How the apostle Paul returns thanks - Chambers, Oswald
But i have all, and abound: i am full, having received of epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well- pleasing to god. Philippians 4:18
The apostle Paul refused to take money-help from any of the churches he founded and over which he watched so carefully, and his reasons for this are expounded in 1 Corinthians 9 (see also a significant reference in acts 20:34), the one exception being the church at philippic. Pauls imprisonment had revived their affectionate interest, and he writes to thank them for a further gift through epaphroditus, as, even in calisthenic ye sent once and again unto my necessity. The epistle is a letter of gratitude for these gifts, and along with his thanks Paul combines solicitations and teaching, and deals with some of the grandest, most fundamental truths, e. G. , chapter 2.
The letter is addressed to all the saints in christ jesus which are at philippic from Paul and timothy, servants of Jesus Christ (RV ). This is a wonderfully courteous touch, paul does not call himself here an apostle of Jesus Christ, but by a name that embraces timothy, because he was with him when the church was foundedbond- servants (RV mg) of Christ Jesus.
Philippians 1
But i would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel. (Philippians 1:12) the fortune of misfortune! That is pauls way of looking at his captivity. He does not want them to be depressed on his account, or to imagine that gods purpose has been hindered; he says it has not been hindered, but furthered. The very things that looked so disastrous have turned out to be the most opportune, so that on this account his heart bounds with joy, and the note of rejoicing comes out through the whole letter. Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will (Philippians 1:15). Paul was severity itself in dealing with those in Galatia who preached the gospel from the wrong motive (see Galatians 1:78; 2:45, 8; 5:45); here, he deals with the matter more gently, what is the reason for the difference? In the first case false brethren had insinuated themselves into the church with the set pur- pose of unsettling the believers and bringing them into bondage; in this case the motive, he says, was to raise up affliction for me in my bonds (rv). When- ever harm is being done to the flock of god it must
Be tracked out and dealt with rigorously; personal injury is another matter. Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also, said our lord, and paul exhibits that spirit when he says, what then? Notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and i therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.
This brings us up against a big problem, a problem our lord refers to in Matthew 7:2123. Because god honours his word no matter how preached or by whom, we naturally infer that if his word is blessed, souls saved, demons cast out, mighty works done, surely the preacher must be a servant of god. It does not follow by any means. An instrument of god and a servant of god ought to be identical, but our lords words and pauls are instances where they are not. It does not impair the inspiration of the gospel to have it preached by a bad man, but the influence of the preacher, worthy or unworthy, apart altogether from his preaching, has a tremendous effect. If i know a man to be a bad man the sinister influence of his personality neutralises altogether the effect of gods message through him to me; but let me be quite sure that my intuition springs from my relationship to god and not from human suspicion.
Philippians 2
Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. (philippians 2:2) in verses 14 Paul is arguing if you are rightly related to god in Christ, the life of the son of god in you makes you identical with him, so that the same comfort of love, the same fellowship of the spirit, the same mercies that marked him, mark you. How we water down the amazing revelation made in the new testament, that we are made one with Christ! I live; yet not i, but Christ liveth in me.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:5). We are not given a fully formed reasoning christian mind when we are born again, we are given the spirit of Jesus, but not his mind, we have to form that. The mind Paul urges the philippic Christians to form is not the mind of almighty god, but the mind of Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of god, thought it not robbery to be equal with god [not a thing to be grasped, RV mg]. This was the central citadel of the temptation you are the son of god, assert your prerogative; you will bring the world to your feet if you will remember who you are and use your power. The answer Jesus made was, i did not come to do my own will, although i am the son of god, i am here in this order of things for one purpose only, to do the will of my father. When we are sanctified the same temptation comes to us you are a child of god, identified with Jesus, presume on it, think it some- thing to be grasped, to be proud of. We are saved and sanctified for one purpose, that gods will might be done in us as it was in our lord.
. . . Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is god which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure (Philippians 2:1213). These verses combine all we understand by the great efficacious work of grace of god in salvation and sanctification. You are saved, says Paul, now work it out: be consistent in character with what god has worked in. The only estimate of consistent christian character is the life of Jesus made manifest in our mortal flesh. People talk a lot about their experience of sanctification and too often there is nothing in it, it doesn’t work out in the bodily life or in the mind, it is simply a doctrine; with Paul it was the mainspring of his life. For it is god which worketh in you to will. . . . It is nonsense to talk about a mans free will, a mans will is only fundamentally free in god, that is, he is only free when the law of god and the spirit of god are actively working in his will by his own choice
. . . . That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of god, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and per- verse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world (Philippians 2:15)that means on this earth, not in heaven. We have to shine as lights in the squalid places of earth; we cant shine in heaven, our light would be put out in two seconds. That ye may be blameless if ever we are to be blameless, undeserving of censure in the sight of god who sees down to the motive of our motives, it must be by the super- natural power of god. The meaning of the cross is just thati can not only have the marvellous work of gods grace done in my heart, but can have the proof of it in my life. The higher christian life14 phraseology is apt to be nothing in the world but the expression of a futile and sorrowful struggle, adoring god for what we are in his divine anticipation but never can be in actuality. It is only when i realise that gods anticipations for me are presented as participations through the power of the holy spirit, that i become that peculiarly humble person, a disciple of the lord Jesus.
Yea, and if i am poured out as a drink-offering [rv mg] upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, i joy, and rejoice with you all (Philippians 2:17). Pauls conception of the altar of sacrifice is spending and being spent for the sake of the elementary children
Of god. He has no other end and aim than that to be broken bread and poured-out wine in the hands of god that others might be nourished and fed (cf. Colossians 1:24). The great saviour and his great apostle go hand-in-hand: the son of god sacrificed himself to redeem men; paul, his bond servant, sacrificed himself that men might come to know they are redeemed, that they have been bought with a price and are not their own; it was no false note when Paul said, Christ liveth in me.
Philippians 3
. . . As touching the law, a pharisee. (Philippians 3:5) Saul of tarsus did easily what all other pharisees did, but his conscience would not allow him to be a hypocrite easily. His ardent nature tried to make his inner life come up to the standard of the law, and the tragedy of his failure is portrayed in Romans 7. No one was ever so introspective, so painfully conscious of weakness and inability to keep the law, as Paul, so when he says, Christ is the end of the law unto righteousness (rv ) he is making an intensely practical statement. He is stating the fact that Jesus Christ has planted in him as a sheer gift of gods grace the life that enables him now to fulfil all the law of god not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of god by faith. Imputed means imparted with Paul.
If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, i more (Philippians 3:4). In verses 46 paul catalogues the things that used to be gains to him, the things which were a recommendation to him in the eyes of the world (cf. Galatians 1:1314); but, he says, i fling them all overboard as refuse, that i may win Christ. The whole of pauls life has been redetermined by regeneration, and he estimates now from an entirely different standard. The things from which we have to loose ourselves are the good things of the old creation as well as the bad, e. G. , our natural virtues, because our natural virtues can never come anywhere near what Jesus Christ wants.
That i may know him, and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings . . . (philippians 3:10). Paul talks more about suffering than any of the apostles, but any suffering that is less than fellowship with his sufferings he treats very lightly our light affliction. Jesus suffered according to the will of god, and to be made a partaker of his sufferings destroys every element of self-pity, of self-interest, of self-anything.
. . . Not as though i . . . Were already perfect (philippians 3:12). Let us therefore, as many as be perfect . . . (Philippians 3:15). Nothing but wilful perversion would make anyone misunderstand these two perfections. In verse 12 Paul is speaking of the perfection of consummation not attainable in this life; in verse 15 he speaks of a perfection of fitness demanded now. Remember, though you are perfectly adjusted to god, you have attained to nothing yet. The idea is that of a marathon runner, practising and practising until he is perfectly fit; when he is perfectly fit he hasn’t begun the race, he is only perfectly fit to begin. By regeneration we are put into perfect relationship to god, then we have the same human nature, working along the same lines, but with a different main- spring. Not that i am already made perfect: that is the perfection of consummation; i haven’t got there yet, says Paul; but i follow after, if so be that i may apprehend that for which also i was apprehended by christ jesus. Paul was absolutely christ-centred, he had lost all interest in himself in an absorbing passionate interest in Christ. Very few saints get where he got, and we are to blame for not getting there. We thank god for saving and sanctifying us and continually revert to these experiences: paul reverted to one thing only when it pleased god . . . To reveal his son in me, then he never bothered any more about himself. We try to efface ourselves by an effort; paul did not efface himself by an effort, his interest in himself simply died right out when he became identified with the death of jesus. For many walk, of whom i have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ (philippians 3:18). Why did Paul say enemies of the cross of Christ, and not enemies of Christ? The test all through is trueness to the cross. What the enemies of the cross so strenuously oppose is identification on the part of the believer with what the death of Christ on the cross represents, viz. , death to sin in every shape and form. Look at the tremendous words Paul uses, they express the agony of his heart over those who are the enemies of that moral identification. Their god is themselves what develops me; not that which takes me right out of the road and gives the son of god a chance to manifest himself in me. What was it god condemned in the cross? Self-realisation. Have i come to a moral agreement with god about that? To say that what god condemned in the cross was social sins is not true; what god condemns in the cross is sin which is away further down than any moral quirks.
Philippians 4
Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the lord, my dearly beloved. (Philippians 4:1)
Notice pauls earnest solicitation over those who have been saved through his ministry; he carried every convert on his heart to the end of his life, or of theirs. Be careful for nothing (Philippians 4:6). The enemy of saintliness is carefulness over the wrong thing. The culture of the christian life is to learn to be carefully careless over everything saving our relationship to god. It is not sin that keeps us from going on spiritually, but the cares of the world, . . . The lusts of other things (RV ) that crowd out any consideration of god. We reverse the teaching of Jesus, we don’t seek first the kingdom of god we seek every other thing first, and the result accords with what Jesus said, the word he puts in is choked and becomes unfruitful.
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true . . . Take account of [RV mg] these things (Philippians 4:8). Glean your thinking one of the hardest things to do. For instance, it is essentially difficult to think along the lines laid down in 1 Corinthians 13: love . . . Taketh not account of evil (RV); apart from god we do take account of evil, we reason from that stand- point. The majority of us are not spiritual thinkers, but once we begin to think on the basis of our relationship to god through the redemption we find it a most revolutionary thing. We are not saved by think- ing, we form our nous, a responsible intelligence, by thinking, and immediately we face the application of the redemption to the details of our lives, we find it means everything has to be readjusted bit by bit.