the grace of God in them.

19 And so he concludes with prayer and salutations.

Maclaren: Phi 4:8

Names In The Book Of Life

Other my fellow-labourers whose names are in the book of life.--Phil. 4:8.

PAUL was as gentle as he was strong. Winsome courtesy and delicate considerateness lay in his character, in beautiful union with fiery impetuosity and undaunted tenacity of conviction. We have here a remarkable instance of his quick apprehension of the possible effects of his words, and of his nervous anxiety not to wound even unreasonable susceptibilities.

He had had occasion to mention three of his fellow-workers, and he wishes to associate with them others whom he does not purpose to name. Lest any of these should be offended by the omission, he soothes them with this graceful, half-apologetic reminder that their names are inscribed on a better page than his. It is as if he had said, Do not mind though I do not mention you individually. You can well afford to be anonymous in my letter since your names are inscribed in the Book of Life.'

There is a consolation for obscure good people, who need not expect to live except in two or three loving hearts; and whose names will only be preserved on mouldering tombstones that will convey no idea to the reader. We may well dispense with other commemoration if we have this.

Now, this figure of the Book of Life appears in Scripture at intervals, almost from the beginning to the very end. The first instance of its occurrence is in that self-sacrificing, intercessory prayer of Moses, when he expressed his willingness to be blotted out of Thy book' as an atonement for the sin of Israel. Its last appearance is when the Apocalyptic Seer is told that none enter into the City of God come down from Heaven save those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.' Of course in plain English the expression is just equivalent to being a real disciple of Jesus Christ. But then it presents that general notion under a metaphor which, in its various aspects, has a very distinct and stringent bearing upon our duties as well as upon our blessings and our hopes. I, therefore, wish to work out, as well as I can, the various thoughts suggested by this emblem.

I. The First Of Them Is Citizenship.

The figure is, of course, originally drawn from the registers of the tribes of Israel. In that use, though not without a glance at some higher meaning, it appears in the Old Testament, where we read of those who are written among them living in Jerusalem'; or are written in the writing of the house of Israel.' The suggestion of being inscribed on the burgess-rolls of a city is the first idea connected with the word. In the New Testament, for instance, we find in the great passage in the Epistle to the Hebrews the two notions of the city and the census brought into immediate connection, where the writer says, Ye are come unto the city of the living God and to the church of the first-born whose names are written in heaven.' In this very letter we have, only a verse or two before my text, the same idea of citizenship cropping up. Our citizenship is in Heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour.' That, no doubt, helped to suggest to the Apostle the words of my text. And there is another verse in the same letter where the same idea comes out. Only act the citizen as becometh the Gospel of Christ.' Now, you will remember, possibly, that Philippi was, as the Acts of the Apostles tells us, a Roman colony. And the reference is exquisitely close fitting to the circumstances of the people of that city. For a Roman colony was a bit of Rome in another land, and the citizens of Philippi had their names inscribed on the registers of the tribes of Rome. The writer himself was another illustration of the same thing, of living in a community to which he did not belong and of belonging to a community in which he did not live. For Paul was a native of Tarsus; and Paul, the native of the Asiatic Tarsus, was a Roman.

So, then, the first thought that comes out of this great metaphor is that all of us, if we are Christian people, belong to another polity, another order of things than that in which our outward lives are spent. And the plain, practical conclusion that comes from it is, cultivate the sense of belonging to another order. Just as it swelled the heart of a Macedonian Philippian with pride, when he thought that he did not belong to the semi-barbarous people round about him, but that his name was written in the books that lay in the Capitol of Rome, so should we cultivate that sense of belonging to another order. It will make our work here none the worse, but it will fill our lives with the sense of nobler affinities, and point our efforts to grander work than any that belongs to the things that are seen and temporal.' Just as the little groups of Englishmen in treaty-ports own no allegiance to the laws of the country in which they live, but are governed by English statutes, so we have to take our orders from headquarters to which we have to report.

Men in our colonies get their instructions from Downing Street. The officials there, appointed by the Home Government, think more of what they will say about them at Westminster than of what they say about them at Melbourne. So we are citizens of another country, and have to obey the laws of our own kingdom, and not those of the soil on which we dwell. Never mind about the opinions of men, the babblements of the people in the land you live in. To us, the main thing is that we be acceptable, well-pleasing unto Him. Are you solitary? Cultivate the sense of, in your solitude, being a member of a great community that stretches through all the ages, and binds into one the inhabitants of eternity and of time.

Remember that this citizenship in the heavens is the highest honour that can be conferred upon a man. The patricians of Venice used to have their names inscribed upon what was called the golden book' that was kept in the Doge's Palace. If our names are written in the book of gold in the heavens, then we have higher dignities than any that belong to the fleeting chronicles of this passing, vain world. So we can accept with equanimity evil report or good report, and can acquiesce in a wholesome obscurity, and be careless though our names appear on no human records, and fill no trumpet of fame blown by earthly cheeks. Intellectual power, wealth, gratified ambition, and all the other things that men set before them, are small indeed compared with the honour, with the blessedness, with the repose and satisfaction that attend the conscious possession of citizenship in the heavens. Let us lay to heart the great words of the Master which put a cooling hand on all the feverish ambitions of earth. In this rejoice, not that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice that your names are written in heaven.'

II. Then The Second Idea Suggested By These Words Is The Possession Of The Life Which Is Life Indeed.

The' Book of Life,' it is called in the New Testament. Its designation in the Old might as well be translated the book of living' as the book of life.' It is a register of the men who are truly alive.

Now, that is but an imaginative way of putting the commonplace of the New Testament, that anything which is worth calling life comes to us, not by creation or physical generation, but by being born again through faith in Jesus Christ, and by receiving into our else dead spirits the life which He bestows upon all them that trust Him.

In the New Testament life' is far more than being'; far more than physical existence; removed by a whole world from these lower conceptions, and finding its complete explanation only in the fact that the soul which is knit to God by conscious surrender, love, aspiration, and obedience, is the only soul that really lives. All else is death--death! He that liveth in pleasure is dead while he liveth.' The ghastly imagination of one of our poets, of the dead man standing on the deck pulling at the ropes by the side of the living, is true in a very deep sense. In spite of all the feverish activities, the manifold vitalities of practical and intellectual life in the world, the deepest, truest, life of every man who is parted from God by alienation of will, by indifference, and neglect of love, lies sheeted and sepulchred in the depths of his own heart. Brethren, there is no life worth calling life, none to which that august name can without degradation be applied, except the complete life of body, soul, and spirit, in lowly obedience to God in Christ. The deepest meaning of the work of the Saviour is that He comes into a dead world, and breathes into the bones--very many and very dry--the breath of His own life. Christ has died for us; Christ will live in us if we will; and, unless He does, we are twice dead.

Do not put away that thought as if it were a mere pulpit metaphor. It is a metaphor, but yet in the metaphor there lies this deepest truth, which concerns us all, that only he is truly himself, and lives the highest, best, and noblest life that is possible for him, who is united to Jesus Christ, and drawing from Christ his own life. He that hath the Son hath life; he that hath not the Son hath not life.' Either my name and yours are written in the Book of Life, or they are written in the register of a cemetery. We have to make our choice which.

III. Another Idea Suggested By This Emblem Is Experience Of Divine Individualising Knowledge And Care.

In the Old Testament the book is called Thy book,' in the New it is called the Lamb's book.' That is of a piece with the whole relation of the New to the Old, and of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word and Manifester of God, to the Jehovah revealed in former ages. For, unconditionally, and without thought of irreverence or idolatry, the New Testament lifts over and confers upon Jesus Christ the attributes which the Old jealously preserved as belonging only to Jehovah. And thus Christ the Manifestor of God, and the Mediator to us of all divine powers and blessings, takes the Book and makes the entries in it. Each man of us, as in your ledgers, has a page to himself. His account is opened, and is not confused with other entries. There is individualising love and care, and as the basis of both, individualising knowledge. My name, the expression of my individual being, stands there. Christ does not deal with me as one of a crowd, nor fling out blessings broadcast, that I may grasp them in the midst of a multitude, if I choose to put out a hand, but He deals with each of us singly, as if there were not any beings in the world but He and I, our two selves, all alone.

It is hard to realise the essentially individualising and isolating character of our relation to Jesus Christ. But we shall never come to the heart of the blessedness and the power of His Gospel unless we translate all uses and' every ones' and worlds' in Scripture into I' and me,' and can say not only He gives Himself to be the propitiation for the sins of the whole world,' but' He loved me and gave Himself for me.' The same individualising love which is manifested in that mighty universal Atonement, if we rightly understand it, is manifested in all His dealings with us. One by one we come under His notice; the Shepherd tells His sheep singly as they pass out through the gate or into the fold. He knows them all by name. I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine.'

Lift up your eyes and behold who made all these; the countless host of the nightly stars. What are nebulae to our eyes are blazing suns to His. He telleth the number of the stars; He calleth them all by name by the greatness of His power, for that He is strong in might not one faileth.' So we may nestle in the protection of His hand, sure of a separate place in His knowledge and His heart.

Deliverance and security are the results of that individualising care. In one of the Old Testament instances of the use of this metaphor, we read that in the great day of calamity and sorrow Thy people shall be delivered, even every one that is written in Thy Book.' So we need not dread anything if our names are there. The sleepless King will read the Book, and will never forget, nor forget to help and succour His poor servants.

But there are two other variations of this thought in the Old Testament even more tenderly suggestive of that individualising care and strong sufficient love than the emblem of my text. We read that when, in the exercise of his official functions, the high priest passed into the Tabernacle he wore, upon his breast, near the seat of personality, and the home of love--the names of the tribes graven, and that the same names were written on his shoulders, as if guiding the exercise of his power. So we may think of ourselves as lying near the beatings of His heart, and as individually the objects of the work of His almighty arm. Nor is this all. For there is yet another, and still tenderer, application of the figure, when we read of the Divine voice as saying to Israel,' I have graven thee on the palms of My hands.' The name of each who loves and trusts and serves is written there; printed deep in the flesh of the Sovereign Christ. We bear in our bodies the marks, the stigmata that tell whose slaves we are--the marks of the Lord Jesus.' And He bears in His body the marks that tell who His servants are.

IV. Lastly, There Is Suggested By This Text The Idea Of Future Entrance Into The Land Of The Living.

The metaphor occurs three times in the final book of Scripture, the book which deals with the future and with the last things. And it occurs in all these instances in very remarkable connection. First we read, in the highly imaginative picture of the final judgment, that when the thrones are set two books are opened, one the Book of Life, the other the book in which are written the deeds of men, and that by these two books men are judged. There is a judgment by conduct. There is also a judgment by the Book of Life. That is to say, the question at last comes to be, Is this man's name written in that book?' Is he a citizen of the kingdom, and therefore capable of entering into it? Has he the life from Christ in his heart? Or, in other words, the question is, first, has the man who stands at the bar faith in Jesus Christ; and, second, has he proved that his faith is genuine and real by the course of his earthly conduct? These are the books from which the judgment is made.

Further, we read, in that blessed vision which stands at the far-off end of all the knowledge of the future which is given to humanity, the vision of the City of God that came down from heaven as a bride adorned for her husband,' that only they enter in there who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.' Only citizens are capable of entrance into the city. Aliens are necessarily shut out. The Lord, when He writeth up His people, shall count that this man was born there, though he never trod its streets while on earth, and, therefore, can enter into his native home.

Further, in one of the letters to the seven churches our Lord gives as a promise to him that overcometh, I will not blot his name out of the Book of Life, but I will confess his name.'

What need we care what other people may think about us, or whether the hollow wraith of dying fame' that comes like a nimbus round some men may fade wholly or no, so long as we may be sure of acknowledgment and praise from Him from whom acknowledgment and praise are precious indeed.

I have but one or two more words to add. Remember that Paul had no hesitation in taking upon himself to declare that the names of these anonymous saints in Philippi were written in the Book of Life. What business had he to do that? Had he looked over the pages, and marked the entrees? He had simply the right of estimating their state by their conduct. He saw their works; he knew that these works were the fruit of their faith; and he knew that, therefore, their faith had united them to Jesus Christ. So, Christian men and women, two things: show your faith by your works, and make it impossible for anybody that looks at you to doubt what King you serve, and to what city you belong. Again, do not ask, Is my name there?' Ask, Have I faith, and does my faith work the works that belong to the Kingdom of Heaven?'

Remember that names can be blotted out of the book. The metaphor has often been pressed into the service of a doctrine of unconditional and irreversible predestination. But rightly looked at, it points in the opposite direction. Remember Moses's agonised cry, Blot me out of Thy book'; and the Divine answer, Him that sinneth against Me, his name will I blot out of My book.' And remember that it is only to him that overcometh' that the promise is made, I will not blot him out.' We are made partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end.'

Remember that it depends upon ourselves whether our names are there or not. John Bunyan describes the armed man who came up to the table, where the man with the book and the inkhorn was seated, and said: Set down my name.' And you and I may do that. If we cast ourselves on Jesus Christ and yield our wills to be guided by Him, and give our lives for His service, then He will write our names in His book. If we trust Him we shall be citizens of the City of God; shall be filled with the life of Christ; shall be objects of an individualising love and care; shall be accepted in that Day; and shall enter in through the gates into the city. They that forsake me shall be written on the earth'; and there wiped out as are the children's scribbles on the sand when the ocean come up. They that trust in Jesus Christ shall have their names written in the Book of Life; graven on the High Priest's breast-plate, and inscribed on His mighty hand and His faithful heart.

Rejoice Evermore

Rejoice in the Lord alway; and again I say, rejoice!'--Phil. 4:4.

IT has been well said that this whole epistle may be summed up in two short sentences: I rejoice'; Rejoice ye!' The word and the thing crop up in every chapter, like some hidden brook, ever and anon sparkling out into the sunshine from beneath the shadows. This continual refrain of gladness is all the more remarkable if we remember the Apostle's circumstances. The letter shows him to us as a prisoner, dependent on Christian charity for a living, having no man like-minded to cheer his solitude; uncertain as to how it shall be with me,' and obliged to contemplate the possibility of being offered,' or poured out as a libation, on the sacrifice and service of your faith.' Yet out of all the darkness his clear notes ring jubilant; and this sunny epistle comes from the pen of a prisoner who did not know but that to-morrow he might be a martyr.

The exhortation of my text, with its urgent reiteration, picks up again a dropped thread which the Apostle had first introduced in the commencement of the previous chapter. He had there evidently been intending to close his letter, for he says: Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord'; but he is drawn away into that precious personal digression which we could so ill spare, in which he speaks of his continual aspiration and effort towards things not yet attained. And now he comes back again, picks up the thread once more, and addresses himself to his parting counsels. The reiteration in the text becomes the more impressive if we remember that it is a repetition of a former injunction. Rejoice in the Lord alway'; and then he seems to hear one of his Philippian readers saying: Why! you told us that once before!' Yes,' he says, and you shall hear it once again; so important is my commandment that it shall be repeated a third time. So I again say, "rejoice!" Christian gladness is an important element in Christian duty; and the difficulty and necessity of it are indicated by the urgent repetition of the injunction.

I. So, Then, The First Thought That Suggests Itself To Me From These Words Is This, That Close Union With Jesus Christ Is The Foundation Of Real Gladness.

Pray note that the Lord' here, as is usually the case in Paul's Epistles, means, not the Divine Father, but Jesus Christ. And then observe, again, that the phrase Rejoice in the Lord' has a deeper meaning than we sometimes attach to it. We are accustomed to speak of rejoicing in a thing or a person, which, or who, is thereby represented as being the occasion or the object of our gladness. And though that is true, in reference to our Lord, it is not the whole sweep and depth of the Apostle's meaning here. He is employing that phrase, in the Lord,' in the profound and comprehensive sense in which it generally appears in his letters, and especially in those almost contemporaneous with this Epistle to the Philippians. I need only refer you, in passing, without quoting passages, to the continual use of that phrase in the nearly contemporaneous letter to the Ephesians, in which you will find that' in Christ Jesus' is the signature stamped upon all the gifts of God, and upon all the possible blessings of the Christian life. In Him' we have the inheritance; in Him we obtain redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins; in Him we are blessed with all spiritual blessings.' And the deepest description of the essential characteristic of a Christian life is, to Paul, that it is a life in Christ.

It is this close union which the Apostle here indicates as being the foundation and the source of all that gladness which he desires to see spreading its light over the Christian life. Rejoice in the Lord '--being in Him be glad.

Now that great thought has two aspects, one deep and mysterious, one very plain and practical. As to the former, I need not spend much time upon it. We believe, I suppose, in the superhuman character and nature of Jesus Christ. We believe in His divinity. We can therefore believe reasonably in the possibility of a union between Him and us, transcending all the forms of human association, and being really like that which the creature holds to its Creator in regard to its physical being. In him we live, and move, and have our being' is the very foundation truth in regard to the constitution of the universe. In Him we live, and move, and have our being' is the very foundation truth in regard to the relation of the Christian soul to Jesus Christ. All earthly unions are but poor adumbrations from afar of that deep, transcendent, mysterious, but most real union, by which the Christian soul is in Christ, as the branch is in the vine, the member in the body, the planet in its atmosphere, and by which Christ is in the Christian soul as the life sap is in every twig, as the mysterious vital power is in every member. Thus abiding in Him, in a manner which admits of no parallel nor of any doubt, we may, and we shall, be glad.

But then, passing from the mysterious, we come to the plain. To be in Christ' which is commended to us here as the basis of all true blessedness, means that the whole of our nature shall be occupied with, and fastened upon, Him; thought turning to Him, the tendrils of the heart clinging and creeping around Him, the will submitting itself in glad obedience to His beloved and supreme commandments, the aspirations, and desires feeling out after Him as the sufficient and eternal good, and all the current of our being setting towards Him in earnestness of desire, and resting in Him in tranquillity of possession. Thus in Christ' we may all be.

And, says Paul, in the great words of my text, such a union, reciprocal and close, is the secret of all blessedness. If thus we are wedded to that Lord, and His life is in us and ours enclosed in Him, then there is such correspondence between our necessities and our supplies as that there is no room for aching emptiness; no gnawing of unsatisfied longings, but the blessedness that comes from having found that which we seek, and in the finding being stimulated to a still closer, happier, and not restless search after fuller possession. The man that knows where to get anything and everything that he needs, and to whom desires are but the prophets of instantaneous fruition; surely that man has in his possession the talismanic secret of perpetual gladness. They who thus dwell in Christ by faith, love, obedience, imitation, aspiration, and enjoyment, are like men housed in some strong fortress, who can look out over all the fields alive with enemies, and feel that they are safe. They who thus dwell in Christ gain command over themselves; and because they can bridle passions, and subdue hot and impossible desires, and keep themselves well in hand, have stanched one chief source of unrest and sadness, and have opened one pure and sparkling fountain of unfailing gladness. To rule myself because Christ rules me is no small part of the secret of blessedness. And they who thus dwell in Christ have the purest joy, the joy of self-forgetful-ness. He that is absorbed in a great cause; he whose pitiful, personal individuality has passed out of his sight; he who is swallowed up by devotion to another, by aspiration after something afar from the sphere of our sorrow,' has found the secret of gladness. And the man who thus can say, I live: yet not I, but Christ liveth in me,' this is the man who will ever rejoice. The world may not call such a temper gladness. It is as unlike the sputtering, flaring, foul-smelling joys which it prizes--like those filthy but bright Lucigens that they do night work by in great factories--it is as unlike the joy of the world as these are to the calm, pure moonlight which they insult. The one is of heaven, and the other is the foul product of earth, and smokes to extinction swiftly.

II. So, Secondly, Notice That This Joy Is Capable Of Being Continuous.

Rejoice in the Lord always; says Paul. That is a hard nut to crack. I can fancy a man saying,' What is the use of giving me such exhortations as this? My gladness is largely a matter of temperament, and I cannot rule my moods. My gladness is largely a matter of circumstances, and I do not determine these. How vain it is to tell me, when my heart is bleeding, or beating like a sledge-hammer, to be glad!' Yes! Temperament has a great deal to do with joy; and circumstances have a great deal to do with it; but is not the mission of the Gospel to make us masters of temperament, and independent of circumstances? Is not the possibility of living a life that has no dependence upon externals, and that may persist permanently through all varieties of mood, the very gift that Christ Himself has come to bestow upon us--bringing us into communion with Himself, and so making us lords of our own inward nature and of externals: so that though the fig-tree shall not blossom, and there be no fruit in the vine,' yet we may rejoice in the Lord, and be glad in the God of our salvation.' If a ship has plenty of water in its casks or tanks in its hold, it does not matter whether it is sailing through fresh water or salt. And if you and I have that union with Jesus Christ of which my, text speaks, then we shall be, not wholly, but with indefinite increase of approximation towards the ideal, independent of circumstances and masters of our temperaments. And so it is possible, if not absolutely to reach this fair achievement of an unbroken continuity of gladness, at least to bring the lucent points so close to one another as that the intervals of darkness between shall be scarcely visible, and the whole will seem to form one continuous ring of light.

Brother, if you and I can keep near Jesus Christ always--and I suppose we can do that in sorrow as in joy--He will take care that our keeping near Him will not want its reward in that blessed continuity of felt repose which is very near the sunniness of gladness. For, if we in the Lord sorrow, we may, then, simultaneously, in the Lord rejoice. The two things may go together, if in the one mood and the other we are in union with Him. The bitterness of the bitterest calamity is taken away from it when it does not separate us from Jesus Christ. And just as the mother is specially tender with her sick child, and just as we have often found that the sympathy of friends comes to us, when need and grief are upon us, in a fashion that would have been incredible beforehand, so it is surely true that Jesus Christ can, and does, soften His tone, and select the tokens of His presence with especial tenderness for a wounded heart; so as that sorrow in the Lord passes into joy in the Lord. And if that be so, then the pillar which was cloud in the sunshine brightens into fire as night falls on the desert.

But it is not only that this divine gladness is consistent with the sorrow that is often necessary for us, but also that the continuity of such gladness is secured, because in Christ there are open for us sources of blessedness in what is else a dry and thirsty land. If you would take this epistle at your leisure, and run over it in order to note the various occasions of joy which the Apostle expresses for himself, and commends to his brethren, you would see how beautifully they reveal to us the power of communion with Jesus Christ, to find honey in the rock, good in everything, and a reason for thankful gladness in all events.

I have not time, at this stage of my sermon, to do more than just glance at these. We find, for instance, that a very large portion of the joy which he declares fills his own heart, and which he commends to these Philippians, arises from the recognition of good in others. He speaks to them of being his joy and crown.' He tells them that in his sorrows and imprisonment, their fellowship in the Gospel, from the first day until now,' had brought a whiff of gladness into the close air of the prison cell. He begs them to be Christlike in order that they may fulfil his joy'; and he may lose himself in others' blessings, and therein find gladness. A large portion of his joy came from very common things. A large portion of the joy that he commends to them he contemplates as coming to them from small matters. They were to be glad because Timothy came with a message from the Apostle. He is glad because he hears of their well-being, and receives a little contribution from them for his daily necessities. A large portion of his gladness came from the spread of Christ's kingdom. Christ is preached,' says he, with a flash of triumph, and I therein do rejoice; yea, and will rejoice.' And, most beautiful of all, no small portion of his gladness came from the prospect of martyrdom. If I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all; and do ye joy and rejoice with me.'

Now, put all these things together and they just come to this, that a heart in union with Jesus Christ can find streams in the desert, joys blossoming as the rose, in places that to the un-Christlike eye are wilderness and solitary, and out of common things it can bring the purest gladness and draw a tribute and revenue of blessedness even from the prospect of God-sent sorrows. Dear brethren, if you and I have not learned the secret of modest and unselfish delights, we shall vainly seek for joy in the vulgar excitements and coarse titillations of appetites and desires which the world offers. Calm pleasures there abide' in Christ. The northern lights are weird and bright, but they belong to midwinter, and they come from electric disturbances, and portend rough weather afterwards. Sunshine is silent, steadfast, pure. Better to walk in that light than to be led astray by fantastic and perishable splendours. Rejoice in the Lord always.'

III. Lastly, Such Gladness Is An Important Part Of Christian Duty.

As I have said, the urgency of the command indicates both its importance and its difficulty. It is important that professing Christians should be glad Christians (with the joy that is drawn from Jesus Christ, of course, I mean), because they thereby become walking advertisements and living witnesses for Him. A gloomy, melancholy, professing Christian is a poor recommendation of his faith. If you want to adorn the doctrine of Christ' you will do it a great deal more by a bright face, that speaks of a calm heart, calm because filled with Christ, than by many more ambitious efforts. This gladness is important because, without it, there will be little good work done, and little progress made. It is important, surely, for ourselves, for it can be no small matter that we should be able to have travelling with us all through the desert that mystical rock which follows with its streams of water, and ever provides for in the joys that we need. In every aspect, whether as regards men who take their notions of Christ and of Christianity, a great deal more from the concrete examples of both in human lives than from books and sermons, or from the Bible itself--or as regards the work which we have to do, or as regards our own inward life, it is all-important that we should have that close union with Jesus Christ which cannot but result in pure and holy gladness.

But the difficulty, as well as the importance, of the obligation, are expressed by the stringent repetition of the commandment,' And again I say, Rejoice.' when objections arise, when difficulties present themselves, I repeat the commandment again, in the teeth of them all; and I know what I mean when I am saying it. Thus, thought Paul, we need to make a definite effort to keep ourselves in touch with Jesus Christ, or else gladness, and a great deal besides, will fade away from our grasp.

And there are two things that you have to do if you would obey the commandment. The one is the direct effort at fostering and making continuous your fellowship with Jesus Christ, through your life; and the other is looking out for the bright bits in your life, and making sure that you do not sullenly and foolishly, perhaps with vain regrets after vanished blessings, or perhaps with vain murmurings about unattained good, obscure to your sight the mercies that you have, and so cheat yourselves of the occasions for thankfulness and joy. There are people who, if there be ever such a little bit. of a fleecy film of cloud low down on their horizon, can see nothing of the sparkling blue arch above them for looking at that, and who behave as if the whole sky was one roof of doleful grey. Do not you do that I There is always enough to be thankful for. Lay hold of Christ, and be sure that you open your eyes to His gifts.

Surely, dear friends, if there be offered to us, as there is, a gladness which is perfect in the two points in which all other gladness fails, it is wise for us to take it. The commonplace which all men believe, and most men neglect, is that nothing short of an infinite Person can fill a finite soul. And if we look for our joys anywhere but to Jesus Christ, there will always be some bit of our nature which, like the sulky elder brother in the parable, will scowl at the music and dancing, and refuse to come in. All earthly joys are transient as well as partial. Is it not better that we should have gladness that will last as long as we do, that we can hold in our dying hands, like a flower clasped in some cold palm laid in the coffin, that we shall find again when we have crossed the bar, that will grow and brighten and broaden for evermore? My joy shall remain full.

How To Obey An Impossible Injunction

Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.'--Phil. 4:6.

IT is easy for prosperous people, who have nothing to trouble them, to give good advices to suffering hearts; and these are generally as futile as they are easy. But who was he who here said to the Church at Philippi, Be careful for nothing?' A prisoner in a Roman prison; and when Rome fixed its claws it did not usually let go without drawing blood. He was expecting his trial, which might, so far as he knew, very probably end in death. Everything in the future was entirely dark and uncertain. It was this man, with all the pressure of personal sorrows weighing upon him, who, in the very crisis of his life, turned to his brethren in Philippi, who had far fewer causes of anxiety than he had, and cheerfully bade them be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, make their requests known unto God.' Had not that bird learned to sing when his cage was darkened? And do you not think that advice of that sort, coming not from some one perched up on a safe hillock to the strugglers in the field below, but from a man in the thick of the fight, would be like a trumpet-call to them who heard it?

Now, here are two things. There is an apparently perfectly impossible advice, and there is the only course that will make it possible.

I. An Apparently Impossible Advice.

Be careful for nothing.' I do not need to remind you--for I suppose that we all know it--that that word careful,' in a great many places in the New Testament, does not mean what, by the slow progress of change in the significance of words, it has come to mean to-day; but it means what it should still mean, , full of care,' and care' meant, not prudent provision, forethought, the occupation of a man's common-sense with his duty and his work and his circumstances, but it meant the thing which of all others unfits a man most for such prudent provision, and that is, the nervous irritation of a gnawing anxiety which, as the word in the original means, tears the heart apart and makes a man quite incapable of doing the wise thing, or seeing the wise thing to do, in the circumstances. We all know that; so that I do not need to dwell upon it. Careful' here means neither more nor less than' anxious.'

But I may just remind you how harm has been done, and good has been lost and missed, by people reading that modern meaning into the word. It is the same word which Christ employed in the exhortation Take no thought for to-morrow.' It is a great pity that Christian people sometimes get it into their heads that Christ prohibited what common-sense demands, and what everybody practises. Taking thought for the morrow' is not only our duty, but it is one of the distinctions which make us much better than' the fowls of the air, that have no barns in which to store against a day of need. But when our Lord said, Take no thought for the morrow,' he did not mean' Do not lay yourselves out to provide for common necessities and duties,' but' Do not fling yourselves into a fever of anxiety, nor be too anxious to anticipate the "fashion of uncertain evils."

But even with that explanation, is it not like an unreachable ideal that Paul puts forward here? Be anxious about nothing'--how can a man who has to face the possibilities that we all have to face, and who knows himself to be as weak to deal with them as we all are: how can he help being anxious? There is no more complete waste of breath than those sage and reverend advices which people give us, not to do the things, nor to feel the emotions, which our position make absolutely inevitable and almost involuntary. Here, for instance, is a man surrounded by all manner of calamity and misfortune; and some well-meaning but foolish friend comes to him, and, without giving him a single reason for the advice, says, Cheer up " my friend.' Why should he cheer up? What is there in his circumstances to induce him to fall into any other mood? Or some unquestionable peril is staring him full in the face, coming nearer and nearer to him, and some well-meaning, loose-tongued friend, says to him, Do not be afraid!'--but he ought to be afraid. That is about all that worldly wisdom and morality have to say to us, when we are in trouble and anxiety. Shut your eyes very hard, and make believe very much, and you will not fear.' An impossible exhortation! Just as well bid a ship in the Bay of Biscay not to rise and fall upon the wave, but to keep an even keel Just as well tell the willows in the river-bed that they are not to bend when the wind blows, as come to me, and say to me, Be careful about nothing.' Unless you have a great deal more than that to say, I must be, and I ought to be, anxious, about a great many things. Instead of anxiety being folly, it will be wisdom; and the folly will consist in not opening our eyes to facts, and in not feeling emotions that are appropriate to the facts which force themselves against our eyeballs. Threadbare maxims, stale, musty old commonplaces of unavailing consolation and impotent encouragement say to us, Do not be anxious:

We try to stiffen our nerves and muscles in order to bear the blow; or some of us, more basely still, get into a habit of feather-headed levity, making no forecasts, nor seeing even what is plainest before our eyes. But all that is of no use when once the hot pincers of real trouble, impending or arrived, lay hold of our hearts. Then of all idle expenditures of breath in the world there is none to the wrung heart more idle and more painful than the one that says, Be anxious about nothing.

II. So We Turn To The Only Course That Makes The Apparent Impossibility Possible.

Paul goes on to direct to the mode of feeling and action which will give exemption from the else inevitable gnawing of anxious forethought. He introduces his positive counsel with an eloquent But,' which implies that what follows is the sure preservative against the temper which he deprecates; But in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.'

There are, then, these alternatives. If you do not like to take the one, you are sure to have to take the other. There is only one way out of the wood, and it is this which Paul expands in these last words of my text. If a man does not pray about everything, he will be worried about most things. If he does pray about everything, he will not be troubled beyond what is good for him, about anything. So there are these alternatives; and we have to make up our minds which of the two we are going to take. The heart is never empty. If not full of God, it will be full of the world, and of worldly care. Luther says somewhere that a man's heart is like a couple of millstones; if you don't put something between them to grind, they will grind each other. It is because God is not in our hearts that the two stones rub the surface off one another. So the victorious antagonist of anxiety's trust, and the only way to turn gnawing cadre out of my heart and life is to usher God into it, and to keep him resolutely in it.

In everything.' If a thing is great enough to threaten to make me anxious, it is great enough for me to talk to God about. If He and I are on a friendly footing, the instinct` of friendship will make me speak. If so, how irrelevant and superficial seem to be discussions whether we ought to pray about worldly "things, or confine our prayers entirely to spiritual and religious matters. Why! if God and I are on terms of friendship and intimacy of communication, there will be no question as to what I am to talk about to Him; I shall not be able to keep silent as to anything that interests me. And we are not right with God unless we have come to the point that entire openness of speech marks our communications with Him, and that, as naturally as men, when they come home from business, like to tell their wives and children what has happened to them since they left home in the morning, so naturally we talk to our Friend about everything that concerns us. In everything let your requests be made known unto God.' That is the wise course, because a multitude of little pimples may be quite as painful and dangerous as a large ulcer. A cloud of gnats may put as much poison into a man with their many stings as will a snake with its one bite. And if we are not to get help from God by telling Him about little things, there will be very little of our lives that we shall tell Him about at all. For life is a mountain made up of minute flakes. The years are only a collection of seconds. Every man's life is an aggregate of trifles. In everything make your requests known.'

By prayer'--that does not mean, as a superficial experience of religion is apt to suppose it to mean, actual petition that follows. For a great many of us, the only notion that we have of prayer is asking God to give us something that we want. But there is a far higher region of communion than that, in which the soul seeks and finds, and sits and gazes, and aspiring possesses, and possessing aspires. Where there is no spoken petition for anything affecting outward life, there may be the prayer of contemplation such as the burning seraphs before the Throne do ever glow with. The prayer of silent submission, in which the will bows itself before God; the prayer of quiet trust, in which we do not so much seek as cleave; the prayer of still fruition--these, in Paul's conception of the true order, precede supplication. And if we have such union with God, by realising His presence, by aspiration after Himself, by trusting Him and submission to Him, then we have the victorious antagonist of all our anxieties, and the cares that infest the day shall-fold their tents and silently steal away. For if a man has that union with God which is effected by such prayer as I have been speaking about, it gives him a fixed point on which to rest amidst all perturbations. It is like bringing a light into a chamber when thunder is growling outside, which prevents the flashing of the lightning from being seen.

Years ago an ingenious inventor tried to build a vessel in such a fashion as that the saloon for passengers should remain upon one level, howsoever the hull might be tossed by waves. It was a failure, if I remember rightly. But if we are thus joined to God, He will do for our inmost hearts what the inventor tried to do with the chamber within his ship.

The hull may be buffeted, but the inmost chamber where the true self sits will be kept level and unmoved. Brethren! prayer in the highest sense, by which I mean the exercise of aspiration, trust, submission--prayer will fight against and overcome all anxieties.

By prayer and supplication.' Actual petition for the supply of present wants is meant by supplication.' To ask for that supply will very often be to get it. To tell God what I think I need goes a long way always to bringing me the gift that I do need. If I have an anxiety which I am ashamed to speak to Him, that silence is a sign that I ought not to have it and if I have a desire that I do not feel I can put into a prayer, that feeling is a warning to me not to cherish such a desire. There are many vague and oppressive anxieties that come and cast a shadow over our hearts, that if we could once define, and put into plain words, we should find that we vaguely fancied them a great deal larger -- than they were, and that the shadow they flung was immensely longer than the thing that flung it. Put your anxieties into definite speech. It will reduce their proportions to your own apprehension very often. Speaking them, even to a man who may be able to do: little to help, eases them wonderfully. Put them into definite speech to God; and there are very few of them that will survive. By prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.' That thanksgiving is always in place. If one only considers what he has from God, and realises that whatever he has he has received from the hands of divine love, thanksgiving is appropriate in any circumstances. Do you remember when Paul was in gaol at the very city to which this letter went, with his back bloody with the rod, and his feet fast in the stocks, how then he and Silas prayed and sang praises to God.' Therefore the obedient earthquake came and set them loose. Perhaps it was some reminiscence of that night which moved him to say to the Church that knew the story--of .which perhaps the gaoler was still a member--By prayer and supplication with thanks-giving make your requests known unto God.'

One aching nerve can monopolise our attention and make us unconscious of the health of all the rest of the body. So, a single sorrow or loss obscures many mercies We are like men who live in a narrow alley in some city, with great buildings on either side, towering high above their heads, and only a strip of sky visible. If we see up in that strip a cloud, we complain and behave as if the whole heavens, right away round the three hundred and sixty degrees of the horizon, were black with tempest. But we see only a little strip, and there is a great deal of blue in the sky; however, there may be a cloud in the patch that we see above our heads, from the alley where we live. Everything, rightly understood, that God sends to men is a cause of thanksgiving; therefore, in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.'

Casting all your anxieties upon him,' says Peter, for He'--not is anxious; that dark cloud does not rise much above the earth--but,' He careth for you.' And that loving guardianship and tender care is the one shield, armed with which we can smile at the poisoned darts of anxiety which would else fester in our hearts and, perhaps, kill. Be careful for nothing' an impossibility unless in everything' we make our request known unto God.'

The Warrior Peace

The peace of God which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.'--Phil. 4:7.

THE great Mosque of Constantinople was once a Christian church, dedicated to the Holy Wisdom. Over its western portal may still be read, graven on a brazen plate, the words, Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.' For four hundred years noisy crowds have fought, and sorrowed, and fretted, beneath the dim inscription in an unknown tongue; and no eye has looked at it, nor any heart responded. It is but too sad a symbol of the reception which Christ's offers meet amongst men, and--blessed be His name!--its prominence there, though unread and unbelieved, is a symbol of the patient forbearance with which rejected blessings are once and again pressed upon us, and He stretches out His hand though no man regards, and calls though none do hear. My text is Christ's offer of peace. The world offers excitement, Christ promises repose.

I. Mark, Then, First, This Peace Of God.

What is it? What are its elements? Whence does it come? It is of God, as being its Source, or Origin, or Author, or Giver, but it belongs to Him in a yet deeper sense, for Himself is Peace. And in some humble but yet real fashion our restless and anxious hearts may partake in the divine tranquillity, and with a calm repose, kindred with that rest from which it is derived, may enter into His rest.

If that be too high a flight, at all events the peace that may be ours was Christ's, in the perfect and unbroken tranquillity of His perfect Manhood. What, then, are its elements? The peace of God must, first of all, be peace with God. Conscious friendship with Him is indispensable to all true tranquillity. Where that is absent there may be the ignoring of the disturbed relationship; but there will be no peace of heart. The indispensable requisite is a conscience like a sea at rest.' Unless we have made sure work of our relationship with God, and know that He and we are friends, there is no real repose possible for us. In the whirl of excitement we may forget, and for a time turn away from, the realities of our relation to Him, and so get such gladness as is possible to a life not rooted in conscious friendship with Him. But such lives will be like some of those sunny islands in the Eastern Pacific, extinct volcanoes, where nature smiles and all things are prodigal and life is easy and luxuriant; but some day the clouds gather, and the earth shakes, and fire pours forth, and the sea boils, and every living thing dies, and darkness and desolation come. You are living, brother, upon a volcano's side, unless the roots of your being are fixed in a God who is your friend.

Again, the peace of God is peace within ourselves. The unrest of human life comes largely from our being torn asunder by contending impulses. Conscience pulls this way, passion that. Desire says, Do this'; reason, judgment, prudence say, It is at your peril if you do!' One desire fights against another, and so the man is rent asunder. There must be the harmonising of all the Being if there is to be real rest of spirit. No longer must it be like the chaos ere the creative word was spoken, where, in gloom, contending elements strove.

Again, men have not peace, because in most of them everything is topmost that ought to be undermost, and everything undermost that ought to be uppermost. Beggars are on horseback' (and we know where they ride), and princes walking.' The more regal part of the man's nature is suppressed, and trodden under foot; and the servile parts, which ought to be under firm restraint, and guided by a wise hand, are too often supreme, and wild work comes of that. When you put the captain and the officers, and everybody on board that knows anything about navigation, into irons, and fasten down the hatches on them, and let the crew and the cabin boys take the helm and direct the ship, it is not likely that the voyage will end anywhere but on the rocks. Multitudes are living lives of unrestfulness, simply because they have set the lowest parts of their nature upon the throne, and subordinated the highest to these.

Our unrest comes from yet another source. We have not peace, because we have not found and grasped the true objects for any of our faculties. God is the only possession that brings quiet. The heart hungers until it feeds upon Him. The mind is satisfied with no truth until behind truth it finds a Person who is true. The will is enslaved and wretched until in God it recognises legitimate and absolute authority, which it is blessing to obey. Love puts out its yearnings, like the filaments that gossamer spiders send out into the air, seeking in vain for something to fasten upon, until it touches God, and clings there. There is no rest for a man until he rests in God. The reason why this world is so full of excitement is because it is so empty of peace, and the reason why it is so empty of peace is because it is so void of God. The peace of God brings peace with Him, and peace within. It unites our hearts to fear His name, and draws all the else turbulent and confusedly flowing impulses of the great deep of the spirit after itself, in a tidal wave, as the moon draws the waters of the gathered ocean. The peace of God is peace with Him, and peace within.

I need not, I suppose, do more than say one word about that descriptive clause in my text, It passeth understanding.' The understanding is not the faculty by which men lay hold of the peace of God any more than you can see a picture with your ears or hear music with your eyes. To everything its own organ; you cannot weigh truth in a tradesman's scales or measure thought with a yard-stick. Love is not the instrument for apprehending Euclid, nor the brain the instrument for grasping these divine and spiritual gifts. The peace of God transcends the understanding, as well as belongs to another order of things than that about which the understanding is concerned. You must experience it to know it; you must have it in order that you may feel its sweetness. It eludes the grasp of the wisest, though it yields itself to the patient and loving heart.

II. So Notice, In The Next Place, What The Peace Of God Does.

It' shall keep your hearts and minds.' The Apostle here blends together, in a very remarkable manner, the conceptions of peace and of war, for he employs a purely military word to express the office of this Divine peace. That word, shall keep,' is the same as is translated in another of his letters kept with a garrison--and, though, perhaps, it might be going too far to insist that the military idea is prominent in his mind, it will certainly not be unsafe to recognise its presence.

So, then, this Divine peace takes upon itself warlike functions, and garrisons the heart and mind. What does he mean by the heart and mind'? Not, as the English reader might suppose, two different faculties, the emotional and the intellectual--which is what we usually roughly mean by our distinction between heart and mind--but, as is always the case in the Bible, the heart' means the whole inner man, whether considered as thinking, willing, purposing, or doing any other inward act; and the word rendered mind' does not mean another part of human nature, but the whole products of the operations of the heart. The Revised Version renders it by thoughts,' and that is correct if it be given a wide enough application, so as to include emotions, affections, purposes, as well as thoughts' in the narrower sense. The whole inner man, in all the extent of its manifold operations, that indwelling peace of God will garrison and guard.

So note, however profound and real that Divine peace is, it is to be enjoyed in the midst of warfare. Quiet is not quiescence. God's peace is not torpor. The man that has it has still to wage continual conflict, and day by day to brace himself anew for the fight. The highest energy of action is the result of the deepest calm of heart; just as the motion of this solid, and, as we feel it to be, immovable world, is far more rapid through the abysses of space, and on its own axis, than any of the motions of the things on its surface. So the quiet heart,' which moveth altogether if it move at all,' rests whilst it moves, and moves the more swiftly because of its unbroken repose. That peace of God, which is peace militant, is unbroken amidst all conflicts. The wise old Greeks chose for the protectress of Athens the goddess of Wisdom, and whilst they consecrated to her the olive branch, which is the symbol of peace, they set her image on the Parthenon, helmed and spear-bearing, to defend the peace, which she brought to earth. So this heavenly Virgin, whom the Apostle personifies here, is the winged sentry, all skilful in the wars,' who enters into our hearts and fights for us to keep us in unbroken peace.

It is possible day by day to go out to toll and care and anxiety and change and suffering and conflict, and yet to bear within our hearts the unalterable rest of God. Deep in the bosom of the ocean, beneath the region where winds howl and billows break, there is calm, but the calm is not stagnation. Each drop from these fathomless abysses may be raised to the surface by the power of the sunbeams, expanded there by their heat, and sent on some beneficent message across the world. So, deep in our hearts, beneath the storm, beneath the raving winds and the curling waves, there may be a central repose, as unlike stagnation as it is unlike tumult; and the peace of God may, as a warrior, keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

What is the plain English of that metaphor? Just this, that a man who has that peace as his conscious possession is lifted above the temptations that otherwise would drag him away. The full cup, filled with precious wine, has no room in it for the poison that otherwise might be poured in. As Jesus Christ has taught us, there is such a thing as cleansing a heart in some measure, and yet because it is empty,' though it is swept and garnished,' the demons come back again. The best way to be made strong to resist temptation, is to be lifted above feeling it to be a temptation, by reason of the sweetness of the peace possessed. Oh! if our hearts were filled, as they might be filled, with that divine repose, do you think that the vulgar, coarse-tasting baits which make our mouths water now would have any power over us? Will a man who bears in his hands jewels of priceless value, and knows them to be such, find much temptation when some imitation stone, made of coloured glass and a tinfoil backing, is presented to him? Will the world draw us away if we are rooted and grounded in the peace of God. Geologists tell us that climates are changed and creatures are killed by the slow variation of level in the earth. If you and I can only heave our lives up high enough, the foul things that live down below will find the air too pure and keen for them, and will die and disappear; and all the vermin that stung and nestled down in the fiats will be gone when we get up to the heights. The peace of God will keep our hearts and thoughts.

III. Now, Lastly, Notice How We Get The Peace Of God.

My text is an exuberant promise, but it is knit on to something before, by that and' at the beginning of the verse. It is a promise, as all God's promises are, on conditions. And here are the conditions. Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.' That defines the conditions in part; and the last words of the text itself complete the definition. In Christ Jesus' describes, not so much where we are to be kept, as a condition under which we shall be kept. How, then, can I get this peace into my turbulent, changeful life?

I answer, first, trust is peace. It is always so; even when it is misplaced we are at rest. The condition of repose for the human heart is that we shall be in Christ,' who has said, In the world ye shall have tribulation, but in Me ye shall have peace.' And how may I be' in Him'? Simply by trusting myself to Him. That brings peace with God.

The sinless Son of God has died on the Cross, a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, for yours and for mine. Let us trust to that, and we shall have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. And in Him' we have, by trust, inward peace, for He, through our faith, controls our whole natures, and Faith leads the lion in a silken leash, like Spenser's Una. Trust in Christ brings peace amid outward sorrows and conflicts. When the pilot comes on board the captain does not leave the bridge, but stands by the pilot's side. His responsibility is past, but his duties are not over. And when Christ comes into my heart, my effort, my judgment, are not made unnecessary, or put on one side. Let Him take the command, and stand beside Him, and carry out His orders, and you will find rest to your souls.

Again, submission is peace. What makes our troubles is not outward circumstances, howsoever afflictive they may be, but the resistance of our spirits to the circumstances. And where a man's will bends and says,' Not mine but Thine be done,' there is calm. Submission is like the lotion that is applied to mosquito bites--lt. takes away the irritation, though the puncture be left. Submission is peace, both as resignation and as obedience.

Communion is peace. You will get no quiet until you live with God. Until He is at your side you will always be moved.

So, dear friend, fix this in your minds: a life without Christ is a life without peace. Without Him you may have excitement, pleasure, gratified passions, success, accomplished hopes, but peace never! You never have had it, have you? If you live without Him, you may fo

MHCC: Phi 4:2-9

Let believers be of one mind, and ready to help each other. As the apostle had found the benefit of their assistance, he knew how comfortable it would be to his fellow-labourers to have the help of others. Let us seek to give assurance that our names are written in the book of life. Joy in God is of great consequence in the Christian life; and Christians need to be again and again called to it. It more than outweighs all causes for sorrow. Let their enemies perceive how moderate they were as to outward things, and how composedly they suffered loss and hardships. The day of judgment will soon arrive, with full redemption to believers, and destruction to ungodly men. There is a care of diligence which is our duty, and agrees with a wise forecast and due concern; but there is a care of fear and distrust, which is sin and folly, and only perplexes and distracts the mind. As a remedy against perplexing care, constant prayer is recommended. Not only stated times for prayer, but in every thing by prayer. We must join thanksgivings with prayers and supplications; not only seek supplies of good, but own the mercies we have received. God needs not to be told our wants or desires; he knows them better than we do; but he will have us show that we value the mercy, and feel our dependence on him. The peace of God, the comfortable sense of being reconciled to God, and having a part in his favour, and the hope of the heavenly blessedness, are a greater good than can be fully expressed. This peace will keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus; it will keep us from sinning under troubles, and from sinking under them; keep us calm and with inward satisfaction. Believers are to get and to keep a good name; a name for good things with God and good men. We should walk in all the ways of virtue, and abide therein; then, whether our praise is of men or not, it will be of God. The apostle is for an example. His doctrine and life agreed together. The way to have the God of peace with us, is to keep close to our duty. All our privileges and salvation arise in the free mercy of God; yet the enjoyment of them depends on our sincere and holy conduct. These are works of God, pertaining to God, and to him only are they to be ascribed, and to no other, neither men, words, nor deeds.

Matthew Henry: Phi 4:1-9

The apostle begins the chapter with exhortations to divers Christian duties.

I. To stedfastness in our Christian profession, Phi 4:1. It is inferred from the close of the foregoing chapter: Therefore stand fast, etc. Seeing our conversation is in heaven, and we look for the Saviour to come thence and fetch us thither, therefore let us stand fast. Note, The believing hope and prospect of eternal life should engage us to be steady, even, and constant, in our Christian course. Observe here,

1. The compellations are very endearing: My brethren, dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown; and again, My dearly beloved. Thus he expresses the pleasure he took in them, the kindness he had for them, to convey his exhortations to them with so much the greater advantage. He looked upon them as his brethren, though he was a great apostle. All we are brethren. There is difference of gifts, graces, and attainments, yet, being renewed by the same Spirit, after the same image, we are brethren; as the children of the same parents, though of different ages, statures, and complexions. Being brethren, (1.) He loved them, and loved them dearly: Dearly beloved; and again, My dearly beloved. Warm affections become ministers and Christians towards one another. Brotherly love must always go along with brotherly relation. (2.) He loved them and longed for them, longed to see them and hear from them, longed for their welfare and was earnestly desirous of it. I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ, Phi 1:8. (3.) He loved them and rejoiced in them. They were his joy; he had no greater joy than to hear of their spiritual health and prosperity. I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in the truth, 2Jo 1:4; 3Jo 1:4. (4.) he loved them and gloried in them. They were his crown as well as his joy. Never was proud ambitious man more pleased with the ensigns of honour than Paul was with the evidences of the sincerity of their faith and obedience. All this is to prepare his way to greater regard.

2. The exhortation itself: So stand fast in the Lord. Being in Christ, they must stand fast in him, be even and steady in their walk with him, and close and constant unto the end. Or, To stand fast in the Lord is to stand fast in his strength and by his grace; not trusting in ourselves, and disclaiming any sufficiency of our own. We must be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might, Eph 6:10. "So stand fast, so as you have done hitherto, stand fast unto the end, so as you are by beloved, and my joy and crown; so stand fast as those in whose welfare and perseverance I am so nearly interested and concerned."

II. He exhorts them to unanimity and mutual assistance (Phi 4:2, Phi 4:3): I beseech Euodias and Syntyche that they be of the same mind in the Lord. This is directed to some particular persons. Sometimes there is need of applying the general precepts of the gospel to particular persons and cases. Euodias and Syntyche, it seems, were at variance, either one with the other or with the church; either upon a civil account (it may be they were engaged in a law-suit) or upon a religious account - it may be they were of different opinions and sentiments. "Pray,"says he, "desire them from me to be of the same mind in the Lord, to keep the peace and live in love, to be of the same mind one with another, not thwarting and contradicting, and to be of the same mind with the rest of the church, not acting in opposition to them."Then he exhorts to mutual assistance (Phi 4:3), and this exhortation he directs to particular persons: I entreat thee also, true yoke-fellow. Who this person was whom he calls true yoke-fellow is uncertain. Some think Epaphroditus, who is supposed to have been one of the pastors of the church of the Philippians. Others think it was some eminently good woman, perhaps Paul's wife, because he exhorts his yoke-fellow to help the women who laboured with him. Whoever was the yoke-fellow with the apostle must be a yoke-fellow too with his friends. It seems, there were women who laboured with Paul in the gospel; not in the public ministry (for the apostle expressly forbids that, 1Ti 2:12, I suffer not a woman to teach ), but by entertaining the ministers, visiting the sick, instructing the ignorant, convincing the erroneous. Thus women may be helpful to ministers in the work of the gospel. Now, says the apostle, do thou help them. Those who help others should be helped themselves when there is occasion. " Help them, that is, join with them, strengthen their hands, encourage them in their difficulties."- With Clement also, and other my fellow-labourers. Paul had a kindness for all his fellow-labourers; and, as he had found the benefit of their assistance, he concluded how comfortable it would be to them to have the assistance of others. Of his fellow-labourers he says, Whose names are in the book of life; either they were chosen of God from all eternity, or registered and enrolled in the corporation and society to which the privilege of eternal life belongs, alluding to the custom among the Jews and Gentiles of registering the inhabitants or the freemen of the city. So we read of their names being written in heaven (Luk 10:20), not blotting his name out of the book of life (Rev 3:5), and of those who are written in the Lamb's book of life, Rev 21:27. Observe, There is a book of life; there are names in that book and not characters and conditions only. We cannot search into that book, or know whose names are written there; but we may, in a judgment of charity, conclude that those who labour in the gospel, and are faithful to the interest of Christ and souls, have their names in the book of life.

III. He exhorts to holy joy and delight in God: Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, Rejoice, Phi 4:4. All our joy must terminate in God; and our thoughts of God must be delightful thoughts. Delight thyself in the Lord (Psa 37:4), in the multitude of our thoughts within us (grievous and afflicting thoughts) his comforts delight our souls (Psa 94:19), and our meditation of him is sweet, Psa 104:34. Observe, It is our duty and privilege to rejoice in God, and to rejoice in him always; at all times, in all conditions; even when we suffer for him, or are afflicted by him. We must not think the worse of him or of his ways for the hardships we meet with in his service. There is enough in God to furnish us with matter of joy in the worst circumstance on earth. He had said it before (Phi 3:1): Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. Here he says it again, Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say Rejoice. Joy in God is a duty of great consequence in the Christian life; and Christians need to be again and again called to it. If good men have not a continual feast, it is their own fault.

IV. We are here exhorted to candour and gentleness, and good temper towards our brethren: " Let your moderation be known to all men, Phi 4:5. In things indifferent do not run into extremes; avoid bigotry and animosity; judge charitably concerning one another."The word to epieikes signifies a good disposition towards other men; and this moderation is explained, Rom. 14. Some understand it of the patient bearing of afflictions, or the sober enjoyment of worldly good; and so it well agrees with the following verse. The reason is, the Lord is at hand. The consideration of our Master's approach, and our final account, should keep us from smiting our fellow-servants, support us under present sufferings, and moderate our affections to outward good. "He will take vengeance on your enemies, and reward your patience."

V. Here is a caution against disquieting perplexing care (Phi 4:6): Be careful for nothing - mēden merimnate : the same expression with that Mat 6:25, Take no thought for your life; that is, avoid anxious care and distracting thought in the wants and difficulties of life. Observe, It is the duty and interest of Christians to live without care. There is a care of diligence which is our duty, and consists in a wise forecast and due concern; but there is a care of diffidence and distrust which is our sin and folly, and which only perplexes and distracts the mind. " Be careful for nothing, so as by your care to distrust God, and unfit yourselves for his service."

VI. As a sovereign antidote against perplexing care he recommends to us constant prayer: In every thing by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Observe, 1. We must not only keep up stated times for prayer, but we must pray upon every particular emergency: In every thing by prayer. When any thing burdens our spirits, we must ease our minds by prayer; when our affairs are perplexed or distressed, we must seek direction and support. 2. We must join thanksgiving with our prayers and supplications. We must not only seek supplies of good, but own receipts of mercy. Grateful acknowledgments of what we have argue a right disposition of mind, and are prevailing motives for further blessings. 3. Prayer is the offering up of our desires to God, or making them known to him: Let your requests be made known to God. Not that God needs to be told either our wants or desires; for he knows them better than we can tell him: but he will know them from us, and have us show our regards and concern, express our value of the mercy and sense of our dependence on him. 4. The effect of this will be the peace of God keeping our hearts, Phi 4:7. The peace of God, that is, the comfortable sense of our reconciliation to God and interest in his favour, and the hope of the heavenly blessedness, and enjoyment of God hereafter, which passeth all understanding, is a great good than can be sufficiently valued or duly expressed. It has not entered into the heart of ham, 1Co 2:9. This peace will keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus; it will keep us from sinning under our troubles, and from sinking under them; keep us calm and sedate, without discomposure of passion, and with inward satisfaction. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee, Isa 26:3.

VII. We are exhorted to get and keep a good name, a name for good things with God and good men: Whatsoever things are true and honest (Phi 4:8), a regard to truth in our words and engagements, and to decency and becomingness in our behaviour, suitable to our circumstances and condition of life. Whatsoever things are just and pure, - agreeable to the rules of justice and righteousness in all our dealings with men, and without the impurity or mixture of sin. Whatsoever things are lovely and of good report, that is, amiable; that will render us beloved, and make us well spoken of, as well as well thought of, by others. If there is any virtue, if there is any praise - any thing really virtuous of any kind and worthy of commendation. Observe, 1. The apostle would have the Christians learn any thing which was good of their heathen neighbours: " If there be any virtue, think of these things - imitate them in what is truly excellent among them, and let not them outdo you in any instance of goodness."We should not be ashamed to learn any good thing of bad men, or those who have not our advantages. 2. Virtue has its praise, and will have. We should walk in all the ways of virtue, and abide therein; and then, whether our praise be of men or no, it will be of God, Rom 2:29.

In these things he proposes himself to them for an example (Phi 4:9): Those things which you have learned, and received, and heard and seen in me, do. Observe, Paul's doctrine and life were of a piece. What they saw in him was the same thing with what they heard from him. He could propose himself as well as his doctrine to their imitation. It gives a great force to what we say to others when we can appeal to what they have seen in us. And this is the way to have the God of peace with us - to keep close to our duty to him. The Lord is with us while we are with him.

Barclay: Phi 4:8-9

The human mind will always set itself on something and Paul wished to be quite sure that the Philippians would set their minds on the right things. This is something of the utmost importance, because it is a law of life that, if a man thinks of something often enough, he will come to the stage when he cannot stop thinking about it. His thoughts will be quite literally in a groove out of which he cannot jerk them. It is, therefore, of the first importance that a man should set his thoughts upon the fine things and here Paul makes a list of them.

There are the things which are true. Many things in this world are deceptive and illusory, promising what they can never perform, offering a specious peace and happiness which they can never supply. A man should always set his thoughts on the things which will not let him down.

There are the things which are, as the King James Version has it, honest. This is an archaic use of honest in the sense of honourable, as the Revised Standard Version translates it. The King James Version suggests in the margin venerable. The English Revised Version has honourable and suggests in the margin reverend Moffatt has worthy.

It can be seen from all this that the Greek (semnos, 4586) is difficult to translate. It is the word which is characteristically used of the gods and of the temples of the gods. When used to describe a man, it describes a person who, as it has been said, moves throughout the world as if it were the temple of God. Matthew Arnold suggested the translation nobly serious. But the word really describes that which has the dignity of holiness upon it. There are things in this world which are flippant and cheap and attractive to the light-minded; but it is on the things which are serious and dignified that the Christian will set his mind.

There are the things which are just. The word is dikaios (1342), and the Greeks defined the man who is dikaios (1342) as he who gives to gods and men what is their due. In other words, dikaios (1342) is the word of duty faced and duty done. There are those who set their minds on pleasure, comfort and easy ways. The Christian's thoughts are on duty to man and duty to God.

There are the things which are pure. The word is hagnos (53) and describes what is morally undefiled. When it is used ceremonially, it describes that which has been so cleansed that it is fit to be brought into the presence of God and used in his service. This world is full of things which are sordid and shabby and soiled and smutty. Many a man gets his mind into such a state that it soils everything of which it thinks. The Christian's mind is set on the things which are pure; his thoughts are so clean that they can stand even the scrutiny of God.

There are the things which the King James Version and the Revised Standard call lovely. Moffatt translates attractive. Winsome is the best translation of all. The Greek is prosphiles (4375), and it might be paraphrased as that which calls forth love. There are those whose minds are so set on vengeance and punishment that they call forth bitterness and fear in others. There are those whose minds are so set on criticism and rebuke that they call forth resentment in others. The mind of the Christian is set on the lovely things--kindness, sympathy, forbearance--so he is a winsome person, whom to see is to love.

There are the things which are, as the King James Version has it, of good report. In the margin the English Revised Version suggests gracious. Moffatt has high-toned. The Revised Standard Version has gracious. C. Kingsley Williams has whatever has a good name. It is not easy to get at the meaning of this word (euphema, 2163). It literally means fair-speaking, but it was specially connected with the holy silence at the beginning of a sacrifice in the presence of the gods. It might not be going too far to say that it describes the things which are fit for God to hear. There are far too many ugly words and false words and impure words in this world. On the lips and in the mind of the Christian there should be only words which are fit for God to hear.

Paul goes on, if there be any virtue. Both Moffatt and the Revised Standard Version use excellence instead of virtue. The word is arete (703). The odd fact is that, although arete (703) was one of the great classical words, Paul usually seems deliberately to avoid it and this is the only time it occurs in his writings. In classical thought it described every kind of excellence. It could describe the excellence of the ground in a field, the excellence of a tool for its purpose, the physical excellence of an animal, the excellence of the courage of a soldier, and the virtue of a man. Lightfoot suggests that with this word Paul calls in as an ally all that was excellent in the pagan background of his friends. It is as if he were saying, "If the old pagan idea of excellence, in which you were brought up, has any influence over you--think of that. Think of your past life at its very highest, to spur you on to the new heights of the Christian way." The world has its impurities and its degradations but it has also its nobilities and its chivalries, and it is of the high things that the Christian must think.

Finally Paul says, if there be any praise. In one sense it is true that the Christian never thinks of the praise of men, but in another sense it is true that every good man is uplifted by the praise of good men. So Paul says that the Christian will live in such a way that he will neither conceitedly desire nor foolishly despise the praise of men.

Barclay: Phi 4:8-9

In this passage Paul lays down the way of true teaching.

He speaks of the things which the Philippians have learned. These are the things in which he personally instructed them. This stands for the personal interpretation of the gospel which Paul brought to them. He speaks of the things which the Philippians have received. The word is paralambanein (3880) which characteristically means to accept a fixed tradition. This then stands for the accepted teaching of the Church which Paul had handed on to them.

From these two words we learn that teaching consists of two things. It consists of handing on to men the accepted body of truth and doctrine which the whole Church holds; and it consists of illuminating that body of doctrine by the personal interpretation and instruction of the teacher. If we would teach or preach we must know the accepted body of the Church's doctrine; and then we must pass it through our own minds and hand it on to others, both in its own simplicity and in the significances which our own experiences and our own thinking have given to it.

Paul goes further than that. He tells the Philippians to copy what they have heard and seen in himself. Tragically few teachers and preachers can speak like that; and yet it remains true that personal example is an essential part of teaching. The teacher must demonstrate in action the truth which he expresses in words.

Finally, Paul tells his Philippian friends that, if they faithfully do all this, the God of peace will be with them. It is of great interest to study Paul's titles for God.

(i) He is the God of peace. This, in fact, is his favourite title for God (Rom 16:20; 1Co 14:33; 1Th 5:23). To a Jew peace was never merely a negative thing, never merely the absence of trouble. It was everything which makes for a man's highest good. Only in the friendship of God can a man find life as it was meant to be. But also to a Jew this peace issued specially in right relationships. It is only by the grace of God that we can enter into a right relationship with him and with our fellow-men. The God of peace is able to make life what it was meant to be by enabling us to enter into fellowship with himself and with our fellow-men.

(ii) He is the God of hope (Rom 15:13). Belief in God is the only thing which can keep a man from the ultimate despair. Only the sense of the grace of God can keep him from despairing about himself; and only the sense of the over-ruling providence of God can keep him from despairing about the world. The Psalmist sang: "Why are you cast down, 0 my soul?... Hope in God: for I shall again praise him, my help and my God" (Psa 42:11; Psa 43:5). F. W. Faber wrote:

For right is right, since God is God,

And right the day must win;

To doubt would be disloyalty,

To falter would be sin.

The hope of the Christian is indestructible because it is founded on the eternal God.

(iii) He is the God of patience, of comfort, and of consolation (Rom 15:5; 2Co 1:3). Here we have two great words. Patience is in Greek hupomone (5281), which never means simply the ability to sit down and bear things but the ability to rise up and conquer them. God is he who gives us the power to use any experience to lend greatness and glory to life. God is, he in whom we learn to use joy and sorrow, success and failure, achievement and disappointment alike, to enrich and to ennoble life, to make us more useful to others and to bring us nearer to himself. Consolation and comfort are the same Greek word paraklesis (3874). Paraklesis is far more than soothing sympathy; it is encouragement. It is the help which not only puts an arm round a man but sends him out to face the world; it not only wipes away the tears but enables him to face the world with steady eyes. Paraklesis (3874) is comfort and strength combined. God is he in whom any situation becomes our glory and in whom a man finds strength to go on gallantly when life has fallen in.

(iv) He is the God of love and peace (2Co 13:11). Here we are at the heart of the matter. Behind everything is that love of God which will never let us go, which bears with all our sinning, which will never cast us off, which never sentimentally weakens but always manfully strengthens a man for the battle of life.

Peace, hope, patience, comfort, love--these were the things which Paul found in God. Indeed "our sufficiency is from God" (2Co 3:5).

Constable: Phi 1:27--4:10

III. Partnership in the gospel 1:27--4:9

Paul had been saying he hoped to be able to revisit Philippi and to minister to his original readers again in person. However, he was not sure that he could do that. This uncertain state of affairs led him to exhort them now that he had the opportunity. Whether he came to them or not, their duty was the same. In the following verses he emphasized the importance of certain qualities essential to conduct worthy of the Lord. He did this so his readers would perceive the importance of these traits and give them proper attention.

Constable: Phi 4:2-9

C. Specific duties 4:2-9

This last section (4:2-9) of the body of the epistle (1:27-4:9) deals with the same two subjects as the preceding two sections, unity and steadfastness, but in more detail. Paul gave his readers specific instructions about what they should do. Unity needed restoring, and tranquillity needed maintaining.

Constable: Phi 4:4-9

2. Maintaining tranquillity 4:4-9

Paul gave his readers five other brief positive exhortations all of which are vitally important for individual and corporate Christian living. They all result in the maintenance of peace in the body so the saints can work together effectively as partners in the gospel even in the midst of opposing unbelievers.

4:4 Rejoicing in Christ is something the apostle had commanded earlier (3:1) and had illustrated abundantly for his readers throughout this epistle. He must have felt that there was a great need for this attitude in Philippi. There were many reasons the Philippian saints could have felt discouraged. Paul's imprisonment and the possibility of his death, Epaphroditus' illness, and the antagonism of unbelievers were a few. The attacks from legalists on the one hand and libertines on the other plus friction among certain members of the church contributed to this spirit. To counteract this attitude Paul prescribed rejoicing in the Lord. He repeated this charge in this verse for even greater emphasis.

Paul was not urging us to be unrealistic. He was not saying that we should never feel sad. Even Jesus wept (John 11:35). However, he was advocating focusing on the blessings we have in Christ and being grateful for these regardless of how sad we may feel at any particular time.¹⁵¹

"The truly godly person both longs for God's presence, where one pours out his or her heart to God in joy, prayer, and thanksgiving, and lives in God's presence by doing' the righteousness of God. Otherwise piety is merely religion, not devotion."¹⁵²

4:5 We should also demonstrate forbearance (Gr. epieikes) to everyone, saved and unsaved alike. The Greek word contains connotations of gentleness, yielding, kindness, patience, forbearance, leniency, and magnaminity. It recalls Jesus Christ's humility in 2:5-11. The forbearing person does not insist on his or her own rights or privileges. He or she is considerate and gentle toward others. Of course, there is a time to stand for what is right. The forbearing person is not spineless but selfless.

In this connection Paul reminded his readers of the imminence of the Lord's return at the Rapture. When He comes, He will right wrongs and vindicate those who have given up their rights for the glory of God and the welfare of others (cf. 3:20-21; James 5:8).

"The Apostle is not speaking of the nearness of the Lord in his abiding presence with us, but of the imminence of his coming."¹⁵³

"In all we do we must always remember that the Lord may return at any time. His coming is always at hand, yes, but we do not know when, and so we must always live in the realisation that he is coming."¹⁵⁴

"At any moment they may have to answer for their conduct."¹⁵⁵

"In light of the concept of the imminent coming of Christ and the fact that the New Testament does teach His imminent coming, we can conclude that the Pretribulation Rapture view is the only view of the Rapture of the church that comfortably fits the New Testament teaching of the imminent coming of Christ. It is the only view that can honestly say that Christ could return at any moment, because it alone teaches that Christ will come to rapture the church before the 70th week of Daniel 9 or the Tribulation period begins and that nothing else must happen before His return."¹⁵⁶

4:6 Earlier Paul commended Timothy for being anxious over the welfare of the Philippians (2:20). Here he said we should not be anxious about anything. The same Greek word (merimnate) appears in both places. The resolution of this problem probably lies in viewing anxiety as concern that may become fretful and inappropriate if taken too far. Paul's point here was that rather than becoming distraught over a particular situation we should take it to the Lord in prayer (cf. Matt. 6:25-34). We should pray about everything that concerns us. Someone has said, "Why worry when you can pray?" Prayer needs to replace worry in the Christian's life.

Paul used several different words for prayer in this verse. "Prayer" (proseuche) is the most general term for our communications to God. "Supplication" (NASB) or "petition" (NIV, deesis) refers to requests for particular benefits. "Thanksgiving" (eucharistias) is grateful acknowledgment of past mercies. "Requests" (aitemata) looks at individual requests of God that form part of the whole prayer.¹⁵⁷ Paul offered strong encouragement to seek release from anxiety in prayer and more prayer.¹⁵⁸

"Lack of gratitude is the first step to idolatry (Rom 1:21)."¹⁵⁹

Howard Hendricks called verses 2-6 "a five-part recipe for conflict resolution: (1) Rejoice in the Lord,' that is, get beyond yourselves and look to the Lord. (2) Let your gentleness be evident to all.' In other words speak with kindness to each other. (3) Do not be anxious.' Relax, and give it all to God. (4) Be thankful.' The simple act of expressing gratitude for our blessings takes the heat out of infection. (5) Present your requests to God. Prayer realigns us and restores peace . . ."¹⁶⁰

4:7 Peace in the heart will follow praying about what concerns us. The phrase "the peace of God" occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. This is peace that comes from God rather than peace with God. It is a peace that comes to us when we pray because we enter into the tranquility of God's own presence. Those doing the praying are believers. This peace or release from tension is something that we cannot fully comprehend. Nevertheless this peace acts as a sentry to guard the believer's heart (personality) and mind (thoughts) under the sovereign influence of Christ Jesus.

"Together these words refer to the entire inner being of the Christian, his emotions, affections, thoughts and moral choices. This inner part of a person, then, so vulnerable to attack by the enemy, is that which God's peace is set, like battle-ready soldiers, to protect."¹⁶¹

Most of us have experienced lack of complete peace from time to time when we pray. Paul was not saying that we will feel absolutely at ease and relieved after we pray as he directed here. Still a measure of peace will be ours. At least we will have the confidence that we have laid the matter before the Lord and sought His aid.

Note that this verse does not promise peace as the indicator of God's will when we are praying about what we should do. Paul did not say that if we need to make a decision God will make His will known to us by giving us peace about the right choice. The promise of this verse is that if we pray rather than worry (v. 6) God will give us peace. Anxiety brings no peace, but praying does.

4:8 This "Finally" signals the last of the three imperatives that explain how to stand firm (v. 1; cf. vv. 2, 4). It also introduces Paul's next to the last exhortation in this list that deals with what the believer should spend his or her time thinking about. This subject obviously relates to prayer since both activities involve mental concentration.

"True" (alethe) means valid, honest, and reliable (cf. Rom. 3:4).

"Honorable" or "noble" (semna) means worthy of respect (cf. Prov. 8:6; 1 Tim. 3:8, 11; Titus 2:2).

"Right" (dikaia) refers to what is just and upright.

"Pure" (hagna) denotes cleanness and connotes moral purity.

"Lovely" (prosphile) means what is amiable, agreeable, or pleasing.

"In common parlance, this word could refer to a Beethoven symphony, as well as to the work of Mother Teresa among the poor of Calcutta; the former is lovely and enjoyable, the latter is admirable as well as moral."¹⁶²

"Of good repute" or "admirable" (euphema) refers to what is praiseworthy because it measures up to the highest standards.

Paul listed these virtues as contemporary moral philosophers of his day taught, namely by reciting catalogues of virtues and vices.¹⁶³

The conditional clause structure at the end of this sentence is a rhetorical device. It places the responsibility on the reader to make his or her own decision regarding what is excellent and praiseworthy.¹⁶⁴

". . . Paul seems to be drawing upon the cultural background of the Philippians and is saying to them: If there is such a thing as moral excellence, and you believe there is. If there is a kind of behavior that elicits universal approval, and you believe there is,' then continue to strive for this goodness and to attain to this level of behavior that will command the praise of men and of God."¹⁶⁵

4:9 Wholesome conduct (v. 9) should follow wholesome thinking (v. 8).

Paul organized his thoughts on this subject by constructing two pairs. The Philippians had learned and received many helpful lessons from Paul, their teacher. They had personally heard his verbal instructions and seen his individual example. They needed to put these things into practice, not just think about them and discuss them.

"It appears that he [Paul] was of the conviction that the truths of the Christian gospel must never be abstracted from action and put into high-toned words and phrases, but always expressed in the life of the teacher."¹⁶⁶

When they did so, the God of peace would be with them. Obviously God is always with His people (Matt. 28:20). Paul's phrase is a way of saying that they would experience God's presence by enjoying the peace that comes when we walk in fellowship with God. This was undoubtedly a play on words in view of verse 7. Both the peace of God and the God of peace guard the believer who is a partner in the work of the gospel.

In this section of collected exhortations (vv. 4-9) Paul urged five things. These are rejoicing in Christ always, being forbearing with all people, praying about difficult situations, thinking about wholesome subjects, and practicing apostolic teaching. These are fundamental revelations of God's will for all Christians that are especially relevant to our calling to proclaim the gospel.

The exhortation in verses 8-9 also concludes the main body of the epistle begun in 1:27. The reference to Paul's conduct in verse 9 ties back into 1:12-26.

"The body of the letter begins with a topic sentence in 1:27a. The Philippian Christians, to be perfected in their partnership for the gospel, were to conduct themselves worthy of the gospel. Specifically two things are in view--unity with one another and steadfastness against their opponents. They need not fear, for God will supply grace (1:27-30). Chapter 2 takes up the unity motif, and chapter 3, steadfastness. The main body of the epistle then concludes with a hortatory paragraph which again addresses the same two subjects. All this is freed from any topical loose ends' by the summarizing double conclusion of 4:8-9."¹⁶⁷

College: Phi 4:1-23

PHILIPPIANS 4

IX. EXHORTATIONS TO STEADFASTNESS, UNITY, PRAYER, AND PROPER THOUGHT (4:1-9)

A. STANDING FIRM (4:1)

¹ 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!

The NIV puts this verse with the end of chapter 3. Since it appears to be transitional in nature, it is debated whether it concludes the preceding section or introduces what follows. Perhaps it was meant to serve both functions, indicating the need to "stand firm" because of what being "in the Lord" meant and to "stand firm" in the ways to be subsequently elaborated.

4:1 Therefore, my brothers, you whom I love and long for,

Paul's strong expression of affection for his readers in 1:7, 8 is surpassed here. He refers to them six ways in this verse, and the combined effect is moving indeed. Whatever their problems they had not diminished Paul's care for them.

my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends!

"Joy" again sounds the note heard often in this letter (cf. notes on 1:4). "Crown" (stevfano" , stephanos ) is not the royal crown (diadem) but could either refer to a victor's wreath at the games or to the garland placed on a guest at a banquet. Was Paul thinking of the joy of a feast or of the joy of a victory? The same term is used in 2 Timothy 4:8. "In the Lord" is an expression that was found in 2:19,24,29; and 3:1; and will be found in 4:2,4 and 10 (see the notes at 2:29; 3:1). The expression could mean "stand firm" as Christians should or "stand firm" as empowered by God. The possible military implications of the Greek could be especially relevant in Philippi, since many of the inhabitants were from families with military experience.

B. EUODIA AND SYNTYCHE (4:2-3)

² I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord. ³ Yes, and I ask you, loyal yokefellow, ^a 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.

^a 2 Or loyal Syzygus

Verses 2-9 offer specific and very personal instructions. The call to unity addressed to two women (vv. 2, 3) continues the emphasis of 1:27; 2:1-11,14-16; and 3:16. The exhortation to joy (v. 4) echoes a frequently heard theme (cf. notes at 1:4). Gentleness (v. 5) also was essential to oneness in the church (cf. 2:1-4). Anxiety (vv. 6f) could well be a cause of division, and was a perspective to be combatted by peace-producing prayer. The call to appropriate thinking (vv. 8,9) reflects the many references to proper thought in the book (cf. 1:9-11; 2:1-4 and uses of fronevw [phroneô ] listed at notes to 1:7). Paul's teaching and practice (v. 9) catch up most of his statements, but notice particularly 3:17. Therefore verses 2-9, which some have considered discrete and unrelated exhortations, really fit neatly into the conceptual fabric of this letter.

4:2 I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord.

Imagine the reaction when this letter was read aloud to the church and two women, presumably present, were singled out! This is the first time the epistle becomes this specific. There are various theories, but we believe Paul wished to build the foundation for his plea throughout the letter before coming to the specific application. His previous words would make this appeal the more irresistible.

How important were these women? Some consider them minor. We do know that a prominent woman was converted to begin the Philippian church (Lydia, Acts 16). We would suggest, from the very fact these names were specified, and from the supporting words of verse 3, that they had significant influence in the church and may have been at the very center of the disunity discussed throughout the letter. If they were not a center of the problem, why didn't Paul mention the ones who were? One suggestion has been that their homes may have afforded meeting places for the church. Some have tried to identify Euodia with Lydia, but this theory has strained the linguistic similarities and has not won consent. Paul appealed to both equally, avoiding any hint of favoritism. The word "agree" is another use of phroneô and refers to aims and attitudes, not just consensus on some point of doctrine or disagreement. Paul urged a unity of spirit, not a grudging and irritated compromise. The same language was applied to the church in 2:2.

"In the Lord" is found here, as it was in verse 1. Did it mean "by the Lord's power" or "as Christians should?"

4:3 Yes, and I ask you, loyal yokefellow,

A situation is understood more fully the more one knows about the persons involved. So those who first read this letter could infer much detail that we are denied. As Euodia and Syntyche remain somewhat mysterious to us, so here we have "loyal yokefellow," Clement, and "fellow workers," all of whom are no more than names or descriptions, limited to what this verse tells us. "Loyal yokefellow" was the helper, perhaps summoned specifically because of skills as a peacemaker (was he a man of prayer, guarded by peace - vv. 6f?) "Yokefellow" translates the Greek suvzuge ( syzyge , the vocative form of syzygos ) , which might possibly be a proper name. If so, "loyal" could be Paul's way of indicating Syzygus was truly what he was named. Other views as to his identity have ranged through Epaphroditus, Timothy, Silas, Luke, and some even contend this was a collective term for the entire church (a view O'Brien dubs "unusual").

help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel,

Euodia and Syntyche had been Paul's allies in contending for the gospel. The word translated "contend" (sunaqlevw , synathlço ) was also in 1:27. From the Greek comes our word "athlete." The intensity implied by this word indicates that their division had diminished the impact of "fighting the good fight."

along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.

Clement and "the fellow workers" also remain an enigma. The latter term may be used because there were too many to name individually. On the background of the "book of life" see Exodus 32:32; Psalm 69:28 and Isaiah 4:3. Some argue the term had special meaning beyond the eternal life possessed by all believers, as if to say to those who have eternal life that they were not necessarily in the book of life. If that was the meaning, it is difficult to know what the special meaning might have been. It seems strange that Paul would imply some distinction, especially when "book of life" seems, in the passages cited, to refer to God's covenantal people, and not to some special class within that category. The fact that Paul complements these fellow workers in this way need not demand such an exclusivistic meaning. See also Revelation 3:5; 20:15 and 21:27.

C. JOY, PRAYER, PEACE (4:4-7)

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

Because this verse repeats the words of 3:1 it has been conjectured that the intervening verses may have been interjected into the original letter. See the discussion at 3:1. Discussion of this dual exhortation centers on its relation to the rest of the paragraph. Grammatically it stands alone. Was it a statement separate from verses 5-7, or are the matters discussed there to be taken as consequences of joy? Thematically joy can certainly be connected with gentleness, with the nearness of the Lord, and with prayer and peace. Thus that may be the intent here. A "joyless" religion would hardly be of the sort described in the following verses.

This great summons to joy catches up another thread that runs through the letter (cf. the notes at 1:4). It seems most likely Paul saw joy as a key to resolving the Philippian problems, and thus he introduces the idea so frequently.

"In the Lord" is found for the third time in four verses (see vv. 1,2). See the previous discussions for possible meanings. Relation to the Lord gives both reason and power to rejoice.

"Rejoice" (caivrete , chairete ) could also be translated "farewell," and this view is favored by those seeing 3:2-4:3 as an insertion. But "always" indicates a continual practice, and thus goes beyond the limits that would be supposed by "farewell."

4:5 Let your gentleness be evident to all.

"Gentleness" (ejpieikev" , epieikes ) refers to a gracious and reasonable spirit. In particular it forsakes insistence on one's own rights in order to benefit others. Once more the centrality of the Christ hymn (2:5-11) in displaying this spirit should be noticed. The relation of this view of things to resolving discord in the church is obvious. A gentle person would even be willing to bear unpleasant treatment if that were warranted. This was not a cowed attitude, showing lack of courage. Rather it was a response of strength, inspired by the relation to Christ.

The Lord is near.

"The Lord is near" gives reason for rejoicing and for possessing gentleness. The expression may indicate nearness in terms of personal relationship. Thus all would be done with a sense of Christ's fellowship and empowering. Others think the term may refer to the Lord's return, which the early church expected to occur at any time (as the church should in any age). This view relates to previous references in the epistle to the day of the Lord (cf. 1:6,10,23; 2:10,16f; 3:8). Paul did not know the exact time of the parousia, but he knew history was under God's control and would serve God's ultimate purposes. Thus one should act as God willed within history. Of course Christ did not come during Paul's life, but his words, on this interpretation, serve as reminders that Christians live between the two comings of Jesus.

It is possible that we have here an intentional double meaning. The Lord who was near to care and help could also return at any time.

4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition,

Anxiety can produce irritability and defensiveness. It is a soil in which discord could grow. Indeed matters that might otherwise be of lesser moment can reach swollen proportions when fed by anxiety. The verb here rendered "be anxious" (merimnavw , merimnaô ) is translated "take interest" in 2:20. Though anxiety is not specifically addressed elsewhere in the letter, it could clearly be both a cause of and a consequence of the situation in the Philippian church. "Stop worrying" is the literal meaning, and was more than just a negative commandment. Paul gave a way to stop. As he had often used "in the Lord" to indicate the special way Christ impacted the Christian's life, so here prayer is specified (cf. 1:3-11,19). Three prayer terms are used in this verse (prayer, petition, requests). Let God's power address men's concern. If divine power could not effect resolution, then none would be possible. That would be cause for worry! And prayer is as wide as life, for "everything" is its scope.

with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

"Thanksgiving" (eujcaristiva , eucharistia ) recognized God's blessings and control of circumstances. Anxiety tends to forget God, to rely on human resources. So both prayer and a recognition of God's love and goodness are powerful, and together they are most effective. Recall God is the God who urges men to pray (Luke 11:9-13). Will their self-centeredness turn them away from real help?

4:7 And the peace of God,

For a troubled church "peace" (eijrhvnh , eirçnç ) was the divine promise. Even if specific prayers were not answered, peace still comes to the believer. The image is of a soldier standing guard, which would be particularly relevant in Philippi, a city protected by a Roman garrison. Anxiety is denied admittance to a heart and mind so guarded.

This is the only New Testament occurrence of the expression "peace of God." More than the peace God gives, it is the peace which God is . God gives, and Christians receive, something of himself.

which transcends all understanding,

Paul often recognized how divine realities soar beyond even the most exalted human conception. "Transcends understanding" expresses such a case. Interpretations of his meaning suggest, in addition to that which is beyond human comprehension, the idea that such peace was better than any human planning or schemes could produce. But if one of these was his meaning, so must the other be.

will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

"Hearts and minds" indicates the entire inner person, and feeds into the discussion of thought in the next paragraph. "In Christ Jesus" corresponds to "in the Lord" in verses 1, 2, and 4.

D. THINK AND DO (4:8-9)

⁸ Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things. ⁹ Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me - put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

4:8 Finally, brothers,

Paul, who liked lists, concludes this series of exhortations with one. This one contains eight items - six ethical qualities followed by two summary words. The unusual thing about it is that two of these eight qualities are mentioned nowhere else in the New Testament; another is elsewhere only in the Pastorals, and still another is nowhere else in Paul's writings. Since many of these terms are found in lists of virtues used by non-Christian moralists of the day, it is possible Paul was depicting the best of pagan thought and holding it up for Christian consideration. The fact that Paul used these terms, however, does not mean he endorsed the non-Christian background in which they were set. To the Greek mind these virtues were philosophical, not religious. Paul reoriented them by setting them in a Christian context.

Philippians never quotes the Old Testament, though there are allusions. So the apostle appeals to these brethren out of their own Gentile background. This shows how non-Christian material could be "baptized" for Christian use, and how Paul was "all things to all men."

This verse calls for thought and reflection, and the next for action. "Don't just ponder, but do." Perhaps Paul was indicating that these were the peace-producing attitudes, if observed "in Christ Jesus."

With "finally" the verse begins with wording very similar to 3:1. "Finally" concludes Paul's list of exhortations. Then after a personal section Paul will conclude the letter.

whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -

The Greek syntax gives each of the first six virtues distinct emphasis. "True" (ajlhqhv" , alçthçs ) indicated that one's thoughts conformed to reality. This was not truth reached as the end of a logical thought process, as much as truthfulness; i.e., integrity and reliability of character. The Greek term for "noble" (semnov" , semnos ) is translated in various ways. It referred to lofty things, honorable, worthy of respect. Thought should not center on the cheap and vulgar. "Right" (divkaio" , dikaios ) means to be just, both with regard to men and in obeying the divine standard. "Pure" (aJgnov" , hagnos ) has to do with proper motives, free from sin, and, in the Christian sense, centered on God. "Lovely" (prosfilhv" , prosphilçs ) is a word found only here in the New Testament, nor was it used as a virtue in any ancient text. It referred to that which was lovable by its nature. "Admirable" (eu[fhmo" , euphçmos ) is also unique here in the New Testament. Plummer defines it as that which is kind and winning, not offensive.

if anything is excellent or praiseworthy -

"Excellent" (ajrethv" , aretçs ) translates a term which in Stoic philosophy described man's highest goal and true destiny. So Paul paraded all moral excellencies before his readers for consideration. These summary terms ("excellent," "praiseworthy") comprehended the entire scope of proper thought, since listing every possible attitude would tax both writer and reader.

think about such things.

Here again the faith is centered in the human thought process; in its values and view of life. Throughout the letter this has been stressed (cf. notes at 1:7).

4:9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me - put it into practice.

Now the call was to action ("do"). Four verbs describe what was communicated to the Philippians. The last ("seen") referred to Paul's own life (cf. 3:17). "Heard," if it refers to what they had heard of his life and character, may have had the same sense. "Learned" or "received" probably referred to his teaching, and "heard" may also. He had just listed pagan virtues with Christian implications. "Learned" may imply specific Christian instruction beyond that. "Receive" (paralambavnw , paralambanô ) was a term frequently used of passing on of a tradition (1 Cor 11:23; 15:1-5; Gal 1:9; Col 2:6; 1 Thess 4:1ff; 2 Thess 2:15; and 3:16ff). Since the admonition was to Christian practice we may presume all four terms deal with ethical Christian behavior.

And the God of peace will be with you.

The "peace of God" (v. 7) is now complemented with the "God of peace." In this case the reference is to God himself producing peace through the qualities in verse 8 and those implied by verse 9. Cf. on the expression Romans 15:33; 16:20; 1 Corinthians 13:11; and 1 Thessalonians 5:23. Again we see the appropriateness of the description of the blessing to needs created by the Philippian discord.

One might see verses 2-8 as steps to be taken to cure division within the church. They would be rejoicing, gentleness, prayer and thanks, proper thought and proper action.

X. RESPONSE TO THE PHILIPPIANS' GENEROSITY (4:10-20)

¹⁰ I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. ¹¹ I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹² I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³ I can do everything through him who gives me strength. ¹⁴ Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. ¹⁵ Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; ¹⁶ for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need. ¹⁷ Not that I am looking for a gift, but I am looking for what may be credited to your account. ¹⁸ I have received full payment and even more; I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. ¹⁹ And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. ²⁰ To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

In a final personal section Paul discusses gifts he had been sent by the Philippians. In receiving them Paul seems to have suspended his usual policy of not calling upon the churches for support (1 Cor 4:8-13; 9:12; 2 Cor 11:7-10; 1 Thess 2:5-12; 2 Thess 3:7-12). However, Ralph Martin has argued, on the basis of 1 Corinthians 9:15-27 and 2 Corinthians 11:9 that Paul did take help from others, and Holmberg argues Corinth was the exception; i.e., they were the only church from which he would not accept help.

Two motifs run through these verses. First was appreciation for their concern (vv. 10,14-16 and 18-20) and the other was affirmation of his confidence in God's gift of inner contentment in any circumstance (vv. 11-13,17). Because the language is more formal than elsewhere in the letter some think Paul wrote with some embarrassment. He was grateful, but he had learned to get along even without their help. This view also notes that Paul nowhere used the word for "give thanks" in this discussion - leading to the description "a thankless thanks" for this section. Thus there was something of a tension in Paul's joyful response. He was glad, especially for the blessing that giving had been for them (vv. 17f), but he could also have survived even without their help.

This is a possible interpretation. But it is also possible that Paul was using his own case for hortatory purposes, as elsewhere in the letter. His ultimate trust was in God for contentment, and he would have had this regardless. This would, however, have been an inner attitude, and would not have filled his stomach or met his material needs. Thus one who was content while hungry or in want would still appreciate help with food or with whatever else was required. Of course we are not told the nature of the gifts, but nothing is more logical than to assume they were material. Did he need food, clothing, medicine, money? We do not know.

One also wonders why this discussion comes at the very end of the letter. If Paul was expressing a "thankless thanks" he may have wished to delay discussion of such a delicate matter as long as possible. Others have thought that Paul may have waited till he was through dictating in order to write these personal remarks with his own hand. Though this expression of joy was one reason Paul wrote to the church, it may have been an aside from his main point(s) - concern for unity, false teachers (3:2), and enemies of the cross (3:18). Thus he could delay it because it was an item of lesser importance.

4:10 I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me.

We see again the familiar "rejoice . . . in the Lord" (cf. 3:1; 4:4) so that here Paul did himself what he had previously exhorted his brethren to do. His joy was both for present and past concern. The Greek translated "renewed" (ajneqavlete , anethalete ) occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, but elsewhere describes a bush or tree budding in the spring. It was a lovely image for their concern. "Concern" and "concerned" are the last two uses of phroneo ¯ in the book (see discussion 1:7).

Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it.

Why had the Philippians had no opportunity to help Paul? Many suggestions have been made, some explaining the words in terms of the situation in Philippi, and some in terms of Paul's situation. In the former category conjectures include poverty, or lack of funds due to their gifts to Jerusalem (2 Cor 8:1-5), or lack of a messenger. Regarding Paul's situation some say he may have had no need, or that he discouraged help because he had formerly been criticized (1 Thess 2:9; 2 Thess 3:7-10; 1 Cor 9:3-18; 2 Cor 12:13-18), or that he was in an inaccessible place. Neither do we know how Paul knew the Philippians had been concerned during the time help had not been forthcoming.

4:11 I am not saying this because I am in need,

Understanding of this verse depends on what Paul meant by "need" and by "content." The latter term described a situation independent of life's physical circumstances, as verse 12 shows. So, if "need" was the opposite of "content" then Paul said he had the resources necessary for inner security. Possibly "need" could be understood in two senses. There were the outward necessities, which Paul might well need, if the Philippians had read his situation aright. But there was also an inner dimension, which is what Paul meant here. In other words, he had conquered anxiety, just as he exhorted his brethren to do (v. 6). So Paul could use the gift in the physical sense, but he had inner peace even without physical provision. He was not eagerly pacing his cell, asking every five minutes if the mail had come, as Craddock cleverly puts it.

for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.

Paul could be saying these words to allay any concerns of the Philippians over his welfare while they had no opportunity to help. Even if he had been hungry (v. 12 could be read to imply this), he was all right because of an inner strength. This contentment did not come automatically, but had to be "learned." Possibly the lesson first broke on him at his conversion and was strengthened from that point on. Nor are we told how he learned this, but an understanding of the genius of life in Christ combined with Paul's crisis-riddled career leads to the conclusion that Paul would have had to learn this lesson to survive.

The word rendered "content" (aujtavrkh" , autarkçs) is only here in the New Testament, though cognates are found in 1 Corinthians 9:8 and 1 Timothy 6:6. Philosophers used the word to describe the independence wisdom brought. Paul changed the idea into an independence of dependence - on Christ.

4:12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

Now Paul elaborates on "circumstances" of verse 11. He had acquired two kinds of knowledge: first, of need and plenty; and second, of being content. Any survey of Paul's life can amply document need and hunger (cf. 1 Cor 4:11; 2 Cor 11:27). "Plenty" and "well fed" might even refer to his pre-Christian life (cf. 3:4b-6) but we need not suppose his Christian experience was always one of deprivation.

"Need" renders a term (tapeinovw , tapeinôo ) with the basic meaning of being humbled. Usually the opposite term meant "exalted." Sometimes Paul was humbled by circumstance and other times he imposed humiliation on himself - in either case for the sake of Christ and in imitation of him (cf. 2:8). To the outsider, overly concerned with material things, Paul's seeming nonchalance and inner calm would appear as a mystery or "secret." Paul's attitude toward food might be contrasted with those whose "god" was "the stomach" (3:19).

4:13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

How could a man whose stomach was pinched from hunger and who suffered other deprivations exude joy, rather than whining complaint? It was because of inner power, here expressed in one of the favorite devotional texts of the New Testament. He took no credit for a bright attitude, but gave God the glory in "any and every" situation.

This verse is often misapplied, though with good intentions. Paul's statement must be understood in context. "Any and every" is not a universal statement, suggesting that anything in all of life can be done by God's power. Of course that power is without limit, but there are things God did not and does not intend to do, such as removing Paul's thorn in the flesh (2 Cor 12:7-9). We must see that Paul spoke here of the secret of contentment. Whenever the gift is utilized, even in the grimmest circumstances, it is by divine strength. This was no humanistic "feel good, regardless" philosophy.

4:14 Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles.

The gift was not necessary for Paul's contentment, but was still appreciated. The wonder of divine help is inestimable, but Paul still appreciated the love of God in human form, i.e., in the Philippians. Though content in hunger and need, one should not assume Paul would choose these states over having plenty and being well fed. Thus the gift was appreciated, but so was the Christlike attitude of the Philippians. His commendation was fulsome, not grudging. "Share" (sugkoinwnevw , synkoinônço ) is from a word group found also in 1:5,7; 2:1; 3:10 and 4:15 (cf. notes at 1:5). The sharing was not just in Paul's personal situation, but sharing in the spreading of the message of Christ.

4:15 Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only;

Now Paul reviews the previous generosity of the Philippians toward him, as if to compliment them for once more showing their loving and generous spirit. Some commentators, drawing from Paul's statements in verses 17 and 18, think Paul was less than enthusiastic and perhaps even exasperated with the Philippians. In their view he was saying "it was kind and good of you, but I really didn't need it, and don't need any more." This view we hold to be incorrect, presenting a problem which does not seem to reflect what we consider a more natural reading of the text. Yet the inquiring Bible student should at least investigate this perspective.

In the past Paul had been willing to receive help, both when he was in Thessalonica (v. 16 - at least twice) and later ("when I set out from Macedonia"). Some say "you know" should be understood as Paul's way of saying they had amply demonstrated their love for him, and no more was needed. We think it is not that, but a grateful way of affirming that they had always cared.

"Philippians" translates an unusual form (Filipphvsioi , Philippçsioi ), Latin in character, and Paul probably used it out of respect for the character of their city and their Roman citizenship. "Giving and receiving" (dovsi" , dosis , and lh'myi" , lçmpsis ) are commercial terms, but beyond that signify special friendship.

An interpretive problem centers in "in the early days of your acquaintance." The words are literally "in the beginning" of the gospel. "Of your acquaintance" is an interpretive addition in the NIV. The beginning of Paul's preaching was not in Macedonia, but he may have meant the beginning of his preaching there (cf. 1:3-5, especially 4) rather than in the broader sense of his entire preaching career. Another dilemma is whether "set out from Macedonia" means when he first left there (for Corinth) or after he had left there. This latter interpretation relates well to 2 Corinthians 11:8, which indicates he received support from "other churches" while in Corinth. Could it have been brought by Silas and Timothy (Acts 18:5) as Bruce suggests?

4:16 for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need.

If verse 15 referred to help sent to Corinth, now Paul recalls an earlier example of generosity. The language could be understood of Thessalonica as well as of other places. Their help followed Paul on his travels, showing constant concern. Paul went to Thessalonica soon after leaving Philippi, so their care did not tarry. Acts 17:2 indicates Paul was in Thessalonica three weeks. Soon after he left he wrote 1 and 2 Thessalonians, in which he made no reference to help from Philippi. Contrariwise, he said he worked for his support (1 Thess 2:9; 2 Thess 3:8). Was the help inadequate for his needs, or was the help sent once the Philippians became aware of Paul's needs, toward the end of his stay? If we consider the language as implying other places, help may have been sent as he left and then subsequently (Berea?). Some feel these circumstances suggest a stay in Thessalonica of more than three weeks. If so, this must be squared with Acts 17:2, which says Paul argued in the synagogues for three weeks, and Acts 17:10, which says the brethren "immediately" sent Paul and Silas away by night. Perhaps the events of Acts 17:4,5 could allow for more time.

4:17 Not that I am looking for a gift, but I am looking for what may be credited to your account.

The first part of this verse parallels verse 11. In the second part Paul addresses the benefit of the gift to the givers, which connects to his blessing on them in verse 19. Paul's words show they had not given because pressured by him to do so. Their free response made their generosity the more admirable, for in so doing they emulated Jesus, who gave himself. "Credited to your account" (pleonavzonta eij" lovgon uJmw'n , pleonazonta eis logon hymôn ) is another commercial term (see notes on v. 15). That which was credited was their fruit - the literal meaning of "what."

4:18 I have received full payment and even more; I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent.

Paul continues his compliments, employing both commercial and sacrificial language. Here again it has been argued that his language was saying he needed no more from the Philippians. But we believe he was stressing their overwhelming generosity. "I have received" (ajpevcw , apechô ) is from a word which was normally found at the bottom of a Greek receipt. They had done all that could be expected and more. "Gifts you sent" interprets an expression (taΙ par= uJmw'n , ta par hymôn ) which is literally translated "that which was from you."

They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.

"Fragrant offering" is an image that moves us from the accountant to the priest, and relates their gift to God. The same language is used of Christ's death in Ephesians 5:2. What they did to help Paul and his mission was also pleasing service to God (cf. Gen 8:21; Exod 29:18; Lev 1:9,13; Ezek 20:41).

The reference to Epaphroditus connects with 2:25-30, especially with verses 25 and 30.

4:19 And my God will meet all your needs

As they supplied Paul's needs, now he speaks of their needs. Some see these words as a prayer and a wish. On this view if God did not meet their needs it could be said that the prayer was simply not answered. But we believe the words have a stronger meaning. Certainly they were a prayer, but they were also a promise. God would meet their needs. But what needs were meant? In the immediate context physical needs have been at issue, though Paul's contentment indicates spiritual satisfaction as well. In the larger context of the entire letter spiritual matters are paramount, and we believe spiritual concerns cannot be left out of account here. Even if their material needs were not met, their spiritual needs would be. When would they be met? Material and spiritual needs would be met in the temporal sphere, and spiritual needs would be met at the resurrection and in the fuller fellowship with God that it would bring. In a sense this promise applies to all Christians, but we think it had special significance when expressed to friends as loyal and generous as the Philippians.

according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

"Glorious riches" could describe the source of temporal blessing, with its source in God, or it could refer to the Second Coming. Cf. the other references in the book to the Second Coming (esp. the notes at 4:5). No greater source of blessing could there be (see 3:21)! "In Christ Jesus" picks up the various references to "in the Lord" found previously in the book (cf. notes at 4:1).

4:20 To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

The doxology catches the whole purpose of the creation. Whatever else, let God be glorified! Not that men could add to the perfection of his nature. But their lives could acknowledge and demonstrate it. So every exhortation in the book should be brought to this touchstone - "Is it to God's glory?" "Amen" is a punctuation mark, a sign of powerful assent. For this reality Paul had given all, and so should all God's people.

CONCLUSION (4:21-23)

²¹ Greet all the saints in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me send greetings. ²² All the saints send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar's household. ²³ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

The closing greetings come from four sources: Paul, the brothers with him, all the saints, and especially those of Caesar's household. They are addressed to two groups: the primary recipients of the letter, and "all the saints." As in the opening verse of the book, the greetings take special character from being "in Christ Jesus."

Perhaps Paul wrote these closing words with his own hand, as we know he did on other occasions (1 Cor 16:21; Gal 6:11; Col 4:18; and 2 Thess 3:17). Since the letter would be read to the congregation, those called upon to greet the others may be whoever first read it. They would most likely be the "overseers and deacons." Could the greeting have been meant for some Christians outside the immediate Philippian congregation?

Neither greeters nor addressees are named. We do know the names of a number of Roman Christians from Romans 16:3-16, and some may have been in Paul's mind here. "Caesar's household" could refer to persons from high positions to lowly. They may be singled out by Paul to indicate the circles into which the gospel had penetrated. Since Philippi was a Roman colony there may have been special acquaintances between the Christians there and those of Caesar's household.

The final benediction in verse 23 is a bestowal of grace, so that the book ends as it begins (1:2).

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

Introduction / Outline

Robertson: Philippians (Book Introduction)

The Epistle to the Philippians

From Rome About a.d. 61

By Way of Introduction

There is something to be said for the idea that Paul wrote the Epistle to the Philippians while a prisoner in Ephesus if he ever was a prisoner there. All that can be said for that view has been presented by Professor George S. Duncan in St. Paul’s Ephesian Ministry (1930). But, when all is considered carefully in the light of the facts in the Acts and the Epistles, the best that one can say is that a possible case is made out with many difficulties remaining unexplained. The argument is more ingenious than convincing. It is not possible here to review the arguments pro and con that convince me that Paul was in Rome when he wrote this letter to Philippi. It is not clear whether it was written before the three that went together (Philemon, Colossians, Ephesians) or afterwards. Probably there was no great difference in time, but there was time for Epaphroditus to come to Rome, to fall sick, for the news to reach Philippi and for Epaphroditus to hear of their concern about him. The church in Philippi was Paul’s joy and pride and they had helped him before as they did this time.

The Epistle is a beautiful expression of gratitude for the love and gifts of the Philippian saints. He is a prisoner of hope in Rome with possible death before him, but with the note of joy running through all that Paul says. He hopes to be set free and to see them again.

Meanwhile he tells the Philippians about the difficulties and triumphs in Rome. The Judaizers have followed Paul here and there is an echo in chapters Philippians 1; 3 of their opposition. But Paul rises to full stature in the great Christological passages in chapters Philippians 2; 3 which prepare the way for the controversy with the Gnostics over the Person of Christ in Colossians and Ephesians.

JFB: Philippians (Book Introduction)

The INTERNAL EVIDENCE for the authenticity of this Epistle is strong. The style, manner of thought, and doctrine, accord with Paul's. The incidental allusions also establish his authorship. PALEY [Horæ Paulinæ, ch. 7] instances the mention of the object of Epaphroditus' journey to Rome, the Philippian contribution to Paul's wants, Epaphroditus' sickness (Phi 1:7; Phi 2:25-30; Phi 4:10-18), the fact that Timothy had been long with Paul at Philippi (Phi 1:1; Phi 2:19), the reference to his being a prisoner at Rome now for a long time (Phi 1:12-14; Phi 2:17-28), his willingness to die (compare Phi 1:23, with 2Co 5:8), the reference to the Philippians having seen his maltreatment at Philippi (Phi 1:29-30; Phi 2:1-2).

The EXTERNAL EVIDENCE is equally decisive: POLYCARP [Epistle to the Philippians, 3; 11]; IRENÆUS [Against Heresies, 4.18.4]; CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA [The Instructor, 1.1, p. 107]; EUSEBIUS [The Epistle of the Churches of Lyons and Vienne, in Ecclesiastical History, 5. 2]; TERTULLIAN [On the Resurrection of the Flesh, 23]; ORIGEN [Against Celsus, 1.3, p. 122]; CYPRIAN [Testimonies against the Jews, 3.39].

Philippi was the first (that is, the farthest from Rome, and first which met Paul in entering Macedonia) Macedonian city of the district, called Macedonia Prima (so called as lying farthest eastward). The Greek (Act 16:12) should not be translated "the chief city," as English Version, but as above [ALFORD]. Not it, but Thessalonica, was the chief city of the province, and Amphipolis, of the district called Macedonia Prima. It was a Roman "colony" (Act 16:12), made so by Augustus, to commemorate his famous victory over Brutus and Cassius. A colony was in fact a portion of Rome itself transplanted to the provinces, an offshoot from Rome, and as it were a portrait of the mother city on a small scale [AULUS GELLIUS, Attic Nights, 16.13]. Its inhabitants were Roman citizens, having the right of voting in the Roman tribes, governed by their own senate and magistrates, and not by the governor of the province, with the Roman law and Latin language.

Paul, with Silas and Timothy, planted the Gospel there (Act 16:12, &c.), in his second missionary journey, A.D. 51. Doubtless he visited it again on his journey from Ephesus into Macedonia (Act 20:1); and Act 20:3, Act 20:6, expressly mentions his third visit on his return from Greece (Corinth) to Syria by way of Macedonia. His sufferings at Philippi (Act 16:19, &c.) strengthened the Christian bond of union between him and his Philippian converts, who also, like him, were exposed to trials for the Gospel's sake (1Th 2:2). They alone sent supplies for his temporal wants, twice shortly after he had left them (Phi 4:15-16), and again a third time shortly before writing this Epistle (Phi 4:10, Phi 4:18; 2Co 11:9). This fervent attachment on their part was, perhaps, also in part due to the fact that few Jews were in Philippi, as in other scenes of his labors, to sow the seeds of distrust and suspicion. There was no synagogue, but merely a Jewish Proseucha, or oratory, by the riverside. So that there only do we read of his meeting no opposition from Jews, but only from the masters of the divining damsel, whose gains had been put an end to by her being dispossessed.

Though the Philippian Church was as yet free from Judaizing influence, yet it needed to be forewarned of that danger which might at any time assail it from without (Phi 3:2); even as such evil influences had crept into the Galatian churches. In Phi 4:2-3 we find a trace of the fact recorded in the history (Act 16:13-14), that female converts were among the first to receive the Gospel at Philippi.

As to the state of the Church, we gather from 2Co 8:1-2 that its members were poor, yet most liberal; and from Phi 1:28-30, that they were undergoing persecution. The only blemish referred to in their character was, on the part of some members, a tendency to dissension. Hence arise his admonitions against disputings (Phi 1:27; Phi 2:1-4, Phi 2:12, Phi 2:14; Phi 4:2).

The OBJECT of the Epistle is general: not only to thank the Philippians for their contribution sent by Epaphroditus, who was now in returning to take back the apostle's letter, but to express his Christian love and sympathy, and to exhort them to a life consonant with that of Christ, and to warn them against existing dissensions and future possible assaults of Judaizers from without. It is remarkable in this Epistle alone, as compared with the others, that, amidst many commendations, there are no express censures of those to whom it is addressed. No doctrinal error, or schism, has as yet sprung up; the only blemish hinted at is, that some of the Philippian Church were somewhat wanting in lowliness of mind, the result of which want was disputation. Two women, Euodias and Syntyche, are mentioned as having erred in this respect (Phi 4:2-3). The Epistle may be divided into three parts: (1) Affectionate address to the Philippians; reference to his own state as a prisoner at Rome, and to theirs, and to his mission of Epaphroditus to them (the first and second chapters). Epaphroditus probably held a leading office in the Philippian Church, perhaps as a presbyter. After Tychicus and Onesimus had departed (A.D. 62), carrying the Epistles to the Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon, Paul was cheered in his imprisonment by the arrival of Epaphroditus with the Philippian contribution. That faithful "brother, companion in labor, and fellow soldier" (Phi 2:25), had brought on himself by the fatigues of the journey a dangerous sickness (Phi 2:26, Phi 2:30). But now that he was recovered, he "longed" (Phi 2:26) to return to his Philippian flock, and in person to relieve their anxiety on his behalf, in respect to his sickness; and the apostle gladly availed himself of the opportunity of writing to them a letter of grateful acknowledgments and Christian exhortations. (2) Caution against Judaizing teachers, supported by reference to his own former and present feeling towards Jewish legalism (Phi. 3:1-21). (3) Admonitions to individuals, and to the Church in general, thanks for their seasonable aid, and concluding benedictions and salutations (Phi. 4:1-23).

This Epistle was written from Rome during the imprisonment, the beginning of which is related in Act 28:16, Act 28:20, Act 28:30-31. The reference to "Cæsar's household" (Phi 4:22), and to the "palace" (Phi 1:13, Greek, "Prætorium," probably, the barrack of the Prætorian bodyguard, attached to the palace of Nero) confirms this. It must have been during his first imprisonment at Rome, for the mention of the Prætorium agrees with the fact that it was during his first imprisonment he was in the custody of the Prætorian Prefect, and his situation, described in Phi 1:12-14, agrees with his situation in the first two years of his imprisonment (Act 28:30-31). The following reasons show, moreover, that it was written towards the close of that imprisonment: (1) He, in it, expresses his expectation of the immediate decision of his cause (Phi 2:23). (2) Enough time had elapsed for the Philippians to hear of his imprisonment, to send Epaphroditus to him, to hear of Epaphroditus' arrival and sickness, and send back word to Rome of their distress (Phi 2:26). (3) It must have been written after the three other Epistles sent from Rome, namely, Colossians, Ephesians, and Philemon; for Luke is no longer with him (Phi 2:20); otherwise he would have been specified as saluting them, having formerly labored among them, whereas he is mentioned as with him, Col 4:14; Phm 1:24. Again, in Eph 6:19-20, his freedom to preach is implied: but in Phi 1:13-18, his bondage is dwelt on, and it is implied that, not himself, but others, preached, and made his imprisonment known. Again, in Phm 1:22, he confidently anticipates his release, which contrasts with the more depressed anticipations of this Epistle. (4) A considerable time had elapsed since the beginning of his imprisonment, for "his bonds" to have become so widely known, and to have produced such good effects for the Gospel (Phi 1:13). (5) There is evidently an increase in the rigor of his imprisonment implied now, as compared with the early stage of it, as described in Acts 28:1-31; compare Phi 1:29-30; Phi 2:27. History furnishes a probable clue to account for this increase of vigor. In the second year of Paul's imprisonment (A.D. 62), Burrus, the Prætorian Prefect, to whose custody he had been committed (Act 28:16, "the captain of the guard"), died; and Nero the emperor having divorced Octavia, and married Poppoea, a Jewish proselytess (who then caused her rival, Octavia, to be murdered, and gloated over the head of her victim), exalted Tigellinus, the chief promoter of the marriage, a monster of wickedness, to the Prætorian Prefecture. It was then he seems to have been removed from his own house into the Prætorium, or barrack of the Prætorian guards, attached to the palace, for stricter custody; and hence he writes with less hopeful anticipations as to the result of his trial (Phi 2:17; Phi 3:11). Some of the Prætorian guards who had the custody of him before, would then naturally make known his "bonds," in accordance with Phi 1:13; from the smaller Prætorian bodyguard at the palace the report would spread to the general permanent Prætorian camp, which Tiberius had established north of the city, outside of the walls. He had arrived in Rome, February, 61; the "two whole years (Act 20:30) in his own hired house" ended February, 63, so that the date of this Epistle, written shortly after, evidently while the danger was imminent, would be about spring or summer, 63. The providence of God averted the danger. He probably was thought beneath the notice of Tigellinus, who was more intent on court intrigues. The death of Nero's favorite, Pallas, the brother of Felix, this same year, also took out of the way another source of danger.

The STYLE is abrupt and discontinuous, his fervor of affection leading him to pass rapidly from one theme to another (Phi 2:18, Phi 2:19-24, Phi 2:25-30; Phi 3:1, Phi 3:2-3, Phi 3:4-14, Phi 3:15). In no Epistle does he use so warm expressions of love. In Phi 4:1 he seems at a loss for words sufficient to express all the extent and ardor of his affection for the Philippians: "My brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved." The mention of bishops and deacons in Phi 1:1 is due to the late date of the Epistle, at a time when the Church had begun to assume that order which is laid down in the Pastoral Epistles, and which continued the prevalent one in the first and purest age of the Church.

JFB: Philippians (Outline)

• INSCRIPTION. THANKSGIVING AND PRAYERS FOR THE FLOURISHING SPIRITUAL STATE OF THE PHILIPPIANS. HIS OWN STATE AT ROME, AND THE RESULT OF HIS IMPRISONMENT IN SPREADING THE GOSPEL. EXHORTATION TO CHRISTIAN CONSISTENCY. (Phi. 1:1-30)
• CONTINUED EXHORTATION: TO UNITY: TO HUMILITY AFTER CHRIST'S EXAMPLE, WHOSE GLORY FOLLOWED HIS HUMILIATION: TO EARNESTNESS IN SEEKING PERFECTION, THAT THEY MAY BE HIS JOY IN THE DAY OF CHRIST: HIS JOYFUL READINESS TO BE OFFERED NOW BY DEATH, SO AS TO PROMOTE THEIR FAITH. HIS INTENTION TO SEND TIMOTHY: HIS SENDING EPAPHRODITUS MEANTIME. (Phi. 2:1-30) The "therefore" implies that he is here expanding on the exhortation (Phi 1:27), "In one Spirit, with one mind (soul)." He urges four influencing motives in this verse, to inculcate the four Christian duties corresponding respectively to them (Phi 2:2). "That ye be like-minded, having the same love, of one accord, of one mind"; (1) "If there be (with you) any consolation in Christ," that is, any consolation of which Christ is the source, leading you to wish to console me in my afflictions borne for Christ's sake, ye owe it to me to grant my request "that ye be like-minded" [CHRYSOSTOM and ESTIUS]: (2) "If there be any comfort of (that is, flowing from) love," the adjunct of "consolation in Christ"; (3) "If any fellowship of (communion together as Christians, flowing from joint participation in) the Spirit" (2Co 13:14). As Pagans meant literally those who were of one village, and drank of one fountain, how much greater is the union which conjoins those who drink of the same Spirit! (1Co 12:4, 1Co 12:13) [GROTIUS]: (4) "If any bowels (tender emotions) and mercies (compassions)," the adjuncts of "fellowship of the Spirit." The opposites of the two pairs, into which the four fall, are reprobated, Phi 2:3-4.
• WARNING AGAINST JUDAIZERS: HE HAS GREATER CAUSE THAN THEY TO TRUST IN LEGAL RIGHTEOUSNESS, BUT RENOUNCED IT FOR CHRIST'S RIGHTEOUSNESS, IN WHICH HE PRESSES AFTER PERFECTION: WARNING AGAINST CARNAL PERSONS: CONTRAST OF THE BELIEVER'S LIFE AND HOPE. (Phi. 3:1-21)
• EXHORTATIONS: THANKS FOR THE SUPPLY FROM PHILIPPI: GREETING; AND CLOSING BENEDICTION. (Phi. 4:1-23) "Wherefore"; since we have such a glorious hope (Phi 3:20-21).

TSK: Philippians (Book Introduction)

The Church at Philippi in Macedonia was planted by the Apostle Paul about ad 53 (Acts 16:9-40); and it appears he visited them again, ad 60, though no particulars are recorded concerning that visit (Act 20:6). The Philippians were greatly attached to St. Paul, and testified their affection by sending him supplies, even when labouring for other churches (Phi 4:15, Phi 4:16; 2Co 11:9); and when they heard that he was under confinement at Rome, they sent Epaphroditus, one of their pastors, to him with a present, lest he should want necessaries during his imprisonment (Phi 2:25; Phi 4:10, Phi 4:14-18). The more immediate occasion of the Epistle was the return of Epaphroditus, by whom the apostle sent it as a grateful acknowledgment of their kindness; which occurred towards the close of his first imprisonment, about the end of ad 62, or the commencement of 63.

TSK: Philippians 4 (Chapter Introduction)

Overview

Phi 4:1, From particular admonitions, Phi 4:4, he proceeds to general exhortations, Phi 4:10. shewing how he rejoiced at their liberality towards him lying in prison, not so much for the supply of his own wants as for the grace of God in them; Phi 4:19, And so he concludes with prayer and salutations.

Poole: Philippians 4 (Chapter Introduction)

CHAPTER 4

MHCC: Philippians (Book Introduction)

The Philippians felt a very deep interest for the apostle. The scope of the epistle is to confirm them in the faith, to encourage them to walk as becomes the gospel of Christ, to caution them against judaizing teachers, and to express gratitude for their Christian bounty. This epistle is the only one, among those written by St. Paul, in which no censures are implied or expressed. Full commendation and confidence are in every part, and the Philippians are addressed with a peculiar affection, which every serious reader will perceive.

MHCC: Philippians 4 (Chapter Introduction)

(Phi 4:1) The apostle exhorts the Philippians to stand fast in the Lord.

(Phi 4:2-9) Gives directions to some, and to all in general.

(Phi 4:10-19) Expresses contentment in every condition of life.

(Phi 4:20-23) He concludes with prayer to God the Father, and his usual blessing.

Matthew Henry: Philippians (Book Introduction)

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Epistle of St. Paul to the Philippians

Philippi was a chief city of the western part of Macedonia, prōtē tēs Makedonias polis , Act 16:12. It took its name from Philip, the famous king of Macedon, who repaired and beautified it, and it was afterwards made a Roman colony. Near this place were the Campi Philippici, remarkable for the famous battles between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great, and that between Augustus and Antony on one side and Cassius and Brutus on the other. But it is most remarkable among Christians for this epistle, which was written when Paul was a prisoner at Rome, a.d. 62. Paul seems to have had a very particular kindness for the church at Philippi, which he himself had been instrumental in planting; and, though he had the care of all the churches, he had, upon that account, a particular fatherly tender care of this. To those to whom God has employed us to do any good we should look upon ourselves both as encouraged and engaged to study to do more good. He looked upon them as his children, and, having begotten them by the gospel, he was desirous by the same gospel to nourish and nurse them up. I. He was called in an extraordinary manner to preach the gospel at Philippi, Act 16:9. A vision appeared to Paul in the night: There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. He saw God going before him, and was encouraged to use all means for carrying on the good work which was begun among them, and building upon the foundation which was laid. II. At Philippi he suffered hard things; he was scourged, and put into the stocks (Act 16:23, Act 16:24); yet he had not the less kindness for the place for the hard usage he met with there. We must never love our friends the less for the ill treatment which our enemies give us. III. The beginnings of that church were very small; Lydia was converted there, and the jailer, and a few more: yet that did not discourage him. If good be not done at first, it may be done afterwards, and the last works may be more abundant. We must not be discouraged by small beginnings. IV. It seems, by many passages in this epistle, that this church at Philippi grew into a flourishing church, and particularly that the brethren were very kind to Paul. He had reaped of their temporal things, and he made a return in spiritual things. He acknowledges the receipt of a present they had sent him (Phi 4:18), and this when no other church communicated with him as concerning giving and receiving (Phi 4:15); and he gives them a prophet's, an apostle's reward, in this epistle, which is of more value than thousands of gold and silver.

Matthew Henry: Philippians 4 (Chapter Introduction)

Exhortations to several Christian duties, as stedfastness, unanimity, joy, etc. (Phi 4:1-9). The apostle's grateful acknowledgments of the Philippians' kindness to him, with expressions of his own content, and desire of their good (Phi 4:10-19). He concludes the epistle with praise, salutations, and blessing (Phi 4:20-23).

Barclay: Philippians (Book Introduction)

A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE LETTERS OF PAUL

The Letters Of Paul

There is no more interesting body of documents in the New Testament than the letters of Paul. That is because of all forms of literature a letter is most personal. Demetrius, one of the old Greek literary critics, once wrote, "Every one reveals his own soul in his letters. In every other form of composition it is possible to discern the writercharacter, but in none so clearly as the epistolary." (Demetrius, On Style, 227). It is just because he left us so many letters that we feel we know Paul so well. In them he opened his mind and heart to the folk he loved so much; and in them, to this day, we can see that great mind grappling with the problems of the early church, and feel that great heart throbbing with love for men, even when they were misguided and mistaken.

The Difficulty Of Letters

At the same time, there is often nothing so difficult to understand as a letter. Demetrius (On Style, 223) quotes a saying of Artemon, who edited the letters of Aristotle. Artemon said that a letter ought to be written in the same manner as a dialogue, because it was one of the two sides of a dialogue. In other words, to read a letter is like listening to one side of a telephone conversation. So when we read the letters of Paul we are often in a difficulty. We do not possess the letter which he was answering; we do not fully know the circumstances with which he was dealing; it is only from the letter itself that we can deduce the situation which prompted it. Before we can hope to understand fully any letter Paul wrote, we must try to reconstruct the situation which produced it.

The Ancient Letters

It is a great pity that Paulletters were ever called epistles. They are in the most literal sense letters. One of the great lights shed on the interpretation of the New Testament has been the discovery and the publication of the papyri. In the ancient world, papyrus was the substance on which most documents were written. It was composed of strips of the pith of a certain bulrush that grew on the banks of the Nile. These strips were laid one on top of the other to form a substance very like brown paper. The sands of the Egyptian desert were ideal for preservation, for papyrus, although very brittle, will last forever so long as moisture does not get at it. As a result, from the Egyptian rubbish heaps, archaeologists have rescued hundreds of documents, marriage contracts, legal agreements, government forms, and, most interesting of all, private letters. When we read these private letters we find that there was a pattern to which nearly all conformed; and we find that Paulletters reproduce exactly that pattern. Here is one of these ancient letters. It is from a soldier, called Apion, to his father Epimachus. He is writing from Misenum to tell his father that he has arrived safely after a stormy passage.

"Apion sends heartiest greetings to his father and lord Epimachus.

I pray above all that you are well and fit; and that things are

going well with you and my sister and her daughter and my brother.

I thank my Lord Serapis [his god] that he kept me safe when I was

in peril on the sea. As soon as I got to Misenum I got my journey

money from Caesar--three gold pieces. And things are going fine

with me. So I beg you, my dear father, send me a line, first to let

me know how you are, and then about my brothers, and thirdly, that

I may kiss your hand, because you brought me up well, and because

of that I hope, God willing, soon to be promoted. Give Capito my

heartiest greetings, and my brothers and Serenilla and my friends.

I sent you a little picture of myself painted by Euctemon. My

military name is Antonius Maximus. I pray for your good health.

Serenus sends good wishes, Agathos Daimonboy, and Turbo,

Galloniuson." (G. Milligan, Selections from the Greek Papyri,

36.)

Little did Apion think that we would be reading his letter to his father 1800 years after he had written it. It shows how little human nature changes. The lad is hoping for promotion quickly. Who would Serenilla be but the girl he left behind him? He sends the ancient equivalent of a photograph to the folk at home. Now that letter falls into certain sections. (i) There is a greeting. (ii) There is a prayer for the health of the recipients. (iii) There is a thanksgiving to the gods. (iv) There are the special contents. (v) Finally, there are the special salutations and the personal greetings. Practically every one of Paulletters shows exactly the same sections, as we now demonstrate.

(i) The Greeting: Rom_1:1 ; 1Co_1:1 ; 2Co_1:1 ; Gal_1:1 ; Eph_1:1 ; Phi_1:1 ; Col_1:1-2 ; 1Th_1:1 ; 2Th_1:1 .

(ii) The Prayer: in every case Paul prays for the grace of God on the people to whom he writes: Rom_1:7 ; 1Co_1:3 ; 2Co_1:2 ; Gal_1:3 ; Eph_1:2 ; Phi_1:3 ; Col_1:2 ; 1Th_1:1 ; 2Th_1:2 .

(iii) The Thanksgiving: Rom_1:8 ; 1Co_1:4 ; 2Co_1:3 ; Eph_1:3 ; Phi_1:3 ; 1Th_1:3 ; 2Th_1:3 .

(iv) The Special Contents: the main body of the letters.

(v) Special Salutations and Personal Greetings: Rom 16 ; 1Co_16:19 ; 2Co_13:13 ; Phi_4:21-22 ; Col_4:12-15 ; 1Th_5:26 .

When Paul wrote letters, he wrote them on the pattern which everyone used. Deissmann says of them, "They differ from the messages of the homely papyrus leaves of Egypt, not as letters but only as the letters of Paul." When we read Paulletters we are not reading things which were meant to be academic exercises and theological treatises, but human documents written by a friend to his friends.

The Immediate Situation

With a very few exceptions, all Paulletters were written to meet an immediate situation and not treatises which he sat down to write in the peace and silence of his study. There was some threatening situation in Corinth, or Galatia, or Philippi, or Thessalonica, and he wrote a letter to meet it. He was not in the least thinking of us when he wrote, but solely of the people to whom he was writing. Deissmann writes, "Paul had no thought of adding a few fresh compositions to the already extant Jewish epistles; still less of enriching the sacred literature of his nation.... He had no presentiment of the place his words would occupy in universal history; not so much that they would be in existence in the next generation, far less that one day people would look at them as Holy Scripture." We must always remember that a thing need not be transient because it was written to meet an immediate situation. All the great love songs of the world were written for one person, but they live on for the whole of mankind. It is just because Paulletters were written to meet a threatening danger or a clamant need that they still throb with life. And it is because human need and the human situation do not change that God speaks to us through them today.

The Spoken Word

One other thing we must note about these letters. Paul did what most people did in his day. He did not normally pen his own letters but dictated them to a secretary, and then added Ws own authenticating signature. (We actually know the name of one of the people who did the writing for him. In Rom_16:22 Tertius, the secretary, slips in his own greeting before the letter draws to an end). In 1Co_16:21 Paul says, "This is my own signature, my autograph, so that you can be sure this letter comes from me." (compare Col_4:18 ; 2Th_3:17 .)

This explains a great deal. Sometimes Paul is hard to understand, because his sentences begin and never finish; his grammar breaks down and the construction becomes involved. We must not think of him sitting quietly at a desk, carefully polishing each sentence as he writes. We must think of him striding up and down some little room, pouring out a torrent of words, while his secretary races to get them down. When Paul composed his letters, he had in his mindeye a vision of the folk to whom he was writing, and he was pouring out his heart to them in words that fell over each other in his eagerness to help.

THE LETTER TO THE PHILIPPIANS

Introduction To The Letter To The Philippians

We are fortunate in one thing in our study of Philippians--there are practically no critical problems involved; for no reputable New Testament critic has ever doubted its genuineness. We can accept Philippians as undoubtedly an authentic letter of Paul.

Philippi

When Paul chose a place wherein to preach the gospel, he always did so with the eye of a strategist. He always chose one which was not only important in itself but was also the key point of a whole area. To this day many of Paulpreaching-centres are still great road centres and railway junctions. Such was Philippi which had at least three great claims to distinction.

(i) In the neighbourhood there were gold and silver mines, which had been worked as far back as the time of the Phoenicians. It is true that by the time of the Christian era they had become exhausted, but they had made Philippi a great commercial centre of the ancient world.

(ii) The city had been founded by Philip, father of Alexander the Great, and it is his name that it bears. It was founded on the site of an ancient city called Krenides, a name which means The Wells or Fountains. Philip had founded Philippi in 368 B.C. because there was no more strategic site in all Europe. There is a range of hills which divides Europe from Asia, east from west and just at Philippi that chain of hills dips into a pass so that the city commanded the road from Europe to Asia, since the road must go through the pass. This was the reason that one of the great battles of history was fought at Philippi; for it was here that Antony defeated Brutus and Cassius, and thereby decided the future of the Roman Empire.

(iii) Not very long after, Philippi attained the dignity of a Roman Colony. The Roman Colonies were amazing institutions. They were not colonies in the sense of being outposts of civilization in unexplored parts of the world. They had begun by having a military significance. It was the custom of Rome to send out parties of veteran soldiers, who had served their time and been granted citizenship, to settle in strategic road centres. Usually these parties consisted of three hundred veterans with their wives and children. These colonies were the focal points of the great Roman road systems which were so engineered that reinforcements could speedily be sent from one colony to another. They were founded to keep the peace and to command the strategic centres in Romefar-flung Empire. At first they had been founded in Italy; but soon they were scattered throughout the whole Empire, as the Empire grew. In later days the title of colony was given by the government to any city which it wished to honour for faithful service.

Wherever they were, these colonies were little fragments of Rome and their pride in their Roman citizenship was their dominating characteristic. The Roman language was spoken; Roman dress was worn; Roman customs were observed; their magistrates had Roman titles, and carried out the am ceremonies as were carried out in Rome itself. They were stubbornly and unalterably Roman and would never have dreamt of becoming assimilated to the people amidst whom they wert set. We can hear the Roman pride breathing through the charge against Paul and Silas in Ac 16:20-21: "These men are Jews, and they are trying to teach and to introduce laws and customs which it is not right for us to observe--for we are Romans."

"You are a colony of heaven" (King James Version), Paul wrote to the Philippian Church (Phi_3:20 ). Just as the Roman colonist never forgot in any environment that he was a Roman, so they must never forget in any society that they were Christians. Nowhere were men prouder of being Roman citizens than in these colonies; and such was Philippi.

Paul And Philippi

It was on the second missionary journey, about the year A.D. 52, that Paul first came to Philippi. Urged on by the vision of the man of Macedonia with his appeal to come over and help us, Paul had sailed from Alexandrian Troas in Asia Minor. He had landed at Neapolis in Europe, and thence made his way to Philippi.

The story of Paulstay in Philippi is told in Ac 16 ; and an interesting story it is. It centres round three people--Lydia, the seller of purple; the demented slave-girl, used by her masters to tell fortunes; and the Roman jailor. It is an extraordinary cross-section of ancient life. These three people were of different nationalities. Lydia was an Asiatic, and her name may well be not a proper name at all but simply "the Lydian lady." The slave-girl was a native Greek. The jailor was a Roman citizen. The whole Empire was being gathered into the Christian Church. But not only were these three of different nationalities; they came from very different grades of society. Lydia was a dealer in purple, one of the most costly substances in the ancient world, and was the equivalent of a merchant prince. The girl was a slave, and, therefore, in the eyes of the law not a person at all, but a living tool. The jailor was a Roman citizen, member of the sturdy Roman middle-class from which the civil service was drawn. In these three the top, the bottom and middle of society are all represented. No chapter in the Bible shows so well the all-embracing faith which Jesus Christ brought to men.

Persecution

Paul had to leave Philippi after a storm of persecution and an illegal imprisonment. That persecution was inherited by the Philippian Church. He tells them that they have shared in his bonds and in his defence of the gospel (Phi_1:7 ). He bids them not to fear their adversaries for they are going through what he himself has gone through and is now enduring (Phi_1:28-30 ).

True Friendship

There had grown up between Paul and the Philippian Church a bond of friendship closer than that which existed between him and any other Church. It was his proud boast that he had never taken help from any man or from any Church, and that, with his own two hands, he had satisfied his needs. It was from the Philippians alone that he had agreed to accept a gift. Soon after he left them and moved on to Thessalonica, they sent him a present (Phi_4:16 ). When he moved on and arrived in Corinth by way of Athens, they alone again remembered him with their gifts (2Co_11:9 ). "My brethren whom I love and long for," he calls them, "my joy and crown in the Lord" (Phi_4:1 ).

The Occasion Of The Writing Of The Letter

When Paul wrote this letter he was in prison in Rome, and he wrote it with certain definite objects.

(i) It is a letter of thanks. The years have passed; it is now A.D. 63 or 64 and once again the Philippians have sent him a gift (Phi_4:10-11 ).

(ii) It has to do with Epaphroditus. It seems that the Philippians had sent him not only as a bearer of their gift, but that he might stay with Paul and be his personal servant. But Epaphroditus had fallen ill. He was sick for home; and he was worried because he knew that the people at home were worried about him. Paul sent him home, but he had the unhappy feeling that the people in Philippi might think Epaphroditus a quilter, so he goes out of his way to give him a testimonial: "Receive him with all joy, and honour such men, for he nearly died for the work of Christ" (Phi_2:29-30 ). There is something very moving in the sight of Paul, himself in prison and awaiting death, seeking to make things easier for Epaphroditus, when he was unexpectedly and unwillingly compelled to go home. Here is the peak of Christian courtesy.

(iii) It is a letter of encouragement to the Philippians in the trials which they are going through (Phi_1:28-30 ).

(iv) It is an appeal for unity. It is from that, that there rises the great passage which speaks of the selfless humility of Jesus Christ (Phi_2:1-11 ). In the Church at Philippi there were two women who had quarrelled and were endangering the peace (Phi_4:2 ); and there were false teachers who were seeking to lure the Philippians from the true path (Phi_3:2 ). This letter is an appeal to maintain the unity of the Church.

The Problem

It is just here that the problem of Philippians arises. At Phi_3:2 there is an extraordinary break in the letter. Up to Phi_3:1 everything is serenity and the letter seems to be drawing gently to its close; then without warning comes the outburst: "Beware of dogs; beware of evil workers; beware of the concision." There is no connection with what goes before. Further, Phi_3:1 looks like the end. "Finally, my brethren," says Paul, "rejoice in the Lord" and having said finally he begins all over again! (That, of course, is not an unknown phenomenon in preaching).

Because of this break many scholars think that Philippians, as we possess it, is not one letter but two letters put together. They regard Phi_3:2-21 and Phi_4:1-3 as a letter of thanks and warning sent quite early after the arrival of Epaphroditus in Rome; and they regard Php 1 - 2; Phi_3:1 and Phi_4:4-23 as a letter written a good deal later, and sent with Epaphroditus when he had to go home. That is perfectly possible. We know that Paul almost certainly did, in fact, write more than one letter to Philippi, for Polycarp, in his letter to the Philippian Church, says of him, "when he was absent he wrote letters to you."

The Explanation

And yet it seems to us that there is no good reason for splitting this letter into two. The sudden break between Phi_3:1 and Phi_3:2 can be otherwise explained in one of two ways.

(i) As Paul was writing, fresh news may have come of trouble at Philippi; and there and then he may have interrupted his line of thought to deal with it.

(ii) The simplest explanation is this. Philippians is a personal letter and a personal letter is never logically ordered like a treatise. In such a letter we put things down as they come into our heads; we chat on paper with our friends; and an association of ideas which may be clear enough to us may not be so obvious to anyone else. The sudden change of subject here is just the kind of thing which might occur in any such letter.

The Lovely Letter

For many of us Philippians is the loveliest letter Paul ever wrote. It has been called by two titles. It has been called The Epistle of excellent Things--and so indeed it is; and it has been called The Epistle of Joy. Again and again the words joy and rejoice recur. "Rejoice," writes Paul, "again I will say rejoice," even in prison directing the hearts of his friends--and ours--to the joy that no man can take from us.

FURTHER READINGS

Philippians

J. B. Lightfoot, Saint PaulEpistle to the Philippians (MmC; G)

R. P. Martin, The Epistle of Paul to the Philippians (TC; E)

J. H. Michael, The Epistle of Paul to the Philippians (MC; E)

M. R. Vincent, Philippians and Philemon (ICC; G)

Abbreviations

CGT: Cambridge Greek Testament

ICC: International Critical Commentary

MC: Moffatt Commentary

MmC: Macmillan Commentary

TC: Tyndale Commentary

E: English Text

G: Greek Text

Barclay: Philippians 4 (Chapter Introduction)

Great Things In The Lord (Phi_4:1)

Healing The Breaches (Phi_4:2-3)

The Marks Of The Christian Life (Phi_4:4-5)

The Peace Of Believing Prayer (Phi_4:6-7)

True Countries Of The Mind (Phi_4:8-9)

The True Teaching And The True God (Phi_4:8-9 Continued)

The Secret Of True Content (Phi_4:10-13)

The Value Of The Gift (Phi_4:14-20)

Greetings (Phi_4:21-23)

Constable: Philippians (Book Introduction)

Introduction

Historical background

The name of the city of Philippi was originally Krinides (lit. springs). It stood about 10 miles inland from the Aegean Sea in the Roman province of Macedonia. In 356 B.C. Philip II, king of Macedonia and father of Alexander the Great, renamed the town after himself and enlarged it.

In 42 B.C. the Romans Octavian, Antony, and Lepidus defeated Brutus and Cassius in a battle fought just west of Philippi. After that battle Philippi became a military colony. Subsequent battles in 42 and 31 B.C. resulted in Philippi receiving even higher status. The citizens enjoyed autonomous government, immunity from taxes, and treatment as if they lived in Italy.¹ Some commentators have seen indications of the pride the Philippians took in their city in Acts 16:20-21 and Philippians 1:27 and 3:20. Luke's description of Philippi as a "leading city of the district of Macedonia" (Acts 16:12) probably refers to its colonial status since it was the only colony in the area. Amphipolis was the capital of the district, and Thessalonica was the capital of the province.

The Via Egnatia, the main highway from Rome to the east, ran through Philippi and brought much commerce and many travelers to Philippi. Also the nearby Gangites (modern Angitis) River was another natural advantage since it constituted another ancient thoroughfare (cf. Acts 16:13).

The story of the founding of the church in Philippi appears in Acts 16. Philippi was the first town in which Paul preached after he crossed the Aegean Sea from Troas and entered Europe. Then (50 A.D.) the city had few Jewish residents and the first converts were Lydia, a Gentile businesswoman from Thyatira in the province of Asia Minor, and the Philippian jailer. The church evidently met in Lydia's home at first (Acts 16:15). Paul's companions on his first visit to Philippi included Silas, Timothy, and Luke. Luke may have stayed in Philippi to establish the new converts when the other members of Paul's missionary team moved on to Thessalonica.² The Philippian Christians sent financial support to Paul in Thessalonica more than once (Phil. 4:15-16).

Probably Paul visited Philippi again during his third missionary journey in 57 A.D. He travelled from Ephesus to Corinth by land and then from Corinth back to Miletus mostly by land. From there he took a ship to Jerusalem. The land route he took on both occasions would have led him through Philippi.

No serious question about the Pauline authorship of this epistle arose until the nineteenth century. Paul claimed to have written it (Phil. l:1), and the references to his acquaintances, events in his life, and his way of thinking all point to him as the writer.

The apostle was a prisoner when he penned this letter (Phil. 1:7, 13, 16). References to the palace guard (1:13) and Caesar's household (4:22) have led most interpreters to conclude that Paul wrote from Rome rather than from Caesarea (cf. 1:19-24; 2:24).³ The Marcionite Prologue (c. 170 A.D.) also refers to Paul writing Philippians from Rome. Evidently he did so during his first Roman imprisonment (60-62 A.D.) during which time he also wrote Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon, the other Prison Epistles.⁴

The primary purpose Paul had in mind in writing this epistle seems to have been to reassure the Philippians. Epaphroditus, whom they had sent with a gift for Paul and to minister to his needs in prison, had recovered from a serious illness and was about to return to Philippi. Paul built up Epaphroditus in the eyes of his readers (2:25-30), which suggests that they may not have appreciated him adequately for some reason. Secondary reasons for sending this letter include expressing thanks for the Philippians' gift to Paul in prison (4:10-14) and announcing Timothy's approaching visit (2:19). Paul also wanted to explain his desire to revisit his readers (2:24) and to deal with the problem of the two women in the church who needed to reconcile (4:2). One commentator identified the genre of this epistle as a letter of friendship and moral exhortation.⁵

Of all Paul's epistles Philippians is the most consistently positive and personal. It reflects a joyful spirit.⁶ Paul did not rebuke this church sharply nor did he refer to any major problems in it. His warnings are of a precautionary nature. His occupation with Jesus Christ also stands out. In 104 verses there are 51 references to the Lord Jesus by name.

". . . what is most noticeable in this letter is the general paucity of Paul's more specialized theological vocabulary and the infrequency of the explanatory for,' which is always a dead giveaway that Paul is involved in heavy argumentation."⁷

Message⁸

The Philippian Christians were special favorites of the apostle Paul. Their response to the gospel and their subsequent progress in the faith were exemplary. However the connections between Paul and Philippi that the New Testament records, both in Acts and in this letter, reveal an interesting paradox.

In both books there is a lot about prison and a lot about rejoicing. Paul ended up in prison when he first evangelized Philippi. Yet in prison Paul and Silas sang praises to God. When Paul wrote Philippians he was in prison, this time in Rome. However the dominant emotion that he projected in this book was rejoicing.

The paradox of a man in prison rejoicing lies at the root of what this book is all about. Such an attitude demonstrates an unusual view of life. It is a uniquely Christian view of life. It demonstrates the mind of Christ, which is the key to this epistle.

The theme of the epistle is participation in the gospel. Everything in this letter deals with that subject in some way, as I have pointed out in the notes. By participation in the gospel I mean the fellowship that Paul and the Philippians shared in the work of disseminating the gospel. This is the work in which all Christians should participate as well. Paul, the Philippians, and we are all partners in the work of the gospel. The key to working together effectively as partners in the gospel is having the mind of Christ. Therefore in this overview of the book I would like to emphasize this fundamental attitude about which Paul had so much to say in this book.

The key revelation in this epistle is that of the Christian attitude, or viewpoint, or consciousness. Note some of the references to the mind or attitude in this epistle: 1:7; 2:2, 3, 5; 3:15, 19; 4:2, 10. This is a key word in this book, and it indicates the emphasis of Philippians.

Paul revealed what the mind of Christ was in the Savior. We find this revelation in 2:5-11, one of the greatest Christological passages in the Bible. The Gospels reveal Jesus' words and works, but this passage unveils His mind.

Notice first the mental attitude of our Savior in 2:6. He did not regard His privileged position as something that He needed to retain. He did not value His position for the sake of the position. He laid it aside and stooped to unbelievable depths to lift those who needed redemption out of ruin.

This attitude resulted in certain activity, which we read of in verses 7 and 8. Jesus Christ selflessly gave up what was in His own best interests for the sake of the betterment of others. He left the heights of heaven for the lowliness of earth. He who was sovereign became a servant. Instead of becoming the highest of servants, an angel, he became a lowly servant, a man. He could have lived a life of ease, but He submitted to shame and death. He might have died in comfort and private surrounded by those who loved Him. Instead He died in agony and shame in public surrounded by those who hated Him. He could have died appreciated, but instead he died hated and misunderstood. This is the mind of Christ, a lowly mind, a loving mind.

This activity resulted in an award: verses 9-11.

Paul also revealed what the mind of the saints who are in Christ should be. We too should have a certain attitude that expresses itself in specific activity, which God will just as surely reward.

Our attitude should be that our love abounds increasingly and that we are sincere and void of offense (1:9-10). Christ's love is to be our love. His attitude is to be our attitude. Regardless of the present privileged position we may occupy we must not retain it as a prize.

Paul had this attitude. We can see it clearly in the statement he made in Romans 9:1-3. Just before he wrote these words, Paul wrote that nothing could separate him for the love of God in Christ Jesus. Yet he did not count that secure position something to retain for his own benefit. He was willing to give it up for the welfare of the Jews. You may remember that Moses voiced a similar sentiment in Exodus 32:32.

What is the activity that should flow out of this attitude?

Look first at 1:27. Our life should be worthy of the gospel. This was one of Paul's favorite ways to describe our conduct responsibility as Christians (cf. Eph. 4:1; Col. 1:10; 1 Thess. 2:12). Worthy conduct is not just morally upright behavior. It is conduct that the gospel drives, conduct that aims at proclaiming the gospel, making it known. It is conduct that responds appropriately to God's gift of grace to us.

Notice also 2:14-15. We are to be blameless in our relationship to God. Moreover we are to be harmless in our relationships with people, not doing them harm but good. Our Lord's example of humble service to the point of death is our model. How much do we know about emptying ourselves, humbling ourselves, becoming obedient to death, even the death of the cross?

What is the award that will follow this attitude and this activity? It is twofold.

There is present victory over circumstances. This whole epistle is a revelation of Paul's triumph over circumstances that would have defeated many people. The pioneer missionary to the regions beyond sat confined in prison. Rather than saying everything was against him, Paul rejoiced that God's program was advancing. In all the Prison Epistles, Paul viewed himself not as the prisoner of Nero but of Jesus Christ. He believed the Lord had placed him where he was for the best purpose. Anyone can sing when he or she escapes from prison, but Paul sang in prison.

Second, there is also future reward. Throughout this epistle Paul had the judgment seat of Christ in view (1:6, 10-11, 20; 2:16; 3:8-9, 14; 4:1, 5). God will reward the mind of Christ in the saints just as He has rewarded the mind of Christ in the Savior. We should strive to gain that prize, not to glorify ourselves in heaven but to have a crown to lay down at Jesus' feet in worship in heaven (cf. Rev. 4:10).

We have seen that the mind of Christ is the key to this epistle. We have also seen that Paul revealed this mind in the Savior and in the saints. What did he say about this mind or attitude? He said, "Have this mind in you" (2:5).

What is the resource for this kind of thinking? Where do we find what it takes to have the mind of Christ in us? We find it in Christ. Specifically we find it when we orient our lives with Him at the center. Paul put it this way: "To me, to live is Christ" (1:21). For some people to live is finances. For others it is fame. For some it is family. For others to live is fun. Life is whatever we put at the center of living. Paul put Christ there. Consequently he viewed God as Christ did. He saw people as Christ did. He viewed his purpose as Christ did. He established his priorities as Christ did. He conducted his daily affairs as Christ did. His life was Christ.

What is our responsibility with this attitude? It is to work out our own salvation in response to God's working in us (2:12-13). We work out what God works in. How do we do this? We do this by forgetting what is past and by pressing on to God's goal for us. Paul used the same Greek word to describe his persecution of Christians (3:6) and his pressing toward his new goal (3:14; dioko). He pursued both goals zealously. He transferred all the passion and fervor that he once expended on tearing down the church into building it up. Our responsibility is absolute dedication and unfailing endeavor to the goal of building the church.

What are the rules we must follow with this attitude? Primarily we must rejoice in the Lord (3:1; 4:4). Rejoicing is not only a privilege, but it is a duty for the Christian. God has commanded us to rejoice. To do this we need to focus our thinking on what God is really doing as He has revealed this in His Word. We must also be forbearing toward all men rather than antagonistic (4:5). We must also give ourselves to prayer rather than to anxiety (4:6). These are the basic rules we need to follow.

By way of application, what does adopting the mind of Christ mean?

For the church the measure of her authority is the measure of her conformity to the mind of Christ. The church, the corporate body of believers, depends on many different things today to give it authority: political power, charismatic leaders, social influence, etc. Yet the church's real authority today is the same as Jesus Christ's authority was when He walked this earth, His humble attitude of submissiveness and obedience to His Father. The essence of the mind of Christ is love. Its consciousness is joy. Its expression is sacrifice. If love, joy, and sacrificial service characterize the church, it will have authority in the world.

For the individual Christian the application is that we should allow Jesus Christ to master us completely. We should view ourselves as His captives, His prisoners (cf. 1:1). It is only by entering into bondage to the Savior that we can find true liberty. His ideal must become our ideal. His power should be what we depend on to fulfill that ideal. Furthermore the certainty of His ultimate victory and ours now and in the future should be the inspiration for our ceaseless song. The present joy of our lives should come from our comradeship with Him day by day. Sharing the mind of Christ will teach us how to love, to serve, and to sing as we live the Christian life.

Constable: Philippians (Outline)

Outline

I. Salutation 1:1-2

II. Prologue 1:3-26

A. Thanksgiving 1:3-8

B. Prayer 1:9-11

C. Progress report 1:12-26

1. Paul's present imprisonment 1:12-18

2. Paul's anticipated deliverance 1:19-26

III. Partnership in the gospel 1:27-4:9

A. A worthy walk 1:27-30

B. Unity and steadfastness 2:1-4:1

1. Walking in unity ch. 2

2. Walking in steadfastness 3:1-4:1

C. Specific duties 4:2-9

1. Restoring unity 4:2-3

2. Maintaining tranquillity 4:4-9

IV. Epilogue 4:10-20

A. The recent gift 4:10-14

B. The previous gifts 4:15-20

V. Greetings and benediction 4:21-23

Constable: Philippians

Philippians

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Tatford, Frederick A. The Patmos Letters. By the Author, 1969; reprint ed., Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, n.d.

Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Edited by Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich. Translated and edited by Geoffrey W. Bromiley. 1964-74. S.v. "kardia," by Friedrich Baumgartel and Johannes Behm, 3 (1965):605-14.

_____. S.v. "koinonos," et al., by Friedrich Hauck, 3 (1965):797-809.

_____. S.v. "tareinos," et at., by Walter Grundmann, 8 (1972):11-12.

Trench, Richard Chenevix. Synonyms of the New Testament. Revised ed. London: James Clarke & Co. Ltd., 1961.

Vincent, Marvin. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistles to the Philippians and to Philemon. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1897.

Vine, W. E. Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. 4 vols. London: Oliphants Ltd., 1940.

Vos, Howard F. Philippians: A Study Guide. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1975.

Wall, Joe L. Going for the Gold. Chicago: Moody Press, 1991.

Walvoord, John F. Jesus Christ Our Lord. Chicago: Moody Press, 1969.

_____. Philippians. Everyman's Bible Commentary series. Chicago: Moody Press, 1971.

Wiersbe, Warren W. Be Joyful. Wheaton: Scripture Press Publications, Victor Books, 1981.

_____. The Bible Exposition Commentary. 2 vols. Wheaton: Scripture Press, Victor Books, 1989.

Wilkin, Robert N. "Philippians 3:10: Is Our Resurrection Certain?" Grace Evangelical Society Newsletter, November 1987, pp. 1-2.

_____. "Raised to Run." Grace Evangelical Society News 6:8 (August 1991):2-3.

_____. "Working Out Your Salvation." Grace Evangelical Society News 8:3 (May-June 1993):2-3.

Witmer, John A. "The Man with Two Countries." Bibliotheca Sacra 133:532 (October-December 1976):338-49.

Copyright 2003 by Thomas L. Constable

Haydock: Philippians (Book Introduction)

THE

EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL, THE APOSTLE,

TO THE PHILIPPIANS.

INTRODUCTION.

Philippi, a considerable city in Macedonia, so called from Philip, father of Alexander the Great. St. Paul had preached there. (Acts xvi.) Those people had a great veneration for him, and supplied his wants when he was at Corinth, and again when he was a prisoner at Rome, sending to him by Epaphroditus, who is thought to have been the bishop of Philippi. St. Paul sent this letter by him to the Philippians, (written during his imprisonment) from Rome; but whether during his first or second imprisonment, is uncertain. (Witham) --- It is generally believed that St. Paul wrote it about the year 62, in his first confinement. In it he testifies to the faithful his most tender gratitude and acknowledgement for the assistance they had sent him, and a zeal the most ardent for their salvation. He felicitates them on their courage under sufferings for the cause of Jesus Christ, on their good works also, and forcibly excites them to confidence and joy. --- The Philippians were the first among the Macedonians converted to the faith. St. Paul, in this epistle, recommends charity, unity, and humility; and warns against false teachers, whom he calls dogs, and enemies of the cross of Christ. He also returns thanks for their benefactions. It was written about twenty-nine years after our Lord's ascension. (Challoner)

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Gill: Philippians (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO PHILIPPIANS

Philippi was a Roman colony, and the chief city of one part of Macedonia, Act 16:12, it is by Appianus called Datos which was its original name; and by Diodorus Siculus it is called Crenidae ^a, from, the fountains about it; and it took its name Philippi, from Philip king of Macedon, father of Alexander the great, who rebuilt and fortified it; near this place a famous battle was fought, and a victory obtained by Augustus Caesar and Mark Antony, over Brutus and Cassius; it is now called Chrixopolis, properly Chrysopolis, from the plenty of golden mines near it: here the apostle was directed by a vision, to go and preach the Gospel; and which was succeeded, to the conversion of Lydia, and the jailer, and their families; which laid the foundation of a Gospel church in this place, to whom this epistle is written; and which was written by the apostle when he was a prisoner at Rome, as many things in it show; for he more than once makes mention of his bonds, and of these being made manifest in Caesar's palace, and of some of Caesar's household sending their Christian salutations to this church: Dr. Hammond makes the date of this epistle to be the year 59, and Dr. Lightfoot places it in the year 60, and the sixth of Nero; the occasion of it was this, the Philippians, to whom the apostle was very dear, he being the first preacher of the Gospel to them, and the instrument of their conversion, hearing that he was a prisoner at Rome, send their minister and pastor Epaphroditus to him, to visit him, and by him a present to support him under his afflicted circumstances, and who related to him the case of this church; and at his departure he sent by him this letter; the design of which is, to express his love and affection to them; to give them an account of his bonds, and the usefulness of them, and how he was supported under them; to encourage them under all the afflictions and persecutions, they endured for the sake of Christ; to excite them to love, unity, and peace, among themselves; to caution them against false teachers, judaizing Christians, that were for joining Moses and Christ, law and Gospel, works and grace together, in the business of salvation; to exhort them to a holy life and conversation, and to return them thanks for their kind present.

Gill: Philippians 4 (Chapter Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO PHILIPPIANS 4

This chapter contains exhortations to various duties becoming Christians, the apostle's thankfulness to the Philippians for their present to him, and the conclusion of the epistle with the salutations of the brethren: in Phi 4:1; the apostle exhorts the saints with great affection to perseverance in the doctrine and faith of Christ; and in Phi 4:2; mentions some persons by name, and to whom he recommends unity and agreement; and in Phi 4:3; entreats others to assist them therein; and in Phi 4:4; exhorts them all in general to joy in the Lord, and to moderation, enforced by this argument, the Lord being at hand, Phi 4:5; and to calmness and quietness of mind, and to prayer, and supplication, with thanksgiving, Phi 4:6; to which they are encouraged, by the promise of having the peace of God, keeping their minds through Christ, Phi 4:7; and to conclude, he exhorts them to everything that is virtuous had commendable; to which he stimulates them, from the consideration of the nature of the things themselves, from his own example, and from the presence of God with them, they might expect to enjoy, Phi 4:8; and then he proceeds to take notice of the kindness of the Philippians to him, declares his joy on account of it, and expresses it by their care of him again; which he corrects, by observing that it was not for want of care in them before, but of opportunity of showing it, Phi 4:10; nor did he take notice of this present of theirs, with so much exultation on account of his own penury, for he had learnt the great lesson of contentment in every state, Phi 4:11; which he enlarges upon and explains; namely, that he had been taught, and knew how to behave in fulness and want, in prosperity and adversity; though this was not owing to himself, but to the power and strength of Christ, Phi 4:12; however, he commends the Philippians for their communicating to him in his affliction, both at the first preaching of the Gospel to them, and at several times since, Phi 4:14, the reason of which commendation was not because he was covetous of gifts and presents from them, but to encourage them to bring forth fruit, which would turn to their own advantage, Phi 4:17; as for himself he had enough, and therefore said not this on his own account, but because such communication was a sacrifice well pleasing to God, and a return would be made by him; who, as he was able to supply all their need, would; of which he assures them, and for which he prays, Phi 4:17, and to whom he gives the glory of what they had given, and he had received, Phi 4:20; and then the epistle is concluded with the salutation of the apostle, and the saints, and brethren with him, and with his usual benediction, Phi 4:21.

College: Philippians (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION

THE CITY

When Paul bypassed the seaport at Neapolis and moved eight miles inland to Philippi, he did so because Philippi, though small, was a city of some importance. The history of the city stretched back several centuries. A small village, known as Krenides, was captured by Philip of Macedon and annexed to his empire in 356 B.C. The area was attractive because of the many springs in the vicinity, and because of the nearby gold mines. Hence Philip named the city after himself, i.e., Philippi.

The city remained insignificant until conquered by the Romans almost two centuries later (168, 167 B.C.). The area was made a Roman province, and included in the first of the four districts into which the Romans divided Macedonia.

The most significant event of the pre-Pauline city took place in 42 B.C. There, on the plain of Philippi, the forces of Brutus and Cassius (Caesar's assassins) clashed with the armies of Antony and Octavian, only to go down in defeat. Thus Philippi was the spot at which the destiny of the Roman empire was set for some time to come.

Later (31 B.C.) Octavian defeated Antony. As a result of the battles of 42 and 31 B.C. a number of military veterans, from both the victors and the vanquished, were settled there. In 31 B.C. the name of the town was enhanced to honor Octavian (Caesar Augustus), its conqueror.

Philippi was made a Roman colony, a high privilege indeed for a provincial city within the empire. Rights of the citizenry included Roman citizenship, the right to own and transfer property, and exemption from certain taxes. The city was in municipal pattern and architecture modeled on Rome, as well as in legal and administrative detail. The citizens wore Roman dress, had coinage with Roman inscriptions, and used (though not exclusively) the Latin language. Roman citizens had certain rights under Roman law, a fact that stood to Paul's advantage when he came to Philippi (Acts 16:37ff).

The city was located on the Via Egnatia, one of the major Roman roads of the time. Some evidence indicates the road in this area was in bad condition during the time of Paul's visit, so that visitors to Philippi may have used the sea route (as Paul did) with greater frequency. However, bad roads, though an inconvenience to travel, did not stop it completely. When Paul left the city it was by road toward the west.

Residents of the city would have included a core of veterans of the Roman wars or their descendants. Also in residence were Greeks, descendants of the native Thracian population, and some Jews. Some read the story of the conversion of Lydia in Acts 16 to indicate there were not enough male Jews in the city to constitute a synagogue. But others argue that there was a synagogue built by the river to which Paul went to preach.

ORIGINS OF THE CHURCH

The origins of this church are recorded in Acts 16:6-40. Compare the commentary by Dennis Gaertner in this series for detailed comments. The following should be noted.

First, it was by divine impulse that the mission to Philippi and Europe was undertaken. A vision, coupled with earlier prohibitions, spurred Paul on his way (Acts 16:6-10). Paul traveled with Silas, Timothy (who had joined the party earlier), and, by assumption, Luke, who is identified by "we" in Acts 16:10. This is based on the view that Acts was written by Luke. When Paul and Silas left the city, Luke was apparently left with the fledgling church, to be picked up by Paul when he passed through Philippi on his third journey (Acts 20:5).

Second, the initial convert in the city was Lydia (Acts 16:13-15), an open-minded God-fearer, whose profession (a dealer in purple cloth) and hospitality lead to the conclusion she was a person of some means. Though she is not mentioned in Philippians, two of the four specific names of Philippian Christians given in the letter are women, and it is generally thought that the women exercised significant roles in the church.

Third, a slave girl was exorcised, and this good deed destroyed her commercial advantage to her owners. In retaliation they inflamed a crowd, with the result that Paul and Silas were beaten and imprisoned in the most miserable of conditions (Acts 16:16-24).

Fourth, this incarceration served to make the faith of Paul and Silas shine more brightly, as they sang praises to God from their cell, rather than uttering the groans of pain that might have been expected. An earthquake so devastated the prison that the prisoner's cells were opened and their bonds loosed. The jailer, contemplating suicide because he thought his prisoners would have escaped, was reassured by Paul and Silas that they were all still there. More importantly, he found Christ, and he and his family became Christians in what is one of the remarkable conversions of the New Testament (Acts 16:23-34).

Finally, the release of Paul and Silas from prison and the embarrassment of the Philippian officials when they learned they had afflicted Roman citizens is told with a touch of humor. Paul and Silas, apparently taking their time, finally left the city, no doubt much to the relief of the city authorities (Acts 16:35-40). But their companion Luke stayed behind, with a group of believers whose ties to Paul through the years were especially affectionate. Though the first convert was a God-fearer, evidence indicates the church was composed predominantly of Gentiles who had not necessarily been sympathetic to Judaism. The date for these events is generally considered to be from A.D. 49-52.

PAUL'S LOCALE

Paul nowhere in this letter names the place of his imprisonment. A long held tradition, dating as early as the second century, identifies Rome as his locale. In recent years two other main options have been advanced: Ephesus and Caesarea. In considering this issue there are basic data to be kept in mind.

(1) Paul was a prisoner (1:7) and did not know the outcome of his trial (1:19f; 2:17).

(2) The place from which Paul wrote was also populated by those of "Caesar's household" (4:22).

(3) Timothy was with Paul (1:1; 2:19ff).

(4) The Christians in Paul's locale were engaged in evangelism (1:14ff).

(5) Paul hoped to visit Philippi if circumstances allowed (2:24).

(6) There was frequent communication between Philippi and Paul. The Philippians had heard Paul was in prison and sent Epaphroditus, who became ill. This news reached Philippi, and their anxiety reached back to Paul. The letter Paul wrote would be sent to Philippi, to be followed by visits from Timothy, and later (if possible) Paul himself (2:19-28).

A theoretical Ephesian imprisonment meets some of these criteria, but founders on others. Most telling is the fact that though Acts says Paul was in Ephesus for some time (Acts 19:8, 10) there is no record of an imprisonment there.

Paul was imprisoned for at least two years at Caesarea (Acts 24:27), but again that imprisonment does not account for all the statements in Philippians. One of the reasons for objection to Rome as the place of origin was that the distance between Rome and Philippi was too great for all the trips indicated by Philippians. But the distance was just as great to Caesarea. Actually the journey from Rome to Philippi took about forty days. Thus a major objection to a Roman imprisonment, and justification for a Caesarean, is removed.

Two major objections to Rome have to do with the amount of time needed for travel, just discussed, and the change in Paul's travel plans from his announced intention to visit Spain (Rom 15:24, 29) to his intent to visit Philippi (Phil 1:25-27; 2:24). Given Paul's unexpected changes in circumstances due to his arrest and imprisonment (Acts 21), a change of intent should not be found too surprising.

Though Rome cannot be proved to be the place from which Paul wrote, it does seem to fit the circumstances better than the alternatives. If from Rome, the date of writing was probably the early 60s. While holding this view, students still should not close themselves to evidence suggesting other possibilities. Despite the details in Acts and his biographical statements in the letters, there is still a great deal we do not know about Paul's activities.

REASONS FOR WRITING

Hawthorne lists a number of reasons Paul wrote this letter. From his list we may select the following as the most obvious.

First, there was the matter of Epaphroditus and the gift sent to Paul by his hand. Paul wished to respond to their generosity (4:10-20). He also wished to allay their apprehensions about Epaphroditus (2:25-30), with whom he doubtless sent the letter.

Second, he took the opportunity to share certain news about himself and his situation. He especially told them of a problem he faced because some brethren hoped to create trouble for him by preaching Christ out of envy and rivalry (1:14-18). At the same time he addressed the issue of his imprisonment and his possible future (1:19-30; 2:24).

Third, he wished to address a serious problem of division within the church. He names two women (4:2), but we suspect the problem was of wider dimension. There are touches throughout the book directed to this need, but it is addressed most powerfully in 2:1-11.

Fourth, Paul wished to warn about those he calls "dogs," "men who do evil," and "mutilators of the flesh" in 3:2. Later in the chapter he laments about "enemies of the cross" ( v. 18).

EMPHASES

In addition to these central purposes there are certain notes sounded throughout the book which can enrich pursuit by the serious student. The joy motif through the book has been often observed (cf. the reference at 1:4). Though some have argued the church was a joyful one, we believe that not to have been the case. Paul's repeated exhortations indicate their lack of joy, and we suppose that a capturing of the "joy of the Lord" would go far to resolving the Philippians' problems.

Another noteworthy emphasis is the repeated use of the forms of the root fron- ( phron ; references at 1:7). From examining these it can be discerned how Paul's call was for a whole approach to life, not just to superficial thought or action. Study of this term makes it clear that Christianity was a deep and total commitment to the Lord and to a way of life.

In addition the reader might examine the texts listed under "all" (1:1), "partnership" (1:5), and "in the Lord" (4:1).

DEVOTIONAL TEXTS

Some of the great devotional New Testament texts are found in Philippians (see 1:21; 2:5-11,12f; 3:7-11; 4:4-7,8f, and 11-13). Often these verses are taken out of context, and are given an independent existence. We note this to stress the fact that Paul did not write Philippians (or any letter) so it could be the subject of a commentary - though commentaries have real value. To follow Christ meant to live a life, not to judiciously make detailed observations about grammar, word meanings, syntax, etc. So if a commentary enhances understanding, that is a noble thing. But understanding may stop short of salvation. As Paul wrote to enhance discipleship, so this author hopes this work will have the same effect! To God be the glory!

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

BIBLIOGRAPHY

PHILIPPIANS

Beare, F.W. The Epistle to the Philippians . London: Adam and Charles Black, 1959.

Bruce, F.F. Philippians . Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1983.

Craddock, Fred. Philippians . Atlanta: John Knox, 1985.

Harrell, Pat. The Letter of Paul to the Philippians . Austin: Sweet, 1969.

Hawthorne, Gerald. Philippians . Waco: Word Books, 1983.

Martin, Ralph. Philippians . Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987.

Melick, Richard. Philippians, Colossians, Philemon. Nashville: Broadman, 1991.

O'Brien, Peter. Philippians . Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991.

Saunders, Ernest. First Thessalonians, Second Thessalonians, Philippians, Philemon . Atlanta: John Knox, 1981.

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV